View source for Semyon Timoshenko

{{short description|Soviet military commander (1895–1970)}}
{{family name hatnote|Konstantinovich|Timoshenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Semyon Timoshenko
| image               = Маршал Советского Союза Герой Советского Союза Семён Константинович Тимошенко.jpg
| width               = |
| caption             = Timoshenko in 1945|
| nationality         = Soviet Union
| office              = [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|People's Commissar for Defense of the Soviet Union]]
| term_start          = 7 May 1940
| term_end            = 19 July 1941
| leader              = [[Joseph Stalin]]
| 1blankname          = Premier
| 1namedata           = [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] <br /> [[Joseph Stalin]]
| predecessor         = [[Kliment Voroshilov]]
| successor           = [[Joseph Stalin]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1895|2|18|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Furmanivka, Odesa Oblast|Orman]], Russian Empire
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1970|3|31|1895|2|18|df=y}}
| death_place         = Moscow, Soviet Union
| resting_place       = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
| spouse              = 
| profession          = 
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] (1919–1970)
| allegiance          = {{flag|Russian Empire}}<br>(1914–1917)<br />{{flag|Russian Republic}}<br>(1917)<br />{{flag|Soviet Russia|1919}}<br>(1918–1922) <br />{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}<br> (1922–1970)
| branch              = [[Imperial Russian Army]]<br />[[Red Army]]<br />[[Soviet Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1914–1970
| rank                = [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]
| commands            = [[Kiev Military District]]<br />[[Ukrainian Front (1939)]]<br />[[Leningrad Military District]]<br />[[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Front]]<br />[[Southwestern Front (Soviet Union)|Southwestern Front]]<br />[[Northwestern Front]]<br />[[Belorussian Military District]]
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
* [[Russian Civil War]]
* [[Polish–Soviet War]]
* [[World War II]]
** [[Winter War]]
** [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards              = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (twice) <br />[[Order of Victory]] <br />[[Order of Lenin]] (five times) <br />[[Order of the October Revolution]] <br />[[Order of the Red Banner]] (five times) <br />[[Order of Suvorov]] (three times) <br />[[Cross of St. George]]|
| native_name         = {{Nobold|{{lang|ru|Семён Тимошенко}}}}
}}

'''Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko'''{{efn|{{langx|ru|Семён Константинович Тимошенко
}}; {{langx|uk|Семен Костянтинович Тимошенко|Semen Kostyantynovych Tymoshenko}}}} ({{OldStyleDate|18 February|1895|6 February}} – 31 March 1970) was a Soviet military commander, [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]], and one of the most prominent [[Red Army]] commanders during the [[World War II|Second World War]].

Born to a Ukrainian family in [[Bessarabia Governorate|Bessarabia]], Timoshenko was drafted into the [[Imperial Russian Army]] and saw action in the [[World War I|First World War]] as a [[cavalry]]man. On the outbreak of the 1917 [[Russian Revolution]] he joined the Red Army. He served with distinction during the [[Russian Civil War]] of 1917 to 1922 and the subsequent [[Polish–Soviet War]] of 1919 to 1921, which brought him into [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s and [[Joseph Stalin]]'s favour. Rapidly rising through the ranks, Timoshenko held several regional commands throughout the 1930s and survived the [[Great Purge]] of 1936 to 1938. He led the [[Ukrainian Front (1939)|Ukrainian Front]] during the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] in 1939. In early 1940, Timoshenko took over the command of Soviet troops in the [[Winter War]] in Finland from [[Kliment Voroshilov]] and turned the tide for the Red Army. In May 1940, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union and the [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|People's Commissar for Defence]]. In the latter capacity, he took steps to modernise the Red Army and to prepare for a likely war with [[Nazi Germany]].

On the outbreak of the [[Operation Barbarossa|Axis invasion of the Soviet Union]] in June 1941 Timoshenko was named chairman of the [[Headquarters of the Supreme High Command|Stavka]]. Replaced by Stalin himself a month later, he went on to hold a series of important field commands in the following year. In late 1941, he organised a major counter-offensive in [[Battle of Rostov (1941)|Rostov]], which brought him international renown. His fortunes had faltered by mid-1942, in particular after the overwhelming Soviet defeat at the [[Second Battle of Kharkov]], and he was relieved from the command of the newly formed [[Stalingrad Front]]. He was recalled later that year and appointed commander of the [[Northwestern Front]], and as a Stavka representative he oversaw and coordinated the activities of several fronts in various times during the last phase of the war, including the [[Leningrad Front|Leningrad]], [[Volkhov Front|Volkhov]], and [[North Caucasus Front|North Caucasus]] Fronts and the [[Black Sea Fleet]], and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts.

