Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)

The Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union refers to the head of the Ministry of Defence who was responsible for defence of the communist Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 to 1922 and the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991.

Standard of the Minister of Defence (1964–1991).

List of ministers

People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs (1917–1934)

No.		People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Council [lower-alpha 1]	8 November 1917	15 November 1917	7 days
2		Nikolai Podvoisky (1880–1948)	15 November 1917	13 March 1918	118 days
3		Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)	13 March 1918	15 January 1925	6 years, 308 days
4		Mikhail Frunze (1885–1925)	15 January 1925	31 October 1925 †	289 days
5		Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969)	6 November 1925	20 June 1934	8 years, 232 days

People's Commissars for Defence (1934–1946) No. People's Commissar for Defence Took office Left office Time in office 1 Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969) 20 June 1934 7 May 1940 5 years, 322 days 2 Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko (1895–1970) 7 May 1940 19 July 1941 1 year, 73 days 3 Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) 19 July 1941 25 February 1946 4 years, 221 days

People's Commissars for the Navy (1937–1946) No. People's Commissar for the Navy Took office Left office Time in office 1 Army Commissar of 1st rank Pyotr Smirnov (1897–1939) 30 December 1937 30 June 1938 182 days 2 Komandarm 1st rank Mikhail Frinovsky (1898–1940) 8 September 1938 20 March 1939 193 days 3 Vice-admiral Nikolay Kuznetsov (1904–1974) 28 April 1939 25 February 1946 6 years, 303 days

People's Commissar for the Armed Forces (1946)

No.		People's Commissar for the Armed Forces	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)	25 February 1946	15 March 1946	18 days

Ministers of the Armed Forces (1946–1950)

No.		Ministers of the Armed Forces	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)	15 March 1946	3 March 1947	353 days
2		Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975)	3 March 1947	24 March 1949	2 years, 21 days
3		Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977)	24 March 1949	25 February 1950	338 days

Minister of War (1950–1953) No. Minister of War Took office Left office Time in office 1 Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) 25 February 1950 15 March 1953 3 years, 18 days

Ministers of the Navy (1950–1953) No. People's Commissar for the Navy Took office Left office Time in office 1 Admiral Ivan Yumashev (1895–1972) 25 February 1950 20 July 1951 1 year, 145 days 2 Admiral of the Fleet Nikolay Kuznetsov (1904–1974) 20 July 1951 15 March 1953 1 year, 238 days

Ministers of Defence (1953–1991)

No.	Name	Portrait	Birth–Death	Rank	Tenure		Note
					Start	End
1	Nikolai Bulganin		1895–1975	Marshal of the Soviet Union	15 March 1953	9 February 1955
2	Georgy Zhukov		1896–1974	Marshal of the Soviet Union	9 February 1955	26 October 1957	Dismissed by Nikita Khrushchev in the aftermath of the Anti-Party Group affair
3	Rodion Malinovsky		1898–1967	Marshal of the Soviet Union	26 October 1957	31 March 1967	Died in office
4	Andrei Grechko		1903–1976	Marshal of the Soviet Union	12 April 1967	26 April 1976	Died in office
5	Dmitriy Ustinov		1908–1984	Marshal of the Soviet Union	30 July 1976	20 December 1984	Died in office
6	Sergei Sokolov		1911–2012	Marshal of the Soviet Union	22 December 1984	30 May 1987	Dismissed by Mikhail Gorbachev as a result of the Mathias Rust affair
7	Dmitry Yazov		1924–	Marshal of the Soviet Union	30 May 1987	23 August 1991	Dismissed by Mikhail Gorbachev for being a member of the GKChP during the 1991 coup d'état attempt
8	Yevgeny Shaposhnikov		1942–	Marshal of Aviation	23 August 1991	21 December 1991

Notes

1. The committee of the People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs consisted of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Pavel Dybenko, and Nikolai Krylenko. On 10 November 1917 Ovseyenko was taken hostage during the Petrograd Junker mutiny and was released next day with the help of American journalist Williams. Later Ovseyenko headed the Petrograd Military District until December when he was dispatched to Ukraine. Dybenko continued to supervise the naval affairs as the Supreme Navy College that was formed sometime in late November. He stayed in charge until 16 March 1918 when he was stripped of all posts and revoked membership in the Bolshevik Party due to desertion. On 25 November 1917 Krylenko was appointed the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army.

See also

• College of War
• Ministry of War of the Russian Empire
• List of heads of the military of Imperial Russia
• Ministry of Defence (Soviet Union)