Jukums Vācietis (; – 28 July 1938) was a Latvian and Soviet military commander. He was a rare example of a notable Soviet leader who was not a member of the
Communist Party (or of any other political party), until his demise during the
Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
in the 1930s.
Early life
Jukums Vācietis's family were Latvian labourers. From about the age of six, he worked as a shepherd and as a labourer, while he was a pupil at the Šķēde Parish School.
In 1889-1891 he studied at the Ministry of Kuldīga school. At the same time, he worked in a match factory.
Military career
Vācietis started his military career in
Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
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in 1891, and reached the rank of second lieutenant after graduating from infantry cadet school in 1895. In 1914, at the start of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he saw combat as a battalion commander in Poland and East Prussia, and was wounded several times. After hospital treatment, he was promoted to the rank of
colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
.
From October 1916, he commanded the
5th Latvian Zemgale Rifle Regiment and distinguished himself during the defence of
Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
against the advancing German army in August 1916.
Vācietis was not involved in any political activity before 1917, but after the
October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
, he immediately sided with the new
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
government, and was given command of the 12th army. From April 1918, Vācietis was the commander of the
Red Latvian Riflemen division, which was then the most reliable unit under Bolshevik control.
He played a critical role in July 1918 in suppressing a revolt by the
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who opposed the decision to end the war with Germany. From July to September 1918, Vācietis commanded the
Eastern Front, which he created out of scattered units fighting for the Bolsheviks in Siberia against the
White Army and the
Czechoslovak Legion. During his two months as commander of the front, the Red Army scored its first major victory of the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
by recapturing
Kazan
Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
.
On 2 September 1918 Vācietis was appointed the first
commander-in-chief of 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 ...
(RKKA), and a member of the
Revolutionary Military Council - but became embroiled in a dispute with
Sergey Kamenev, his successor as commander of the Eastern Front, which was intertwined with power struggles within the Bolshevik party leadership, in which
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
, the Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, backed Vācietis, and
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 ...
backed Kamenev. Trotsky later wrote that
In summer 1919 Vācietis proposed that the Eastern Front should halt military operations having reached the Urals, so that troops could be transferred to the south for the campaign against
General Denikin, and the
Don Cossacks, but Kamenev insisted that they could spare troops for the southern front and still advance past the Urals into Siberia. He was proved right, and on 3 July 1919, Kamenev replaced Vācietis as commander-in-chief of the Red Army. On 8 July 1919, Vācietis was arrested under the accusation of membership in a
counter-revolutionary reactionary
In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...
White Guardist organization, but was soon released when the charge was proved false. Trotsky suspected that "dissatisfied with his removal from the post of Commander-in-Chief, he had engaged in reckless talk with officers close to him." He also believed that Stalin was behind Vācietis's arrest.
In 1922 Vācietis became a professor of the RKKA Military Academy (future
Frunze Military Academy). During this time, he wrote several books, most notable among them being 'Latvian Riflemen's Historical Importance'. In 1935 Vācietis was assigned a personal rank of
Komandarm 2nd rank.

On 29 November 1937, during the height of
Stalin's Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
, Vācietis was arrested by the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
as a member of the
alleged "Latvian Fascist Organization within the RKKA", and was executed on 28 July 1938. Vācietis was
rehabilitated in 1957.
Literature
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vacietis, Jukums
1873 births
1938 deaths
People from Saldus Municipality
People from Kuldīga county
Soviet komandarms of the second rank
Imperial Russian Army officers
Latvian military personnel in the Imperial Russian Army of World War I
Latvian Riflemen
People of the Russian Civil War
Soviet people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War
Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Great Purge victims from Latvia
Soviet rehabilitations
Imperial Nikolayev Military Academy alumni