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Mikhail Tukhachevsky

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Military Personnel

The Resume

    (February 16, 1893-June 12, 1937)
    Born in Smolensk, Russia
    Soviet general
    Nicknamed 'the Red Napoleon'
    Commanded the Soviet invasion of Poland (1920)
    Chief of Staff of the Red Army (1925-28)
    Marshall of the Soviet Union (1935-37)
    Proponent of modernizing the Soviet army's equipment and tactics
    Executed for treason during Stalin's purge of the military
    Officially declared innocent and rehabilitated (January 31, 1957)

Why he might be annoying:

    While a POW during WWI, he told an imprisoned French journalist that Jews were 'dogs who spread their fleas throughout the world.'
    After the Tzar was overthrown, he said, 'I think a constitutional regime would mean the end of Russia. We need a despot!'
    He joined the Red Army despite coming from an aristocratic (if impoverished) family.
    He was defeated by Jozef Pilsudski at the Battle of Warsaw (1920), leading to his first conflict with Stalin, as they each blamed the other for the loss.
    He used poison gas to suppress a peasant revolt (1921).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was captured by the Germans during World War I and broke out of prison camps five times, successfully reaching Switzerland in his last escape.
    He had advanced ideas on military strategy, particularly the use of tanks and aircraft in combined operations.
    He was a driving force in the Red Army adopting deep penetration tactics, in which formations strike deep behind the lines to disrupt the enemy's rear and logistics.
    He intervened on Dimitri Shostakovich's behalf after Pravda denounced the opera 'Lady Macbeth of Minsk.' (1936)
    His interrogation and torture were personally supervised by NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov.
    His wife and two brothers were also executed, his three sisters were sent to the gulag, and his daughter was arrested once she became an adult and was sent to the gulag until Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign in the 1950s.

Credit: C. Fishel


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 84 Votes: 63.10% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying