AHC: Have Gregory Zhukov become leader of the of the USSR after Stalin's death.

[Admiral Halsey]

Your challenge should you choose to accept it is to have Zhukov become the leader of the USSR after Stalin dies. Your PoD can be no earlier the Stalins OTL death and no later then when Khrushchev came into power in the OTL. Now go forth and try to make this happen!

 

[marathag]

1945 Stalin insisted Zhukov ride a white horse at the front of the Red Square victory parade, only because Stalin had fallen off during a rehearsal and was poor rider

PoD Stalin Dies during that rehearsal, thrown from the horse.

Zhukov takes the reins of power

 

[RousseauX]

Without a cataclysmic event which kills most/all of the other party contenders, there is no way Zhukov gets the top post.

Communist parties are serious about "bonapartism" and the civilian party apparatus in every single Communist country are very good at restraining its miitary. Even as Zhukov gained power and prestige Stalin made sure to balance him out with Koniev.

 

[Lalli]

Power struggle is even nastier than in OTL and Zhukov coup power. But even this is bit implausible.

 

[LHB]

Highly unlikely. A big part of the reason the USSR had such a huge apparatus of commissars was to ensure control of the military by the civilian government. Even if Stalin dies in a freak accident Zhukov's too far removed from any possibility of power, plus the existing figures in the Politburo, for him to take power.

The only real possibility is if Beria makes a grab for power and things go south from there but that's highly unlikely. Beria was the first (and only) one to go up against the wall after Stalin's death because everyone else was convinced he was too dangerous to leave alive.

 

[aktarian]

This again?

To repeat: Soviet armed forces had no desire nor history of siezing power. At best they throw their weight behind one faction or the other and help them seize power but not for themselves.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

He pulls an Andropov. Leaves the military and becomes a member of the politburo and secretariat. Be the time Stalin dies he is sufficiently removed from the military that he can take over as General Secretary without it being a military issue. At least that's how it could work in theory. I'm not fresh enough on the realities of Soviet politics from 1945-1953 to know the practical obstacles this scenario would have to overcome.

 

[aktarian]

He pulls an Andropov. Leaves the military and becomes a member of the politburo and secretariat. Be the time Stalin dies he is sufficiently removed from the military that he can take over as General Secretary without it being a military issue. At least that's how it could work in theory. I'm not fresh enough on the realities of Soviet politics from 1945-1953 to know the practical obstacles this scenario would have to overcome.

He had no support and if he does it potential heirs will see it for what it was, path to becoming GenSec. Do you think people like beria, Molotov, Melenkov etc will just stand by? Hell, even Stalin would see it something suspicious and might deduce his plans.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

He had no support and if he does it potential heirs will see it for what it was, path to becoming GenSec. Do you think people like beria, Molotov, Melenkov etc will just stand by? Hell, even Stalin would see it something suspicious and might deduce his plans.

Game plans and execution are two separate things. But to avoid the appearance of a military takeover, as others have pointed out previously, its the path required.

As to your points, hell Stalin didnt even wait that long to be suspicious of him.

 

[LHB]

He pulls an Andropov. Leaves the military and becomes a member of the politburo and secretariat. Be the time Stalin dies he is sufficiently removed from the military that he can take over as General Secretary without it being a military issue. At least that's how it could work in theory. I'm not fresh enough on the realities of Soviet politics from 1945-1953 to know the practical obstacles this scenario would have to overcome.

Except Andropov wasn't the many times over Hero of the Soviet Union/world famous war hero that Zhukov was. That by itself would mean anything Zhukov does to build his power base is going to get noticed very quickly and acted on. He's just too prominent and too much of a military figure for that to work for him.

 

[Green Painting]

Without a cataclysmic event which kills most/all of the other party contenders, there is no way Zhukov gets the top post.

Communist parties are serious about "bonapartism" and the civilian party apparatus in every single Communist country are very good at restraining its miitary. Even as Zhukov gained power and prestige Stalin made sure to balance him out with Koniev.

Jaruzelski?

How about creating a Jaruselski-like situation for Zhukov?

 

[aktarian]

Game plans and execution are two separate things. But to avoid the appearance of a military takeover, as others have pointed out previously, its the path required.

As to your points, hell Stalin didnt even wait that long to be suspicious of him.

And I'm saying it wouldn't work. If he quits military and starts climbing civilian ladder while cashing on his military fame this will be seen by everybody as an attempt to gain power. Those already eying power after Stalin's death would see him as a rival and would hinder him with every means. He had no support in civilian sphere. And if he does it Stalin himself will see him trying to gather power and see that as a threat.

there is no way he could hide his ultimate moive, simple as that. His best chance to get as much power as possible would be to throw support behind candidate who would win in the end. which is what sort of happened when Zhukov backed Khruschev & co when they removed Beria. But that means he's pwoer behind the throne and whoever would sit on it would think "if it happened once it can happen again" and then remove him.