The myth that Stalin is guilty of the death of the outstanding Soviet commander M. V. Frunze
130 years ago, 21 January (2 February) 1885, was born the Soviet statesman and military leader Mikhail V. Frunze. The Soviet statesman and commander gained fame as the winner Kolchak, the Ural Cossacks and Wrangel, the Petliurists and the Makhnovists, the conqueror of Turkestan.
At a crucial turning point stories Soviet Russia, when during the illness and after Lenin's death there was a threat of the seizure of power by Trotsky, behind whom stood the so-called “Golden international” (“financial international”, “world backstage”), Stalin and Frunze seized control over the armed forces. Trotsky had a great influence in the authorities, including the Red Army, was the second leader of the party after Lenin, therefore, as a counterweight to him, he needed to choose a reputable commander, a respected commander. He became the hero of the civil war, a man who protects the genuine interests of the people, Mikhail Frunze.
At the beginning of 1925, Trotsky’s resignation followed. Frunze headed the Revolutionary Military Council, who had fully obeyed Leon Trotsky, became the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. His deputy was Stalin's ally Voroshilov. The army as a whole accepted the appointment of M.V. Frunze, and in a short time he carried out a number of transformations, reinforcing unity of command, improving the quality of command personnel and the combat training of troops, removing a significant part of Trotsky's cadres. It is obvious that the armed forces under the leadership of Frunze and then would continue to be strengthened, but his sudden death has deprived the Soviet Union of valuable military and political figure. To blacken Stalin, it created the myth that Stalin ordered the liquidation of Frunze, and that "killed on the operating table" on his orders. Meanwhile, Frunze was completely loyal to Stalin and represented a danger to the aspiring Trotsky-internationalist wing, which still maintained positions in many state and party bodies, including the armed forces (Tukhachevsky and others).
M. V. Frunze. Artist I. Brodsky
Mikhail was born in the city of Pishpek (Bishkek) in the family of paramedic Vasily Mikhailovich Frunze, who served in Turkestan, and Voronezh peasant Sophia Alekseevna. With a gold medal, Mikhail graduated from a gymnasium in Vern. There he first met revolutionary ideas in a self-education circle. In 1904, he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, studied economics. Mikhail was a romantic and idealist, which led him to the ranks of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP). In 1904, Mr. Michael wrote to his brother: “To get to know the laws governing the course of history in depth, to plunge headlong into reality ... to radically redo everything - that is the purpose of my life.” Young Socialist thought must be "life-changing, that there is no poverty and deprivation at anybody, never ... I'm not looking for an easy life."
Not surprisingly, already in 1905, Mikhail became an active revolutionary, which he combined with patriotism. So, Frunze was not a defeatist during the Russian-Japanese war, like many leading revolutionaries. Michael took part in the 9 demonstration on January 1905 (Bloody Sunday), was injured. He was expelled from the capital, and did not graduate. During the revolution he led the party work in Moscow, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Shuya, where he was known under the alias "Comrade Arseny". He led the fighting squad of Ivanovo-Voznesensky and Shuya workers by taking part in the December XIUMX armed uprising in Moscow. In the 1905 of being the deputy of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk organization of the district became a member of the RSDLP Congress in Stockholm, where he met with Lenin.
1907 Mr. Michael was arrested and sentenced to 4 years of hard labor. Already being a prisoner, he participated in the attack on a police officer. For attempted murder was twice sentenced to death. But under public pressure, the sentence was commuted and replaced by 6 years of hard labor. Sitting in Vladimir, Nikolaev and Alexander prison, in 1914, he was exiled to perpetual exile in Irkutsk province. In 1915, after being arrested for setting up an organization of exiles, he fled to Chita, then to Moscow. In the 1916, with the fake passport volunteer enlisted in the army, he served in the County organization providing military supplies to the Western Front.
After the February Revolution, Mikhail became the interim chief of police of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union for the Protection of Order in the city of Minsk (March 4 is considered the birthday of the Belarusian police). After that, Frunze held various leadership positions in the party, was the editor of several publications, was engaged in revolutionary agitation among the soldiers.
