Generalissimo of the Soviet Union () was the highest

military rank Military ranks is a system of hierarchy, hierarchical relationships within armed forces, police, Intelligence agency, intelligence agencies, paramilitary groups, and other institutions organized along military organisation , military lines, such ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, created after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

for

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and awarded to him on 27 June 1945. Stalin soon came to regret the rank, which he considered too ostentatious, and continued to wear his

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

insignia and uniform.

History

The rank of

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ), also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative ...

was awarded to several military leaders in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, including for the first time by

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

to Aleksei Shein in 1696, by

Catherine I Catherine I Alekseyevna Mikhailova (born Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife and Empress consort of Peter the Great, whom she succeeded as Emperor of all the Russias, Empress of Russia, ruling from 1725 until her death in 1 ...

to Prince

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (; – ) was a Russian statesman, whose official titles included Generalissimo, Prince of the Russian Empire and Duke of Izhora ( Duke of Ingria), Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Cosel. A highl ...

in 1727, to Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick in 1740, and most famously by Paul I to Count

Alexander Suvorov Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy () was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian ...

after the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition () (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war targeting French Revolution, revolutionary French First Republic, France by many European monarchies, led by Kingdom of Great Britain, Britai ...

in 1799. The first proposal to create the rank of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union came after the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

's victory at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

. On 6 February 1943, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) received an appeal from employees at a Moscow factory for

, "a brilliant military leader", to be awarded the title of Generalissimo of the Red Army. Another such proposal was submitted to the party's

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

on 24 June 1945, the day of the Victory Parade in Moscow's

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...

, by the commanders of the Red Army,

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, and the General Staff. The note stated that "for the outstanding leadership of combat operations of the active Army and Navy, which led to the historic victory over

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

", it was necessary "to establish the military rank of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union and to award it to Comrade Stalin". The rank of Generalissimo was established by the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet () was the standing body of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).The Presidium of the Soviet Union is, in short, the legislativ ...

on 26 June 1945, and awarded to Stalin (who had held the rank of

since 1943) on 27 June by the same body "for especially outstanding services to the Motherland in leading all the armed forces of the state during the war". Stalin soon regretted allowing himself the title, and at the Potsdam Conference asked

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

to continue to refer to him as Marshal instead. Stalin rejected any distinction between his rank and Marshal, and continued to wear his Marshal insignia and uniform. According to the memoirs of General Sergei Shtemenko, in one episode General Andrey Khrulyov, the head of logistics for the Red Army, designed an "opulent" uniform for the rank "sewn on the model of Kutuzov's times", with a high standing collar and gilded stripes on the trousers. Upon presenting it to Stalin, the following was said: Stalin burst into a long and angry tirade against his excessive glorification, and the subject was not raised again. The rank of Generalissimo, while never awarded to another holder, continued to appear in the list of ranks and in statutes of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

until 1993. In 1996, a replica of the proposed uniform was exhibited at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, and design sketches for it were published in 2001.

Proposed insignia

Below are proposed designs of the shoulder insignia of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. File:Generalissimus 1.svg File:Generalissimus 2.svg File:Project of the Generalissimo of the USSR's rank insignia - Variant 5.png File:Project of the Generalissimo of the USSR's rank insignia - Variant 4.png File:CCCP army Rank generalissimus CCCP infobox.svg File:Project of the Generalissimo of the USSR's rank insignia - Variant 1.png

References

{{Highest Military Ranks Military ranks of the Soviet Union * Joseph Stalin

History

Proposed insignia

See also

References