Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich (Georgii
Konstantinovich Zhukov) (1896–1974) Russian
general
The son of a peasant family, Georgi Zhukov was born in
Strelkova, in the Kaluga Oblast about 100 miles southwest
of Moscow, on 1 December 1896 (or 19 November 1896
[O.S.]). His father worked as a shoemaker; however, both
of Zhukov’s parents died before he was 11, and he was
raised by his grandfather, who worked as a metallurgist
in Moscow. Leaving school when he was 13, he worked a
series of jobs, including as a leather tanner and furrier. In
1915, however, when he was 19, he quit these trades and
decided to enter the Russian czarist army. Zhukov started
his service as a private but only received cursory training
before being sent to the front in the First World War. The
war was going badly for the Russians, who were heavily
defeated by the Germans in battles in Poland. Assigned
to the Tenth Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, Zhukov rose
quickly through the ranks and by 1917 had reached the
highest noncommissioned grade. He was twice awarded
the Cross of St. George for bravery.
Zhukov joined the Soviets after the October 1917
revolution, and he was elected as the regiment’s chair
of the Communist Council. Starting in October 1918,
he played a part in the organization and formation of
the Red Army, the Soviet Union’s main military force.
From 1919 until the end of his life, he was a member of
the Communist Party. He sided with the Soviets in their
struggle against the former czarist supporters, known as
Whites, in the civil war that rent Russia for several years
and led to nationwide death and destruction. Zhukov’s
unit saw action against the White commander Anton
denikin, and he became the commander of the Soviet
First Cavalry Army, seeing action at Tsaritsyn. Wounded,
he recuperated in time to participate in the short war
against Poland in 1920. For his services, the Soviet gov-
ernment awarded him the Order of the Red Banner, its
highest military award.
With the end of the Russian civil war and victory
by the Communists, Zhukov decided to remain in the
military. He attended training courses for cavalry officers
in 1925, and in 1928 he entered the Frunze Military
Academy in Moscow, where he received specialized train-
ing in armored military operations. For the remainder of
the period, until the start of the Second World War, he
served as the commander of various brigades and divi-
sions, as assistant inspector of cavalry of the Workers’
and Peasants’ Red Army, and as deputy commander of
the Belorussian Special Military District.
In 1939, Zhukov was given command of the First
East Army Group and sent to the Mongolian People’s Re-
public to fight the Japanese invasion of that area. Under
his leadership, the Japanese were driven back over the
Khalkhin-Gol River into Manchuria in China, suffering