Zakharov was born in Voylovo, a village in
Kalininsky District,
Tver Oblast to peasant parents. Zakharov joined the
Red Guards (precursor to the
Red Army) in 1917, and took part in the Storming of the Winter Palace. He served under
Kliment Voroshilov during the
Russian Civil War. Zakharov graduated from the
Frunze Military Academy in 1928, and from
Soviet General Staff Academy in 1937 (his graduation was actually a year ahead of schedule, due to the lack of officers in the Red Army because of the explosive growth of the army, as well as
Stalin's purges.) Zakharov held a number of high-ranking positions before
World War II even began. In 1937 he was made the Chief of Staff of the
Leningrad Military District, then in 1938–1940 he was the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and then the Chief of Staff of the
Odessa Military District. By the end of 1941, after the beginning of
Operation Barbarossa, he was moved north, where he was made the Chief of Staff of the Northwestern Theatre. Soon thereafter, he was made the Chief of Staff of the
Kalinin Front, a role he held for most of 1942. In 1943, he was made the Chief of Staff of the
Steppe Front, which was renamed the
2nd Ukrainian Front around mid-year. It was in this capacity that Zakharov proved himself as one of the Soviet Union's top military commanders. He helped plan a number of brilliant operations against
German forces, first as a subordinate to Marshal
Ivan Konev, and then under Marshal
Rodion Malinovsky. After the cessation of hostilities with Germany, Zakharov was transferred east, where he was made the Chief of Staff of the
Transbaikal Front, and helped plan the subsequent
Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. Zakharov described in his memoirs how in April–June 1941, the commanders of the Odessa military district were aware of German reconnaissance aircraft violating Soviet airspace, and claimed that the Red Army did not have the equipment to shoot them down - though other sources say that
Stalin had given an order that German aircraft were not to be fired on. After the war, Zakharov held a number of key positions in the army. From 1945 to 1960, Zakharov was the Commandant of the General Staff Academy, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Chief Inspector of the Army, Commanding General of the
Leningrad Military District and, from November 1957, Commander in Chief of the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. On 8 May 1959, Zakharov was made a
Marshal of the Soviet Union. In January 1960, the Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev announced that within two years, 1,200,000 men, including 250,000 officers, were to be demobilised from the armed forces. When this decision was ratified by the
Supreme Soviet on 14 January, the only officers to say anything were Malinovsky and Zakharov, who supported it. It is likely that officers more senior than Zakharov who did not speak, such as
Marshal Sokolovsky kept quiet because they opposed the decision. In April 1960, Zakharov was appointed
Chief of the General Staff and Deputy
Minister of Defence, replacing Marshal Sokolovsky. In 1963, having apparently fallen out with Khrushchev, he was demoted to the job he had held 18 years earlier, as head of the General Staff Academy. Khrushchev later stated that Zakharov was removed because he used to fall asleep during important meetings. In October 1964, he was reinstated as Chief of the General Staff and USSR First Deputy Minister of Defence, after his successor
Marshal Biryuzov had been killed in an airplane crash, and Khrushchev had been ousted. When he retired through ill health in September 1971, he was the last active Marshal to have taken part in the events of 1917. Marshal M. V. Zakharov died on 31 January 1972. The urn containing his ashes is buried by the
Kremlin Wall Necropolis. His memoirs, which appear to have been written after 1964, were not published until 1989. ==Honours and awards==