WI: Stalin purges Zhukov

Title says it all, what would have happened if Georgy Zhukov had become a target of Stalin's paranoia, and was shortly thereafter asssassinated as a result of one of Stalin's many purges of the Soviet Military?
 
Title says it all, what would have happened if Georgy Zhukov had become a target of Stalin's paranoia, and was shortly thereafter asssassinated as a result of one of Stalin's many purges of the Soviet Military?

Tolbukhin becomes Field Marshal and wins the war, after many years of desperate fighting. Zhukov was good, but he certainly wasn't a historical Great Man.
 
Zhukov was a competent general, but I seriously doubt that he was the best. He won a few battles, but lost a few major ones as well. I can think of a few Soviet generals who as commanders of the Red Army would probably have done better then Zhukov. Konstantin Rokossovsky, Kirill Meresokov, Aleksandr Vasilevsky, and Fyodor Tolbukhin, to name a few, were superior commanders then Zhukov.
 

Xen

Banned
The outcome would depend on who replaces Zhukov, and how much deeper Stalin's purges go. Stalin could place someone extremly incompetent in charge of Russia's defenses. One general, name escapes me at the moment, wanted to place all of Russia's defenses on the front, which would mean when the Nazis invaded, they could encircle and destroy the Red Army giving them a clear shot to Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad.

It does not matter how good your men are, how good your equipment is, and how much of either you have, if you are being led by a Jackass, you will get your ass handed to you. The US found this out when George McClellan led the Union Army during the Civil War.
 

Markus

Banned
What Atreus said, Zhukov was good, but there were enough other good generals to replace him.
 
Zhukov was a good general, maybe even a great one, but his reputation has been built up by years of Soviet propaganda, especially when the Post-Stalinist USSR needed a new leader to replace Stalin in their pantheon of victorious heroes.

However, the Soviets still had many good generals in World War II: Rokkosovsky, Chuikov, Koniev, and even Kirpanos had he not been killed early in the conflict. Besides who knows: maybe without Zhukov someone else would have risen up through the ranks.
 
It depends on when the purge takes place but you would think that if Zhukov was purged I don't think Rokkosovsky, Chuikov and Koniev would have survived that purge.

Another question would be if Zuhukov walked up to Stalin after the Great Victory parade and put two bullets into Stalin's head what would be the outcome??
 

Neroon

Banned
Just because there were other competent generals besides Zhukov doesn't neccessarily mean one of those would replace him. The Red Army might as well end up with a well-connected moron who's good at covering his ass and shifting blame, but nothing else.
Bad things for USSR in that case.
 
It depends on when the purge takes place but you would think that if Zhukov was purged I don't think Rokkosovsky, Chuikov and Koniev would have survived that purge.

Another question would be if Zuhukov walked up to Stalin after the Great Victory parade and put two bullets into Stalin's head what would be the outcome??

Zhukov is killed right after doing that.After the death of Stalin, some other Stalinist like Beria replaces him and Stalinist regime continues?
 

Markus

Banned
Zhukov is killed right after doing that.After the death of Stalin, some other Stalinist like Beria replaces him and Stalinist regime continues?


Nope, Zhukov would have others in place to have his back. Although the victory parade is bad timing. Stalin´s at the hight of his power, better finish him off in the early summer of 41 when Zhukov and other drove to Stalin´s datcha to encourage him to lead them in the fight. That´s the perfect time to get rid of him.
 
Just because there were other competent generals besides Zhukov doesn't neccessarily mean one of those would replace him. The Red Army might as well end up with a well-connected moron who's good at covering his ass and shifting blame, but nothing else.
WWII did marvelous job in the ranks of Soviet Army, selecting strong and capable generals and trashing inept ones. It is possible that this rule will not work at very top, but very unlikely. This master of covering his behind will be transferred to some unimportant position real soon.
 
Just because there were other competent generals besides Zhukov doesn't neccessarily mean one of those would replace him. The Red Army might as well end up with a well-connected moron who's good at covering his ass and shifting blame, but nothing else.
Bad things for USSR in that case.

It partially depends on who is purged. Loosing Zhukov in himself is not to bad. It wouldn't hurt as much as the Red Army losing Tukhachevsky did in OTL. But if the Soviets also lose Tolbukin, Koniev, Rokossovsky, and others, they are really in trouble.
 
Zhukov is killed right after doing that.After the death of Stalin, some other Stalinist like Beria replaces him and Stalinist regime continues?


But Zhukov is politically too powerful especially with the Red Army at his back, isn't that the reason Stalin didn't purge him in 45???

I think it may have caused a small NKVD uprising as Beria attempts to position himself as leader of the Soviet Union how long this uprising would be dependant on how much of the Red Army Beria could bring over to his side.
 
Refresh my memory, wasn't Rokossovsky actually arrested by the NKVD? Yeah, according to Wiki, he was and he was tortured and beaten for three years.

Unlike Zhukov, that particular outcome could be very close to happening, based on all of the abuse the NKVD was inflicting on him. Zhukov, I recall, had the ear of Josef Stalin and was one of his favorites. Had Zhukov lost Moscow, I'd imagine that he would indeed be arrested and executed as a result.
 
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