Kliment Voroshilov

Born to a Russian worker's family in Ukraine in 1881, Voroshilov joined the Bolsheviks early and fought in the Revolution of 1917. At the Battle of Tsaritsyn he earned distinction and Stalin's lasting friendship, a bond that carried him to the Central Committee in 1921 and, four years later, to the top military post as People's Commissar for Military and Navy Affairs. By 1926 he sat on the Politburo; by 1935 he wore the Marshal's star. But when war came his record cracked: blamed for the Winter War debacle in Finland, he lost his commissariat to Timoshenko, then failed again to prevent the German encirclement of Leningrad and was pulled from command in September 1941. After the war he oversaw the installation of a socialist regime in Hungary, and when Stalin died in 1953 Voroshilov rose to Chairman of the Presidium - nominal head of state - until Khrushchev's ascent turned the Supreme Soviet against him and he resigned in 1960. He rejoined the party in 1966 and died three years later at 88.