« Mikhail Frunze was a revolutionary to the core, he believed in the inviolability of Bolshevik ideals, says Zinaida Borisova, head of the Samara House-Museum of M. V. Frunze. - After all, he was a romantic, creative person. He even wrote poems about the revolution under the pseudonym Ivan Mogila: “... the cattle will be driven away from fooled women by deception by a horse dealer - a godless merchant. And a lot of effort will be spent in vain, the blood of the poor will be increased by a cunning businessman..."

I.I. Brodsky. “M.V. Frunze on maneuvers”, 1929. Photo: Public Domain

“Despite his military talent, Frunze shot at a man only once - at sergeant Nikita Perlov. He couldn’t point the weapon at a person anymore,” says V. Ladimir Vozilov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Director of the Shuya Museum named after. Frunze.

Once, due to Frunze’s romantic nature, several hundred thousand people died. During the hostilities in Crimea, he had a beautiful idea: “What if we offer the white officers to surrender in exchange for a pardon?” Frunze officially addressed Wrangel: “Whoever wants to leave Russia without hindrance.”

“About 200 thousand officers then believed Frunze’s promise,” says V. Vozilov. - But Lenin And Trotsky ordered their destruction. Frunze refused to carry out the order and was removed from command of the Southern Front."

“These officers were executed in a terrible way,” continues Z. Borisova. - They were lined up on the seashore, each had a stone hung around his neck and shot in the back of the head. Frunze was very worried, fell into depression and almost shot himself.”

In 1925, Mikhail Frunze went to a sanatorium to treat a stomach ulcer that had tormented him for almost 20 years. The army commander was happy - he was gradually feeling better.

“But then the inexplicable happened,” says historian Roy Medvedev. - The council of doctors recommended going for surgery, although the success of conservative treatment was obvious. Stalin added fuel to the fire by saying: “You, Mikhail, are a military man. Finally, cut out your ulcer!” It turns out that Stalin gave Frunze the following task - to go under the knife. Like, solve this issue like a man! There is no point in taking a ballot all the time and going to a sanatorium. Played on his pride. Frunze doubted. His wife later recalled that he did not want to go on the operating table. But he accepted the challenge. And a few minutes before the operation he said: “I don’t want to!” I'm already fine! But Stalin insists...” By the way, Stalin and Voroshilov before the operation, they visited the hospital, which indicates that the leader was following the process.”

Frunze was given anesthesia. Chloroform was used. The commander did not fall asleep. The doctor ordered to increase the dose...

“The usual dose of such anesthesia is dangerous, but an increased dose could be fatal,” says R. Medvedev. - Fortunately, Frunze fell asleep safely. The doctor made an incision. It became clear that the ulcer had healed and there was nothing to cut out. The patient was stitched up. But chloroform caused poisoning. They fought for Frunze's life for 39 hours... In 1925, medicine was at a completely different level. And Frunze’s death was attributed to an accident.”

Naughty Minister

Frunze died on October 31, 1925, he was solemnly buried on Red Square. Stalin, in a solemn speech, sadly complained: “Some people leave us too easily.” Historians are still debating whether the famous military leader was stabbed to death by doctors on the operating table on Stalin’s orders or died as a result of an accident.

“I don’t think they killed my father,” admits Tatyana Frunze, daughter of a famous military leader. - Rather, it was a tragic accident. In those years, the system had not yet reached the point of killing those who could interfere with Stalin. This kind of thing only started in the 1930s.”

“It is quite possible that Stalin had thoughts of getting rid of Frunze,” says R. Medvedev. - Frunze was an independent person and more famous than Stalin himself. And the leader needed an obedient minister.”

“The legend that Frunze was stabbed to death on the operating table on Stalin’s orders was started by Trotsky,” V. Vozilov is sure. - Although Frunze’s mother was convinced that her son was killed. Yes, the Central Committee was almost omnipotent at that time: it had the right to insist that Frunze undergo an operation and to prohibit him from flying airplanes: aviation technology was very unreliable then. In my opinion, Frunze's death was natural. By the age of 40, he was a deeply ill man - advanced stomach tuberculosis, peptic ulcer. He was severely beaten several times during arrests, and during the Civil War he was concussed by an exploding bomb. Even if there had been no operation, most likely he would have died soon himself.”

There were people who blamed not only Stalin for the death of Mikhail Frunze, but also Kliment Voroshilov- after all, after the death of a friend, he received his post.

“Voroshilov was a good friend of Frunze,” says R. Medvedev. - Subsequently, he took care of his children, Tanya and Timur, although he himself already had an adopted son. By the way, Stalin also had an adopted son. It was common then: when a major communist figure died, his children went under the guardianship of another Bolshevik.”

“Kliment Voroshilov took great care of Tatyana and Timur,” says Z. Borisova. - On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Voroshilov came to Samara to our museum and, in front of the portrait of Frunze, handed Timur a dagger. And Timur swore that he would be worthy of his father’s memory. And so it happened. He made a military career, went to the front and died in battle in 1942.”

Mikhail Vasilievich

Battles and victories

Soviet military-political figure, one of the leading officials of the Red Army during the Civil War and the first half of the 1920s. Frunze acquired the status of the conqueror of Kolchak, the Ural Cossacks and Wrangel, the conqueror of Turkestan, the liquidator of the Petliurists and Makhnovists.

Having replaced Trotsky in the military leadership, he was not a member of the Stalinist group, remaining a mysterious and unusual figure in the party leadership.

Mikhail Frunze was born in the city of Pishpek (Bishkek), Semirechensk region, in the family of a Moldovan paramedic who served in Turkestan, and a Voronezh peasant woman. Apparently, he was the bearer of a certain Turkestan worldview, imperial consciousness. Mikhail graduated from the gymnasium in Verny with a gold medal, and studied at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, where he studied economics. The student environment of the capital influenced the formation of Mikhail’s political views. Frunze was a romantic and an idealist. Populist views played a significant role in his beliefs, but he saw his going to the people not in moving to the village and working there, but in working with the proletariat in factories.

From a letter to his brother, 1904:

To deeply understand the laws that govern the course of history, to plunge headlong into reality... to radically remake everything - this is the goal of my life.

From a letter to my brother:

Change my whole life so that there is no poverty and deprivation for anyone, ever... I am not looking for something easy in life.

Frunze's views changed over time. The pre-revolutionary period of Frunze’s activity can be called anti-state and anti-social (it is interesting that he combined this with patriotic views, for example, during the Russian-Japanese War). He never graduated from the institute, being carried away by the revolutionary struggle. In 1904, at the age of 19, Frunze joined the RSDLP. He took part in the demonstration on January 9, 1905 (“Bloody Sunday”), and was wounded in the arm. Under the pseudonym “Comrade Arseny” (there were other underground nicknames - Trifonych, Mikhailov, Vasilenko), Frunze became involved in active anti-government activities. Already in 1905, he worked in Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Shuya, which were the centers of the country's textile industry (the 3rd largest industrial region in the Russian Empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow), led a general strike of textile workers and created a fighting squad. The first Soviet of Workers' Deputies in Russia arose in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. Under the leadership of Frunze, strikes, rallies, seizures of weapons are held, leaflets are compiled and published. During this period, Frunze also collaborated with representatives of other political parties. In December 1905, Frunze and his fighters took part in an armed uprising in Moscow on Presnya. In 1906, at the IV Congress of the RSDLP in Stockholm, Frunze (the youngest delegate of the congress) met V.I. Lenin.

Vladimir Central. 1907

Frunze did not shy away from terrorist acts. Thus, under his leadership, an armed seizure of a printing house in Shuya was organized on January 17, 1907, and an armed attack on a police officer. For this, Frunze was twice sentenced to death, but under public pressure (including as a result of the intervention of the famous writer V.G. Korolenko), the sentence was commuted. He ended up in hard labor and later lived in exile in Siberia. In 1916 he escaped, moved to European Russia and went to the front as a volunteer. However, soon Frunze, on instructions from his party, got a job in the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, while simultaneously doing revolutionary work among soldiers on the Western Front (including campaigning for fraternization with the Germans). By this time, Frunze already had a reputation among the Bolsheviks as a military man (although he never received a military education), as a person associated with underground militant organizations. Frunze loved weapons and tried to carry them with him.

