The fireman summoned to every crisis, shelved when peace came
9 May 1945, 00:43, Karlshorst, Berlin. As the ink dried on Germany's unconditional surrender, Zhukov rose and said: 'The German delegation may leave the hall.' Field Marshal Keitel bowed his head and walked out. It was the fitting line from the soldier who had crushed Napoleon and Hitler.
Born to a poor peasant family in Kaluga province, he rose from Tsarist NCO to Marshal of the Soviet Union. At Khalkhin Gol in 1939 he smashed the Kwantung Army and won Stalin's trust; thereafter he was the irreplaceable commander dispatched to every decisive crisis: Moscow, Stalingrad, Leningrad, Berlin. As the 'Marshal of Victory' who took Germany's surrender in 1945, his very fame became a political threat: he was twice disgraced (1946, 1957). Yet he returned to help arrest Beria in 1953, lived to publish his memoirs, and died in bed, a survivor who outlasted those who feared him.
Career Timeline
- 1939Defeats the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol
- 1941Chief of the General Staff; then Leningrad and Moscow
- 1942–45Deputy Supreme Commander: Stalingrad, Kursk, Berlin
- 1945Takes the German surrender; commands the occupation zone
- 1946First disgrace: the Odessa district
- 1953/1955–57Helps arrest Beria; Defence Minister until the 1957 removal
- 1969Rehabilitated with his memoirs
Related historical events
- 1938–1941The Soviet-Japanese Border Wars and the Neutrality PactCommander, 57th Special CorpsReplaced Feklenko as Khalkhin Gol commander on 5 June 1939, formed the 1st Army Group, and destroyed the Japanese 23rd Division by double envelopment in the August offensive.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarDeputy Supreme CommanderHe directed and coordinated the defense of Moscow and the Stalingrad and Berlin operations, and accepted the German surrender at Karlshorst.
- 1945.02–08The Yalta and Potsdam ConferencesBehind the scenes at Potsdam as commander of the occupation of Berlin.
- 1945.08The Soviet Entry into the War against JapanThe commander who crushed the Kwantung Army at Khalkhin GolHis 1939 destruction of the Kwantung Army at Khalkhin Gol collapsed the Japanese 'Strike North' faction, won Stalin's trust, and ensured Japan avoided direct conflict with the USSR thereafter.
- 1953The Fall of BeriaHe made the arrestWith army officers under his command, he arrested Beria in the meeting room.
- 1955The Founding of the Warsaw PactSoviet Defence Minister, 1955–1957The military was kept out while the Foreign Ministry drove the drafting; Zhukov was only tasked, at very short notice, with the unified-command document after the Central Committee fixed the conference date on April 1.
- 1956The Hungarian RevolutionDefense ministerAs defense minister, he backed the military intervention.
- 1957The Anti-Party GroupDecisive supportHe flew Central Committee members in to back Khrushchev, then was himself dismissed months later.
26 June 1953 — the day Beria was arrested
26 June 1953, Kremlin Politburo meeting. Lavrenti Beria strode in confidently. Three months since Stalin's death, Beria had already merged the KGB and MVD, amnestied camp prisoners, and proposed to solve the East German uprising himself. He was a threat to everyone.
On Malenkov's pre-arranged signal, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and officers waited outside the meeting room with concealed weapons. Mid-session, Malenkov suddenly pressed a buzzer under the table. Zhukov entered with armed officers and approached Beria: 'Stand up. You are under arrest.'
Beria, momentarily stunned, asked 'What's going on?' before being disarmed. He was detained in Malenkov's office, then executed without trial that December. Zhukov had defeated Napoleon and Hitler, but his most decisive moment was walking through a Kremlin office door.