Semyon Budyonny
 |
Semyon Budyonny |
(also spelled Budennii, Budenny, Budyenny etc,
Russian: Семён Михайлович Будённый) (
April 25,
1883 –
October 26,
1973) was a
Soviet military commander and an ally of Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin.
Budyonny was born into a poor peasant family in the
Terek Cossack region of southern
Russia. He worked as a farm laborer until
1903, when he was drafted into the army of the
Russian Empire, becoming a cavalryman and serving in the
Russo-Japanese War of
1905. During
World War I he was a non-commissioned officer on the western front until
1916, when he was transferred to the
Caucasus front. When the
Russian Revolution overthrew the Tsarist regime in
1917, he was radicalized like many soldiers and became a leading member of the soldiers' councils (Soviets) in the Caucasus area.
Civil War broke out in
1918, and Budyonny organised a Red Cavalry force in the Don region, which eventually became the
1st Cavalry Army. This Army played an important role in winning the Civil War for the Bolsheviks, driving the
White General
Anton Denikin back from
Moscow. Budyonny joined the
Bolshevik party in
1919, and formed close relationships with
Joseph Stalin and
Kliment Voroshilov.
In
1920 Budyonny's Cavalry Army took part in the invasion of
Poland in the
Polish-Bolshevik War, in which it was quite successful at first,
pushing Polish forces out of Ukraine and later breaking through Polish southern frontlines. However later the Bolsheviks forces sustained a heavy defeat in the
Battle of Warsaw, mainly because Budyonny's Army was bogged down at
Lwów. After his army was defeated in the
Battle of Komarów (one of the biggest cavalry battles in the history), Budyonny was then sent south to fight the Whites in
Ukraine and the
Crimea. Despite the defeat in Poland, he was one of Soviet Russia's military heroes by the end of the Civil War.
Budyonny was considered a courageous and colorful cavalry officer, but knew little about modern warfare, particularly the impact of tanks. He was appointed to the position of Cavalry Inspector of the Red Army and similar honorific posts, and remained one of Stalin's "Civil War cronies" who held increasing influence as Stalin consolidated himself as the unquestioned dictator of the Soviet Union.
In
1935 Budyonny was made one of the first five
Marshals of the Soviet Union. Three of these five were executed in the
Great Purge of the late 1930s, leaving only Budyonny and Voroshilov. In
1937 Budyonny commanded the Moscow Military District, and in the
Soviet-Finnish War he commanded an army, with disastrous results. Nevertheless, in
1940 Budyonny was made Deputy
People's Commissar for Defense, a position for which he was quite unsuited.
In July-September
1941 Budyonny was Commander-in-Chief (главком,
glavkom) of the Soviet armed forces of the Southwestern Direction (
Southwestern and
Southern Fronts) facing the
German invasion of
Ukraine which began in June. These forces were eventually surrounded during the
Battle of Uman and the
Battle of Kiev. These disasters cost the Soviet Union 1.5 million men killed or taken prisoner, one of the greatest routs in military history.
In September, Stalin dismissed Budyonny and replaced him with
Semyon Timoshenko. He was placed in charge of the
Reserve Front (September-October 1941), Commander-in-Chief of the troops in the North Caucasus Direction (April-May, 1942), Commander of the
North Caucasus Front (May-August, 1942), and the obsolete
Soviet Cavalry (since 1943). Despite being responsible (although acting on Stalin's orders) for some of the Soviet Union's most catastrophic World War 2 defeats, he continued to enjoy Stalin's patronage and suffered no punishment. After the war he was allowed to retire as a
Hero of the Soviet Union.
Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny also created a new horse breed that is still kept in big studs in Russia: the
Budyonny horse which are famous for their high performance in sports and endurance.
Budenovka, a part of Soviet military uniform, is named after Semyon Budyonny.