In 1917, Frunze led the Minsk organization of the Bolsheviks, participated in battles in Moscow, where he ordered to send his detachment. With the coming of the Bolsheviks to power, the nature of Frunze's activities radically changed. If before 1917 he worked to destroy the state and disintegrate the army, now he became one of the active builders of the Soviet state and its armed forces. At the end of 1917, he was elected as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly from the Bolsheviks. At the beginning of 1918, Frunze became chairman of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk provincial committee of the RCP (b), military commissar of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk province. In August 1918, Frunze became military commissar of the Yaroslavl Military District, which included eight provinces. It was necessary to restore the district after the recent uprising in Yaroslavl; it was necessary to quickly form rifle divisions for the Red Army. This is where Frunze’s collaboration with former General Staff Major General F.F. began. Novitsky. Cooperation continued with Frunze’s transfer to the Eastern Front.

According to Novitsky, Frunze

had an amazing ability to quickly understand the most complex and new issues for him, to separate the essential from the secondary, and then distribute the work among the performers in accordance with the abilities of each. He also knew how to select people, as if by instinct, guessing who was capable of what...

Of course, the former volunteer Frunze did not have technical knowledge of preparing and organizing combat operations. However, he valued military professionals, former officers, and united around himself a galaxy of experienced General Staff officers, with whom he tried not to part ways. Thus, his victories were predetermined by the active and highly professional activities of the team of military specialists of the old army, whose work he led. Realizing the inadequacy of his military knowledge, Frunze carefully studied military literature and engaged in self-education. However, according to the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic L.D. Trotsky, Frunze “was fascinated by abstract schemes, he had a poor understanding of people and easily fell under the influence of specialists, mostly secondary ones.”

There is no doubt that Frunze had the charisma of a military leader, capable of leading the Red Army masses, and great personal courage and determination. It is no coincidence that Frunze loved to be in front of the troops, with a rifle in his hands in battle formations. He was shell-shocked in June 1919 near Ufa. However, above all, he was a talented organizer and political leader who knew how to organize the work of headquarters and the rear in emergency conditions. On the Eastern Front under Frunze, local mobilizations were successfully carried out.

From Frunze’s speech in 1919: “Every fool can understand that there, in the camp of our enemies, there cannot be a national revival of Russia, that on that side there can be no talk of fighting for the well-being of the Russian people. Because it is not because of their beautiful eyes that all these French and English are helping Denikin and Kolchak - it is natural that they are pursuing their own interests. This fact should be quite clear that Russia is not there, that Russia is with us... We are not weaklings like Kerensky. We are engaged in a mortal battle. We know that if they defeat us, then hundreds of thousands, millions of the best, most persistent and energetic in our country will be exterminated, we know that they will not talk to us, they will only hang us, and our entire homeland will be covered in blood. Our country will be enslaved by foreign capital. As for factories and factories, they have long been sold...

A people of many millions can be defeated, but it cannot be crushed... The eyes of the enslaved all over the world are turned to our poor, tormented country.

Turkestan. 1920

Frunze gained direct front-line experience only in 1919, when he took over as commander of the 4th Army of the Eastern Front and commander of the Southern Group of Front Forces, which delivered the main blow to the advancing troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak. The attack by the Frunze group on the flank of the White Western Army in the Buzuluk area brought success and ultimately led to a turning point in the situation at the front and the transfer of initiative from the Whites to the Reds. The entire series of Red operations turned out to be successful - the Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa operations, carried out from the end of April to the second half of June 1919. As a result of these operations, the Kolchakites were thrown back from the Volga region to the Urals, and later ended up in Siberia. Frunze commanded the Turkestan Army and the entire Eastern Front. For successes on the Eastern Front he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

From Frunze’s appeal to the Cossacks in 1919: “Has Soviet power collapsed? No, it exists in spite of the enemies of the working people, and its existence is stronger than ever. That this is so, just think about the following words of the sworn enemy of labor Russia, the English First Minister Lloyd George, which he said the other day in the English Parliament: “Apparently, hopes for a military defeat of the Bolsheviks are not destined to come true. Our Russian friends have recently suffered a number of significant setbacks..."

Who are Mr. Lloyd George's Russian friends? These are Denikin, Yudenich, Kolchak, who sold the property of the Russian people to English capital - Russian ore, timber, oil and bread, and for this they were awarded the title of “friends”.

What happened to Lloyd George's friends that made them lose faith in the military defeat of the Bolsheviks?

The answer to this is given by the picture of the military situation on the fronts of the Soviet Republic... two of the three main enemies of labor Russia: Kolchak and Yudenich have already been removed from the scene... Soviet power, which is the power of the working people, is indestructible.”

From August 1919 to September 1920 he commanded the Turkestan Front. As a native and expert of Turkestan, he found himself in the right place. During this period, under the leadership of Frunze, the blockade of Turkestan was broken (on September 13, at the Mugodzharskaya station south of Aktyubinsk, units of the 1st Army united with Turkestan Red formations), the region was cleared of whites, the Southern, Separate Ural, Separate Orenburg and Semirechensk white armies were defeated , the Bukhara Emirate was liquidated, successes were achieved in the fight against the Basmachi.

In September 1920, Frunze, who had acquired a reputation as a successful party military leader, was appointed commander of the Southern Front, whose task was to defeat the Russian army of General P.N. Wrangel in Crimea. The Perekop-Chongar operation against Wrangel’s Russian army with the passage through Sivash was developed by a team of staff workers of the Southern Front, formed around M.V. Frunze was still on the Eastern and Turkestan fronts. Commander-in-Chief S.S. was directly involved in the preparation of the operation. Kamenev and the Chief of the Field Headquarters of the RVSR P.P. Lebedev. As a result of this operation, Wrangel's army was forced to evacuate from Crimea abroad. The large-scale Civil War in Russia ended here.

As a result of the Civil War, Frunze acquired the status of the winner of Kolchak, the Ural Cossacks and Wrangel, the conqueror of Turkestan, the liquidator of the Petliurists and Makhnovists. This was the status of a real party military nugget. In fact, of the three main enemies of Soviet power, Kolchak, Denikin and Wrangel, Frunze was considered the winner of two.

In the early 1920s. Frunze headed the armed forces of Ukraine and Crimea. His main focus was on eliminating banditry in Ukraine, which he did brilliantly, earning the second Order of the Red Banner. In the summer of 1921, Frunze was wounded in a shootout with the Makhnovists. As a contemporary noted, “from the Central Committee of the CPB(u) for this risk, comrade. Frunze received the nadir, and from the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic - the second Order of the Red Banner.” In 1921-1922 Frunze went on a military-diplomatic mission to Turkey, where he brought financial aid to Mustafa Kemal.

Frunze was not a cruel person. During the Civil War, orders were issued under his signature on humane treatment of prisoners, which, for example, displeased party leader V.I. Lenin. As a decent person, he was a bad politician. It is no coincidence that V.M. Molotov subsequently noted that Frunze was not completely one of the Bolsheviks. Possessing a special sense of responsibility, he was more of a talented executor of orders from above than a leader.

During the period of the struggle of the Stalinist group with L.D. Trotsky in 1924, Frunze took the posts of Chief of Staff of the Red Army, Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, and Head of the Military Academy of the Red Army. In 1925, he became chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Contrary to subsequent myths, Frunze, in leadership positions in the Red Army, continued Trotsky’s policy of reforming the army. The reform consisted of an attempt to create a personnel army, organize a territorial system of troops, improve the quality of command personnel and improve combat training, remove unreliable elements, reduce the central apparatus, reorganize supplies, introduce new military equipment, and strengthen unity of command. The military reform was not very well thought out and, in many respects, proceeded under the influence of political struggle in the party.

