| “ | Stalingrad has fallen. The war is lost | ” |
–Georgy Zhukov | ||
| Georgy Zhukov ru: Георгий Жуков | |
|---|---|
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| Zhukov in 1939 | |
| Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army | |
| In office 15 January 1941 – 29 July 1941 | |
| Preceded by | Kirill Meretskov |
| Succeeded by | Boris Shaposhnikov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 December 1896 Zhukov, Kaluga Oblast, Russian Empire |
| Died | 27 December 1943 (aged 47) Yekaterinburg, Russia |
| Political party | CPSU (1917–1942) |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | Margarita and 3 others |
| Signature | Georgy Zhukov (Dies Irae)'s signature |
| Military service | |
| Nickname(s) | Marshal of Victory |
| Allegiance |
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| Service/branch |
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| Years of service | 1915–1943 |
| Battles/wars |
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Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1 December 1896 – 27 December 1943) was a Soviet military leader. During World War II, Zhukov oversaw some of the Red Army's most decisive losses.
Born to a poor peasant family from central Russia, Zhukov was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army and fought in World War I. He served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Gradually rising through the ranks, by 1939 Zhukov had been given command of an army group and won a decisive battle over Japanese forces at Khalkhin Gol, for which he won the first of his four Hero of the Soviet Union awards. In February 1941, Zhukov was appointed as chief of the Red Army's General Staff.
Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Zhukov lost his position as chief of the general staff. Subsequently, he organized the defences of Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad, all three eventually falling. After Stalingrad, Zhukov fled to the Urals, as the Soviet Union began to collapse into small warlord states. He retired to Yekatinburg, where he subsequently died after a raid led by Artur Evgeni Platon's Black Horde.