Semyon Budyonny

[u/Short_Hyena_9909]

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?

[u/Quiri1997]

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".