Frunze compiled a number of military theoretical works, including developing the military doctrine of the Red Army.

From an article by Frunze in 1925:

The lack of modern military equipment is the weakest point of our defense... We must become independent from abroad not only in mass industrial activity, but also in constructive and inventive work.

Having replaced Trotsky's henchmen, and later the leader of the Red Army himself in the military leadership, Frunze, however, was not a member of the Stalinist group. He remained independent and had a certain authority among the troops, which, of course, could not suit the party elite. It is doubtful that Frunze had any Bonapartist intentions. However, for those around him he remained a mysterious and unusual figure at the top of the party.

M.V. Frunze. Artist Brodsky I.I.

The untimely death of 40-year-old Frunze on the operating table at the Soldatenkovsky (Botkin) hospital still remains, in many ways, mysterious. Versions that he was killed during a surgical operation by order of I.V. Stalin, became widespread already in the mid-1920s. Frunze was buried near the Kremlin wall. Frunze's son Timur became a fighter pilot, died in battle in 1942, and was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After death, the figure of M.V. Frunze turned out to be mythologized and idealized. His merits were beneficial for propagating the official ideology, since he was dead, and during his lifetime he was weakly associated with Trotsky. In fact, the figure of Frunze as the leader of the Red Army was replaced by the figure of the true leader of the army during the Civil War and the early 1920s. - Leon Trotsky. In the USSR, a posthumous cult of Frunze developed; his name was immortalized in the names of numerous settlements, districts, streets and squares, metro stations, in the names of geographical objects (Frunze Peak in the Pamirs, Cape Frunze in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago), in the names of various enterprises and organizations , in many monuments, in books, philately and cinema.

Ganin A.V., Ph.D., Institute of Slavic Studies RAS

Literature

Gareev M.A. M.V. Frunze is a military theorist. M., 1985

Kalyuzhny I.T. Versions and truth about the illness and death of M.V. Frunze. Bishkek, 1996

Memories of friends and associates. M., 1965

Life and activity. M., 1962

: Unknown and forgotten. Journalism, memoirs, documents, letters. M., 1991

About Mikhail Frunze: Memoirs, essays, articles by contemporaries. M., 1985

Frunze M.V. Selected works. M., 1950

Internet

Gorbaty-Shuisky Alexander Borisovich

Hero of the Kazan War, first governor of Kazan

Batitsky

I served in the air defense and therefore I know this surname - Batitsky. Do you know? By the way, the father of air defense!

Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich

During the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-1791, F. F. Ushakov made a serious contribution to the development of sailing fleet tactics. Relying on the entire set of principles for training naval forces and military art, incorporating all the accumulated tactical experience, F. F. Ushakov acted creatively, based on the specific situation and common sense. His actions were distinguished by decisiveness and extraordinary courage. Without hesitation, he reorganized the fleet into battle formation even when approaching the enemy directly, minimizing the time of tactical deployment. Despite the established tactical rule of the commander being in the middle of the battle formation, Ushakov, implementing the principle of concentration of forces, boldly placed his ship in the forefront and occupied the most dangerous positions, encouraging his commanders with his own courage. He was distinguished by a quick assessment of the situation, an accurate calculation of all success factors and a decisive attack aimed at achieving complete victory over the enemy. In this regard, Admiral F. F. Ushakov can rightfully be considered the founder of the Russian tactical school in naval art.

Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich

Hero of the Russian-Persian War of 1804-1813. At one time they called Suvorov of the Caucasus. On October 19, 1812, at the Aslanduz ford across the Araks, at the head of a detachment of 2,221 people with 6 guns, Pyotr Stepanovich defeated the Persian army of 30,000 people with 12 guns. In other battles, he also acted not with numbers, but with skill.

Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich

Soviet military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945).
From 1942 to 1946, commander of the 62nd Army (8th Guards Army), which particularly distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad. He took part in defensive battles on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. From September 12, 1942, he commanded the 62nd Army. IN AND. Chuikov received the task of defending Stalingrad at any cost. The front command believed that Lieutenant General Chuikov was characterized by such positive qualities as determination and firmness, courage and a great operational outlook, a high sense of responsibility and consciousness of his duty. The army, under the command of V.I. Chuikov, became famous for the heroic six-month defense of Stalingrad in street fighting in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads on the banks of the wide Volga.

For the unprecedented mass heroism and steadfastness of its personnel, in April 1943, the 62nd Army received the honorary title of Guards and became known as the 8th Guards Army.

Chichagov Vasily Yakovlevich

Superbly commanded the Baltic Fleet in the campaigns of 1789 and 1790. He won victories in the battle of Öland (7/15/1789), in the Revel (5/2/1790) and Vyborg (06/22/1790) battles. After the last two defeats, which were of strategic importance, the dominance of the Baltic Fleet became unconditional, and this forced the Swedes to make peace. There are few such examples in the history of Russia when victories at sea led to victory in the war. And by the way, the Battle of Vyborg was one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of ships and people.

Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich

In World War I, commander of the 8th Army in the Battle of Galicia. On August 15-16, 1914, during the Rohatyn battles, he defeated the 2nd Austro-Hungarian Army, capturing 20 thousand people. and 70 guns. On August 20, Galich was captured. The 8th Army takes an active part in the battles at Rava-Russkaya and in the Battle of Gorodok. In September he commanded a group of troops from the 8th and 3rd armies. From September 28 to October 11, his army withstood a counterattack by the 2nd and 3rd Austro-Hungarian armies in battles on the San River and near the city of Stryi. During the successfully completed battles, 15 thousand enemy soldiers were captured, and at the end of October his army entered the foothills of the Carpathians.

Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich

The only commander who carried out the order of Headquarters on June 22, 1941, counterattacked the Germans, drove them back in his sector and went on the offensive.

Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (November 4 (November 16) 1874, St. Petersburg - February 7, 1920, Irkutsk) - Russian oceanographer, one of the largest polar explorers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, military and political figure, naval commander, active member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (1906), admiral (1918), leader of the White movement, Supreme Ruler of Russia.

Participant of the Russian-Japanese War, Defense of Port Arthur. During the First World War, he commanded the mine division of the Baltic Fleet (1915-1916), the Black Sea Fleet (1916-1917). Knight of St. George.
The leader of the White movement both on a nationwide scale and directly in the East of Russia. As the Supreme Ruler of Russia (1918-1920), he was recognized by all the leaders of the White movement, “de jure” by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, “de facto” by the Entente states.
Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army.

Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich

A prominent military figure, scientist, traveler and discoverer. Admiral of the Russian Fleet, whose talent was highly appreciated by Emperor Nicholas II. The Supreme Ruler of Russia during the Civil War, a true Patriot of his Fatherland, a man of a tragic, interesting fate. One of those military men who tried to save Russia during the years of turmoil, in the most difficult conditions, being in very difficult international diplomatic conditions.

Yaroslav the Wise

His Serene Highness Prince Wittgenstein Peter Christianovich

For the defeat of the French units of Oudinot and MacDonald at Klyastitsy, thereby closing the road for the French army to St. Petersburg in 1812. Then in October 1812 he defeated the corps of Saint-Cyr at Polotsk. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian-Prussian armies in April-May 1813.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

according to the only criterion - invincibility.

Romanov Pyotr Alekseevich

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The only commander I know of who was equally talented in both land and sea battles.
The main thing is that Peter I created a domestic military school. If all the great commanders of Russia are the heirs of Suvorov, then Suvorov himself is the heir of Peter.
The Battle of Poltava was one of the greatest (if not the greatest) victory in Russian history. In all other great aggressive invasions of Russia, the general battle did not have a decisive outcome, and the struggle dragged on, leading to exhaustion. It was only in the Northern War that the general battle radically changed the state of affairs, and from the attacking side the Swedes became the defending side, decisively losing the initiative.
I believe that Peter I deserves to be in the top three on the list of the best commanders of Russia.