During the October Revolution took part in the battles in Moscow. After the Bolsheviks seized power, Mikhail Frunze, in whose character creative features prevailed, became an active builder of the Soviet state and the new armed forces. Mikhail was elected to the Constituent Assembly, held a number of senior positions in the Ivanovo-Voznesensk province. From the beginning of 1918, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in August, 1918 became the military commissar of the Yaroslavl Military District, which included eight provinces. Mikhail took part in the rout of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary insurrection. Mikhail Frunze was supposed to restore the district after the recent uprising in Yaroslavl and quickly form rifle divisions for the Red Army.
So Frunze became a war leader. In this field, Frunze began to cooperate with a member of the First World War, Major General Fedor Novitsky. The former tsarist general for a long time became the main associate of Frunze on the Eastern, Turkestan and Southern fronts. As Novitsky Frunze noted: “... possessed an amazing ability to quickly understand the most complex and new issues for him, separate the essential from the secondary and then distribute the work among the performers according to the abilities of each. He knew how to pick up people, as if by intuition guessing who was capable of what ... ".
Mikhail Frunze did not have theoretical and practical knowledge in the preparation and organization of military operations. However, he appreciated the military professionals, former officers of the tsarist army, united around himself a whole group of experienced general staffers. At the same time, Frunze was an excellent organizer and manager who knew how to organize the work of the headquarters and the rear under difficult conditions, directed the work of military experts, had the charisma of a military leader, followed by soldiers with joy. Frunze possessed a great personal courage and will, he was not afraid to go in the front ranks of the advancing troops with a rifle (in the battles near Ufa in 1919, he contused him). It attracted people to him. Realizing his lack of literacy in military matters, Mikhail was engaged in a lot of self-education (in this he resembled Stalin), carefully studied military literature. All this made Frunze a first-class military leader.
In addition, Frunze was a man of the people, in whom there was no contempt, arrogance, characteristic of Trotsky and the “chosen ones” like him. Nor was he cruel, like the same Trotsky (who in cruelty reached sadism), issued orders about a humane attitude towards prisoners. For this, Mikhail Frunze was loved by the Red Army men and commanders.
Frunze perfectly understood the national interests of Russia. In 1919, Mr. Mikhail Frunze said: “... there, in the camp of our enemies, there can be no national revival of Russia, which is precisely from that side and there can be no question of a struggle for the welfare of the Russian people. Because it is not because of the beautiful eyes that all these Frenchmen, the British, help Denikin and Kolchak — naturally, they pursue their own interests. This fact should be clear enough that Russia is not there, that Russia is with us ... We are not a weakling like Kerensky. We are in a deadly battle. We know that if we are defeated, hundreds of thousands, millions of the best, steadfast and energetic in our country will be exterminated, we know that they will not talk to us, we will only be hanged, and our whole homeland will be drenched in blood. Our country will be enslaved by foreign capital. "
Since January, 1919 has commanded the 4 Army on the Eastern Front. In the shortest possible time, Frunze, with the help of military specialists (as Novitsky was the chief of staff of the 4 Army), converted the semi-partisan detachments into regular units, which carried out successful operations to liberate Uralsk and the Ural Region from the White and Cossack formations. Since March, 1919 Frunze headed the Southern Group of the Eastern Front. The troops of his group in a series of operations defeated the Western army of Admiral Kolchak's troops. In May-June, he led the Turkestan Army, and since July the Eastern Front. The troops of the Red Army under his leadership liberated the Northern and Middle Urals, split the front of the White Army into the northern and southern parts. Since August, 1919 commanded the troops of the Turkestan Front, the Frunze units completed the rout of the southern group of Kolchak's army, then eliminated the Krasnovodsk and Semirechensk groups of white troops. In the course of the Ural-Guryev operation, the troops under the command of Frunze defeated the Ural White-Kazakh Army and the Alash-Horde troops. As a result of the Bukhara operation, the regime of the Bukhara emir was liquidated. Significant successes were in the fight against Basmachis (Islamist gangs). Since September, 1920 has commanded the Southern Front, which completed the rout of the white forces in European Russia. At first, the units of the Southern Front repulsed the white counter-offensive, defeated it in Northern Tavria and liberated the Crimea.
