Grigory Kulik, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Grigory Kulik

Marshal of the Soviet Union

Date of Birth: 09-Nov-1890

Place of Birth: Dudnikove, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine

Date of Death: 24-Aug-1950

Profession: military personnel, politician

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


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About Grigory Kulik

  • Grigory Ivanovich Kulik (Russian: ?????´??? ???´????? ????´?; 9 November 1890 – 24 August 1950) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. Kulik was born into a peasant family near Poltava in Ukraine.
  • A soldier of the army of the Russian Empire in World War I, he joined the Bolshevik Party during 1917 and the Red Army during 1918.
  • During the Russian Civil War he became a commander of the Soviet artillery at Tsaritsyn and other battles. During 1937 Kulik became commander of the Red Army's Main Artillery Directorate, and remained commander of the Soviet artillery forces until 1941.
  • He was both a sycophantic Stalinist and a military conservative, opposed to the reforms proposed by Mikhail Tukhachevsky during the 1930s.
  • He survived Stalin's Great Purge of the Red Army during 1937-38, and during 1939 he became Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, also participating with the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland during September.
  • He commanded the Soviet's artillery attack on Finland at the start of the Winter War, which quickly foundered.
  • He was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" in recognition of "outstanding services to the country and personal courage." As a friend of Stalin he was successfully able to convince him to spare more than 150,000 Polish prisoners from execution during the Katyn massacre. On 8 May 1940, Kulik was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union, along with Semyon Timoshenko and Boris Shaposhnikov.
  • He had a reputation as an incompetent officer, a "murderous buffoon", and a bully, but his friendship with Stalin protected him from criticism.
  • He could not protect his wife though, Kira Simonich, who two days before Kulik's promotion had been kidnapped on Stalin's orders.
  • She was subsequently executed by Vasili Blokhin.

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