Mikhail Frunze was born in Bishkek into the family of a paramedic (feldsher). In 1904, he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. Since 1904, he was a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), a Bolshevik. On January 9, 1905 (“Bloody Sunday”), Frunze joined the protesters’ march to the Winter Palace. He was an active participant in the First Russian Revolution of 1905–1907, was repeatedly arrested, exiled, sentenced to death twice, both the times the execution was commuted to hard labor. In 1916, he fled to the front, where he was engaged in revolutionary propaganda among the soldiers.

His subsequent career included the following: after the February Revolution of 1917, Chief of the people’s militia of Minsk; a member of the Minsk committee of the RSDLP(b) and the committee of the Western Front; in August 1917, Chief-of-Staff of the revolutionary troops of the Minsk region, leading the struggle against the supporters of Lavr Kornilov on the Western Front; since September, Chairman of Shuya Soviet of Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Deputies and the district committee of the RSDLP(b); in October 1917, he organized a detachment of Shuya and Ivanovo weavers and soldiers to participate in an armed uprising in Moscow. He was elected as Deputy of the Constituent Assembly. In the first half of 1918, he was Chairman of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk governorate committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) – RCP(b), Military commissar of the governorate, and Chairman of the governorate Executive Committee. Since August 1918, Military commissar of the Yaroslavl military district, participated in the suppression of the Yaroslavl uprising, organized by Boris Savinkov.

In February–May 1919, Commander of the 4th Army of the Red Army; in May–June, Commander of the Turkestan Army, since March 1919, Commander of the Southern Army Group of the Eastern Front. For the success in the battles against the armies of Aleksander Kolchak, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In March–April 1919, he directed the suppression of the Chapan rebellion [stems from the word “chapan”, long-grade peasant clothing]. In July 1919, he was Commander of the Eastern Front. Later he was appointed Commander of the troops of the Turkestan Front (August 1919 – September 1920). He led the operation against the Bukhara Emirate (August 30 – September 2, 1920), which ended with the capture of Bukhara and the proclamation of the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic.

In September 1920, he led the Southern Front and defeated the troops of Pyotr Wrangel. He signed an agreement on joint actions with representatives of the insurgent army of Nestor Makhno, but after the defeat of Wrangel, he ordered the disarmament and detention of the Makhnovists. In 1921–1924, he was Commander of the troops of Ukraine and Crimea, a member of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1921, he was a member of the Central Committee, since 1924, a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee and the Organizational Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP(b). Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), and of the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee. In 1925, Frunze was appointed Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR. He died on October 31, 1925, after stomach surgery. He was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.