In 1920-1924 Mikhail Frunze was authorized by the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) in Ukraine, commanded the armed forces of Ukraine and the Crimea, then the troops of the Ukrainian Military District. Supervised the defeat of gangster formations in Ukraine. In battles with the Makhnovists was wounded again. In 1921, he established relations with Turkey, negotiated with Ataturk. For success in the fight against the army Makhno was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner (the first received for success in the fight against the army of Kolchak).
Thus, after the defeat of the White Army and the victory in the Civil War, Mikhail Frunze acquired the status of the winner of Kolchak and Wrangel. He was also the conqueror of Turkestan and the commander who defeated the gangs in Ukraine. This made Frunze one of the leading figures of the young Soviet state.
Since March, 1924. Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, since April at the same time the Chief of Staff of the Red Army and the Head of the Military Academy Since January, 1925 has headed the Revolutionary Military Council and the People’s Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs. In the shortest possible time, he carried out military reform, which strengthened the defense capability of the Soviet Union.
Frunze published a number of fundamental works that made a great contribution to the formation and development of Soviet military science, the theory and practice of military art: “United Military Doctrine and the Red Army” (1921), “Regular Army and Militia” (1922), “Military-Political Education Red Army "(1922)," Front and rear in the future war "(1925)," Our military construction and tasks of the Military Scientific Society "(1925). Under Mikhail Vasilyevich, the foundations of military scientific work in the armed forces of the USSR were laid, discussions were held on problems of military construction, and controversial issues of future wars. Based on the analysis of the experience of the First World War and the Civil War, M. V. Frunze considered the future war as a war of machines, but in which man would play the leading role.
Frunze considered the main type of combat to be an offensive, with a large scale and high maneuverability, with operations on the environment where a correctly chosen direction of the main attack and the formation of a powerful strike force played a major role. At the same time, careful preliminary training played a big role. Frunze did not detract from the importance of defense. In its activities, the new People's Commissar paid serious attention to scientific and technological progress and the development of the country's rear. Frunze noted that the Soviet Union should become independent from abroad, not only in industrial activity, but in the design and inventive field.
The future big war fully confirmed the opinion of Frunze - becoming the “war of engines”, where broad offensive operations would play a major role in the successes of both the German Wehrmacht and the Red Army. But the decisive role was played by the human factor, the elimination of illiteracy in the Soviet Union, including mass technical education, allowed Russia-USSR to become the leading world power.
M.V. Frunze in 1920
After the death of 40-year-old Frunze, on the operating table of the Soldatenkovo (Botkin) hospital, with the suggestion of Trotsky and his minions, the myth was immediately launched that the Soviet commander was killed by order of Stalin, who was allegedly afraid of an independent and authoritative military-political leader. In the literary form, this myth is reflected in the work of the writer Boris Pilnyak-Vogau “The Tale of the Unpaid Moon”, where, in the image of the commander Gavrilov, who died during the operation, everyone learned Mikhail Frunze. This literary speculation became almost the main evidence of Stalin’s guilt that Frunze was “stabbed” on the operating table by his order. And in confirmation, the slander of Boris Bazhanov, the former secretary of Stalin who fled to the West, is usually given. Bazhanov said that Stalin killed Frunze in order to put Voroshilov in his place, who was completely loyal to him.
In reality, if Frunze did not accidentally die (this possibility also exists, and a big one: his difficult life undermined his health), then he became a victim of the confrontation between two groups of Bolsheviks - the “internationalists” and the “Bolsheviks” themselves (the future Stalinists). The “internationalists”, led by Trotsky, behind whom stood the “financial international,” advocated using Russia as brushwood to foment a “world revolution” fire. Russia had to die for the sake of building a new world order — a global totalitarian concentration camp with a Marxist slant. Actually, the “Bolshevik-Stalinists” were, in fact, based on national, imperial principles, for the territorial integrity of Russia almost entirely within the borders of the former empire, for the revival of Great Russia on new principles and principles, for building socialism in a single country. This contradiction after the victory in the Civil War, when the problem of whites, nationalists, external invasion and mass banditry (anarchism, anarchy) was resolved, led to the confrontation of two elite groups.
