Budenny, Semyon

Budenny, Semyon (Mikhaylovich)

(born April 13, 1883, Kozyurin, near Rostov-na-Donu, Russia—died Oct. 17, 1973, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Russian army officer. In 1919 he joined the Communist Party and, as commander of the 1st Cavalry Army in the Russian Civil War, he played a crucial role in defeating the White (anti-Bolshevik) generals Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel and in fighting the Poles (1920). He later became a marshal of the Soviet Union and was commander of Moscow's military district.