Donskoy Dmitry Ivanovich

His army won the Kulikovo victory.

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich

Victory in the Great Patriotic War, saving the entire planet from absolute evil, and our country from extinction.
From the first hours of the war, Stalin controlled the country, front and rear. On land, at sea and in the air.
His merit is not one or even ten battles or campaigns, his merit is Victory, made up of hundreds of battles of the Great Patriotic War: the battle of Moscow, battles in the North Caucasus, the Battle of Stalingrad, the battle of Kursk, the battle of Leningrad and many others before the capture Berlin, success in which was achieved thanks to the monotonous inhuman work of the genius of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Dolgorukov Yuri Alekseevich

An outstanding statesman and military leader of the era of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Prince. Commanding the Russian army in Lithuania, in 1658 he defeated Hetman V. Gonsevsky in the Battle of Verki, taking him prisoner. This was the first time since 1500 that a Russian governor captured the hetman. In 1660, at the head of an army sent to Mogilev, besieged by Polish-Lithuanian troops, he won a strategic victory over the enemy on the Basya River near the village of Gubarevo, forcing hetmans P. Sapieha and S. Charnetsky to retreat from the city. Thanks to the actions of Dolgorukov, the “front line” in Belarus along the Dnieper remained until the end of the war of 1654-1667. In 1670, he led an army aimed at fighting the Cossacks of Stenka Razin, and quickly suppressed the Cossack rebellion, which subsequently led to the Don Cossacks swearing an oath of allegiance to the Tsar and transforming the Cossacks from robbers into “sovereign servants.”

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

He is a great commander who did not lose a single (!) battle, the founder of Russian military affairs, and fought battles with genius, regardless of their conditions.

Antonov Alexey Inokentevich

Chief strategist of the USSR in 1943-45, practically unknown to society
"Kutuzov" World War II

Humble and committed. Victorious. Author of all operations since the spring of 1943 and the victory itself. Others gained fame - Stalin and the front commanders.

Izylmetyev Ivan Nikolaevich

Commanded the frigate "Aurora". He made the transition from St. Petersburg to Kamchatka in a record time for those times in 66 days. In Callao Bay he eluded the Anglo-French squadron. Arriving in Petropavlovsk together with the governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Zavoiko V. organized the defense of the city, during which the sailors from the Aurora, together with local residents, threw the outnumbered Anglo-French landing force into the sea. Then he took the Aurora to the Amur Estuary, hiding it there After these events, the British public demanded a trial of the admirals who lost the Russian frigate.

Rumyantsev Pyotr Alexandrovich

Russian military leader and statesman, who ruled Little Russia throughout the reign of Catherine II (1761-96). During the Seven Years' War he commanded the capture of Kolberg. For victories over the Turks at Larga, Kagul and others, which led to the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace, he was awarded the title “Transdanubian”. In 1770 he received the rank of Field Marshal. Knight of the Russian orders of St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. George 1st class and St. Vladimir 1st class, Prussian Black Eagle and St. Anna 1st class

Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich

Because he inspires many by personal example.

Bennigsen Leonty

An unjustly forgotten commander. Having won several battles against Napoleon and his marshals, he drew two battles with Napoleon and lost one battle. Participated in the Battle of Borodino. One of the contenders for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army during the Patriotic War of 1812!

Stessel Anatoly Mikhailovich

Commandant of Port Arthur during his heroic defense. The unprecedented ratio of losses of Russian and Japanese troops before the surrender of the fortress is 1:10.

Platov Matvey Ivanovich

Ataman of the Great Don Army (from 1801), cavalry general (1809), who took part in all the wars of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries.
In 1771 he distinguished himself during the attack and capture of the Perekop line and Kinburn. From 1772 he began to command a Cossack regiment. During the 2nd Turkish War he distinguished himself during the assault on Ochakov and Izmail. Participated in the battle of Preussisch-Eylau.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, he first commanded all the Cossack regiments on the border, and then, covering the retreat of the army, won victories over the enemy near the towns of Mir and Romanovo. In the battle near the village of Semlevo, Platov’s army defeated the French and captured a colonel from the army of Marshal Murat. During the retreat of the French army, Platov, pursuing it, inflicted defeats on it at Gorodnya, Kolotsky Monastery, Gzhatsk, Tsarevo-Zaimishch, near Dukhovshchina and when crossing the Vop River. For his merits he was elevated to the rank of count. In November, Platov captured Smolensk from battle and defeated the troops of Marshal Ney near Dubrovna. At the beginning of January 1813, he entered Prussia and besieged Danzig; in September he received command of a special corps, with which he participated in the battle of Leipzig and, pursuing the enemy, captured about 15 thousand people. In 1814, he fought at the head of his regiments during the capture of Nemur, Arcy-sur-Aube, Cezanne, Villeneuve. Awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

Paskevich Ivan Fedorovich

The armies under his command defeated Persia in the war of 1826-1828 and completely defeated Turkish troops in Transcaucasia in the war of 1828-1829.

Awarded all 4 degrees of the Order of St. George and the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called with diamonds.

Baklanov Yakov Petrovich

The Cossack general, “the thunderstorm of the Caucasus,” Yakov Petrovich Baklanov, one of the most colorful heroes of the endless Caucasian War of the century before last, fits perfectly into the image of Russia familiar to the West. A gloomy two-meter hero, a tireless persecutor of highlanders and Poles, an enemy of political correctness and democracy in all its manifestations. But it was precisely these people who achieved the most difficult victory for the empire in the long-term confrontation with the inhabitants of the North Caucasus and the unkind local nature

Ermolov Alexey Petrovich

Hero of the Napoleonic Wars and the Patriotic War of 1812. Conqueror of the Caucasus. A smart strategist and tactician, a strong-willed and brave warrior.

Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich

The greatest commander of the Second World War. Two people in history were awarded the Order of Victory twice: Vasilevsky and Zhukov, but after the Second World War it was Vasilevsky who became the Minister of Defense of the USSR. His military genius is unsurpassed by ANY military leader in the world.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

A commander who has not lost a single battle in his career. He took the impregnable fortress of Ishmael the first time.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

An outstanding Russian commander. He successfully defended the interests of Russia both from external aggression and outside the country.

Momyshuly Bauyrzhan

Fidel Castro called him a hero of World War II.
He brilliantly put into practice the tactics of fighting with small forces against an enemy many times superior in strength, developed by Major General I.V. Panfilov, which later received the name “Momyshuly’s spiral.”

Yudenich Nikolai Nikolaevich

The best Russian commander during the First World War. An ardent patriot of his Motherland.

Gurko Joseph Vladimirovich

Field Marshal General (1828-1901) Hero of Shipka and Plevna, Liberator of Bulgaria (a street in Sofia is named after him, a monument was erected). In 1877 he commanded the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division. To quickly capture some passes through the Balkans, Gurko led an advance detachment consisting of four cavalry regiments, a rifle brigade and the newly formed Bulgarian militia, with two batteries of horse artillery. Gurko completed his task quickly and boldly and won a series of victories over the Turks, ending with the capture of Kazanlak and Shipka. During the struggle for Plevna, Gurko, at the head of the guard and cavalry troops of the western detachment, defeated the Turks near Gorny Dubnyak and Telish, then again went to the Balkans, occupied Entropol and Orhanye, and after the fall of Plevna, reinforced by the IX Corps and the 3rd Guards Infantry Division , despite the terrible cold, crossed the Balkan ridge, took Philippopolis and occupied Adrianople, opening the way to Constantinople. At the end of the war, he commanded military districts, was governor-general, and a member of the state council. Buried in Tver (Sakharovo village)

Vladimir Svyatoslavich

981 - conquest of Cherven and Przemysl. 983 - conquest of the Yatvags. 984 - conquest of the Rodimichs. 985 - successful campaigns against the Bulgars, tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. 988 - conquest of the Taman Peninsula. 991 - subjugation of the White Croats. 992 - successfully defended Cherven Rus in the war against Poland. In addition, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles.

Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich

After Zhukov, who took Berlin, the second should be the brilliant strategist Kutuzov, who drove the French out of Russia.

Suvorov, Count Rymniksky, Prince of Italy Alexander Vasilievich

The greatest commander, master strategist, tactician and military theorist. Author of the book "The Science of Victory", Generalissimo of the Russian Army. The only one in the history of Russia who did not suffer a single defeat.

Saltykov Pyotr Semyonovich

The largest successes of the Russian army in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 are associated with his name. Winner in the battles of Palzig,
In the Battle of Kunersdorf, defeating the Prussian king Frederick II the Great, Berlin was taken by the troops of Totleben and Chernyshev.

Golenishchev-Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich

(1745-1813).
1. A GREAT Russian commander, he was an example for his soldiers. Appreciated every soldier. “M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov is not only the liberator of the Fatherland, he is the only one who outplayed the hitherto invincible French emperor, turning the “great army” into a crowd of ragamuffins, saving, thanks to his military genius, the lives of many Russian soldiers.”
2. Mikhail Illarionovich, being a highly educated man who knew several foreign languages, dexterous, sophisticated, who knew how to animate society with the gift of words and an entertaining story, also served Russia as an excellent diplomat - ambassador to Turkey.
3. M.I. Kutuzov is the first to become a full holder of the highest military order of St. St. George the Victorious four degrees.
The life of Mikhail Illarionovich is an example of service to the fatherland, attitude towards soldiers, spiritual strength for Russian military leaders of our time and, of course, for the younger generation - future military men.

Denikin Anton Ivanovich

The commander, under whose command the white army, with smaller forces, won victories over the red army for 1.5 years and captured the North Caucasus, Crimea, Novorossia, Donbass, Ukraine, Don, part of the Volga region and the central black earth provinces of Russia. He retained the dignity of his Russian name during the Second World War, refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, despite his irreconcilably anti-Soviet position

Romanov Mikhail Timofeevich

The heroic defense of Mogilev, the first all-round anti-tank defense of the city.

Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich

Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich

He made the greatest contribution as a strategist to the victory in the Great Patriotic War (aka World War II).

Shein Mikhail Borisovich

He headed the Smolensk defense against Polish-Lithuanian troops, which lasted 20 months. Under the command of Shein, multiple attacks were repelled, despite the explosion and a hole in the wall. He held back and bled the main forces of the Poles at the decisive moment of the Time of Troubles, preventing them from moving to Moscow to support their garrison, creating the opportunity to gather an all-Russian militia to liberate the capital. Only with the help of a defector, the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to take Smolensk on June 3, 1611. The wounded Shein was captured and taken with his family to Poland for 8 years. After returning to Russia, he commanded the army that tried to recapture Smolensk in 1632-1634. Executed due to boyar slander. Undeservedly forgotten.

Margelov Vasily Filippovich

Creator of modern airborne forces. When the BMD with its crew parachuted for the first time, its commander was his son. In my opinion, this fact speaks about such a wonderful person as V.F. Margelov, that's it. About his devotion to the Airborne Forces!

Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich

One of the best Russian generals of the First World War. In June 1916, troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of Adjutant General A.A. Brusilov, simultaneously striking in several directions, broke through the enemy’s deeply layered defenses and advanced 65 km. In military history, this operation was called the Brusilov breakthrough.

One of the most successful generals in Russia during the First World War. The Erzurum and Sarakamysh operations carried out by him on the Caucasian front, carried out in extremely unfavorable conditions for Russian troops, and ending in victories, I believe, deserve to be included among the brightest victories of Russian weapons. In addition, Nikolai Nikolaevich stood out for his modesty and decency, lived and died as an honest Russian officer, and remained faithful to the oath to the end.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

If anyone has not heard, there is no point in writing

Vatutin Nikolay Fedorovich

Operations "Uranus", "Little Saturn", "Leap", etc. and so on.
A true war worker

Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich
While participating in the air battles of the Great Patriotic War, he developed and tested in battles new tactics of air combat, which made it possible to seize the initiative in the air and ultimately defeat the fascist Luftwaffe. In fact, he created an entire school of WWII aces. Commanding the 9th Guards Air Division, he continued to personally participate in air battles, scoring 65 air victories throughout the entire period of the war.

Slashchev Yakov Alexandrovich

Dovator Lev Mikhailovich

Soviet military leader, major general, Hero of the Soviet Union. Known for successful operations to destroy German troops during the Great Patriotic War. The German command placed a large reward on Dovator's head.
Together with the 8th Guards Division named after Major General I.V. Panfilov, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of General M.E. Katukov and other troops of the 16th Army, his corps defended the approaches to Moscow in the Volokolamsk direction.

Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich

Participant in the Russo-Japanese and First World Wars, one of the main leaders (1918−1920) of the White movement during the Civil War. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in Crimea and Poland (1920). General Staff Lieutenant General (1918). Knight of St. George.

Yulaev Salavat

Commander of the Pugachev era (1773-1775). Together with Pugachev, he organized an uprising and tried to change the position of the peasants in society. He won several victories over the troops of Catherine II.

Katukov Mikhail Efimovich

Perhaps the only bright spot against the background of Soviet armored force commanders. A tank driver who went through the entire war, starting from the border. A commander whose tanks always showed their superiority to the enemy. His tank brigades were the only ones(!) in the first period of the war that were not defeated by the Germans and even caused them significant damage.
His First Guards Tank Army remained combat-ready, although it defended itself from the very first days of the fighting on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge, while exactly the same 5th Guards Tank Army of Rotmistrov was practically destroyed on the very first day it entered the battle (June 12)
This is one of the few of our commanders who took care of his troops and fought not with numbers, but with skill.

Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich

It's simple - It was he, as a commander, who made the greatest contribution to the defeat of Napoleon. He saved the army under the most difficult conditions, despite misunderstandings and grave accusations of treason. It was to him that our great poet Pushkin, practically a contemporary of those events, dedicated the poem “Commander”.
Pushkin, recognizing Kutuzov's merits, did not oppose him to Barclay. In place of the common alternative “Barclay or Kutuzov,” with the traditional resolution in favor of Kutuzov, Pushkin came to a new position: both Barclay and Kutuzov are both worthy of the grateful memory of posterity, but Kutuzov is revered by everyone, but Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly is undeservedly forgotten.
Pushkin mentioned Barclay de Tolly even earlier, in one of the chapters of “Eugene Onegin” -

Thunderstorm of the twelfth year
It has arrived - who helped us here?
The frenzy of the people
Barclay, winter or Russian god?...

Baklanov Yakov Petrovich

An outstanding strategist and a mighty warrior, he achieved respect and fear of his name among the uncovered mountaineers, who had forgotten the iron grip of the “Thunderstorm of the Caucasus”. At the moment - Yakov Petrovich, an example of the spiritual strength of a Russian soldier in front of the proud Caucasus. His talent crushed the enemy and minimized the time frame of the Caucasian War, for which he received the nickname “Boklu”, akin to the devil for his fearlessness.

Rurikovich Svyatoslav Igorevich

Great commander of the Old Russian period. The first Kiev prince known to us with a Slavic name. The last pagan ruler of the Old Russian state. He glorified Rus' as a great military power in the campaigns of 965-971. Karamzin called him “Alexander (Macedonian) of our ancient history.” The prince freed the Slavic tribes from vassal dependence on the Khazars, defeating the Khazar Khaganate in 965. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 970, during the Russian-Byzantine War, Svyatoslav managed to win the battle of Arcadiopolis, having 10,000 soldiers under his command, against 100,000 Greeks. But at the same time, Svyatoslav led the life of a simple warrior: “On campaigns he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate it like that; he did not have a tent , but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in their heads - the same were all the rest of his warriors. And he sent envoys to other lands [envoys, as a rule, before declaring war] with the words: “I’m coming to you!” (According to PVL)

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich

He led the armed struggle of the Soviet people in the war against Germany and its allies and satellites, as well as in the war against Japan.
Led the Red Army to Berlin and Port Arthur.