During Lenin's illness and after his death, the matter went to a military coup. Trotsky controlled the armed forces and saw himself in the role of the “Red Bonaparte”. Another candidate for the role of "Bonaparte" was the former protégé of Trotsky - Tukhachevsky. In 1923-1924 the top leadership of the party and the country has accumulated enough reliable information about the unreliability of the top military leadership. One of the closest and open supporters of Trotsky, the Chief of the Political Administration (GlavPUR) of the Red Army, Antonov-Ovseenko 27, December 1923 sent a letter to the Party Central Committee in which he openly threatened the party and state leadership with a military coup in support of Trotsky. There was evidence of a conspiracy in the Caucasian army, which was led by Yegorov. The head of the OGPU Dzerzhinsky at a meeting of the 24 Political Bureau in January 1924 personally reported on a conspiracy in the military sphere, in particular, in the Caucasian army. Active fuss on the Western Front started Tukhachevsky.
It was necessary for the leadership of the country to urgently reshuffle the entire deck of the military elite in order to preserve the chosen course. There was no confidence in their abilities, therefore they did not dare to take more radical steps (according to the Criminal Code). General replacements of commanders began, shuffling was based on the principle of checks and balances, personal hostile relations were also taken into account. First, Trotsky, concerned about the active work of the commander of the Western Front, eliminated the rival Tukhachevsky. He was appointed to the post of Assistant Chief of Staff of the Red Army, depriving him of the commander’s front. In fact, Tukhachevsky, who marked the “Red Bonaparts”, was deprived of his influence on the military and political situation in the country and of his armed forces. At the same time, Tukhachevsky formally remained in the country's highest military elite. After the demonstrative flogging of Tukhachevsky, who dared to go against such a political "heavyweight" as Trotsky, he was retained as an important figure. 18 July 1924. Trotsky appointed Tukhachevsky as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Red Army and, on the same day, as Acting Chief of Staff.
However, Trotsky could not keep the levers of influence in the army. Chairman of the PBC and Commissar for Military and Maritime Affairs Trotsky replaced by Frunze. At the same time, Frunze, which they had never done before, apparently, just in case, retained the command of the Ukrainian military district. Frunze and Trotsky from the time of the Civil War were in hostile relations, which guaranteed his non-participation in the conspiracy. Even during the Civil War, Trotsky tried to eliminate Frunze, blaming him groundlessly for the mass robberies of his troops, Bonapartism, and nearly put him under the terror of the Cheka.
It must be said that in the West they quite clearly understood the meaning of the reshuffle in the top military leadership of the USSR. The British Foreign Ministry wrote that Stalin was turning to politics using “national instruments”. That was true. Frunze was a patriot, a statesman, although he was close to Stalin in everything, with whom he, however, had very good relations.
Frunze immediately reduced the number of armed forces, which during the war increased by more than 5 million. They were cut almost 10 times to 500 with a few thousand people. The administrative apparatus, which was extremely swollen over the years of the leadership of Trotsky, was subjected to a particularly sharp reduction. The central apparatus of the RVS, the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs and the General Staff were literally stuffed with Trotskyists. They are thoroughly cleaned. Therefore, it is not surprising that Frunze, in the summer and autumn of 1925, “hit” three times in car accidents.
Interestingly, Frunze sought the appointment of another deputy, the hero of the Civil War, Grigory Kotovsky. Kotovsky had fought side by side with Stalin and Budenny since the time of the Soviet-Polish war. Thus, there has been a course towards the creation of a patriotic military leadership of the USSR represented by Frunze, Voroshilov, Budyonny and Kotovsky. All of them were strong, strong-willed commanders and patriots of Russia-USSR. All, albeit to varying degrees, were “on a short leg” with Stalin. No wonder Kotovsky was shot on 6 in August of 1925 by assassin Meyer Seider.