After the war, Timoshenko held commands in several Soviet military districts until his effective retirement in 1960. He died in 1970 at the age of 75.

==Early life==
Born in Orman in the [[Akkermansky Uyezd|Akkerman uezd]], [[Bessarabia Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] (present-day [[Furmanivka, Odesa Oblast|Furmanivka]], [[Odesa Oblast]], [[Ukraine]]),<ref>[https://grad.ua/istoriya-odessy/80567-marshal-s-neschastlivoj-sudboj.html Маршал Тимошенко: непростой и противоречивый жизненный путь]. grad.ua</ref> to an ethnic Ukrainian family.<ref name="Twentieth Century">Wojciech Roszkowski, Jan Kofman (2016). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_HGlDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1030&lpg=PA1030 Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century]''". p. 1030. {{ISBN|1317475941}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=896/|title=Тимошенко Семён Константинович|website=warheroes.ru}}</ref>

==Military career==

===First World War===
In 1914, he was drafted into the army of the Russian Empire and served as a [[cavalry]]man on Russia's [[Eastern Front (World War I)|western front]] in the [[World War I|First World War]]. Upon the outbreak of the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]] in 1917, he sided with the Bolsheviks, joining the [[Red Army]] in 1918{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p=41}} and the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] in 1919.{{sfn|Axelrod|Kingston|2007|p=813}}

===Russian Civil War===
During the [[Russian Civil War]] of 1917–1923, Timoshenko served on various fronts. He [[Polish-Soviet War|fought against Polish forces]] in Kiev and then against [[Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel|Pyotr Wrangel]]'s [[White movement|White Army]] and [[Nestor Makhno]]'s [[Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine|Black Army]].<ref name="Twentieth Century" /> His most important encounter occurred at [[Volgograd|Tsaritsyn]], where he commanded a cavalry regiment and met and befriended [[Joseph Stalin]], who was responsible for the city's defense.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p= 41}} The personal connection would ensure his rapid advancement after Stalin gained control of the Communist Party by the end of the 1920s. In 1920–1921, Timoshenko served under [[Semyon Budyonny]] and [[Kliment Voroshilov]] in the [[1st Cavalry Army]]; Budyonny and Voroshilov became the core of the '''"Cavalry Army clique"''' which, under Stalin's patronage, would dominate the Red Army for many years.{{sfn|Erickson|1999|p=15}} In April 1920, he was given command of the Sixth Division of the Red Cavalry, which was the first to attack the Polish army during the 'May offensive' launched by the Red Army during the [[Polish-Soviet War in 1920|Polish-Soviet War]]. On 29 May, the Sixth Division charged Polish trenches, taking heavy casualties for no gain, which convinced the Soviet commanders that charging trenches was pointless.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Norman |title=White Eagle Red Star, The Polish-Soviet war 1919–1920 and the 'Miracle on the Vistula' |date=2003 |publisher=Pimlico |location=London |isbn=978-0-712-60694-3 |page=123}}</ref>

===The 1930s===
[[File:Khalkhin Gol Zhukov 1939.jpg|thumb|190px|Timoshenko and [[Georgy Zhukov]] at the maneuvers of the [[Kiev Military District]], 1940]]
By the end of the civil and [[Polish–Soviet War|Polish–Soviet]] wars, Timoshenko had become the commander of the Red Army cavalry forces. Thereafter, under Stalin, he became Red Army commander in [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussia]] (1933); in [[Kiev]] (1935); in the northern [[Caucasus]] and then [[Kharkov]] (1937); and Kiev again (1938). In 1939, he was given command of the entire western border region and led the [[Ukrainian Front (1939)|Ukrainian Front]] during the [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet invasion of eastern Poland]]. He also became a member of the Communist Party's [[Central Committee]]. Due to being a loyal friend of Lenin and Stalin, Timoshenko survived the [[Great Purge]] to become the Red Army's senior professional soldier.