Golovanov Alexander Evgenievich

He is the creator of Soviet long-range aviation (LAA).
Units under the command of Golovanov bombed Berlin, Koenigsberg, Danzig and other cities in Germany, striking important strategic targets behind enemy lines.

Kornilov Vladimir Alekseevich

During the outbreak of the war with England and France, he actually commanded the Black Sea Fleet, and until his heroic death he was the immediate superior of P.S. Nakhimov and V.I. Istomina. After the landing of the Anglo-French troops in Yevpatoria and the defeat of the Russian troops on Alma, Kornilov received an order from the commander-in-chief in the Crimea, Prince Menshikov, to sink the ships of the fleet in the roadstead in order to use sailors for the defense of Sevastopol from land.

One of those commanders who managed to inflict exemplary defeats on one of the best commanders in Europe in the 18th century - Frederick II of Prussia

Shein Alexey Semyonovich

The first Russian generalissimo. Leader of the Azov campaigns of Peter I.

Miloradovich

Bagration, Miloradovich, Davydov are some very special breed of people. They don't do things like that now. The heroes of 1812 were distinguished by complete recklessness and complete contempt for death. And it was General Miloradovich, who went through all the wars for Russia without a single scratch, who became the first victim of individual terror. After Kakhovsky’s shot on Senate Square, the Russian revolution continued along this path - right up to the basement of the Ipatiev House. Taking away the best.

Romanov Alexander I Pavlovich

The de facto commander-in-chief of the allied armies that liberated Europe in 1813-1814. "He took Paris, he founded the Lyceum." The Great Leader who crushed Napoleon himself. (The shame of Austerlitz is not comparable to the tragedy of 1941)

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich

01/28/1887 - 09/05/1919 life. Head of the Red Army division, participant in the First World War and the Civil War.
Recipient of three St. George's Crosses and the St. George's Medal. Knight of the Order of the Red Banner.
On his account:
- Organization of the district Red Guard of 14 detachments.
- Participation in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn).
- Participation in the campaign of the Special Army to Uralsk.
- Initiative to reorganize the Red Guard units into two Red Army regiments: them. Stepan Razin and them. Pugachev, united in the Pugachev brigade under the command of Chapaev.
- Participation in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People’s Army, from whom Nikolaevsk was recaptured, renamed Pugachevsk in honor of the brigade. Generals of Ancient Rus'

...Ivan III (capture of Novgorod, Kazan), Vasily III (capture of Smolensk), Ivan IV the Terrible (capture of Kazan, Livonian campaigns), M.I. Vorotynsky (battle of Molodi with Devlet-Girey), Tsar V.I. Shuisky (battle of Dobrynichi, capture of Tula), M.V. Skopin-Shuisky (liberation of Moscow from False Dmitry II), F.I. Sheremetev (liberation of the Volga region from False Dmitry II), F.I. Mstislavsky (many different campaigns, repulse Kazy-Girey), There were many commanders during the Time of Troubles.

K.K. Rokossovsky

The intelligence of this marshal connected the Russian army with the Red Army.

Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich

He commanded the tank corps, the 60th Army, and from April 1944 the 3rd Belorussian Front. He showed brilliant talent and particularly distinguished himself during the Belarusian and East Prussian operations. He was distinguished by his ability to conduct highly untimely combat operations. Mortally wounded in February 1945.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze died on October 31, 1925. The true circumstances of his death are still unknown: according to official data, the revolutionary died after surgery, but people's rumor linked his death...

Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze died on October 31, 1925. The true circumstances of his death are still unknown: according to official data, the revolutionary died after an operation, but popular rumor linked Frunze’s death either with Trotsky’s sabotage or with Stalin’s desire. Interesting facts about the life and death of a party leader are in our material.

"Die is cast"

Mikhail Frunze was born in 1885 into the family of a tradesman paramedic and the daughter of a Narodnaya Volya member. His birthplace is Pishpek (that’s what Bishkek was called at that time). In 1904, Frunze became a student at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, after which he joined the RSDLP. On January 9, 1905, he took part in a procession led by Georgy Gapon. A few months after this event, Frunze wrote to his mother: “Dear mother! Perhaps you should give up on me... The streams of blood shed on January 9 require retribution. The die is cast, I give myself all to the revolution.”

Review of the sentence

Frunze did not live long, but his life could have been even shorter. The fact is that in connection with the attempted murder of a police officer, the revolutionary was arrested and sentenced to hang. However, Frunze managed to avoid such an outcome: the case was reconsidered, and the death penalty was replaced by hard labor. The military prosecutor of the Moscow Military District Court wrote in 1910 to the head of the Vladimir prison in which Frunze was kept: “On this date, I sent the prosecutor of the Vladimir District Court a verdict in the case of Mikhail Frunze and Pavel Gusev, for whom the death penalty was commuted to hard labor: Gusev to 8 years, and Frunze for 6 years. In reporting this, I consider it necessary to add that, in view of certain information, it seems advisable to ensure that Frunze does not escape in one way or another or exchange names during any transfer from one prison to another.”
“Hard labor, what grace!” - Frunze could have exclaimed in this situation, if, of course, by that time this poem by Pasternak had already been written. The prosecutor's fears were not groundless: a few years later, Frunze still managed to escape.

The mystery of death

It is difficult to say what exactly caused the death - or indeed the death - of Mikhail Frunze. There are several versions, each of which researchers find both refutations and confirmations. It is known that Frunze had serious stomach problems: he was diagnosed with an ulcer and was sent for surgery. This was written about in party publications, and confirmation was also found in the personal correspondence of the Bolshevik. Frunze told his wife in a letter: “I’m still in the hospital. There will be a new consultation on Saturday. I’m afraid that the operation will be denied.”
The People's Commissar was not denied the operation, but this did not make things any better. After the operation, Frunze came to his senses, read a friendly note from Stalin, which he was sincerely glad to receive, and died some time later. Either from blood poisoning or from heart failure. However, there are also discrepancies regarding the episode with the note: there is a version that Stalin conveyed the message, but Frunze was no longer destined to become acquainted with it.
Few believed in the version of accidental death. Some were convinced that Trotsky had a hand in Frunze’s death - only a few months had passed since the former replaced the latter as People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR. Others explicitly hinted at Stalin's involvement. This version found expression in “The Tale of the Unextinguished Moon” by Boris Pilnyak. The circulation of the magazine “New World”, on the pages of which the work appeared, was confiscated. After more than ten years, Pilnyak was shot. Obviously, “The Tale of the Unextinguished Moon” played an important role in his case.

Frunze was buried on November 3, 1925 with all honors: his remains rest in the necropolis near the Kremlin wall.

Frunze through the eyes of Brusilov's wife

In the diary of the wife of General Alexei Brusilov, you can find the following lines, written a month after the death of Frunze: “I would like to write down for memory a few details about the deceased Mikhail Vasilyevich. From a distance, from the outside, from rumors, I know what an unfortunate man he was, and it seems to me that he is subject to a completely different assessment than his other “comrades” in crazy and criminal political nonsense. It is obvious to me that retribution, karma, was clearly revealed in his fate. A year ago, his beloved girl, it seems, his only daughter, through childhood negligence, gouged out her eye with scissors. They took her to Berlin for an operation and barely saved her second eye; she almost went completely blind.”
Nadezhda Vladimirovna Brusilova-Zhelikhovskaya also pointed out that the car accident that Frunze got into shortly before his death was obviously staged. In addition, the general’s wife wrote that she talked with several doctors who were sure “that without surgery he could still live a long time.”

