During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces under leader Joseph Stalin, and oversaw some of the Red Army's most decisive victories.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Zhukov lost his post as chief of staff after disagreeing with Stalin over the defense of Kiev.

He participated in the planning of Operation Bagration in 1944, and in 1945 commanded the 1st Belorussian Front as it led the Vistula–Oder Offensive into Germany, where he oversaw the Soviet victory at the Battle of Berlin.

In recognition of Zhukov's key role in the war, he was chosen to accept the German Instrument of Surrender and to inspect the 1945 Moscow Victory Parade.

After Stalin's death in 1953, Zhukov supported Nikita Khrushchev's bid for leadership, and in 1955, he was appointed Defence Minister and made a member of the Presidium.

[2] Zhukov was born into a poor peasant family of Russian[3] ethnicity in Strelkovka, Maloyaroslavsky, Kaluga Governorate in western Russia, approximately 62 miles (100 km) east of Moscow.

Zhukov was said to resemble his mother, and he believed he inherited his physical strength from her; Ustin'ya was reportedly able to accomplish demanding tasks such as carrying 200-pound (91 kg) sacks of grain over long distances.

[9] During World War I, Zhukov was awarded the Cross of St. George twice for heroism, and promoted to the non-commissioned officer ranks in recognition of his bravery in battle.

[19] His career was accelerated by the Great Purge, when thousands of officers were arrested and shot, but those associated with the First Cavalry Army were protected, as they were battling the Japanese on the edges of Manchuria.

His innovations included the deployment of underwater bridges, and improving the cohesion and battle-effectiveness of inexperienced units by adding a few experienced, battle-hardened troops to bolster morale and overall training.

This battle provided valuable practical knowledge that was essential to the Soviet success in development of the T-34 medium tank used in World War II.

[32] He was also elected a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union In February 1941, and was appointed a Deputy People's Commissar for Defence in March.

From 2 February 1941, as the chief of the general staff, and Deputy Minister of Defense, Zhukov was said to take part in drawing up the "Strategic plan for deployment of the forces of the Soviet Union in the event of war with Germany and its allies.

Some researchers, such as Victor Suvorov, have theorized that on 14 May, Soviet People's Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko and General Zhukov presented these plans to Stalin for a preemptive attack against Germany through Southern Poland.

The attacking Soviets were supposed to reach Siedlce, Dęblin, and then capture Warsaw before penetrating toward the southwest and imposing final defeat at Lublin.

Zhukov subsequently claimed that he was forced by Joseph Stalin to sign the directive, supposedly written by Aleksandr Vasilevsky,[41] despite the reservations that he raised.

In late August 1942, Zhukov was made deputy commander in chief, subordinate only to Stalin, and sent to the southwestern front to take charge of the defence of Stalingrad.

[60] He called on his troops to "remember our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our wives and children tortured to death by Germans ... We shall exact a brutal revenge for everything".

As one of the four commanders of the Allied occupational forces, Zhukov established good relationships with his new colleagues, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and Marshal Jean de Lattre, and the four frequently exchanged views about such matters as the sentencing, trials, and judgments of war criminals, geopolitical relationships between the Allied states, and how to defeat Japan and rebuild Germany.

As Coca-Cola was regarded in the Soviet Union as a symbol of American imperialism,[69] Zhukov was apparently reluctant to be photographed or reported as consuming such a product.

After an unpleasant session of the main military council—in which Zhukov was accused of egoism, disrespect to his peers and of political unreliability and hostility to the Party Central Committee—he was stripped of his position as commander in chief of the Soviet Army.

He successfully opposed the re-establishment of the Commissar system, because the Party and political leaders were not professional military, and thus the highest power should fall to the army commanders.

[90] In July 1955, Zhukov—together with Khrushchev, Bulganin, Vyacheslav Molotov and Andrei Gromyko—participated in a Summit Conference at Geneva after the USSR signed the Austrian State Treaty and withdrew its army from the country.

The mood in the Presidium changed again when Hungary's new Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, began to talk about Hungarian withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.

It would take another decade until publication after Zhukov clashed constantly with Mikhail Suslov, the Communist Party's Chief Ideologue and Second in Command in charge of Censorship, who demanded many revisions and removals, particularly his criticisms of Stalin, Voroshilov, Budyonny and Molotov.

Within several months of the date of publication of his memoirs, Zhukov had received more than 10,000 letters from readers that offered comments, expressed gratitude, gave advice, or lavished praise.

[104] His body was cremated and his ashes were buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis alongside fellow generals and marshals of the Soviet Union during his funeral.

The excerpts included criticism of the 1937–1939 purges for annihilating "[M]any thousands of outstanding party workers" and stated that Stalin had played no role in directing the war effort, although he often issued orders devised by the general staff as if they were his own.

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that, because of Zhukov's achievements fighting the Nazis, the United Nations owed him much more than any other military leader in the world.

[115] Major General Sir Francis de Guingand, chief of staff of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, described Zhukov as a friendly person.