===World War II: The Winter War===
In January 1940, Timoshenko took charge of the Soviet armies fighting [[Finland]] in the [[Soviet-Finnish War]]. This began the previous November, under the disastrous command of [[Kliment Voroshilov]]. Under Timoshenko's leadership, the Soviets succeeded in breaking through the Finnish [[Mannerheim Line]] on the [[Karelian Isthmus]]. His reputation increased, Timoshenko was made the [[People's Commissar]] for Defence and a [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]] in May, replacing [[Kliment Voroshilov|Marshal Voroshilov]] as the Minister of Defence.

British historian [[John Erickson (historian)|John Erickson]] has written:

<blockquote>Although by no means a military intellectual, Timoshenko had at least passed through the higher command courses of the Red Army and was a fully trained 'commander-commissar'. During the critical period of the military purge, Stalin had used Timoshenko as a military district commander who could hold key appointments while their incumbents were liquidated or exiled.{{sfn|Erickson|1999|pp=96, 107}}
</blockquote>

Timoshenko was a competent but traditionalist military commander who nonetheless saw the urgent need to modernise the Red Army if, as expected, it was to fight a war against [[Nazi Germany]]. Overcoming the opposition of other more conservative leaders, he undertook the [[mechanisation]] of the Red Army and the production of more [[tank]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS2nE0FbY38 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/rS2nE0FbY38| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|last1=Neidell|first1=Indy|last2=Olsson|first2=Spartacus|title=Finland and France Join Hitler – WW2 – 094 – June 13 1941|website=YouTube|publisher=[[Indy Neidell|TimeGhost History]]|date=13 June 2020|access-date=14 June 2020|author1-link=Indy Neidell}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He also reintroduced much of the traditional harsh discipline of the Tsarist Russian Army{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}.

In June 1940, Timoshenko ordered the formation of the [[Baltic Military District]] in the occupied [[Baltic states]].

===World War II===

==== 1941–1942 ====
In the weeks before the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]], Timoshenko and Zhukov were worried by reports that German planes were crossing the Soviet border at least 10 times a day, and on 13 June, they asked Stalin for permission to put the troops on the western border on high alert, but were overruled because Stalin was convinced that there would be no German invasion before spring 1942.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pleshakov |first1=Constantine |title=Stalin's Folly, The Secret History of the German Invasion of Russia, June 1941 |date=2005 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-297-84626-0 |pages=1–2}}</ref>

General [[Ivan Boldin]], deputy commander on the western front, recounted in memoirs published 20 years later that early in the morning of the invasion, on 22 June, when several towns in Belarus, including [[Grodno]], were being bombed, aircraft destroyed on the ground, troops were being strafed, and German paratroopers were landing behind Red Army lines, Timoshenko rang him with an instruction that "no action is to be taken against the Germans without our knowledge ... Comrade Stalin has forbidden to open artillery fire against the Germans".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Werth |first1=Alexander |title=Russia At War, 1941–1945 |date=1965 |publisher=Pan |location=London |pages=154–155}}</ref>
 
On 23 June, Timoshenko was named chairman of [[Stavka]], the Soviet Armed Forces High Command.<ref name="ZiemkeBauer1987">{{cite book|author1=Earl Frederick Ziemke|author2=Magna E. Bauer|title=Moscow to Stalingrad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjOxtqM8768C&pg=PA30|year=1987|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-080081-8|page=24}}</ref> In July 1941, Stalin replaced Timoshenko as Defense Commissar and Stavka's chairman. At the same time, the [[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Front]] was divided into three sectors, with Timoshenko put in command of the  [[Soviet Central Front|Central Front]]{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p=41}} to supervise a fighting retreat from the border to [[Smolensk]]. The Northern Front was commanded by Voroshilov, and the [[Southwestern Front (Soviet Union)|Southwestern Front]] by Budyonny, both of whom were removed by Stalin for incompetence after only a few weeks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montefiore |first1=Simon Sebag |title=Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar |date=2004 |publisher=Phoenix |location=London |isbn=0-75381-766-7 |pages=388, 394–395}}</ref> Timoshenko was transferred to [[Ukraine]] in September to replace Budyonny and restore order at the gates of [[Kiev]]. On 23 October, the Soviets made Timoshenko command the entire southern half of the Eastern Front and [[Georgy Zhukov]] command the northern half.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/CjN6aybNbsQ Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201101080915/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjN6aybNbsQ&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjN6aybNbsQ&t=631s| title = 113 – Martial Law in Moscow, but is the Cavalry coming? – WW2 – October 24, 1941 | website=[[YouTube]]| date = 24 October 2020 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> In November and December 1941, Timoshenko organized major counter offensives in the [[Battle of Rostov (1941)#Rostov Offensive Operation|Rostov]] region, as well as carving a bridgehead into German defenses south of [[Kharkiv]] in January 1942.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2009|p=41}}