In the early morning of October 31, 1925, Stalin suddenly rushed hastily to the Botkin hospital, accompanied by a pack of comrades: 10 minutes before their arrival, Mikhail Frunze, a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, died there . The official version says: Frunze has an ulcer and it was impossible to do without surgery. But the operation ended with the leader of the Red Army dying “with symptoms of cardiac paralysis.”

On November 3, 1925, Frunze was seen off on his last journey, and Stalin delivered a brief funeral speech, as if in passing, noting: “Maybe this is exactly what is needed, for old comrades to go down to their graves so easily and so simply.” Then they did not pay attention to this remark. Like another: “This year has been a curse for us. He tore a number of leading comrades from our midst..."

Unhunched man

They tried to forget about the deceased, but in May 1926 the writer Boris Pilnyak recalled him, publishing his “The Tale of the Unextinguished Moon” in the magazine “New World”. Once upon a time, wrote Pilnyak, there was a heroic army commander Gavrilov, “who commanded victories and death.” And this army commander, “who had the right and the will to send people to kill their own kind and die,” took and sent him to die on the operating table “the non-hunched man in house number one,” “from the three who were in charge.” Drawing casually from secret reports from the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and the OGPU, the “non-hunching man” harshly reprimanded the legendary army commander about the millstones of the revolution and ordered him to “perform an operation,” because “the revolution demands this.” It didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess: Army Commander Gavrilov was Frunze, the “troika” was the then ruling triumvirate consisting of Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin, and the “low-hunched man” who sent the hero to the slaughter was Stalin.
Scandal! The security officers immediately confiscated the circulation, but did not touch the author of the seditious version. Gorky then, with the envy of an informer, venomously remarked: “Pilnyak is forgiven the story about the death of Comrade Frunze - a story claiming that the operation was not necessary and was performed at the insistence of the Central Committee.” But the “unbroken man” never forgave anyone for anything, the time came - October 28, 1937 - and they came for the author of “The Tale of the Unextinguished Moon.” Then Pilnyak was shot - as a Japanese spy, of course.

The picture of Frunze's death was brilliantly studied by the historian of Kremlin deaths Viktor Topolyansky, who described in detail how Stalin literally forced Frunze to go under the knife and how doctors “overdid it” with anesthesia, during which the People’s Commissar’s heart could not withstand the excess amount of chloroform. “However, what written evidence should be sought in this situation?” - the researcher asked rhetorically. At no time have any leaders left or will leave evidence of this kind. Otherwise they would not be leaders, and their retinue would not be retinue.

"The Three That Made It"

Outside the context of the events of those years, it is difficult to understand why Comrade. Stalin needed to eliminate Comrade. Frunze - just then and so Jesuitically? It’s easier to answer the last question: Stalin’s capabilities in 1925 were much weaker than ten years later. He still had to gradually grow into the omnipotent “leader of the peoples,” wresting power from the hands of his comrades in the very “troika that was in charge.” And in this progressive movement of the “not hunched over man” to the pinnacle of power, the liquidation of Frunze was only one of many steps. But it is extremely important: he not only eliminated his deadly opponent, but also replaced him with his own man - Voroshilov. Thus, gaining the most powerful lever in the struggle for power - control over the armed forces.

While Leon Trotsky held on to the chair of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs (and Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Union), the positions of Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin opposing him were so-so. In January 1925, Trotsky was “left.” Stalin has his own creature for this place, but his accomplices in the triumvirate put forward another - Frunze. “Stalin was not very happy with Frunze, but Zinoviev and Kamenev were for him,” Stalin’s ex-assistant Boris Bazhanov wrote in his memoirs, “and as a result of lengthy preliminary bargaining in the troika, Stalin agreed to appoint Frunze in Trotsky’s place.”

Anastas Mikoyan carefully noted in his memoirs that Stalin, preparing for great upheavals during his struggle for power, “wanted to have the Red Army under the reliable command of a man loyal to him, and not such an independent and authoritative political figure as Frunze was.” Zinoviev really contributed to the appointment of Frunze, but he was not his pawn at all: by moving Frunze, Zinoviev tried to shield him from Stalin. And he was a figure of equal stature: Stalin’s merits could not be compared with the brilliant (by party standards) pre-revolutionary and Civil War merits of Frunze. Not to mention Frunze’s very high rating abroad after his successful participation in a number of diplomatic actions.

And then there is a huge mass of Red Army soldiers, former and current, including military experts - former officers and generals of the old army, who enthusiastically treated Frunze as their leader during the Civil War. Since the only alternative to the party apparatus could be the military apparatus, the question of physical survival became extremely acute for Stalin: either he or Frunze.

Another Stalinist assistant, Mehlis, commenting on new appointments in the Red Army, once told Bazhanov the “master’s” opinion: “Nothing good. Look at the list: all these Tukhachevskys, Korki, Uborevichs, Avksentyevskys - what kind of communists are these? All this is good for the 18th Brumaire (the date of Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup. - V.V.), and not for the Red Army.”
Frunze was included in the anti-Stalin intrigue long before his appointment as People's Commissar: at the end of July 1923, he took part in the so-called cave meeting in Kislovodsk - confidential meetings between Zinoviev and a number of prominent party leaders who were dissatisfied with Stalin's excessive concentration of power. And, as Zinoviev wrote in a letter to Kamenev, Frunze agreed that “there is no troika, but there is the dictatorship of Stalin”!

...And October 1925 came, when Stalin, having brilliantly outplayed Frunze on the field of an apparatus-bureaucratic game alien to him, initiated the decision of the Central Committee, forcing the People's Commissar to go under the knife. Mikoyan, describing how Stalin staged the performance “in his own spirit,” noted in passing: “... it was enough for the GPU to “treat” the anesthesiologist.” And the highly experienced Mikoyan, who at one time was even expected to become the leader of the NKVD, knew well what it meant to “process”!

Grisha's Bureau

Bazhanov realized that the matter was dirty “when he learned that the operation was being organized by Kanner with the Central Committee doctor Pogosyants. My vague suspicions turned out to be quite correct. During the operation, precisely the anesthesia that Frunze could not bear was cunningly applied.”

Grigory Kanner was called “assistant in dark affairs” in Stalin’s circle. In particular, it was he who organized for Stalin the opportunity to listen to the phones of the then Kremlin celestials - Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, etc. The Czechoslovakian technician who installed this system was shot on Kanner’s orders.

Grisha's Office dealt with more than just telephones. There was such a comrade, Efraim Sklyansky: deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Military Union, Trotsky’s right hand, who really ruled the military apparatus since March 1918. In March 1924, the troika managed to remove Sklyansky from the RVS. In the spring of 1925, Stalin, who hated Sklyansky since the Civil War, to the surprise of many, proposed appointing him chairman of Amtorg and sending him to America. “Amtorg” at that time combined the functions of a plenipotentiary mission, a trade mission, and most importantly, a residency primarily for military intelligence, and at the same time also the OGPU and the illegal apparatus of the Comintern. But the comrade did not have time to really work in the States in the field of military-technical espionage. On August 27, 1925, Sklyansky, together with Khurgin (the creator and head of Amtorg before Sklyansky) and an unknown comrade, presumably from the OGPU station, went for a caique ride on Lake Longlake (New York State). The boat was later found overturned, and later two bodies were found - Sklyansky and Khurgin. The three of us left, but there were two corpses... The workers of Stalin’s secretariat immediately realized who was the true author of this “accident”: “Mehlis and I,” Bazhanov recalled, “immediately went to Kanner and unanimously declared: “Grisha, it was you who drowned Sklyansky?!” ...To which Kanner replied: “Well, there are things that it is better for the secretary of the Politburo not to know.” ...Mehlis and I were firmly convinced that Sklyansky was drowned on Stalin’s orders and that the “accident” was organized by Kanner and Yagoda.”

