Nikolai Bulganin

Nikolai Bulganin
Николай Булганин
Bulganin at the Geneva Summit on reunification and disarmament of Germany, July 1955

Chairman of the Council of Ministers
In office 8 February 1955 – 27 March 1958
First Deputies	Anastas Mikoyan Mikhail Pervukhin Maksim Saburov Joseph Kuzmin Lazar Kaganovich Anastas Mikoyan
Preceded by	Georgy Malenkov
Succeeded by	Nikita Khrushchev
Minister of Defence
In office 15 March 1953 – 9 February 1955
Premier	Georgy Malenkov
Preceded by	Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikolai Kuznetsov
Succeeded by	Georgy Zhukov
Minister of the Armed Forces
In office 3 March 1947 – 24 March 1949
Premier	Joseph Stalin
Preceded by	Joseph Stalin
Succeeded by	Aleksandr Vasilevsky
First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers
In office 7 April 1950 – 8 February 1955
Premier	Joseph Stalin Georgy Malenkov
Preceded by	Vyacheslav Molotov
Succeeded by	Anastas Mikoyan
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR
In office 22 July 1937 – 17 September 1938
Premier	Vyacheslav Molotov
Preceded by	Daniil Sulimov
Succeeded by	Vasiliy Vakhrushev
Full member of the 18th, 19th, 20th Politburo
In office 18 February 1948 – 5 September 1958
Candidate member of the 18th Politburo
In office 18 March 1946 – 18 February 1948
Member of the Orgburo
In office 18 March 1946 – 14 October 1952
Personal details
Born	Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Булга́нин) (1895-06-11)11 June 1895 Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire
Died	24 February 1975(1975-02-24) (aged 79) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Citizenship	Soviet
Nationality	Russian
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Awards
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Red Army
Years of service	1941–1949
Rank	Marshal of the Soviet Union
Commands	Soviet Armed Forces
Battles/wars	World War II

Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (Russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Булга́нин, [nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡanʲɪn]; 11 June [O.S. 30 May] 1895 – 24 February 1975^[1]) was a Soviet politician who served as Minister of Defense (1953–55) and Premier of the Soviet Union (1955–58) under Nikita Khrushchev, following service in the Red Army and as defense minister under Joseph Stalin.

Early career

Bulganin was born in Nizhny Novgorod, the son of an office worker. He joined the Bolshevik Party in 1917 and was recruited in 1918 into the Cheka, the Bolshevik regime's political police, where he served until 1922. After the Russian Civil War, he became an industrial manager and worked in the electricity administration until 1927. He was director of the Moscow electricity supply in 1927–31. From 1931–37, Bulganin was chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow City Soviet.

In 1934, the 17th Congress of the Communist Party elected Bulganin a candidate member of the Central Committee. A loyal Stalinist, he was promoted rapidly as other leaders fell victim to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–38. In July 1937, he was appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Republic (RSFSR). He became a full member of the Central Committee later that year and, in September 1938, became Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union and head of the State Bank of the USSR.

World War II

During World War II, Bulganin played a leading role in the government and Red Army, although he was never a front-line commander. He was given the rank of Colonel-General and was a member of the State Defense Committee. He was appointed Deputy Commissar for Defence in 1944 and served as Stalin's principal agent in the High Command of the Red Army. In 1946 he became Minister for the Armed Forces and was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. He also became a candidate member of the Politburo of the Communist Party. He was again Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, under Stalin, from 1947 to 1950. In 1948 he became a full member of the Politburo.