In May 1942, Timoshenko, with 640,000 men, launched a counter-offensive (the [[Second Battle of Kharkov]]), which was the first Soviet attempt to gain initiative in the springtime war. After initial Soviet successes, the Germans struck back at Timoshenko's exposed southern flank, halting the offensive, encircling Timoshenko's armies, and turning the battle into a major Soviet defeat.

The fact that he was the most senior Soviet army officer with a front-line command during most of the first year after the German invasion turned Timoshenko, briefly, into an international celebrity, lionised in the US and UK in particular as a supposed military genius. According to an account written later in the war:

{{blockquote|Marshal Timoshenko flared up like a shooting star of unusual brightness against a sky that was more than commonly dark, and faded just as swiftly and unexpectedly. From June 1941 to about July 1942, so famous was he that foreigners, notably the Welsh and Irish, attempted to inch under his halo by finding their blood in him. The Welsh said that Timothy Jenkins was the Marshal's ancestor who had migrated to Russia to work as a mechanic and marry a Ukrainian girl. The Hibernians told a similar story about a certain Tim O'Shenko. In June 1942, an American humorist wrote: "I am waiting to hear from the Poles, the Czechs, the Brazilians and the Greeks. Everybody wants to be a winner." But just then, Marshal Timoshenko began his descent from glory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parry |first1=Albert |title=Russian Cavalcade, a Military Record |date=1944 |publisher=Ives Washburn Inc. |location=New York |page=222 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b86566&view=1up&seq=9 |access-date=22 November 2022}}</ref>|}}
 
General [[Georgy Zhukov]]'s success in defending Moscow during December 1941 had persuaded Stalin that he was a better commander than Timoshenko.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} On 22 July 1942, Stalin replaced Timoshenko with [[Vasily Gordov]] as Commander of the [[Stalingrad Front]] due to his failures up to that point in the war,<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/YAfo5mse-ag Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200401163013/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfo5mse-ag Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfo5mse-ag&t=911s| title = Battlestorm Stalingrad E1 – The 6th Army Strikes! | website=[[YouTube]]| date = 7 October 2019 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> making him "Chairman of the High Command". He was called back into service as overall commander of the [[Northwestern Front]] between October 1942 and March 1943.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://generals.dk/general/Timoshenko/Semen_Konstantinovich/Soviet_Union.html|title=Biography of Marshal of Soviet Union Semen Konstantinovich Timoshenko – (Семен Константинович Тимошенко) (1895–1970), Soviet Union|website=generals.dk}}</ref>

==== 1943–1945 ====
Nonetheless, Timoshenko continued active military action in the later phase of the war. From March 1943, he was appointed as a representative of the Stavka to coordinate the actions of a number of fronts. He took part in the development and conduct of some operations. From March to June 1943, Timoshenko coordinated the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts during the battles at the Leningrad sector. By December 1943, he had coordinated the North Caucasian Front and the Black Sea Fleet, oversaw the liberation of the North Caucasus and [[Novorossiysk]], the landing operation in [[Kerch Peninsula]], paving the way for the liberation of [[Crimea]] later. From February to June 1944, he oversaw the actions of 2nd and 3rd Baltic fronts, including the Starorussko-Novorzhevskaya operation. From August 1944 until the end of the war, he coordinated the actions of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian fronts.<ref>[https://srcaltufevo.ru/uk/timoshenko-semen-konstantinovich-biografiya-kratko-sem-n-konstantinovich.html Тимошенко насіння Костянтиновича біографія коротко. Семен Костянтинович Тимошенко: біографія Маршал Тимошенко у роки Великої Вітчизняної]</ref>

Timoshenko was awarded his first Order of Suvorov, 1st class, due to the achievements in the Caucasus and the bridgehead in Crimea.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/podvig-chelovek_nagrazhdenie1560612223/?backurl=/heroes/?last_name=%D0%A2%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE&first_name=%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD&middle_name=%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87&group=all&types=pamyat_commander:nagrady_nagrad_doc:nagrady_uchet_kartoteka:nagrady_ubilein_kartoteka:potery_vpp:potery_doneseniya_o_poteryah:potery_gospitali:potery_utochenie_poter:potery_spiski_zahoroneniy:potery_voennoplen:potery_iskluchenie_iz_spiskov:potery_kartotek | title=Тимошенко Семен Константинович :: Память народа }}</ref> After the Red Army liberated [[Chișinău]] on 25 August during the Jassy–Kishinev offensive, Timoshenko sent a telegram to Stalin that praised the achievement of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts under his coordination and requested the promotion of their respective commanders, Malinovsky and Tolbukhin, to the rank of [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]. The commanders were indeed promoted, and Timoshenko was also awarded another Order of Suvorov, 1st class.<ref>[https://news.rambler.ru/other/41742911-timoshenko-unichtozhenie-yuzhnoy-ukrainy/ Тимошенко: уничтожение «Южной Украины» Об этом сообщает "Рамблер". Далее: https://news.rambler.ru/other/41742911/]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/podvig-chelovek_nagrazhdenie1560603642/?backurl=/heroes/?last_name=%D0%A2%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE&first_name=%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD&middle_name=%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87&group=all&types=pamyat_commander:nagrady_nagrad_doc:nagrady_uchet_kartoteka:nagrady_ubilein_kartoteka:potery_vpp:potery_doneseniya_o_poteryah:potery_gospitali:potery_utochenie_poter:potery_spiski_zahoroneniy:potery_voennoplen:potery_iskluchenie_iz_spiskov:potery_kartoteki&page=1&static_hash=723218fe0db377be03092ee28da66428 | title=Тимошенко Семен Константинович :: Память народа }}</ref> On 4 June 1945, Timoshenko was awarded the [[Order of Victory]] for his contributions in the war.

In 1945, Timoshenko attended the [[Yalta Conference]]. A rumor started in the Western press that Stalin had attacked Timoshenko, but this was later disproved.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Between 15 August 1945 and 15 September 1945, Timoshenko travelled alone to review the [[Staryya Darohi|Starye Dorogi]] [[Displaced persons camps in post-World War II Europe|displaced persons camp]] where [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] survivors recuperated after their liberation. Later, the author [[Primo Levi]] (Prisoner 174517) wrote in ''[[The Truce]]'' of how the extremely tall Timoshenko "unfolded himself from a tiny [[Fiat 500 "Topolino"|Fiat 500A Topolino]]" to announce that the liberated survivors would soon begin their final journey home.<ref>Levi, Primo, ''If This Is a Man – The Truce'' (Abacus, 2013), p. 350.</ref>

===Postwar and death===
After the war, Timoshenko was reappointed commander of the Baranovichi Military District ([[Byelorussian Military District]] since March 1946), then of the [[South Urals Military District]] (June 1946); and then the Byelorussian Military District once again (March 1949). In 1960, he was appointed Inspector-General of the Defence Ministry, a largely honorary post. From 1961 he chaired the State Committee for War Veterans.

Timoshenko died at Moscow on 31 March 1970 at the age of 75. He was honoured with a state funeral and was cremated on 3 April. The urn containing his ashes was buried in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]].