It is quite possible that Frunze was also eliminated by Trotsky’s “order”. Too many, he interfered. Finally, eliminating the "fifth column" in the country and the army could only in 1930-s, already in the pre-war situation.
Mv Frunze takes parade of troops on Red Square. 1925
At a crucial turning point stories Soviet Russia, when during the illness and after Lenin's death there was a threat of the seizure of power by Trotsky, behind whom stood the so-called “Golden international” (“financial international”, “world backstage”), Stalin and Frunze seized control over the armed forces. Trotsky had a great influence in the authorities, including the Red Army, was the second leader of the party after Lenin, therefore, as a counterweight to him, he needed to choose a reputable commander, a respected commander. He became the hero of the civil war, a man who protects the genuine interests of the people, Mikhail Frunze.
At the beginning of 1925, Trotsky’s resignation followed. Frunze headed the Revolutionary Military Council, who had fully obeyed Leon Trotsky, became the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. His deputy was Stalin's ally Voroshilov. The army as a whole accepted the appointment of M.V. Frunze, and in a short time he carried out a number of transformations, reinforcing unity of command, improving the quality of command personnel and the combat training of troops, removing a significant part of Trotsky's cadres. It is obvious that the armed forces under the leadership of Frunze and then would continue to be strengthened, but his sudden death has deprived the Soviet Union of valuable military and political figure. To blacken Stalin, it created the myth that Stalin ordered the liquidation of Frunze, and that "killed on the operating table" on his orders. Meanwhile, Frunze was completely loyal to Stalin and represented a danger to the aspiring Trotsky-internationalist wing, which still maintained positions in many state and party bodies, including the armed forces (Tukhachevsky and others).
M. V. Frunze. Artist I. Brodsky
Mikhail was born in the city of Pishpek (Bishkek) in the family of paramedic Vasily Mikhailovich Frunze, who served in Turkestan, and Voronezh peasant Sophia Alekseevna. With a gold medal, Mikhail graduated from a gymnasium in Vern. There he first met revolutionary ideas in a self-education circle. In 1904, he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, studied economics. Mikhail was a romantic and idealist, which led him to the ranks of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP). In 1904, Mr. Michael wrote to his brother: “To get to know the laws governing the course of history in depth, to plunge headlong into reality ... to radically redo everything - that is the purpose of my life.” Young Socialist thought must be "life-changing, that there is no poverty and deprivation at anybody, never ... I'm not looking for an easy life."
Not surprisingly, already in 1905, Mikhail became an active revolutionary, which he combined with patriotism. So, Frunze was not a defeatist during the Russian-Japanese war, like many leading revolutionaries. Michael took part in the 9 demonstration on January 1905 (Bloody Sunday), was injured. He was expelled from the capital, and did not graduate. During the revolution he led the party work in Moscow, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Shuya, where he was known under the alias "Comrade Arseny". He led the fighting squad of Ivanovo-Voznesensky and Shuya workers by taking part in the December XIUMX armed uprising in Moscow. In the 1905 of being the deputy of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk organization of the district became a member of the RSDLP Congress in Stockholm, where he met with Lenin.
1907 Mr. Michael was arrested and sentenced to 4 years of hard labor. Already being a prisoner, he participated in the attack on a police officer. For attempted murder was twice sentenced to death. But under public pressure, the sentence was commuted and replaced by 6 years of hard labor. Sitting in Vladimir, Nikolaev and Alexander prison, in 1914, he was exiled to perpetual exile in Irkutsk province. In 1915, after being arrested for setting up an organization of exiles, he fled to Chita, then to Moscow. In the 1916, with the fake passport volunteer enlisted in the army, he served in the County organization providing military supplies to the Western Front.
After the February Revolution, Mikhail became the interim chief of police of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union for the Protection of Order in the city of Minsk (March 4 is considered the birthday of the Belarusian police). After that, Frunze held various leadership positions in the party, was the editor of several publications, was engaged in revolutionary agitation among the soldiers.
