Childhood and early years Vasilevsky was born on September 30, 1895, in Novaya Golchikha in the
Kineshma Uyezd (now part of the city of
Vichuga,
Ivanovo Oblast) in a family of
Russian ethnicity. Vasilevsky was the fourth of eight children. His father, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vasilevsky, was a priest to the nearby St. Nicholas Church. His mother, Nadezhda Ivanovna Sokolova, was the daughter of a priest in the nearby village of Ugletz. Vasilevsky reportedly broke off all contact with his parents after 1926 because of his
Communist Party membership and his military duties in the
Red Army; three of his brothers did so also. However, the family resumed relations in 1940, following
Joseph Stalin's suggestion that they do so. According to Vasilevsky, his family was extremely poor. His father spent most of his time working to earn money, while the children assisted by working in the fields. In 1897, the family moved to Novopokrovskoe, where his father became a priest to the newly built Ascension Church, and where Aleksandr began his education in the church school. In 1909, he entered Kostroma seminary, which required considerable financial sacrifice on the part of his parents. The same year, a ministerial directive preventing former seminarists from starting university studies initiated a nationwide seminarist movement, with classes stopping in most Russian seminaries. Vasilevsky, among others, was expelled from Kostroma, and only returned several months later, after the seminarists' demands had been satisfied.
World War I and Civil war in 1914 After completing his studies in the seminary and spending a few years working as a teacher, Vasilevsky intended to become an
agronomist or a
surveyor, but the outbreak of the First World War changed his plans. According to his own words, he was "overwhelmed with patriotic feelings" and decided to become a soldier instead. Vasilevsky took his exams in January 1915 and entered the
Alexander Military Law Academy in February. As he recalls, "I did not decide to become an officer to start a military career. I still wanted to be an agronomist and work in some remote corner of Russia after the war. I could not suppose that my country would change, and I would." After four months of courses that he later considered to be completely outdated, theoretical, and inappropriate for modern warfare, he was sent to the front with the rank of
praporshchik, the highest non-commissioned rank in the Russian infantry, in May 1915. From June to September, Vasilevsky was assigned to a series of reserve regiments, and finally arrived at the front in September as a half-company commander (
polurotny) in the 409th Novokhopersky regiment, 109th division, 9th Army. In the spring of 1916, Vasilevsky took command of a company, which eventually became one of the most recognized in the regiment. In May 1916, he led his men during the
Brusilov offensive, becoming a battalion commander after heavy casualties among officers, and gaining the rank of captain by age 22. In November 1917, just after the
Russian Revolution, Vasilevsky decided to end his military career. As he wrote in his memoirs, "There was a time when I led soldiers to battle, thinking I was doing my duty as a Russian patriot. However, I understood that we have been cheated, that people needed peace.... Therefore, my military career had to end. With no remorse, I could go back to my favorite occupation, working in the field." He travelled from Romania, where his unit was deployed in 1917, back to his own village. In December 1917, while back at home, Vasilevsky learned that the men of the 409th regiment, which had been relocated to Ukraine, had elected him as their commander (at the start of the Russian Revolution, commanders were elected by their own men). However, the local military authorities recommended that he decline the proposal because of the heavy fighting taking place in Ukraine between pro-Soviet forces and the pro-independence Ukrainian government (the
Central Rada). He followed this advice and became a drill instructor in his own Kineshma uezd. He retired in September 1918 and became a school teacher in the
Tula Oblast. In April 1919, Vasilevsky was again conscripted into the Red Army and sent to command a company fighting against peasant uprisings and assisting in the emergency Soviet policy of
prodrazvyorstka, which required peasants to surrender agricultural surplus for a fixed price. Later that year, Vasilevsky took command of a new reserve battalion, and, in October 1919, of a regiment. However, his regiment never took part in the battles of the
Russian Civil War, as
Anton Denikin's troops never got close to Tula. In December 1919, Vasilevsky was sent to the Western front as a deputy regimental commander, participating in the
Polish-Soviet War. As deputy regimental commander of the 427th regiment, 32nd brigade, 11th division, Vasilevsky participated at the Battle of
Berezina, pulling back as the Polish forces had been slowly but steadily advancing eastward, and in the subsequent counterattack that began on May 14, 1920, breaking through Polish lines before being stopped by cavalry counterattacks. Later, starting from July 4, 1920, he took part in the Soviet offensive towards
Wilno, advancing to the
Neman River despite heavy Polish resistance and German fortifications erected in the region during World War I. Vasilevsky's regiment arrived near Wilno by mid-July and stayed there on garrison duty until the
Treaty of Riga.
