Semyon Ivanovich Aralov (russian: Семён Иванович Аралов; 18 December 1880 – 22 May 1969) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

revolutionary, military commander and Soviet statesman who served as the first head of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

Intelligence Directorate Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...

and subsequently had a career in the Soviet diplomatic service. Aralov was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, the son of a wealthy merchant. He became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1902. He also joined the Imperial Russian Army in 1905 and during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was promoted to the rank of Major in the

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

department. He participated in the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

Aralov was a founding member of the Cheka and in January 1918 he was appointed head of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military D ...

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

then sent him to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

to lead negotiations with the

Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion (Czech language, Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Allies of World ...

. By September 1918, he was appointed to the

Military Revolutionary Committee The Military Revolutionary Committee (russian: Военно-революционный комитет, ) was the name for military organs created by the Bolsheviks under the soviets in preparation for the October Revolution (October 1917 – Marc ...

and in charge of hostage taking, whereby the

seized family members of former Tsarist officers whose loyalty they doubted. When the Registration Unit, as the Red Army Intelligence Directorate was originally called, was founded in October 1918, he was the head, joining Trotsky and

Jukums Vācietis Jukums Vācietis (russian: Иоаким Иоакимович Вацетис, link=no, ''Ioakim Ioakimovich Vatsetis''; 11 November 1873 – 28 July 1938) was a Latvian Soviet military commander. He was a rare example of a notable Soviet leader ...

on the Executive Bureau of the Defence Council. In July 1920, Aralov relinquished his role as head of the GRU taking up an operational role as head of intelligence with the 12th Army and between 1921 and 1927 interspersed his role as deputy head with various foreign assignments, often under diplomatic cover. This included working as ambassador to Lithuania, Latvia and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

before going to China as an ambassador to Chiang Kai-shek's

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Government. His subsequent diplomatic career included postings in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Japan. During the purges of 1937, he was dismissed from all intelligence posts. However, he was able to gain the post of a deputy director of the Literature Museum. He volunteered for service in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

at age 60 in 1941 and was discharged in 1946. He was involved in Communist Party work until retiring in 1957. He died in Moscow in 1969 and was interred at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

References

*''Secret Soldiers of the Revolution'' by Raymond W. Leonard, Greenwood Press 1999
Leaders of Soviet Military Intelligence
accessed 28 March 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Aralov, Semyon Cheka GRU officers Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Turkey 1880 births 1969 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to China Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Lithuania Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Latvia Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner