View source for Boris Shaposhnikov

{{Short description|Soviet marshal (1882–1945)}}
{{family name hatnote|Mikhailovich|Shaposhnikov|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox military person
| image         = Борис Михайлович Шапошников.jpg
| caption       = Shaposhnikov {{circa}} 1940
| native_name   = {{langx|ru|Бори́с Ша́пошников}}
| birth_name    = Boris Mikhailovitch Shaposhnikov
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1882|10|2|df=y}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1945|3|26|1882|10|2|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Zlatoust]], [[Ufa Governorate]]<br>[[Russian Empire]]
| death_place   = [[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]
| placeofburial = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
| placeofburial_label = 
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = {{flag|Russian Empire}} (1901–1917)<br/>{{flag|Soviet Russia|1918}} (1917–1922)<br>{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} (1922–1945)
| branch        = 
| serviceyears  = 1901–1945
| rank          = [[Colonel]] (Imperial Army)<br>[[Marshal of the Soviet Union]] (Red Army)
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[Leningrad Military District]]<br>[[Moscow Military District]]<br>[[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff]]<br>[[Volga Military District]]
| battles       = [[Russo-Japanese War]]<br>[[World War I]]<br>[[Russian Civil War]]<br>[[Eastern Front (World War II)|World War II]]
| awards        = 
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = ''[[Mozg Armii]]'' (The Brain of the Army), 1929
}}

'''Boris Mikhaylovich Shaposhnikov''' ({{langx|ru|Бори́с Миха́йлович Ша́пошников}}) ({{OldStyleDate|2 October|1882|20 September}} &ndash; 26 March 1945) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military officer, [[Military theory|theoretician]] and [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]. He served as the [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces]] from 1928 to 1931 and at the start of the [[World War II|Second World War]]. Shaposhnikov was one of the foremost military theorists during the [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]-era. His most important work, ''[[Mozg Armii]]'' ("The Brain of the Army"), is considered a landmark in Soviet military theory and doctrine on the organization of the [[Red Army]]'s General Staff.

Born to a family of [[Orenburg Cossacks|Orenburg Cossack]] origins in [[Zlatoust]] in the [[Ural Mountains|Urals]], Shaposhnikov was a graduate of the [[General Staff Academy (Russian Empire)|Nicholas General Staff Academy]] and served in the [[Imperial Russian Army]], reaching the rank of colonel during the [[World War I|First World War]]. He supported the [[Russian Revolution]] and later joined the Red Army, but did not become a member of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] until 1939. He was Chief of the Staff of the Red Army from 1928 to 1931, followed by a stint as commandant of the [[Frunze Military Academy]]. In 1937, he was appointed to the newly created title of Chief of the General Staff. In 1940, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Shaposhnikov resigned as Chief of the General Staff following Soviet failures during the [[Winter War]] in Finland. He was reappointed to the position following the [[Operation Barbarossa|Axis invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941, replacing [[Georgy Zhukov]], but was again forced to resign a year later due to declining health. He then held the post of commandant of the [[Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia|Academy of the General Staff]], and remained an influential and respected advisor to Stalin until his death in 1945.