== Assessment ==
[[File:Памятник Тимошенко С.К. в Фурмановке.JPG|thumb|190px|Monument to Timoshenko in [[Furmanivka, Odesa Oblast|Furmanivka]], Ukraine, June 2014]]
Timoshenko was highly praised by his contemporary Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]]. During a discussion with Stalin in 1941, Zhukov praised Timoshenko's conducts at Smolensk sector, claimed that he had done everything he could and gained the trust of the soldiers.<ref>Жуков Г К. Воспоминания и размышления. В 2 т. – М.: Олма-Пресс, 2002.</ref> After the war, Zhukov repeated his praise during an interview with [[Konstantin Simonov]], claimed that Timoshenko was a strong-willed, educated and experienced military man. He was removed from the frontline duty not because of his capability, but mainly because people were upset with his defeat at Kharkov and Timoshenko himself did not attempt to curry favour with his superior.<ref>Симонов К. М. Глазами человека моего поколения. Размышления о И. В. Сталине. – М., АПН, 1989. – С.386–387.</ref>

General A.P. Pokrovsky, also in an interview with Simonov, gave a more multidimensional assessment of Timoshenko. Pokrovsky praised Timoshenko as a well-trained, hard-working commander and was proficient in military matters. However, Timoshenko had a deep distrust of the personnel of the Stavka, therefore he also worked with a separated group of trusted associates and double-checked the data gathered by both the Stavka group and his own group. Pokrovsky commented that Timoshenko's method was "abnormal" although his desire for accurate information was reasonable.<ref>Записал Константин Симонов. Беседа с бывшим начальником штаба Западного и Третьего Белорусского фронтов генерал-полковником Покровским Александром Петровичем. Предисловие и публикация Л. Лазарева // Октябрь. – 1990. No. 5.</ref> [[Sergei Shtemenko]] in his memoirs also recounted Timoshenko's hostile attitude towards High Command's personnel including Shtemenko himself, however, their mutual relationship finally improved after some time working together.

There was a Marshala Tymoshenko Street in (the capital of Ukraine) [[Kyiv]]'s [[Obolonskyi District]].<ref name="MarshalaTymoshenko32104266"/> On 27 October 2022 the [[Kyiv City Council]] renamed this street to [[Levko Lukianenko]] Street.<ref name="MarshalaTymoshenko32104266">{{cite news|title=Chornobayivska Square, Kuzma Scriabin Lane, Levka Lukyanenko Street and General Kulczycki appeared in Kyiv|url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-kyiv-vulytsi-nazvy/32104266.html|website=[[Radio Free Europe]]|date=22 February 2023|access-date=10 January 2024|language=Ukrainian |author1=<!--CB bypass --> }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
During the war with Poland, [[Isaac Babel]] rode with a cavalry unit commanded by Timoshenko, who was then aged 25, and who appeared as a named character in at least two of the stories that Babel wrote about his war experiences, one of which was originally published in [[Odessa]] under the title "Timoshenko and Melnikov". When the stories were republished, his name was changed to Savitsky, after Budyonny had denounced Babel's work as "slander" by a "literary degenerate".<ref>{{cite book |last1=McSmith |first1=Andy |title=Fear and the Muse Kept Watch, The Russian Masters – from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein – Under Stalin |date=2015 |publisher=The New Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-59558-056-6 |pages=122, 125}}</ref> Babel's story ''My First Goose'' opens with this description:

{{blockquote|Savitsky, the commander of the Sixth Division, rose when he saw me, and I was taken aback by the beauty of his gigantic body. He rose – his breeches purple, his crimson cap cocked to one side, his medals pinned to his chest – splitting the hut in two like a banner splitting the sky. He smelled of perfume and the nauseating coolness of soap. His long legs looked like two girls wedged to their shoulders in riding boots.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Babel |first1=Isaac |title=The Complete Works of Isaac Babel |date=2002 |publisher=Picador |location=(edited by Nathalie Babel; translated by Peter Constantine) London |isbn=0-330-49031-1 |page=230}}</ref>|}}

In Babel's ''The Story of a Horse'', originally "Timoshenko and Melnikov", "Savitsky" is described as having been removed from his command, and living with a Cossack woman, and is accused of having taken a white stallion that belonged a rival officer, who tries in vain to get it back.

In the [[Warner Bros.]] cartoon ''[[Russian Rhapsody (film)|Russian Rhapsody]]'', a caricature of [[Adolf Hitler]] referred to Timoshenko as "that Irish general, Tim O'Shenko".

