Encyclopedia of Russian History

After commanding the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces, Germany, and the Soviet Army Ground Forces, and serving briefly as Deputy Armed Forces Minister, Zhukov was “exiled” in 1946 by Stalin, who assigned him to command the Odessa and Ural Military Districts, ostensibly to remove a potential opponent. Rehabilitated after Stalin’s death in 1953, Zhukov served as minister of Defense and helped Khrushchev consolidate his political power in 1957. When Zhukov resisted Khrushchev’s policy for reducing Army strength, at Khrushchev’s instigation, the party denounced Zhukov, ostensibly for “violating Leninist principles” and fostering a “cult of Comrade G.K. Zhukov” in the army. Replaced as minister of Defense by Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky in October 1957 and retired in March 1958, Zhukov’s reputation soared once again after Khrushchev’s removal as Soviet leader in 1964.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

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ZHUKOVSKY, NIKOLAI YEGOROVICH

See also: KHRUSHCHEV, NIKITA SERGEYEVICH; STALIN, JOSEF VISSARIONOVICH; WORLD WAR II

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anfilov, Viktor. (1993). “Georgy Konstantinovich Zhu-kov.” In Stalin’s Generals, ed. Harold Shukman. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Glantz, David M. (1999). Zhukov’s Greatest Defeat: The Red Army’s Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. Zhukov, Georgy Konstantinovich. (1985). Reminiscences and Reflections. 2 vols. Moscow: Progress.

DAVID GLANTZ

ZHUKOVSKY, NIKOLAI YEGOROVICH

(1847-1921), scientist whose research typified the innovative avionics of prerevolutionary Russia.

Like a number of other outstanding Russian scientists of the early Soviet period, Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovsky was trained in the tsarist era and began his scientific career before the revolution. A specialist in aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, he supervised the construction of one of the world’s first experimental wind tunnels in 1902 and founded the first European institute of aerodynamics in 1904. He was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Early in the Soviet period, Zhukovsky was chosen to head the new Central Aero-Hydrodynamics Institute.

Zhukovsky developed the principal concepts underlying the science of space flight, and in that sense he was a pioneer, not only of aviation in prerevolutionary Russia, but of the later strides made by Soviet scientists. One of his innovations was the testing of intricate aerial maneuvers (e.g., loop-the-loop, barrel rolls, spins) based on his earlier studies of the flight of birds. Vladimir I. Lenin called Zhukovsky the “father of Russian aviation.” He died of old age at seventy-four. See also: AVIATION; SPACE PROGRAM

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Oberg, James E. (1981). Red Star in Orbit. New York: Random House. Petrovich, G. V., ed. (1969). The Soviet Encyclopedia of Space Flight. Moscow: Mir.

ALBERT L. WEEKS

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ZINOVIEV, GRIGORY YEVSEYEVICH

(1883-1936), Bolshevik revolutionary leader and associate of Lenin who after 1917 became first an ally, then rival, of Stalin and later fell victim to the Great Purge.