Mikhail Tukhachevsky

Mikhail Tukhachevsky, one of the top generals in the Soviet army, was actually born into a family of the Russian nobility. He graduated from the Russian Military Academy shortly before World War I and fought during the war as a Second Lieutenant. Captured by German forces, he escaped from captivity on several occasions, only to be recaptured and imprisoned each time. The Germans finally threw him into Ingolstadt Fortress, which was used to house their most incorrigible prisoners and was considered escape-proof. Tukachevsky promptly escaped from it, eventually making his way back to the Russian lines, where he was decorated for bravery. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 he joined the Red Army, and was made an officer. His military abilities enabled him to rise rapidly through the ranks, and during the Russian Civil War that followed the Revolution, he was made commander of the Red forces defending Moscow. His successful defense of the city caught the eye of Communist commissar Leon Trotsky, who placed him in command of the elite 5th Army with orders to capture Siberia from the White Russian forces of Gen. Aleksandr Kolchak. Tukhachevsky's innovative tactics hammered the White Russian army, and he not only recaptured Siberia but also defeated White Russian forces in the Crimea and carried his offensive into the Kuban area, where he used his cavalry to great effect and inflicted a crushing defeat on the White army. He mopped up the remaining White forces and over the next few years successfully put down several military revolts and peasant uprisings, in the process gaining a reputation as an effective but ruthless commander who used whatever tools and tactics were necessary to achieve his goals, including mass executions and chemical warfare.

His string of successes was broken during the Soviet-Polish War of 1920 when his armies were defeated in their attack on Warsaw by Polish forces led by Marshal Józef Pilsudski. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin attributed the defeat to what he considered Tukhachevsky's reckless tactics (at one point he disobeyed Stalin's orders for a direct attack on Warsaw, which he believed would fail, and attacked Lvov instead) and Tukhachevsky, for his part, blamed the defeat on what he believed was Stalin's constant interference with military operations for political reasons, and made no secret of his resentment. Stalin, never one to forgive real or imagined slights, didn't forget what he felt to be Tukhachevsky's insubordination. He also saw Tukhachevsky as a potential rival and set about to eliminate that possibility.

Stalin began to grow suspicious of Tukhachevsky's popularity among his officers and men and also among the general public and, still having not forgotten his problems with the general during the Polish war of the 1920s, set out to eliminate him once and for all.

When Stalin assumed the leadership of the Communist Party in 1929 he used the pretext of complaints from several of Tukhachevsky's subordinate officers to try to implicate him in alleged coup attempt, and his secret police "persuaded" several army officers to accuse Tukhachevsky of doing just that. The tactic didn't work, however, as Stalin couldn't muster enough support among the Politburo and the party hierarchy to eliminate Tukhachevsky, who still enjoyed considerable support because of his war record. Biding his time, Stalin put Tukhachevsky in charge of modernizing the Russian military. One of his more innovative ideas was to place an emphasis on the coordination of air and armored forces in an attack, a tactic that was put to good use in the later Soviet war with Germany. Tukhachevsky's interests weren't solely confined to military matters, though. A violinist, he became great friends with famed Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and the two often played together.

The friendship no doubt saved Shostakovich's life when he and his music were denounced in the mid-1930s during the period known as "the great purges" and Shostakovich found himself in danger of arrest and possible execution. However, his friend Tukhachevsky intervened on his behalf with Stalin.

Tukhachevsky was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1935, and in that capacity visited Europe the next year, paying particular attention to France, Germany and Great Britain.

He transferred his rival to the Volga Military District, away from his base of support, and finally in 1937 ordered the arrest and trial of Tukhachevky and seven other generals on charges of plotting with "foreign" elements during his European visit to overthrow the Communist government. At the secret court-martial signed confessions by Tukhachevsky's alleged "co-conspirators" were introduced that "proved" he had plotted with Nazi army officers and anti-Communist Russian exiles to overthrow and assassinate Stalin.