Editing Semyon Timoshenko (section)

{{short description|Soviet military commander (1895–1970)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{family name hatnote|Konstantinovich|Timoshenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Semyon Timoshenko
| image               = Маршал Советского Союза Герой Советского Союза Семён Константинович Тимошенко.jpg
| width               = |
| caption             = Timoshenko in 1945|
| nationality         = Soviet Union
| office              = [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|People's Commissar for Defense of the Soviet Union]]
| term_start          = 7 May 1940
| term_end            = 19 July 1941
| leader              = [[Joseph Stalin]]
| 1blankname          = Premier
| 1namedata           = [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] <br /> [[Joseph Stalin]]
| predecessor         = [[Kliment Voroshilov]]
| successor           = [[Joseph Stalin]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1895|2|18|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Furmanivka, Odesa Oblast|Orman]], [[Bessarabia Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1970|3|31|1895|2|18|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], Soviet Union
| resting_place       = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], Moscow
| spouse              = 
| profession          = 
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] (1919–1970)
| allegiance          = {{flag|Russian Empire}}<br>(1914–1917)<br />{{flag|Russian Republic}}<br>(1917)<br />{{flag|Soviet Russia|1919}}<br>(1918–1922) <br />{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}<br> (1922–1970)
| branch              = [[Imperial Russian Army]]<br />[[Red Army]]<br />[[Soviet Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1914–1970
| rank                = [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]]
| commands            = [[Kiev Military District]]<br />[[Ukrainian Front (1939)]]<br />[[Leningrad Military District]]<br />[[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Front]]<br />[[Southwestern Front (Soviet Union)|Southwestern Front]]<br />[[Northwestern Front]]<br />[[Belorussian Military District]]
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
* [[Russian Civil War]]
* [[Polish–Soviet War]]
* [[World War II]]
** [[Winter War]]
** [[Great Patriotic War]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards              = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (twice) <br />[[Order of Victory]] <br />[[Order of Lenin]] (five times) <br />[[Order of the October Revolution]] <br />[[Order of the Red Banner]] (five times) <br />[[Order of Suvorov]] (three times) <br />[[Cross of St. George]]|
| native_name         = {{Nobold|{{lang|ru|Семён Тимошенко}}}}
}}

'''Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko''' ({{langx|ru|Семён Константинович Тимошенко|Semon Konstantinovich Timoshenko
}}; {{langx|uk|Семен Костянтинович Тимошенко|Semen Kostyantynovych Tymoshenko}}; {{OldStyleDate|18 February|1895|6 February}} – 31 March 1970) was a Soviet military commander, [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]], and one of the most prominent [[Red Army]] commanders during the [[World War II|Second World War]].

Born to a Ukrainian family in [[Bessarabia Governorate|Bessarabia]], Timoshenko was drafted into the [[Imperial Russian Army]] and saw action in the [[World War I|First World War]] as a [[cavalry]]man. On the outbreak of the [[Russian Revolution]] he joined the Red Army. He served with distinction during the [[Russian Civil War]] and the subsequent [[Polish–Soviet War]], which brought him into [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s and [[Joseph Stalin]]'s favour. Rapidly rising through the ranks, Timoshenko held several regional commands throughout the 1930s and survived the [[Great Purge]]. He led the [[Ukrainian Front (1939)|Ukrainian Front]] during the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] in 1939. In early 1940, Timoshenko took over the command of the [[Winter War]] in Finland from [[Kliment Voroshilov]] and turned the tide for the Soviets. In May 1940, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union and the [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|People's Commissar for Defence]]. In the latter capacity, he took steps to modernise the Red Army and prepare for a likely war with [[Nazi Germany]].

On the outbreak of the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]], Timoshenko was named chairman of the [[Headquarters of the Supreme High Command|Stavka]]. Replaced by Stalin himself a month later, he went on to hold a series of important commands in the following year. In late 1941, he organised a major counter-offensive in [[Battle of Rostov (1941)|Rostov]], which brought him international renown. His fortunes had faltered by mid-1942, in particular after the overwhelming Soviet defeat at the [[Second Battle of Kharkov]], and he was relieved from the command of the newly formed [[Stalingrad Front]]. He was recalled later that year and appointed commander of the [[Northwestern Front]], and as a Stavka representative he oversaw and coordinated the activities of several fronts in various times during the last phase of the war, including the [[Leningrad Front|Leningrad]], [[Volkhov Front|Volkhov]], and [[North Caucasus Front|North Caucasus]] Fronts and the [[Black Sea Fleet]], and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts.

After the war, Timoshenko held commands in several Soviet military districts until his effective retirement in 1960. He died in 1970 at the age of 75.