Premiership

After Stalin's death in March 1953, Bulganin moved into the first rank of the Soviet leadership, being appointed to the key post of Defense Minister. He was an ally of Nikita Khrushchev during his power struggle with Georgy Malenkov, and in February 1955 he succeeded Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union.^[2] He was generally seen as a supporter of Khrushchev's reforms and destalinization. He and Khrushchev travelled together to India, Yugoslavia and Britain, where they were known in the press as "the B and K show."^[3] In his memoirs, however, Khrushchev recounted that he believed that he "couldn't rely on [Bulganin] fully."^[4]

Bulganin and Khrushchev in India

During the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956, Bulganin sent letters to the governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Israel threatening rocket attacks on London, Paris, and Tel Aviv if they did not withdraw their forces from Egypt. In a letter to Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, Bulganin wrote, "Israel is playing with the fate of peace, with the fate of its own people, in a criminal and irresponsible manner; [...] which will place a question [mark] upon the very existence of Israel as a State."^[5] Khrushchev, in his memoirs, admitted the threat was designed simply to divide Western opinion, especially since at the time he did not have enough ICBMs to launch the rockets, and in any case he had no intention of going to war in 1956. Furthermore, in 1959, U.S. intelligence revealed that the Soviet nuclear arsenal was much smaller than the West had believed, and therefore the Soviets would not have had enough rockets to launch in three different directions. The threatening letters actually helped the British and French at the United Nations, since they ensured that all of NATO (including the United States) was committed to defend the UK and France from a Soviet attack.

Bulganin with Khrushchev, Peng Dehuai, and Ye Jianying

By 1957, however, Bulganin had come to share the doubts held about Khrushchev's reformist policies by the conservative group (the so-called "Anti-Party Group") led by Vyacheslav Molotov. In June, when the conservatives tried to remove Khrushchev from power at a meeting of the Politburo, Bulganin vacillated between the two camps. When the conservatives were defeated and removed from power, Bulganin survived for a while, but in March 1958, at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev forced his resignation.^[2] He was appointed chairman of the Soviet State Bank, a job he had held two decades before, but in September Bulganin was removed from the Central Committee and deprived of the title of Marshal. He was dispatched to Stavropol as chairman of the Regional Economic Council, a token position, and in February 1960 he was retired on a pension.

Honours and awards

	Hero of Socialist Labour (10 June 1955)
	Two Orders of Lenin (1931, 1955)
	Order of the Red Banner (1943)
	Order of Suvorov, 1st class (1945) and 2nd class (1943)
	Order of Kutuzov, 1st class, twice (1943, 1944)
	Order of the Red Star, twice (1935, 1953)
	Order of the Republic (Tuvan People's Republic, 3 March 1942)
	Grand Cross of the Virtuti Militari (Poland)

References

↑ Nikolay Aleksandrovich Bulganin (premier of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) -- Encyclopedia Britannica:. Britannica.com. Retrieved on 2014-6-11.
1 2 Powaski, Ronald E. (1997). The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195078500.
↑ Julius William Pratt A History of United States Foreign Policy, p. 470, Prentice Hall, 1965 University of California original digitized February 8, 2007; 1979 4th ed. ISBN 978-0-13-392282-0
↑ Khrushchev, Nikita (2006). Memoirs of Nikita Khruschev, Volume 2: Reformer (1945–1964). University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 238. ISBN 0271028610.
↑ "7 Exchange of Letters- Bulganin- Ben-Gurion- 5 and 8 November 1956". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nikolai Bulganin.

Nikolai Bulganin at Find a Grave

Political offices
Preceded by Joseph Stalin	Minister of the Armed Forces 3 March 1947– 24 March 1949	Succeeded by Aleksandr Vasilevsky
Preceded by Nikolai Kuznetsov	Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union 15 March 1953–9 February 1955	Succeeded by Georgy Zhukov
Preceded by Aleksandr Vasilevsky		Succeeded by Georgy Zhukov
Preceded by Georgy Malenkov	Premier of the Soviet Union 8 February 1955–27 March 1958	Succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev
Preceded by A. P. Grichmanov	Chairman of Board of the Soviet State Bank 1938-1940	Succeeded by N. K. Sokolov
Preceded by N. K. Sokolov	Chairman of Board of the Soviet State Bank 1940	Succeeded by Ya. I. Golev
Preceded by Vasili Popov	Chairman of Board of the Soviet State Bank 1958	Succeeded by A. K. Korovushkin

