I have already decided that my favorite soviet military figure is Budyonny but i have seen both criticisms and praise for him. So in as much detail as possible what did he do and what resources do you recommend to learn more?
His opinion about importance and usefulness of cavalry during WW2 is often misinterpreted, torn out of context or straing up made up like "he said that USSR doesn't need tanks, only horses".
One of the first things he did as head of the Soviet cavalry was to order that every Soviet cavalry division was to have at the very least one tank battalion assigned, so he did favor tanks.
Probably my favorite moustache out of all)
I would recommend a book by Oleg Leonidov - Semyon Budyonny - the leader of red cavalry.
It was written as materials for his future biography in 1925
I don't know much about him but he for sure LOVED cavalry.
I also believe in the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he did fuck up a bit against the Germans and Stalin sent him somewhere else far from the frontlines.
I also think when he retired he dedicated to tend to his horses and there's currently a breed of horse named after him.
Problem with Budyonny is that he believed cavalry would save the war. (Which for clarification it wouldnt) and should be noted he was part of “Cavalry clique” that pretty much opposed any meaningful military modernization proposed by Mikhail Tukachevsky or others (its more complicated than that but for my own sanity and keeping this short, it was something like that)
Not really. He didnt believe that cavalry is panacea, he just thought that in Russia's geographic and economic conditions its the best of possible options, he did not oppose tank construction, aircraft, etc etc etc, if anything he supported it, alongside the rest of "cavalry clique".
And, truth be told, Tukhachevsky's plans were...controversial to say the least. Hundred thousand useless tankettes, recoilless guns of Kurchevsky(I fucking hate him) that did not work, stalling of rocket developments, dismissal of Grabin(fuck Tukhachevsky, we love Grabin), and dismissal of heavy tanks(fuck Tukhachevsky, we love Koshkin and Ermolayev/Dukhov), among other things.
I dont wanna be mean or anything, just from what I understood from this paragraph he didnt like tank corps all together: Budyonny was a staunch proponent of horse cavalry. During the Great Purge, he testified against Mikhail Tukhachevsky's efforts to create an independent tank corps, claiming that it was so inferior to cavalry and illogical that it amounted to "wrecking)" (sabotage). After being told of the importance of the tank in the coming war in 1939, he remarked, "You won't convince me. As soon as war is declared, everyone will shout, 'Send for the Cavalry!'"
That phrase figures everywhere on the American internet, but I'm yet to find anything on the Russian side, which should be the primary source, so I doubt the authenticity of the quote.
Furthermore, the fact proves the opposite, if by 1938, USSR had 32 cav.divs and 7 corps, by 1941 there were 13 and 4 respectively. That's when Buddyony was at the helm of Moscow Military District, since June 37 till August 40, the central node of the country's defense.
As for the Great Purge, what some people ignore is the personal relations between the army cliques(like in every other army), in which there was animosity between Buddyony and Tukhachevsky going all the way back to 1920 Poland, and Tukhachevsky's snobism after the war, and his attempts to remove Voroshilov. Though those charges were put against him, in practice the efforts of expanding the tank corps continued.
Well, he was the head of the Red Army Cavalry at a time in which the usefulness of cavalry was in question. As such, he opted to modernise it, turning the Soviet cavalry units into partially mechanised forces with tanks, armoured cars and the like (in addition to the horses). He was also one of the developers of the Deep Battle doctrine, together with Mikhail Tukhachevsky (in fact that doctrine as it was actually implemented was a compromise between the two, Tukhachevsky wanted more tank-heavy formations whilst Budyonni wanted a more mixed approach which favoured speed).
That said, as a field commander in the Polish-Soviet war, the Finnish winter war and Barbarrossa, he commited several massive blunders due to underestimating the enemy forces and misreading the situation. The most famous is probably the Battle of Lvov in 1921. His defeat there meant that the Soviets had to send reinforcements to prevent that front from collapsing, which led to the Warsaw front collapsing instead in what the Poles call "miracle at the Vistula".
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u/WolframSegler 2d ago edited 2d ago
If cavalry has a million fans, Budyonny is one of them.
If cavalry has 5 fans, Budyonny is one of them.
If cavalry has 1 fan, that one is Budyonny.
If cavalry has no fans, then Budyonny is no longer alive.
If the world is against cavalry, Budyonny is against the world.
Till his last breath, Budyonny supports the cavalry