==Awards==
===Russian Empire===
{|
|-
|[[File:RUS Georgievsky Krest 2st BAR.svg|60px]]
|[[Cross of St. George (Russia)|Cross of St. George]], 2nd, 3rd and 4th class
|-
|}

===Soviet Union===
{|
|-
|[[File:Hero of the Soviet Union medal.png|20px]] [[File:Hero of the Soviet Union medal.png|20px]]
|[[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (No. 241 – 21 March 1940, No. 46 – 18 February 1965)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=896|title = Тимошенко Семён Константинович}}</ref>
|-
|[[File:OrderVictoryRibbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of Victory]] (No. 11–6 April 1945)
|-
|[[File:Order of Lenin Ribbon Bar.svg|60px]]
|Five [[Orders of Lenin]] (22 February 1938, 21 March 1940, 21 February 1945, 18 February 1965, 18 February 1970)
|-
|[[File:SU Order of the October Revolution ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of the October Revolution]] (22 February 1968)
|-
|[[File:SU Order of the Red Banner ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of the Red Banner]], Five times (25 July 1920, 11 May 1921, 22 February 1930, 3 November 1944, 6 November 1947)
|-
|[[File:SU Order of Suvorov 1st class ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of Suvorov]], 1st Class, Three times (9 October 1943, 12 September 1944, 27 April 1945)
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Defence of Stalingrad ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Defence of Leningrad ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Defence of Kiev ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of Kiev"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Defence of the Caucasus ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Defence of Moscow ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Capture of Budapest ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Capture of Budapest"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Capture of Vienna ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Capture of Vienna"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Liberation of Belgrade ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Liberation of Belgrade"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Victory over Japan ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Victory over Japan"]]
|-
|[[File:RUS Order of Saint George 4th class ribbon 2000.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal 30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal 40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal 50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad"]]
|-
|[[File:SU Medal In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"]]
|-
|[[File:Именная шашка.png|44px]]
|Honorary weapon – sword inscribed with golden national emblem of the Soviet Union (22 February 1968)
|-
|}
*[[Honorary Revolutionary Weapon|Honorary revolutionary weapon]] – a sword with a nominal Order of the Red Banner (28 November 1920)

===Foreign awards===

{|
|-
|-
|[[File:TCH CS Vojensky Rad Bileho Lva 1st (1945) BAR.svg|60px]]
|[[Military Order of the White Lion]] "For Victory" (Czechoslovakia)
|-
|[[File:Order of the partisan star with golden wreath Rib.png|60px]]
|[[Order of the Partisan Star (Yugoslavia)|Golden Order of the Partisan Star]] (Yugoslavia)
|-
|[[File:Med XXXth anniversary of chalkin gol victory rib.PNG|60px]]
|[[Medal "30 Years of Victory in the Khalkhin-Gol"]] (Mongolia)
|-
|}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

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

=== General sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Axelrod
  |first1=Alan
  |last2=Kingston
  |first2=Jack A.
  |date=2007
  |title=Encyclopedia of World War II
  |volume=1
  |publisher=H W Fowler
  |isbn=978-0-8160-6022-1
}}

* {{Cite book
  |last1=Erickson
  |first1=John
  |date=1999
  |title=The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin's War with Germany
  |volume=1
  |publisher=Yale University Press
  |isbn=0-300-07812-9
  |url-access=registration
  |url=https://archive.org/details/stalinswarwithge00eric
  }} (1975, 2003) 
* {{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
  |isbn=978-0-7006-1630-5
}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/prop/personalities/INF3_0084.htm Portrait of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko at the UK national archives]

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Ivan Fedko]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the Kiev Military District|years=1938–1940}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Georgy Zhukov]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Kirill Meretskov]]<br /><small>''as'' Commander of the [[Leningrad Military District]]</small>}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the [[Northwestern Front]]|years=1940}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Mikhail Kirponos]]<br /><small>''as'' Commander of the [[Leningrad Military District]]</small>}}
{{S-bef|before=-}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Stavka|Chairman of the Soviet Armed Forces High Command]]|years=1941}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Joseph Stalin]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Defence of Soviet Union|People's Commissar of Defense]]|before=[[Kliment Voroshilov]]|after=[[Joseph Stalin]]|years=1940–1941}}
{{s-end}}
{{Marshals of the Soviet Union}}
{{Battle of Stalingrad |People}}
{{Soviet Defence Ministers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timoshenko, Semyon}}
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