Red Army officer who played a prominent role in the Russian Civil War (1918–20) and later became a marshal of the Soviet Union.

Having come from a poor peasant family, Budenny began his military career in the Imperial Russian Army in 1903 in East Asia. Later he took part in the Revolution that overthrew the imperial government, became chairman of the divisional soviet of soldiers in the Caucasus, and formed a cavalry unit to fight the Whites (anti-Bolsheviks) in the northern Caucasus (February 1918). In 1919 he joined the Communist Party and, having become commander of the 1st Cavalry Army (1919–24), played a crucial role in defeating the White generals Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel and in fighting the Poles (1920); in 1922 he also became commander of all the troops in the north Caucasian military district.

While serving as inspector of the Red Army's cavalry (1924–37) and commander of the Moscow military district (1937–40), Budenny attended the Frunze Military Academy (graduating in 1932) and was promoted to the rank of marshal of the Soviet Union. He also became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1938), a full member of the party's Central Committee (1939), and first deputy commissar for defense (1940). When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Budenny was placed in command of the southwest front, but he soon suffered serious defeats and was replaced. In 1953 he resumed his post of inspector of the cavalry. He was named Hero of the Soviet Union in 1958; in 1961, however, he was reduced to a candidate member of the Central Committee.