The marshal who made encirclement an art, and became a political soldier in peacetime
On the opening night of the Berlin offensive, learning that Zhukov's searchlights were reflecting off smoke and illuminating his own troops, Konev turned to his staff officer: "Our neighbors use searchlights — they want more light. We, Nikolai Pavlovich, need more darkness."
Marshal of the Soviet Union who commanded the Steppe, 2nd Ukrainian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, orchestrating the Korsun-Cherkassy encirclement, the Vistula-Oder drive, and the captures of Berlin and Prague. In March 1944 his troops were the first Red Army soldiers to cross the pre-war border into Romania. After the war he served as C-in-C of Ground Forces and later of Warsaw Pact forces, directed the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, and backed Zhukov's ouster in 1957. A recipient of American and British decorations, he was among the most trusted frontline commanders the USSR produced.
Career Timeline
- 1916–1917Junior NCO in Imperial Russian artillery; World War I
- 1918–1922Commissar of an armoured train, then brigade and division commissar in the civil war
- 1941Commands Western Front — the Vyazma disaster; saved by Zhukov's intervention
- 1943–1944Commands Steppe then 2nd Ukrainian Front; the Korsun pocket; promoted Marshal
- 1944–1945Commands 1st Ukrainian Front; Berlin and Prague; second Hero Star
- 1946–1950, 1955–1956C-in-C of Soviet Ground Forces
- 1955–1960C-in-C of Warsaw Pact forces; directs the suppression of the Hungarian uprising
- 1953Chairs the Special Judicial Presence that sentences Beria to death
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionCivil War participant
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarFront commander · Steppe, 2nd and 1st Ukrainian FrontsHe commanded the Steppe Front at Kursk, destroyed German forces in the Korsun-Cherkassy pocket, and finished the war with the Vistula-Oder drive and the captures of Berlin and Prague. Promoted to Marshal in 1944 and twice named Hero of the Soviet Union.
- 1953The Fall of BeriaChairman of the Special Judicial PresencePresided over the Special Judicial Presence that sentenced Beria and his six co-defendants to death in December 1953.
- 1955The Founding of the Warsaw PactSupreme Commander of the Unified Armed ForcesIvan Konev became the first supreme commander of the Pact's Unified Armed Forces when the treaty entered into force and directed its Moscow headquarters.
- 1956The Hungarian RevolutionCommander of the invasionAs Warsaw Pact commander, he directed the operation to crush Budapest.
- 1957The Anti-Party GroupCentral Committee member
Konev and Zhukov: Rescue, Rivalry, and Betrayal
Konev's military fate was inseparable from Georgy Zhukov. When the Western Front was annihilated in the Vyazma pocket in October 1941 and a State Defence Committee commission led by Molotov and Voroshilov arrived to punish Konev, it was Zhukov who saved him from court-martial and likely execution. Zhukov proposed to Stalin that Konev be kept as his deputy, and days later recommended him as commander of the Kalinin Front.
Yet the rescue did not lead to an equal friendship. As the war neared its end, the two commanders competed fiercely for the prize of Berlin. Stalin drew a boundary between their Fronts and effectively encouraged a race. In April 1945, Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front and Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front dueled over who would capture the German capital first. Konev's troops entered the city first, but Stalin awarded the symbolic honor (hoisting the Soviet flag over the Reichstag) to Zhukov. Konev was diverted southwest, linking up with the Americans at Torgau and pushing on to Prague.
The tension persisted after the war. In 1946 Konev succeeded Zhukov as C-in-C of Soviet Ground Forces. The decisive break came in 1957. When Khrushchev moved to oust Zhukov from the Central Committee, Konev sided with the marshal's opponents. In an article published in Pravda on 3 November 1957, Konev denounced Zhukov as a man who 'failed to justify the Party's trust' and proved 'a politically incompetent figure inclined toward adventurism in understanding the most important tasks of Soviet foreign policy.' The betrayal of the man who had saved his life remains one of the most controversial episodes of Konev's career.