Measures 5" x 7", b/w, printed on thin matte photo paper. Budyonny is presented wearing his marshal's uniform. Three orders of Lenin narrow down the date of this photo to 1943-44 (he got his third order of Lenin in 1943, and his fourth in 1945).

In very good condition. There is minor loss of emulsion at the left top corner, and the very tip of the bottom right-hand corner is torn off. No other significant wear or damage present. The back is mostly clean.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny (Семен Михайлович Буденный, 1883 - 1973) rose in the ranks from a NCO in World War I. During the Revolution, he became a Bolshevik and a leading member of the soldiers' councils in the Caucasus region. When Civil War broke out in 1918, Budyonny organized a Red Cavalry force in the Don region, which eventually became the pivotal 1st Cavalry Army.

Thanks to his superior performance in the Revolution and the Civil War, in 1935 Budyonny was made one of the first five Marshals of the Soviet Union. As a close associate of Stalin, he survived the Great Purge of the late 1930s, and further survived disastrous results of his faulty leadership in the Soviet-Finnish War and again in WW2. After the war, he was allowed to retire as a Hero of the Soviet Union and died in 1973.

Please note that the penny in our photo is for size reference.