Kliment Voroshilov

**Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov** (Russian: Климе́нт Ефре́мович Вороши́лов) (born 4 February 1881 – died 2 December 1969), was a Soviet military officer and politician during Joseph Stalin's era. He was one of the original five Marshals of the Soviet Union. It is considered the highest military rank of the Soviet Union.

## Early life and career

Voroshilov was born Verkhnyeye, Bakhmut uyezd, Yekaterinoslav. The place is now part of Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. He was born into a railway worker's family of Russian ethnicity. According to the Soviet Major General Petro Grigorenko, Voroshilov himself alluded to the heritage of his birth-country, Ukraine, and to the previous family name of _Voroshilo_.

## Personal life

He was married to Ekaterina Voroshilova (born Golda Gorbman). She came from a Jewish Ukrainian family from Mardarovka. She changed her name when she converted to Orthodox Christianity in order to be allowed to marry Voroshilov. During Stalin's rule, the couple lived in the Kremlin at the Horse Guards.

## Death

Voroshilov died in 1969 in Moscow and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific suffix**: :en:Marshal of the Soviet Union, Marshal :en:Gold Star Medal, HSU :en:Hero of Socialist Labour, HSL
- **name**: Kliment Voroshilov
- **image**: Russische oud president Worosjilow uit de gratie, Bestanddeelnr 913-1533 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Kliment Voroshilov in 1961
- **office1**: :en:List of heads of state of the Soviet Union, President of the Soviet Union
- **term end1**: 7 May 1960
- **term start1**: 15 March 1953
- **predecessor1**: :en:Nikolai Shvernik, Nikolai Shvernik
- **successor1**: Leonid Brezhnev
- **premier1**: Georgy Malenkov
Nikolai Bulganin
Nikita Khrushchev
- **office2**: :en:Defence Minister of the Soviet Union, Defence Minister of the Soviet Union
- **term start2**: 31 October 1925
- **term end2**: 7 May 1940
- **president2**: :en:Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Kalinin
- **premier2**: Alexei Rykov<small>(until 1930)</small>
Vyacheslav Molotov
- **predecessor2**: :en:Mikhail Frunze, Mikhail Frunze
- **successor2**: :en:Semyon Tymoshenko, Semyon Tymoshenko
- **birth name**: Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov
- **birth place**: Bakhmut, Russian Empire
- **death place**: Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
- **party**: Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- **spouse**: Ekaterina Voroshilova
- **children**: Petya Voroshilov
Timur Frunze (adopted)
Tatyana Frunze (adopted)
- **allegiance**:

- **branch**: Red Army
Soviet Armed Forces
- **serviceyears**: 1917–1969
- **rank**: :en:Marshal of the Soviet Union, Marshal
- **commands**: :en:North Caucasus Military District, North Caucasus Military District
:en:Moscow Military District, Moscow Military District
:en:Leningrad Front, Leningrad Front
- **battles**: Russian Civil War

*:en:Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Allied Invasion of Russia
*Polish–Soviet War
*:en:Battle of Tsaritsyn, Battle of Tsaritsyn
World War II -
*Winter War
*:en:Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940), Invasion of the Baltics
*:en:Eastern Front (World War II), Great Patriotic War
*:en:Operation Barbarossa, Axis Invasion of the Soviet Union
*:en:Siege of Leningrad, Siege of Leningrad