“This year has been a curse for us”

The year 1925 turned out to be rich in death: high-ranking comrades died in batches, fell under cars and locomotives, drowned, burned in airplanes. On March 19, 1925, Narimanov, one of the co-chairs of the USSR Central Executive Committee, suffered from an angina attack. And, although the Kremlin hospital was a stone's throw away, they took him home in a cab in a roundabout way - they drove him until they brought his body. Kalinin remarked melancholy on this matter: “We are accustomed to sacrificing our comrades.” On March 22, to meet with Trotsky, a group of high-ranking apparatchiks flew from Tiflis to Sukhum on a Junkers plane: 1st Secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the RCP (b) Myasnikov, OGPU Plenipotentiary Representative in Transcaucasia Mogilevsky and Deputy People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of Transcaucasia Atarbekov. By the way, Mogilevsky and Atarbekov were on good terms with Frunze. After takeoff, something suddenly flared up in the passenger cabin of the plane, the Junkers crashed and exploded. Frunze himself, as it turns out, was involved in car accidents twice in July 1925, surviving only by a miracle.

On August 6, 1925, the commander of the 2nd Cavalry Corps, Grigory Kotovsky, received a well-aimed bullet in the aorta - shortly before that, Frunze offered him the position of his deputy. Then there was the boat of Sklyansky and Khurgin, and on August 28, 1925, under the wheels of a steam locomotive, old comrade Frunze, chairman of the board of Aviatrest V.N., died. Pavlov (Aviatrest was created in January 1925 for the production of combat aircraft, its director was approved by the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR). “Evening Moscow” then even sarcastically asked: “Aren’t there too many accidents for our old guard? Some kind of epidemic of accidents.”

In general, nothing out of the ordinary happened; it was just that, as part of the battle of the Kremlin giants for power, there was a pragmatic elimination of obvious and potential supporters, in this case, Frunze. And those who left were immediately replaced by personnel from the Stalinist clip. “Why did Stalin organize the murder of Frunze? - Bazhanov was perplexed. - Is it only in order to replace him with his own man - Voroshilov? ...After all, a year or two later, having come to sole power, Stalin could easily carry out this replacement.” But without removing Frunze, Stalin would not have been able to take this very power.

Vladimir Voronov

On October 31, 1925, Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze, Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council and People's Commissar of the USSR for Military and Naval Affairs, died from the consequences of a surgical operation. Since then and to this day, statements have not ceased that Frunze was deliberately killed under the guise of an operation.

From worker to commander in chief

Mikhail Frunze was born in 1885 in the family of a paramedic (Moldavian by nationality) on the distant colonial outskirts of the Russian Empire - in Bishkek (this city, the capital of Soviet Kyrgyzstan, was later named after him for a long time). Unlike most Red military leaders who had experience in the army before the revolution, Frunze was promoted to military posts directly from the revolutionary struggle. Nevertheless, he showed that even a civilian without military education can be a first-class strategist and organizer. Of course, Frunze used the advice and help of military experts, of whom the closest to him was the former tsarist general Fyodor Novitsky.

Having immediately become the commander of the army, without intermediate steps, Frunze in the spring of 1919 stopped the advance of Kolchak’s armies on Samara. Subsequently, Frunze, as commander of the army group and the front, did not know defeat. After the Civil War, Frunze wrote and published several military theoretical works. He also showed himself in the diplomatic field, going to Ankara at the end of 1921 to see Mustafa Kemal Pasha with the aim of concluding a military alliance between the Soviet and Turkish republics.

In the internal party struggle

Frunze's latest rise was preceded by participation in the struggle for power between two groups within the top of the CPSU (b). With Lenin's incapacity, which began in 1922, Trotsky, who was revered by everyone as the organizer and leader of the Red Army, seemed to automatically become his successor. It was this circumstance that aroused fear and hatred towards him on the part of his comrades. They were afraid that Trotsky would use his position and his popularity to seize all power. In 1923, the triumvirate of Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin began the fight against Trotsky. Frunze became their battering ram

At the end of October 1923, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), Frunze made a report that criticized Trotsky’s activities at the head of the Red Army. It is noteworthy that this plenum took place against the background of reports (as it turned out, greatly exaggerated) about the beginning of a revolution in Germany. The decision about this revolution was made by the executive committee of the Comintern under the leadership of Zinoviev in September 1923. At the decisive moment, Trotsky, who always advocated a speedy world revolution, was unable or unwilling to move the Red Army to the aid of the German workers. This weakened Trotsky's position in the internal party struggle.

The Central Committee at that moment left Trotsky in the posts he held, but in March 1924 made Frunze, as it were, the “chief overseer” of him, appointing him Trotsky’s deputy in the positions of chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council and People’s Commissar of Military Affairs. Frunze himself, according to general evidence, did not have great power ambitions. His performance on the side of the “first triumvirate” in the Bolshevik leadership was dictated, in many ways, by his good personal attitude towards Kliment Voroshilov.

Voroshilov, like Frunze, also came to military leadership posts directly from the ranks of the revolutionary workers. The conflict between Voroshilov and Trotsky occurred at the end of 1918, during the defense of Tsaritsyn, and was caused by Trotsky’s excessive, in the opinion of Voroshilov (as well as Stalin), preference for the use of tsarist military experts. Frunze was close to this position. Perhaps this prompted him to criticize Trotsky at the plenum. The fact that Frunze in this case acted more in the interests of others than in his own can probably be evidenced by Trotsky’s remark that Frunze “had little understanding of people.”

Be that as it may, having become Trotsky’s successor in both important posts in January 1925 and virtually single-handedly leading the Red Army, Frunze largely continued his line of building the Red Army.

Not necessary surgery

Since 1922, Frunze often had attacks of abdominal pain, and in 1924, intestinal bleeding began. Doctors diagnosed him with a duodenal ulcer. In keeping with the tradition of intrusive concern for the health of his comrades, which Lenin introduced into the party, the leadership persistently encouraged Frunze to go under the surgeon’s knife, although not all doctors recognized the need for the operation. The last, specially selected council decided to kill the People's Commissar.

At the same time, the People's Commissar himself felt good, which he wrote about in his last letter to his wife on October 26, 1925. But he completely trusted the doctors’ conclusions and wanted him to be operated on as quickly as possible and to eliminate the source of constant anxiety. On October 29, the operation took place in the current Botkin Hospital. Two days later, Frunze’s heart stopped. Official conclusion: general blood poisoning during the operation.

Even the government version pointed to the incompetence and carelessness of surgeons when performing a basic operation. But it’s suspicious that it didn’t correspond much to reality either. There is evidence that the surgeons, having easily operated on the ulcer (it turned out to be harmless), for some reason began to rummage through Frunze’s entire abdominal cavity, looking for other possible sources of his ailments. According to the doctor and historian Viktor Topolyansky, the cause of death was intoxication from an overdose of painkillers. When ether general anesthesia did not work, doctors added chloroform to Frunze through a mask. It is possible that both of these reasons were combined.

Who could benefit?

The incompetence of the doctors who operated on Frunze, according to any version, looks so monstrous that doubt inevitably creeps in that the cause of death was an unintentional mistake. And ever since then, there have been two main versions of the murder of Frunze on the operating table.

The first, which arose immediately, connected the mysterious death of Frunze with his speech against Trotsky and his subsequent replacement in leadership positions. Immediately in response, a version appeared accusing Stalin of the murder of Frunze. It gained a long life thanks to Boris Pilnyak’s book “The Tale of the Unextinguished Moon” (1927) and later campaigns to expose Stalin’s crimes.

However, if Trotsky had a motive to take revenge on Frunze, then Stalin’s motives do not look convincing. The modified version, which, of course, has no evidence, looks like this. Replacing Trotsky with Frunze did not provide Stalin with control over the Red Army; he wanted to appoint his longtime friend Voroshilov to these posts, which he managed to do after Frunze’s death.

Whether Frunze’s death was organized on someone’s orders, and by whom exactly, we are unlikely to ever find out.