A well-armed, trained and fed army is the guarantor of state independence. The history of human civilization convincingly confirms this thesis. For a long period of time, cavalry was considered the main type of armed forces. In the first half of the 20th century, large cavalry formations were used as a strategic strike force. Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny took an active part in the formation of the First Cavalry Army. He personally led cavalrymen into attacks on enemy positions.
At the sovereign service
The biography of the Red Marshal says that the Budyonny family lived on the lands of the Don Army, but did not belong to the Cossack class. Immigrants from the Voronezh province settled on free lands after the abolition of serfdom. They lived poorly. A lot of work, scarce wealth, interrupted from bread to kvass. Semyon was the second child, and only eight children grew up in the house. When the boy was nine years old, he was handed over to the local merchant. It was a necessary measure to somehow pay off debts.
Staying "in people" away from his native home made Semen to show natural ingenuity and quickly master the wisdom of various crafts. He knew how to fix a horse harness, to shoe a horse. It is important to note that Budyonny loved horses from “young nails”. As a teenager, he perfectly mastered jigitovka, a set of exercises for a cavalryman. And he even received an award for this at competitions that were regularly held in the village. With full employment, the guy managed to learn to read and write. Reading and writing was taught to him by a clerk from a local shop.
In 1903, twenty years old, Budyonny was called up for service. From this date begins his military career. The conscript was sent to the Dragoon regiment, stationed on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the Primorsky Territory. On the battlefields with Japanese samurai, the brave dragoon received the first combat experience. Considering Budyonny’s love for horses, in 1907 he was sent to rider courses in St. Petersburg. From a real cavalryman, physical preparation, the ability to master a saber and creativity are required when solving the task. By the beginning of World War I, Semyon Mikhailovich rose to the rank of Senior Non-Commissioned Officer.