During the October Revolution took part in the battles in Moscow. After the Bolsheviks seized power, Mikhail Frunze, in whose character creative features prevailed, became an active builder of the Soviet state and the new armed forces. Mikhail was elected to the Constituent Assembly, held a number of senior positions in the Ivanovo-Voznesensk province. From the beginning of 1918, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in August, 1918 became the military commissar of the Yaroslavl Military District, which included eight provinces. Mikhail took part in the rout of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary insurrection. Mikhail Frunze was supposed to restore the district after the recent uprising in Yaroslavl and quickly form rifle divisions for the Red Army.
So Frunze became a war leader. In this field, Frunze began to cooperate with a member of the First World War, Major General Fedor Novitsky. The former tsarist general for a long time became the main associate of Frunze on the Eastern, Turkestan and Southern fronts. As Novitsky Frunze noted: “... possessed an amazing ability to quickly understand the most complex and new issues for him, separate the essential from the secondary and then distribute the work among the performers according to the abilities of each. He knew how to pick up people, as if by intuition guessing who was capable of what ... ".
Mikhail Frunze did not have theoretical and practical knowledge in the preparation and organization of military operations. However, he appreciated the military professionals, former officers of the tsarist army, united around himself a whole group of experienced general staffers. At the same time, Frunze was an excellent organizer and manager who knew how to organize the work of the headquarters and the rear under difficult conditions, directed the work of military experts, had the charisma of a military leader, followed by soldiers with joy. Frunze possessed a great personal courage and will, he was not afraid to go in the front ranks of the advancing troops with a rifle (in the battles near Ufa in 1919, he contused him). It attracted people to him. Realizing his lack of literacy in military matters, Mikhail was engaged in a lot of self-education (in this he resembled Stalin), carefully studied military literature. All this made Frunze a first-class military leader.
In addition, Frunze was a man of the people, in whom there was no contempt, arrogance, characteristic of Trotsky and the “chosen ones” like him. Nor was he cruel, like the same Trotsky (who in cruelty reached sadism), issued orders about a humane attitude towards prisoners. For this, Mikhail Frunze was loved by the Red Army men and commanders.
Frunze perfectly understood the national interests of Russia. In 1919, Mr. Mikhail Frunze said: “... there, in the camp of our enemies, there can be no national revival of Russia, which is precisely from that side and there can be no question of a struggle for the welfare of the Russian people. Because it is not because of the beautiful eyes that all these Frenchmen, the British, help Denikin and Kolchak — naturally, they pursue their own interests. This fact should be clear enough that Russia is not there, that Russia is with us ... We are not a weakling like Kerensky. We are in a deadly battle. We know that if we are defeated, hundreds of thousands, millions of the best, steadfast and energetic in our country will be exterminated, we know that they will not talk to us, we will only be hanged, and our whole homeland will be drenched in blood. Our country will be enslaved by foreign capital. "
Since January, 1919 has commanded the 4 Army on the Eastern Front. In the shortest possible time, Frunze, with the help of military specialists (as Novitsky was the chief of staff of the 4 Army), converted the semi-partisan detachments into regular units, which carried out successful operations to liberate Uralsk and the Ural Region from the White and Cossack formations. Since March, 1919 Frunze headed the Southern Group of the Eastern Front. The troops of his group in a series of operations defeated the Western army of Admiral Kolchak's troops. In May-June, he led the Turkestan Army, and since July the Eastern Front. The troops of the Red Army under his leadership liberated the Northern and Middle Urals, split the front of the White Army into the northern and southern parts. Since August, 1919 commanded the troops of the Turkestan Front, the Frunze units completed the rout of the southern group of Kolchak's army, then eliminated the Krasnovodsk and Semirechensk groups of white troops. In the course of the Ural-Guryev operation, the troops under the command of Frunze defeated the Ural White-Kazakh Army and the Alash-Horde troops. As a result of the Bukhara operation, the regime of the Bukhara emir was liquidated. Significant successes were in the fight against Basmachis (Islamist gangs). Since September, 1920 has commanded the Southern Front, which completed the rout of the white forces in European Russia. At first, the units of the Southern Front repulsed the white counter-offensive, defeated it in Northern Tavria and liberated the Crimea.
