Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894-1971) served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.

Nikita Khrushchev in The Gladiator
Nikita Khrushchev's decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 ultimately led to Soviet victory in the Cold War. While the United States had initially demanded the removal of the missles, it ultimately relented, signaling to the world that it was not as committed to fighting the Cold War as it had claimed to have been.

Despite this, Khruschev fell out of favor after some years due to his anti-Stalinist stance.

''Note: This is somewhat speculative since Khruschev's name is not referenced in the text. However, since the POD of The Gladiator appears to be the Cuban Missle Crisis, and since Stalin has become a hero again, its is logical that Khruschev acted as described above.''

Nikita Khrushchev in Worldwar
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894-1971) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which equated to being more or less governor of that province. Khruschev resisted separatist guerrilla bands supported both by Germany (through its ally Romania, which allowed the Germans to disavow any involvement in the gun-running when the Soviet Union protested to them and the Romanians to claim they were at the mercy of their German ally when the Soviets protested to them) and by the Race. In 1963, he was able to present his fellow General Secretary (and sometime political rival), Vyacheslav Molotov of the Soviet Union, with evidence that the Race was supporting the rebels. Molotov was hopeful that the Race, unlike Germany, would discontinue its support for the rebels on being confronted with this evidence.

Nikita Khrushchev in "The Phantom Tolbukhin"
Nikita Krushchev was the political officer in Fyodor Tolbukhin's "Fourth Ukrainian Front", a rag-tag guerrilla band of Soviet soldiers fighting a desperate guerrilla war against German occupation in 1947. Unlike most political officers, Khruschev was quite willing to take up arms and go into battle, a trait Tolbukhin appreciated. With the Soviet government in disarray and Moscow occupied, Khruschev's power as a political officer was less than he cared to admit.

Kruschev accompanied Tolbukhin on a daring raid on the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye, killing several German soldiers and destroying a munitions factory.