The statistician who made Soviet war losses countable
Grigori Krivosheyev was a Soviet military officer and military historian who rose to deputy chief of the General Staff. From 1988 he led a team that quantified Soviet and Russian military losses from declassified records, producing the 1993 study that made his name widely known. Its estimate of 126,875 irretrievable Soviet losses in the Winter War became a standard reference, although later researchers identified gaps and possible duplication and proposed higher totals.
Career Timeline
- 1949Entered the Soviet Army and served in an artillery regiment
- 1953Graduated from the Tyumen Military Infantry School; platoon commander
- 1964Graduated from the Frunze Military Academy
- 1973Commander of the 161st Motor Rifle Division
- 1979Chief of staff and first deputy commander, Turkestan Military District
- 1984Chief of staff and first deputy commander, Group of Soviet Forces in Germany; Colonel General
- 1987Head of the Main Organizational-Mobilization Directorate and deputy chief of the General Staff
- 1988–1993Head of the statistical research team on military losses