Marshal of the Soviet Union

The highest military rank of the Soviet Union, created in 1935 and abolished with the state in 1991.

Overview

Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in November 1935 for the five senior commanders of the Red Army, Voroshilov, Tukhachevsky among them. The rank badge became the large star and Marshal star diamond after 1940. Forty one officers held it, the war marshals famous worldwide: Zhukov, Konev, Rokossovsky, and Stalin himself, who was made Generalissimo in 1945. The rank lapsed with the Soviet collapse; the last marshal, Sergei Akhromeyev, died in 1991, and Dmitry Yazov was the final surviving holder until 2020, styled marshal in retirement. The rank commanded vast fronts and the nuclear arsenal of a superpower.