The interwar period After the
Treaty of Riga, Vasilevsky fought against remaining
White forces and peasant uprisings in
Belarus and in the
Smolensk Oblast until August 1921. By 1930, he had served as the regimental commander of the 142nd, 143rd, and 144th rifle regiments, and
Boris Shaposhnikov. Shaposhnikov, in particular, would become Vasilevsky's protector until the former's death in 1945. Vasilevsky's connections and good performance earned him an appointment to the Directorate of Military Training in 1931. While at the Directorate of Military Training, Vasilevsky supervised the Red Army's training and worked on military manuals and field books. He also met several senior military commanders, such as
Mikhail Tukhachevsky and
Georgy Zhukov, then the Deputy Cavalry Inspector of the Red Army. Zhukov would later characterize Vasilevsky as "a man who knew his job as he spent a long time commanding a regiment and who earned great respect from everybody." In 1934, Vasilevsky was appointed to be the Senior Military Training Supervisor of the Volga Military District (
Privolzhsky voyenny okrug). where he studied important aspects of military strategy and other topics under experienced generals, including Mikhail Tukhachevsky. By mid-1937, Stalin's
Great Purge eliminated a significant number of senior military commanders, vacating a number of positions on the General Staff. To his amazement, Vasilevsky was appointed to the General Staff in October 1937 and held "responsible for operational training of senior officers." As a senior officer, Vasilevsky met frequently with
Joseph Stalin. During one of these meetings, Stalin asked Vasilevsky about his family. Since Vasilevsky's father was a priest and thus a potential "
enemy of the people", Vasilevsky said that he had ended his relationship with them in 1926. Stalin, surprised, suggested that he reestablish his family ties at once, and help his parents with whatever needs they might have. making him one of the key figures in the Soviet military leadership. At the end of September 1941, Vasilevsky gave a speech before the General Staff, describing the situation as extremely difficult, but pointing out that the northern part of the front was holding, that Leningrad still offered resistance, and that such a situation would potentially allow some reserves to be gathered in the northern part of the front. In October 1941, the situation at the front was becoming critical, with German forces advancing towards Moscow during
Operation Typhoon. As a representative of the Soviet General Staff (
Stavka), Vasilevsky was sent to the
Western Front to coordinate the defense and guarantee a flow of supplies and men towards the region of
Mozhaisk, where Soviet forces were attempting to contain the German advance. During heavy fighting near the outskirts of Moscow, Vasilevsky spent all of his available time both in the Stavka and on the front line trying to coordinate the three fronts committed to Moscow's defense. When most of the General Staff (including its chief Marshal
Shaposhnikov) was evacuated from Moscow, Vasilevsky remained in the city as liaison between the Moscow Staff and the evacuated members of the General Staff. In his memoirs,
Nikita Khrushchev described Vasilevsky as an "able specialist" even so early in the war. On October 28, 1941, Vasilevsky was promoted to
Lieutenant General. The
Battle of Moscow was a very difficult period in Vasilevsky's life, with the Wehrmacht approaching close enough to the city for German officers to make out some of Moscow's buildings through their field glasses. As he recalls, his workday often ended at 4 a.m. Moreover, with Marshal Shaposhnikov having fallen ill, Vasilevsky had to make important decisions by himself. On October 29, 1941, a bomb exploded in the courtyard of the General Staff. Vasilevsky was slightly wounded but continued working. The kitchen was damaged by the explosion, and the General Staff was relocated underground without hot food. Nevertheless, the Staff continued to function. In December 1941, Vasilevsky coordinated the Moscow counteroffensive, and by early 1942, the general counteroffensive in the Moscow and Rostov directions, further motivated in his work by the return of his evacuated family to Moscow. In April 1942, he coordinated the unsuccessful elimination of the
Demyansk pocket, the encirclement of the German 2nd Army Corps near Leningrad. On April 24, with Shaposhnikov seriously ill again, Vasilevsky was appointed as acting Chief of Staff and promoted to
Colonel General on April 26.