In 1920-1924 Mikhail Frunze was authorized by the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) in Ukraine, commanded the armed forces of Ukraine and the Crimea, then the troops of the Ukrainian Military District. Supervised the defeat of gangster formations in Ukraine. In battles with the Makhnovists was wounded again. In 1921, he established relations with Turkey, negotiated with Ataturk. For success in the fight against the army Makhno was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner (the first received for success in the fight against the army of Kolchak).
Thus, after the defeat of the White Army and the victory in the Civil War, Mikhail Frunze acquired the status of the winner of Kolchak and Wrangel. He was also the conqueror of Turkestan and the commander who defeated the gangs in Ukraine. This made Frunze one of the leading figures of the young Soviet state.
Since March, 1924. Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, since April at the same time the Chief of Staff of the Red Army and the Head of the Military Academy Since January, 1925 has headed the Revolutionary Military Council and the People’s Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs. In the shortest possible time, he carried out military reform, which strengthened the defense capability of the Soviet Union.
Frunze published a number of fundamental works that made a great contribution to the formation and development of Soviet military science, the theory and practice of military art: “United Military Doctrine and the Red Army” (1921), “Regular Army and Militia” (1922), “Military-Political Education Red Army "(1922)," Front and rear in the future war "(1925)," Our military construction and tasks of the Military Scientific Society "(1925). Under Mikhail Vasilyevich, the foundations of military scientific work in the armed forces of the USSR were laid, discussions were held on problems of military construction, and controversial issues of future wars. Based on the analysis of the experience of the First World War and the Civil War, M. V. Frunze considered the future war as a war of machines, but in which man would play the leading role.
Frunze considered the main type of combat to be an offensive, with a large scale and high maneuverability, with operations on the environment where a correctly chosen direction of the main attack and the formation of a powerful strike force played a major role. At the same time, careful preliminary training played a big role. Frunze did not detract from the importance of defense. In its activities, the new People's Commissar paid serious attention to scientific and technological progress and the development of the country's rear. Frunze noted that the Soviet Union should become independent from abroad, not only in industrial activity, but in the design and inventive field.
The future big war fully confirmed the opinion of Frunze - becoming the “war of engines”, where broad offensive operations would play a major role in the successes of both the German Wehrmacht and the Red Army. But the decisive role was played by the human factor, the elimination of illiteracy in the Soviet Union, including mass technical education, allowed Russia-USSR to become the leading world power.
M.V. Frunze in 1920
After the death of 40-year-old Frunze, on the operating table of the Soldatenkovo (Botkin) hospital, with the suggestion of Trotsky and his minions, the myth was immediately launched that the Soviet commander was killed by order of Stalin, who was allegedly afraid of an independent and authoritative military-political leader. In the literary form, this myth is reflected in the work of the writer Boris Pilnyak-Vogau “The Tale of the Unpaid Moon”, where, in the image of the commander Gavrilov, who died during the operation, everyone learned Mikhail Frunze. This literary speculation became almost the main evidence of Stalin’s guilt that Frunze was “stabbed” on the operating table by his order. And in confirmation, the slander of Boris Bazhanov, the former secretary of Stalin who fled to the West, is usually given. Bazhanov said that Stalin killed Frunze in order to put Voroshilov in his place, who was completely loyal to him.
In reality, if Frunze did not accidentally die (this possibility also exists, and a big one: his difficult life undermined his health), then he became a victim of the confrontation between two groups of Bolsheviks - the “internationalists” and the “Bolsheviks” themselves (the future Stalinists). The “internationalists”, led by Trotsky, behind whom stood the “financial international,” advocated using Russia as brushwood to foment a “world revolution” fire. Russia had to die for the sake of building a new world order — a global totalitarian concentration camp with a Marxist slant. Actually, the “Bolshevik-Stalinists” were, in fact, based on national, imperial principles, for the territorial integrity of Russia almost entirely within the borders of the former empire, for the revival of Great Russia on new principles and principles, for building socialism in a single country. This contradiction after the victory in the Civil War, when the problem of whites, nationalists, external invasion and mass banditry (anarchism, anarchy) was resolved, led to the confrontation of two elite groups.
