General of the Army who commanded the Strategic Rocket Forces through the Afghan war and the dissolution of the USSR
On 17 July 1943, in his first day of combat, he led his machine-gun platoon into enemy trenches, seized a key height in hand-to-hand fighting, then held it against seven counterattacks. Severely wounded, he lost consciousness — and his family was sent a death notice.
An infantry officer who led a machine-gun company through the Great Patriotic War, wounded three times and fighting from the Carpathians to Czechoslovakia, he went on to graduate from two staff academies with a gold medal and, as commander of the Turkestan Military District, oversaw the 40th Army's operations during the Soviet–Afghan War. As Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces and Deputy Minister of Defence from 1985 to 1992, he presided over the RVSN at its peak strength of more than 1,400 ICBMs, then managed its transition into the CIS Strategic Deterrence Forces after the USSR's dissolution. Through the state's collapse he never left the party or the armed forces, upholding civilian control over the nuclear arsenal.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1943Graduated 1st Moscow Machine-Gun School, assigned to Southwestern Front
- 1943–1945Machine-gun platoon and company commander, 187th & 195th Guards Rifle Regiments, 2nd/3rd/4th Ukrainian Fronts
- 1947–1950Frunze Military Academy
- 1950–1953Operations officer, Main Operations Directorate, General Staff
- 1957–1961Motor-rifle regiment commander, Southern Group of Forces (Hungary)
- 1965General Staff Academy, gold medal
- 1965–1968Commander, 77th Guards Motor-Rifle Division (Arkhangelsk)
- 1968–1969Chief military adviser, Yemen Arab Republic
- 1973–1976First Deputy Commander, Turkestan Military District
- 1976–1978Head of Soviet military specialists group, Algeria
- 1979–1984Commander, Turkestan Military District; oversaw 40th Army operations in Afghanistan
- 1982Hero of the Soviet Union; promoted General of the Army
- 1984–1985C-in-C, Southern Strategic Direction
- 1985–1992C-in-C, Strategic Rocket Forces & Deputy Defence Minister; transitioned to CIS Strategic Deterrence Forces
- 1993Retired
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic Warmachine-gun platoon and company commander on the Southwestern and Ukranian Fronts
- 1979–1989The Soviet-Afghan WarOversaw 40th Army operationsAs commander of the Turkestan Military District, he oversaw the 40th Army's operations in Afghanistan.
- 1991The August Coup and the Collapse of the USSRManaged the strategic-force command transitionDuring the dissolution of the USSR, he held successive commands as the strategic nuclear command structure shifted to the CIS.
Strategic Rocket Forces modernization and command during the Soviet dissolution
Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces and Deputy Minister of Defence in July 1985, Maksimov oversaw expansion of mobile missile forces and revision of their operational procedures. During his tenure, the RS-20V, RS-22 and RS-12M Topol systems entered the force; procedures for rail-mobile and road-mobile systems on combat duty, as well as automated command-and-control systems, were developed. He was also responsible for maintaining readiness and assigning officers in divisions being re-equipped or reorganized. Military biographical accounts connect these programs both to maintaining the RVSN’s readiness and to implementation of the Soviet-American Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
In November 1991 Maksimov was appointed commander-in-chief of the USSR Strategic Deterrence Forces, and in March 1992 he became commander of the Commonwealth of Independent States Strategic Deterrence Forces. He held successive commands as the strategic nuclear command structure shifted from the Soviet Union to the CIS during the dissolution of the state. In October 1992 he came under the Russian defence minister’s authority, and he retired in March 1993. His career thus encompassed both the modernization and readiness work of the existing Strategic Rocket Forces and the transfer to an inter-state command structure.