Bulganin, Nikolai Aleksandrovich

Related Category: Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies

(nyĭkəlī´ əlyĭksän´drəvĭch blgä´nyĭn), 1895–1975, Soviet military and political leader. He held posts in industrial management, was mayor of Moscow (1931–37) and chairman of the state bank (1937–41), and served on a military council in World War II. Made a marshal and a deputy premier in 1947, and a full member of the politburo in 1948, he was also defense minister under Joseph Stalin and later under Georgi Malenkov. With the support of Nikita Khrushchev, who was then head of the Communist party, Bulganin succeeded Malenkov as premier (Feb., 1955). In 1958, however, he was forced from office by Khrushchev, who took over the post of premier. Bulganin was accused of having sided with the “antiparty faction” that opposed Khrushchev in 1957; he was expelled from the central committee of the Communist party in Sept., 1958.