Born in the village of Strelkovka sixty miles south west of Moscow, Russia to a shoemaker, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was a member of a poor family. In his teenage years he was an apprentice furrier to his uncle before being drafted into the Russian Imperial Cavalry. During WW1, Sergeant Zhukov was twice decorated with the Cross of St. George for his bravery. During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, he led the Red Army's cavalry; in Mar 1919, he officially joined the Communist Party and became deeply indoctrinated in the communist ideals. Even during his friendship with Dwight Eisenhower immediately after the end of WW2, Eisenhower noted his sincere devotion to Marxist ideals during their philosophical discussions. Zhukov's quickness to react on the battlefield led him to be noticed by Joseph Stalin, then a member of the Revolutionary Council. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was regularly given coveted roles in the Red Army, such as being one of the first tank commanders in the Soviet Union.
During the conflict with Japan, the stocky Zhukov with his closely cropped hair led a mixed Russian and Mongolian unit in a successful defense against Japanese troops at Khalkin Gol in Jul and Aug of 1939. In Mongolia and Manchuria regions, Zhukov's units inflected significant Japanese casualties, halting the Japanese advance, and might have contributed to Japan's fundamental change in philosophy, expanding across the Pacific instead of deeper into continental Asia. At the end of the war with Japan, Zhukov was promoted to the rank of general, commanding the Kiev Military District.
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