Summer and fall 1942 (right) coordinating operations during the
Voronezh–Kharkov offensive, 1943 In May 1942 one of the most controversial episodes in Vasilevsky's career occurred: the
Second Battle of Kharkov, a failed counteroffensive that led to a stinging Red Army defeat, and ultimately to a successful German offensive (
Operation Blue) in the south. After repelling the enemy from Moscow, Soviet morale was high and Stalin was determined to launch another general counteroffensive during the summer. However, Vasilevsky recognized that "the reality was more harsh than that." Following Stalin's orders, the Kharkov offensive was launched on May 12, 1942. When the threat of encirclement became obvious, Vasilevsky and Zhukov asked for permission to withdraw the advancing Soviet forces. Stalin refused, leading to the encirclement of the Red Army forces and a total defeat. In his memoirs, Khrushchev accused Vasilevsky of being too passive and indecisive, as well as being unable to defend his point of view in front of Stalin during that particular operation. In June 1942, Vasilevsky was briefly sent to Leningrad to coordinate an attempt to break the encirclement of the 2nd Shock Army led by General
Andrei Vlasov. On June 26, 1942, Vasilevsky was appointed
Chief of the General Staff, and, in October 1942, Deputy Minister of Defense. Two months later, on November 19, with Stalingrad still unconquered,
Operation Uranus was launched. Since Zhukov had been sent to near Rzhev to execute
Operation Mars (the Rzhev counteroffensive), Vasilevsky remained near Stalingrad to coordinate the double-pincer attack that ultimately led to the German defeat This plan sparked some debate between Vasilevsky and
Rokossovsky, who wanted an additional army for clearing Stalingrad, which Rokossovsky continued to mention to Vasilevsky even years after the war. The army in question was
Rodion Malinovsky's 2nd Guards' which Vasilevsky committed against a dangerous German counter-attack launched from
Kotelnikovo by the 57th Panzer corps that was designed to deblockade the Stalingrad pocket.
Soviet victory in the Donbas, 1943 In January 1943, Vasilevsky coordinated the offensives on the upper
Don River near
Voronezh and Ostrogozhsk, leading to decisive encirclements of several
Axis divisions. Vasilevsky's car rolled over a mine during an inspection of
Sevastopol after the fighting ended on May 10, 1944. He received a head wound, cut by flying glass, and was evacuated to Moscow for recovery. During
Operation Bagration, the general counteroffensive in
Belarus, Vasilevsky coordinated the offensives of the 1st Baltic and
3rd Belorussian Fronts. When Soviet forces entered the
Baltic states, Vasilevsky assumed complete responsibility for all the Baltic fronts, discarding the 3rd Belorussian. On July 29, 1944, he was made
Hero of the Soviet Union for his military successes. For the brilliant successes at Königsberg and in Eastern Prussia, Vasilevsky was awarded his second Order of Victory.
Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation During the 1944 summer offensive, Stalin announced that he would appoint Vasilevsky Commander-in-Chief of USSR Forces in the Far East once the war against Germany ended. Vasilevsky began drafting the war plan for Japan by late 1944 and began full-time preparation by April 27, 1945. In June 1945, Stalin approved his plan. Vasilevsky then received the appointment of Commander-in-Chief of USSR Forces in the Far East and travelled by armoured train to
Chita to execute the plan. During the preparation phase, Vasilevsky further rehearsed the offensive with his army commanders and directed the start of
Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, also known as the
Battle of Manchuria. In twenty-four days, from August 9 to September 2, 1945, Japanese armies in
Manchukuo were defeated, with just 37,000 casualties out of 1,600,000 troops on the USSR side. For his success in this operation, Vasilevsky was awarded his second Hero of the Soviet Union decoration on September 8.
After World War II Between 1946 and 1949, Vasilevsky remained Chief of Staff, then became Defense Minister from 1949 to 1953. Following Stalin's death in 1953, Vasilevsky fell from grace and was replaced by
Nikolai Bulganin, although he remained deputy Defense minister. In 1956, he was appointed Deputy Defense Minister for Military Science, a secondary position with no real military power. Vasilevsky would occupy this position for only one year before being pensioned off by
Nikita Khrushchev, thus becoming a victim of the bloodless purge that also saw the end of Zhukov. In 1959, he was appointed a General Inspector of the Ministry of Defense, an honorary position. In 1973, he published his memoirs,
The Cause of My Whole Life. Aleksandr Vasilevsky died on December 5, 1977, at the age of 82. His body was cremated and his ashes immured in the
Kremlin Wall Necropolis. ==Family==