During Lenin's illness and after his death, the matter went to a military coup. Trotsky controlled the armed forces and saw himself in the role of the “Red Bonaparte”. Another candidate for the role of "Bonaparte" was the former protégé of Trotsky - Tukhachevsky. In 1923-1924 the top leadership of the party and the country has accumulated enough reliable information about the unreliability of the top military leadership. One of the closest and open supporters of Trotsky, the Chief of the Political Administration (GlavPUR) of the Red Army, Antonov-Ovseenko 27, December 1923 sent a letter to the Party Central Committee in which he openly threatened the party and state leadership with a military coup in support of Trotsky. There was evidence of a conspiracy in the Caucasian army, which was led by Yegorov. The head of the OGPU Dzerzhinsky at a meeting of the 24 Political Bureau in January 1924 personally reported on a conspiracy in the military sphere, in particular, in the Caucasian army. Active fuss on the Western Front started Tukhachevsky.
It was necessary for the leadership of the country to urgently reshuffle the entire deck of the military elite in order to preserve the chosen course. There was no confidence in their abilities, therefore they did not dare to take more radical steps (according to the Criminal Code). General replacements of commanders began, shuffling was based on the principle of checks and balances, personal hostile relations were also taken into account. First, Trotsky, concerned about the active work of the commander of the Western Front, eliminated the rival Tukhachevsky. He was appointed to the post of Assistant Chief of Staff of the Red Army, depriving him of the commander’s front. In fact, Tukhachevsky, who marked the “Red Bonaparts”, was deprived of his influence on the military and political situation in the country and of his armed forces. At the same time, Tukhachevsky formally remained in the country's highest military elite. After the demonstrative flogging of Tukhachevsky, who dared to go against such a political "heavyweight" as Trotsky, he was retained as an important figure. 18 July 1924. Trotsky appointed Tukhachevsky as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Red Army and, on the same day, as Acting Chief of Staff.
However, Trotsky could not keep the levers of influence in the army. Chairman of the PBC and Commissar for Military and Maritime Affairs Trotsky replaced by Frunze. At the same time, Frunze, which they had never done before, apparently, just in case, retained the command of the Ukrainian military district. Frunze and Trotsky from the time of the Civil War were in hostile relations, which guaranteed his non-participation in the conspiracy. Even during the Civil War, Trotsky tried to eliminate Frunze, blaming him groundlessly for the mass robberies of his troops, Bonapartism, and nearly put him under the terror of the Cheka.
It must be said that in the West they quite clearly understood the meaning of the reshuffle in the top military leadership of the USSR. The British Foreign Ministry wrote that Stalin was turning to politics using “national instruments”. That was true. Frunze was a patriot, a statesman, although he was close to Stalin in everything, with whom he, however, had very good relations.
Frunze immediately reduced the number of armed forces, which during the war increased by more than 5 million. They were cut almost 10 times to 500 with a few thousand people. The administrative apparatus, which was extremely swollen over the years of the leadership of Trotsky, was subjected to a particularly sharp reduction. The central apparatus of the RVS, the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs and the General Staff were literally stuffed with Trotskyists. They are thoroughly cleaned. Therefore, it is not surprising that Frunze, in the summer and autumn of 1925, “hit” three times in car accidents.
Interestingly, Frunze sought the appointment of another deputy, the hero of the Civil War, Grigory Kotovsky. Kotovsky had fought side by side with Stalin and Budenny since the time of the Soviet-Polish war. Thus, there has been a course towards the creation of a patriotic military leadership of the USSR represented by Frunze, Voroshilov, Budyonny and Kotovsky. All of them were strong, strong-willed commanders and patriots of Russia-USSR. All, albeit to varying degrees, were “on a short leg” with Stalin. No wonder Kotovsky was shot on 6 in August of 1925 by assassin Meyer Seider.
It is quite possible that Frunze was also eliminated by Trotsky’s “order”. Too many, he interfered. Finally, eliminating the "fifth column" in the country and the army could only in 1930-s, already in the pre-war situation.
Mv Frunze takes parade of troops on Red Square. 1925
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