==Biography==

Shaposhnikov, born at [[Zlatoust]], near [[Chelyabinsk]] in the [[Ural Mountains]], had [[Orenburg Cossacks|Orenburg Cossack]] origins.<ref>A. Shishov. 100 Great Cossacks http://fisechko.ru/100vel/kazakov/91.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206130803/http://fisechko.ru/100vel/kazakov/91.html |date=2022-12-06 }} – "Происходил из потомственных оренбургских казаков."</ref> He joined the [[Russian Imperial Army|army]] of the [[Russian Empire]] in 1901 as an officer cadet, and graduated from the [[General Staff Academy (Imperial Russia)|Nicholas General Staff Academy]] in 1910, reaching the rank of colonel in the [[Caucasus Grenadier Division (Russian Empire)|Caucasus Grenadiers division]] in September 1917 during [[World War I]].{{sfn|Smele|2015|p= 1012}} Also in 1917, unusually for an officer of his rank, he supported the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]],{{which|date=January 2019}} and in May 1918 joined the [[Red Army]].{{sfn|Smele|2015|p=1012}}{{request quotation|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Convention of commanders (Retouched photograph in the Soviet period). 1921.jpg|thumb|left|Shaposhnikov (top right) with other prominent Soviet military commanders, including three future Marshals of the Soviet Union, 1921]]
Shaposhnikov was one of the few Red Army commanders with formal pre-revolutionary military training, and in 1921 he became 1st Deputy [[Chief of Staff]] of the Army's [[Soviet General Staff|General Staff]], where he served until 1925. He was appointed commander of the [[Leningrad Military District]] in 1925 and then of the [[Moscow Military District]] in 1927. From 1928 to 1931 he served as [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the Staff of the Red Army]], replacing [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]], with whom he had a strained relationship.{{sfn|Samuelson|Shlykov|2009|p= 98}} He was then demoted to command of the [[Volga Military District]] from April 1931 to 1932 as a result of slanderous accusations (made by an arrested staff-officer) of belonging to a clandestine organization.{{sfn|Smele|2015|p= 1012}} In 1932 he was appointed commandant of the Red Army's [[Frunze Military Academy]], then in 1935 he returned to the command of the Leningrad region. In 1937 he was appointed as [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff]], in succession to [[Alexander Ilyich Yegorov]], a defendant of the [[Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization]] secret trial during [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]] of the Red Army. In May 1940 he was appointed a [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Wells|2013|p =287}}

Despite his background as a Tsarist officer, Shaposhnikov won the respect and trust of Stalin. Due to his status as a professional officer, he did not join the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] until 1939.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p= 38}} This may have helped him avoid Stalin's suspicions. The price he paid for his survival during the purges was collaboration in the destruction of Tukhachevsky and of many other colleagues. Stalin showed his admiration for the officer by always keeping a copy of Shaposhnikov's most important work, ''[[Mozg Armii]]'' (Мозг армии, "The Brain of the Army") (1929), on his desk.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Shaposhnikov was one of the few men whom Stalin [[Eastern Slavic naming customs|addressed by his Christian name and patronymic]].{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p= 38}}{{sfn| Radzinsky|2011|p=472}} ''Mozg Armii'' has remained on the curriculum of the General Staff Academy since its publication in 1929.{{sfn|Aldis|McDermott|2004}}

Fortunately for the Soviet Union, Shaposhnikov had a fine military mind and high administrative skills.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} He combined these talents with his position in Stalin's confidence to rebuild the Red Army's [[leadership]] cadres after the purges. He obtained the release from the [[Gulag]] of 4,000 officers deemed necessary for this operation.{{citation needed|date= January 2019}} In 1939 Stalin accepted Shaposhnikov's plan for a rapid buildup of the Red Army's strength. Although the planned changes remained incomplete at the time of the [[Operation Barbarossa|Axis invasion]] of June 1941, they had advanced sufficiently to save the Soviet Union from complete disaster.{{sfn|Ringer|2006|p= 143}}

[[File:MolotovRibbentropStalin.jpg|thumb|Shaposhnikov with Stalin, [[Joachim von Ribbentrop|Ribbentrop]] and [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] at the signing of [[German–Soviet Frontier Treaty]] on 28 September 1939]]
Shaposhnikov planned the 1939 Soviet invasion of [[Finland]], but was much less optimistic about its duration than Stalin and the campaign's commander [[Kliment Voroshilov]].{{sfn|Kulkov|Rzheshevskii|Shukman|2014|p= xxv}} The resultant [[Winter War]] (1939–1940) did not deliver the immediate success the Soviet side had hoped for, and Shaposhnikov resigned as Chief of the General Staff in August 1940, due to ill-health and to disagreements with Stalin about the conduct of that campaign.{{sfn|Wells|2013|p= 287}}{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p = 38}} Following the [[Operation Barbarossa|Axis invasion of the Soviet Union]] on 22 June 1941, he was reinstated (29 July 1941) as Chief of the General Staff{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p= 38}} to succeed [[Georgy Zhukov]],{{sfn|Wells|2013|p=287}} and also became [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Deputy People's Commissar for Defence]], the post he held until his career was cut short by ill-health in 1943. He resigned again as Chief of the General Staff due to ill-health on 10 May 1942.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p = 38}} He held the position of commandant of the [[Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia|Voroshilov Military Academy]] until his death in 1945 at the age of 62. Shaposhnikov had groomed his successor as Chief of Staff, [[Aleksandr Vasilevsky]], and remained an influential and respected advisor to Stalin until his death. His ashes were buried in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]].

