The Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (Russian: Министр обороны СССР) refers to the head of the Ministry of Defence who was responsible for defence of the socialist/communist Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 to 1922 and the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1992.
Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union | |
---|---|
Министр обороны СССР | |
Ministry of Defense | |
Status | Abolished |
Reports to | Premier |
Nominator | Council of Defence |
Appointer | Politburo |
Precursor | Minister of War (Russian Empire) |
Formation | 8 November 1917 |
First holder | Council on War and Navy Affairs |
Final holder | Yevgeny Shaposhnikov |
Abolished | 14 February 1992[1] |
Succession | Commander-in-Chief of the CIS Armed Forces (1992–1993) Minister of Defence (Russian Federation) |
No. | Portrait | People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Council [a] | 8 November 1917 | 15 November 1917 | 7 days | |
2 | Nikolai Podvoisky (1880–1948) | 15 November 1917 | 13 March 1918 | 118 days | |
3 | Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) | 14 March 1918 | 25 January 1925 | 6 years, 317 days | |
4 | Mikhail Frunze (1885–1925) | 25 January 1925 | 31 October 1925 † | 279 days | |
5 | Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969) | 6 November 1925 | 20 June 1934 | 8 years, 232 days |
People's Commissars for Defence (1934–1946)edit
|
People's Commissars for the Navy (1937–1946)edit
|
No. | Portrait | People's Commissar for the Armed Forces | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) | Marshal of the Soviet Union25 February 1946 | 15 March 1946 | 18 days |
No. | Portrait | Minister of the Armed Forces | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) | Marshal of the Soviet Union15 March 1946 | 3 March 1947 | 353 days | |
2 | Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975) | Marshal of the Soviet Union3 March 1947 | 24 March 1949 | 2 years, 21 days | |
3 | Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) | Marshal of the Soviet Union24 March 1949 | 25 February 1950 | 338 days |
Minister of War (1950–1953)edit
|
Ministers of the Navy (1950–1953)edit
|
No. | Portrait | Minister of Defence | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Leader | Premier |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975) | Marshal of the Soviet Union15 March 1953 | 9 February 1955 | 1 year, 331 days | Georgy Malenkov Nikita Khrushchev | Georgy Malenkov | |
2 | Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974) [b] | Marshal of the Soviet Union9 February 1955 | 26 October 1957 | 2 years, 259 days | Nikita Khrushchev | Nikolai Bulganin | |
3 | Rodion Malinovsky (1898–1967) | Marshal of the Soviet Union26 October 1957 | 31 March 1967 † | 9 years, 156 days | Nikita Khrushchev Leonid Brezhnev | Nikolai Bulganin Nikita Khrushchev Alexsei Kosygin | |
4 | Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) | Marshal of the Soviet Union12 April 1967 | 26 April 1976 † | 9 years, 14 days | Leonid Brezhnev | Alexsei Kosygin | |
5 | Dmitry Ustinov (1908–1984) | Marshal of the Soviet Union30 July 1976 | 20 December 1984 † | 8 years, 143 days | Leonid Brezhnev Yuri Andropov Konstantin Chernenko | Alexsei Kosygin Nikolai Tikhonov | |
6 | Sergei Sokolov (1911–2012) [c] | Marshal of the Soviet Union22 December 1984 | 29 May 1987 | 2 years, 158 days | Konstantin Chernenko Mikhail Gorbachev | Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Ryzhkov | |
7 | Dmitry Yazov (1924–2020) [d] | Marshal of the Soviet Union30 May 1987 | 28 August 1991 | 4 years, 90 days | Mikhail Gorbachev | Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov | |
8 | Marshal of Aviation Yevgeny Shaposhnikov (1942–2020) [e] | 29 August 1991[2] | 14 February 1992[1] | 169 days | Mikhail Gorbachev (until Dec. 1991) | Ivan Silayev |