...

Early life and Russian Revolution

Voroshilov was born in Lysychansk (now in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine), in the Russian Empire, to a railway worker's family of Russian ethnicity.http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1089 He joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1905. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Voroshilov was a member of the Ukrainian provisional government and Commissar for Internal Affairs. He was well known for aiding Stalin in the Military Council (led by Leon Trotsky), having become closely associated during the Red Army's 1918 defense of Tsaritsyn. Voroshilov was instrumental as a commander of the Southern Front during the Russian Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War while with 1st Cavalry Army. As Political Commissar serving co-equally with Stalin, Voroshilov was responsible for the morale of the 1st Cavalry Army, whose men were chiefly composed of peasants from southern Russia. Brown, Stephen. "Communists and the Red Cavalry: The Political Education of the Konarmiia in the Russian Civil War, 1918-20" The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 73, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), p. 88 Voroshilov's efforts as Commissar did not prevent a resounding defeat at the Battle of Komarów, nor regular outbreaks of murderous anti-Semitic violence within the Cavalry army's ranks.Barmine, Alexander, One Who Survived, New York: G.P. Putnam (1945), footnote, p. 21 Read full entry

This entry is from Wikipedia,the leading user-contributed encyclopedia.It may not have been reviewed by professional editors(See full disclaimer)