Editing Rodion Malinovsky (section)

{{Short description|Marshal of the Soviet Union (1898–1967)}}
{{family name hatnote|Yakovlevich|[[Malinovsky]]|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Rodion Malinovsky
| honorific_prefix    = '''[[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]'''
| image               = Rodion Malinovsky 1.jpg
| width               = 
| caption             = Malinovsky in 1958
| office              = [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union]]
| term_start          = 26 October 1957
| term_end            = 31 March 1967
| 1blankname          = President 
| 1namedata           = [[Nikita Khrushchev]]<br/>[[Leonid Brezhnev]]
| predecessor         = [[Georgy Zhukov]]
| successor           = [[Andrei Grechko]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1898|11|23|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Odessa]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1967|3|31|1898|11|23|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], Soviet Union
| resting_place       = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], Moscow
| spouse              = Larisa (1925–1946), Raisa (1946–1997)
| profession          = 
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (1926–1967)
| allegiance          = {{ubl|{{flagu|Russian Empire|1914}} (1914–1917) |{{flagu|Soviet Russia|1919}} (1919–1922) |{{flagu|Soviet Union|1936}}}} (1922–1967)
| branch              = {{ubl|[[Imperial Russian Army]]|[[Red Army]]|[[Soviet Army]]}}
| serviceyears        = 1914–1967
| rank                = [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]] (1944–1967)
| commands            = [[Southern Front (Soviet Union)|Southern Front]]<br />[[66th Army (Soviet Union)|66th Army]]<br />[[2nd Guards Army]]<br />[[Southwestern Front (Soviet Union)|Southwestern Front]]<br />[[3rd Ukrainian Front]]<br />[[2nd Ukrainian Front]]<br />[[Transbaikal Military District]]<br />[[Far Eastern Military District]]
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
* [[Russian Civil War]]
* [[Spanish Civil War]]
* [[World War II]]
** [[Great Patriotic War]]
*** [[Second Battle of Kharkov]]
*** [[Battle of Stalingrad]]
*** [[Dnieper&ndash;Carpathian offensive]]
*** [[First Jassy&ndash;Kishinev offensive]]
*** [[Second Jassy&ndash;Kishinev offensive]]
*** [[Budapest offensive]]
**** [[Siege of Budapest]]
*** [[Bratislava&ndash;Brno offensive]]
** [[Soviet&ndash;Japanese War]]
*** [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|Manchurian offensive]]
**** [[Khingan–Mukden Operation]]
* [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards              = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (2)
| native_name_lang    = ru
| native_name         = {{nobold|Родион Малиновский}}
}}

'''Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky''' ({{langx|ru|Родио́н Я́ковлевич Малино́вский}}; {{langx|uk|Родіо́н Я́кович Малино́вський|Rodion Yakovych Malynovskyi}}; {{OldStyleDate|23 November|1898|11 November}} – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander and [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]. He served as [[Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union]] from 1957 to 1967, during which he oversaw the strengthening of the Soviet Army.

Born to an impoverished Ukrainian household in [[Odessa]], Malinovsky volunteered for the [[Imperial Russian Army]] during the [[World War I|First World War]] and served with distinction in both the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|German Front]] and the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. He was serving in the [[Russian Legion]] in France on the outbreak of the [[October Revolution]], after which he returned to Russia and joined the Red Army in the [[Russian Civil War]]. After graduating from the [[Frunze Military Academy]], Malinovsky volunteered to fight on the [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican]] side during the [[Spanish Civil War]], where he again served with great distinction and was later awarded the [[Order of Lenin]] and the [[Order of the Red Banner]] in recognition of his service.

Malinovsky emerged as one of the few competent Soviet generals in the opening phase of the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion]]. He played a crucial role in the Soviet victory at Stalingrad in December 1942, and helped drive German troops out of Ukraine following the [[Dnieper–Carpathian offensive]]. He then commanded the Soviet drive into the Balkans, forcing Romania to switch to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] side, for which he was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union by [[Joseph Stalin]]. He further took part in the liberation of Budapest, [[Vienna offensive|Vienna]] and [[Prague offensive|Prague]], cementing Soviet military supremacy in Central Europe. After the [[German Instrument of Surrender|German surrender]] in May 1945, Malinovsky was transferred to the [[Russian Far East|Far East]], where he crushed the Japanese [[Kwantung Army]] in the [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria]]. He received the Soviet Union's highest distinction, the title [[Hero of the Soviet Union]], as a reward.

After the war, Malinovsky remained in the Far East and held a succession of important commands. After Stalin's death, [[Nikita Khrushchev]] recalled Malinovsky to Moscow and named him commander-in-chief of the [[Soviet Army|Soviet Ground Forces]]. In 1957, he replaced the ousted [[Georgy Zhukov]] as Minister of Defence, a position he served until his death. Malinovsky was a strong advocate for the importance of [[Conventional warfare|conventional forces]], and maintained a delicate balance with Khrushchev's missile-based approach regarding  Soviet military policy. He retained considerable autonomy in military affairs following the fall of Khrushchev in 1964. Malinovsky died in March 1967 from [[pancreatic cancer]], and is remembered as one of the most important military leaders in Russian and Soviet history.