Why Georgy Zhukov TERRIFIED Stalin & was ADORED by the People - Russia's Greatest General Explained

There was only one man in the entire Soviet Union that Stalin feared. One man who spoke his mind to Stalin and refused to put up with his bulls***. This man was Georgy Zhukov, and this is his story.

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🎬Video Credits:
Narrator - Cam
Editors - Giorgi
Writer - Brad Dare
Researcher - Daniel

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:52 Peasant Origins
2:06 Tsarist Soldier
4:08 At War With Japan
6:15 War in the East
7:54 The Gates of Berlin
8:47 Kingmaker
9:55 Conclusion

[Asmallcorneroftheinternet]

Zhukov's death is also one of pure heroics. At the end, he had seen half the world and wrote memoirs to inspire the Soviet people. When his wife died in 1973, you could find him sitting on his porch. Looking across the land, he undoubtedly saved. He died a year later, in 1974. The entire nation, cried, arguably harder then when Stalin died.

[charlesstuart]

Zhukov got along very well with Eisenhower, who sent him gifts like fishing gear when he was sidetracked in the Fifties. I believe US -Russian relations would have been very different if Zhukov could have gained political power.

[slightlyistorical]

Fun fact: Zhukov had an addiction to Coca Cola, so much to the fact that when the Cold War began and all American products were banned in the Soviet Union, the company made special coke designed to look like vodka (the drink had no coloring) and were put in vodka bottles with a red star cap. These crates were sent to Zhukov en masse and he was never caught.

Considering how much of a legend this man was to the Russian people, imagine being a simple Soviet red army man walking past Field Marshal Zhukov’s office and watch him chug an entire bottle of “vodka” in one go without getting drunk

Another fun fact: When he had heard of a U.S. paratrooper of the 101st (Joseph Beryle) escaped from Nazi capture and joined the Soviet Red Army, he gave the missing GI a personal visit after he had helped liberated his own former POW camp and offered him diplomatic asylum and safe passage back to America. He is the only American awarded with both U.S. and Soviet military honors.

[Valnotersc]

Reading (about) Zhukov's life is like reading a novel. His "plot armor" is astounding. Not even considering the threat of the purges, he escaped death more than twenty recorded times.

[teresajadia]

Zhukov and Eisenhower were also BFFs. They respected each other despite their different military upbringing. Eisenhower even gifted Zhukov a fishing pole and Zhukov treasured it so much that he only used that pole and that pole only until his death. Also, Eisenhower introduced coca-cola to him. Zhukov loved the product so much that he requested the US to produce a colorless coke to him to disguise it as a vodka lol They send him crates of it, bottled with a red star on its cap.
Coke was forbidden in the USSR since it was seen as a symbol of american imperialism.

[VoiceOfTheEmperor]

Zhukov was the ONE man that could say "no" to Stalin. He was also really of tactically sound mind and was intelligent. Plus he was willing to adopt new ideas for warfare.

[Spongebrain]

In Moscow there's a pretty cool statue of Zhukov where it's him on horseback and the horse is walking forward stepping on the nazi eagle and swastika

[amirulaminaliasgar]

One of the reason why Zhukov can handled Stalin so well was because he could read Stalin's mood based on how he smokes his tobacco pipe. True story

[Daniel-rhkh]

Zhukov's military and political maneuvers saved the USSR from annihilation, his victory against Japan in Mongolia saved the country from a two front war, his later defense of Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad were crucial to the survival of the nation.
Dude was a beast

[cesarfernandez]

One final note: according to Zhukov, the most important thing he did in his life was to help the execution of Beria. Let's not forget that this comes from someone who defeated the Wehrmacht and the Nazis ... such a monster was Beria.

[rosaria]

When Stalin died in 1953 and the power struggle began (if you watch Death of Stalin you will know something about this), Zhukov was really excited to kill Beria, because Beria killed a very close colleague of Zhukov.

[prasetiowardoyo]

I hope you will also tell the story of Konstantin Rokossovsky, a partner of Zhukov and such a badass he survived Stalin's purge alive. Too bad not many videos cover his story

[BHuang]

Zhukov was one of the few intelligent people that can read Stalin's personality. Having grown up in a similar childhood, Zhukov knew when Stalin was feeling for example, when Stalin smoked his pipe, he was in a good mood, but when he fails to light his pipe, it was a sign of rage. No other generals understood Stalin as Zhukov did.

[albaraqahtani]

Zhukov:
- loved cola & eisenhower’s fishing pole
- was close friends with eisenhower
- used stalin’s smoke pipe to read his mood
- was the only person w/ the ability to say “no” to stalin
- stalin was deathly afraid of him because he knew he was the only real potential rival
- jointly led the execution of beria with khrushchev
- hanged rapists from the red army in berlin
- soviet citizens cried harder for his death more than stalin’s death

He was an extremely interesting person.

[cellsentinel]

Georgy, Konstantin and Konev were the 3 guys who carried the Soviet’s during ww2 and Stalin was aware of this so he wouldn’t dare to do such thing is what I believe

[peternakitch]

He’s a man I’ve been fascinated by. There must have been more to why a paranoid monster like Stalin didn’t kill Zhukov; he had killed or didn’t lift a finger to save many others who were talented and capable. It’s a mystery. Yes, I’ve watched the Death of Stalin.

[ruralhobo]

Nobody knows why Zhukov was recalled to Moscow shortly before Stalin's death, and then given nothing to do. It may be that Stalin trusted him more than he trusted Beria and wanted him at hand. In any case Stalin wouldn't have wanted him in Moscow if he had feared his popularity with the people and especially the army.

[henrymerkel]

People don't talk about Khalkhin Gol enough, that single battle changed the entire course of WW2, for a variety of reasons, as is mentioned here it is superb for Zhukov, it also as slightly mentioned stops Japan from attacking the Soviet Union, and a last reason it allowed for the transfer of troops from East Asia to Europe at a key time

[TheDoctor]

"Where you find Zhukov, there you find victory." I have never read anything or heard anything, yet, that makes me wonder why someone would ever have said such a thing. An incredible figure, who lived in an incredible time. Given his ability and popularity, it's no surprise that both Stalin and Khrushchev were so afraid (for want of a better word) of him. It has been said that those in power in the Soviet Union feared popular men. Not hard to wonder why, when you see how they acted.

[СветланаАбрамова-им]

"Where there is Zhukov, there is Victory!"- this phrase was born in the Soviet army during the Moscow battle, became winged and lived among the soldiers until the last days of the war. We must pay tribute to the country's leadership, which erected such a genial commander as Zhukov. In former times, the Lord erected Suvorov and Kutuzov for Russia . During the second world war, Georgy Zhukov was the grace of God. We owe him our salvation.