Premiers of the Soviet Union

Premiers	Lenin (1923–1924) Rykov (1924–1930) Molotov (1930–1941) Stalin (1941–1953) Malenkov (1953–1955) Bulganin (1955–1958) Khrushchev (1958–1964) Kosygin (1964–1980) Tikhonov (1980–1985) Ryzhkov (1985–1991) Pavlov (Jan.–Aug. 1991) Silayev (Sep.–Dec. 1991)

First Deputies	Kuybyshev (1934–35) Voznesensky (1941–46) Molotov (1942–57) Bulganin (1950–55) Beria (Mar.–June 1953) Kaganovich (1953–57) Mikoyan (1955–64) Pervukhin (1955–57) Saburov (1955–57) Kuzmin (1957–58) Kozlov (1958–60) Kosygin (1960–64) Ustinov (1963–65) Mazurov (1965–78) Polyansky (1965–73) Tikhonov (1976–80) Arkhipov (1980–86) Aliyev (1982–87) Gromyko (1983–85) Talyzin (1985–88) Murakhovsky (1985–89) Maslyukov (1988–90) Voronin (1989–90) Niktin (1989–90) Velichko (Jan.–Nov. 1991) Doguzhiyev (Jan.–Nov. 1991)

First Deputy Premiers Deputy Premiers Prime Ministers of Russia

Marshals of the Soviet Union

Cold War

USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact

1940s	Hukbalahap Rebellion Dekemvriana Yalta Conference Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Forest Brothers Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed Soldiers Operation Unthinkable Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference Marshall Plan 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito–Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War (Second round) Malayan Emergency Albanian Subversion

1950s	Bamboo Curtain Korean War 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit (1955) Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis Syrian Crisis of 1957 Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Bandung Conference Bricker Amendment McCarthyism Operation Gladio Iraqi July Revolution "We will bury you"

1960s	Congo Crisis Sino-Soviet split 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet–Albanian split Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea-Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis Sino-Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Iraqi Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War 1964 Brazilian coup d'état United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965–66) South African Border War Transition to the New Order Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967–74 USS Pueblo incident Six-Day War War of Attrition Cultural Revolution Prague Spring Communist insurgency in Malaysia Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution Goulash Communism Sino-Soviet border conflict CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Corrective Move

1970s	Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan Corrective Movement (Syria) Cambodian Civil War Realpolitik Ping-pong diplomacy 1971 Turkish military memorandum Corrective Revolution (Egypt) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China North Yemen-South Yemen Border Conflict 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War Carnation Revolution Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino-Albanian split Cambodian–Vietnamese War Sino-Vietnamese War Iranian Revolution Operation Condor Dirty War Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Saur Revolution New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

1980s	Soviet–Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts 1980 Turkish coup d'état Invasion of Grenada 1986 Black Sea incident 1988 Black Sea bumping incident Solidarity Soviet reaction Contras Central American crisis RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Able Archer 83 Star Wars People Power Revolution Nagorno-Karabakh War Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Revolutions of 1989 Glasnost Perestroika

1990s	Mongolian Revolution of 1990 Yemeni unification Fall of Communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Frozen conflicts	Abkhazia China Korea Nagorno-Karabakh South Ossetia Transnistria Sino-Indian border dispute

Foreign policy	Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War

Ideologies	Capitalism Chicago school Keynesianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply-side economics Thatcherism Communism Marxism–Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Maoism Naxalism Stalinism Titoism Liberal democracy Social democracy

Organizations	ASEAN CIA Comecon EEC KGB Non-Aligned Movement SAARC Safari Club MI6 Stasi

Propaganda	Active measures Izvestia Pravda Crusade for Freedom Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Red Scare TASS Voice of America Voice of Russia

Races	Arms race Nuclear arms race Space Race

See also	Brinkmanship NATO–Russia relations Soviet espionage in the United States Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United States relations US–Soviet summits Cold War II

Category Portal Timeline List of conflicts

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 97709372 LCCN: n50041735 GND: 118664875 SUDOC: 084762969 BNF: cb16560555r (data) NLA: 35116120

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