==Honours and awards==
;{{flag|Russian Empire}}
* [[Order of St. Anna]], 4th class (26 October 1914), 3rd class with Swords and Bow (1915), 2nd class with Swords (1 November 1916)
* [[Order of St. Vladimir]], 4th class with Swords and Bow (2 November 1914)
* [[Order of Saint Stanislaus]], 3rd class with Swords and Bow (22 July 1916)

;{{flag|Soviet Union}}
* Three [[Orders of Lenin]] (31 December 1939, 3 October 1942, 21 February 1945)
* [[Order of the Red Banner]], twice (14 October 1921, 3 November 1944)
* [[Order of Suvorov]], 1st class (22 February 1944)
* [[Order of the Red Star]], twice (15 January 1934, 22 February 1938)
* [[Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"]] (22 February 1938)
* [[Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"]] (1 May 1944)

==See also==
* [[Russian destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov (BPK 543)|Russian destroyer ''Marshal Shaposhnikov'' (BPK 543)]]

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
  |editor1-last=Aldis
  |editor1-first=Anne C.
  |editor2-last=McDermott
  |editor2-first=Roger N.
  |date=2004
  |title=Russian Military Reform, 1992–2002
  |publisher=Routledge
  |isbn=978-1-1357-5468-6
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Glantz
  |first1=David M.
  |last2=House
  |first2=Jonathan
  |date=2009
  |title=To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet–German Combat Operations, April–August 1942
  |publisher=University Press of Kansas
  |location=Lawrence, Kansas
  |isbn=978-0-7006-1630-5
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Kulkov
  |first1=E. N.
  |last2=Rzheshevskii
  |first2=Oleg Aleksandrovich
  |last3=Shukman
  |first3=Harold
  |date=2014
  |title=Stalin and the Soviet-Finnish War, 1939–1940
  |publisher=Routledge
  |isbn=978-1-1352-8294-3
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Radzinsky
  |first1=Edvard
  |date=2011
  |title=Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives
  |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  |isbn=978-0-3077-5468-4
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Ringer
  |first1=Ronald E.
  |date=2006
  |title=Excel HSC Modern History
  |publisher=Pascal Press
  |isbn=978-1-7412-5246-0
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Samuelson
  |first1=Lennart
  |last2=Shlykov
  |first2=Vitaly
  |date=2009
  |title=Plans For Stalin's War Machine: Tukhachevskii and Military-Economic Planning, 1925–1941
  |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan
  |isbn=978-0-3122-2527-8
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Smele
  |first1=Jonathan D.
  |date=2015
  |title=Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926: Volume 2 of Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest
  |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield
  |isbn=978-1-4422-5281-3
  }}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Wells
  |first1=Anne Sharp
  |date=2013
  |title=Historical Dictionary of World War II: The War against Germany and Italy: Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest
  |publisher=Scarecrow Press
  |isbn=978-0-8108-7944-7
  }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/026109}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box
|before =[[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]]
|title = [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the Staff of the Red Army]]
|years = May 1928 – April 1931
|after = [[Vladimir Triandafillov]]}}
{{succession box
|before =[[Alexander Yegorov (soldier)|Alexander Yegorov]]
|title = [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the Staff of the Red Army]]
|years = 10 May 1937 – August 1940
|after = [[Kirill Meretskov]]}}
{{succession box
|before =[[Georgy Zhukov]]
|title = [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the Staff of the Red Army]]
|years = 29 July 1941 – 11 May 1942
|after = [[Aleksandr Vasilevsky]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Marshals of the Soviet Union}}
{{Chiefs of the Russian General Staff}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaposhnikov, Boris}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
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[[Category:People from Zlatoust]]
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[[Category:Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
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