At the zenith of his military and political power, Napoleon Bonaparte uttered his famous phrase that every soldier wears a marshal's baton in his satchel . Marshals of the USSR did not have any rod, but from this their rank did not become less significant and attractive.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, the line of top army posts was rather confusing, however, starting with Peter the Great, the highest military commander and commander in chief of a theater of war usually wore the rank of Field Marshal. Historians disagree on the number of persons awarded this high rank, noting at the same time that such military leaders as Suvorov, Kutuzov, Dibich, Paskevich deserved their wands throughout their careers.
In the Red Army, formed after the events of 1917, the ranks as such did not initially exist, and, as a rule, soldiers were approached by the post they held. Marshals of the USSR - the first titles introduced by a special decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) In September 1935. At the same time, the matter was not limited to simple renaming, but personal decrees were issued according to which specific people began to occupy the highest step in the military hierarchy.
The first marshals of the USSR - Voroshilov, Egorov, Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Budyonny - enjoyed well-deserved authority both in the country and in the army, so then no one doubted the legitimacy of assigning these high ranks to them. However, very little time will pass, and three of them - Tukhachevsky, Egorov and Blucher - will move into the category of "repressed marshals of the USSR", while the first two marshals will be returned only after a few decades.
Before the Great Patriotic War , three more military commanders became Tymoshenko, Shaposhnikov and Kulik. It is worth noting that until 1955 the assignment of this title was carried out only individually and only by special decrees. Marshals of the USSR wore special epaulets with one big star. Later, in 1945, a beautiful Marshall star was established, which was surrounded by several diamonds.
At once, several people received the highest military rank of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Among them, a special place is occupied by Marshal of the USSR Zhukov. This is due not only to the fact that he was awarded this title first, but also to the enormous contribution that he made to the victory over fascist Germany. Also during these formidable years, Vasilevsky, Konev, Stalin, Rokossovsky, Govorov, Malinovsky, Meretskov and Tolbukhin received marshal epaulets. Immediately after the war, in connection with the reassignment, Beria received this title, but shortly after the death of Stalin he was deprived of it.
In total, the list of "Marshals of the USSR" includes 41 people. Of the still unnamed, one should single out such remarkable commanders as Baghramyan, Grechko, Chuykov, Eremenko. In 1976, L. Brezhnev received this title with great fanfare.
The last marshal of the USSR was D. Yazov, who received it shortly before the collapse of a great country. The only one to date who was awarded the title of Marshal of the Russian Federation is the former Minister of Defense I. Sergeev.