World War II involved many, many generals, including some of the greatest military
minds in modern history. But unfortunately for the Allies, not all of these generals were brilliant.
There were several cases of World War II military leaders displaying stunning incompetence,
which led to defeat in the best of cases. In this video,
we’ll be talking about one such general: Semyon Budyonny of the USSR.
Budyonny was a cavalryman, born during the days of the Russian Empire. He fought in the
Russo-Japanese War, and eventually became a cavalry officer. As part of a reserve dragoon
cavalry battalion, he fought in World War I, against both the Germans and the Turks.
He won several military accolades during the war, including the St. George Cross.
With the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Budyonny was recalled and made
deputy commander of the First Socialist Cavalry Regiment. Budyonny supported the Bolsheviks,
and became acquainted with Josef Stalin around this time. Budyonny’s cavalry were instrumental
in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War, and was responsible for driving General
Denikin of the White Army away from Moscow. In 1919, he officially joined the Bolshevik Party.
Now, although Budyonny was considered a hero of the newly-formed USSR and became a member
of Stalin’s inner circle when he took power, the pride obviously went to his head and he
became vehemently opposed to modern war tactics. Budyonny opposed the entire modernisation of the
Russian military, especially when it came to tanks and armored cavalry, which he considered
drastically inferior to proper calvary in many ways. In 1937, Budyonny even went as far as to
denounce and order the execution of the Red army’s most innovative tank officer, which crippled
Soviet tank tactics and strategies for years, seriously hindering Russia’s early war effort.
Due to Budyonny’s close relationship with Stalin however,
he escaped virtually every political purge and was allowed immense political power as
well. When Operation Barbarossa started, the incompetent General,
still fully rooted in his old ways, was for some reason given the extremely important task
of commanding two fronts in the Ukraine that would bear the Brunt of the German invasion.
As you would expect, due to his arrogance and lack of understanding of modernised warfare
and tactics, the two fronts of Uman and Kiev were quickly swallowed up by the Germans and
led to a devastating defeat that put Russia on the back foot for months and months to come.
Budyonny’s actions led to millions of unnecessary deaths by creating a snowball effect that the
Germans fully utilised. Soviet high command and Stalin himself eventually realised the
stupidity and the lack of understanding of Budyonny and relieved him of command.
Unlike most incompetent generals however, Budyonny was not executed for his ineptitude in battle,
although he was fully blamed for it. Stalin however still considered him a loyal early
war hero and appointed him to a number of ceremonial leadership positions on other fronts,
and used him as a propoganda piece for the rest of the war.
Despite the fact that Budyonny stunted Soviet tank progress for years, led to the decimation
of Russia’s early fronts and in all honestly nearly cost them the war, he never received
any real punishment from the Soviets and was essentially immune due to his status as a war hero
and as Stalin’s personal friend. Budyonny unlike many other Russians after the war, lived a fairly
quiet life breeding horses, fitting I know, until he eventually died of brain hemorrhage in 1973.