[1] Born to a peasant family at Filipovo in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, he was drafted into the Imperial Army in May 1915 and participated in the First World War.

[2] In 1925, Kazakov graduated from the Artillery Academy of Moscow,[3] joining the All-Union Communist Party (B) at 1932.

[5] Kazakov took part in the battles for Smolensk and Moscow, and developed new methods for the use of anti-tank artillery,[6] which were adopted by the entire army.

[8] For his contribution to the Vistula-Oder Offensive, Kazakov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (Medal no.

Kazakov was promoted to the rank of Marshal on 11 March 1955,[9] commanding the Ground Forces' Air Defence from 1958 until 1965.