Nikolai Bulganin

Nikolai Bulganin was a very important person in a country called the Soviet Union a long, long time ago. He was like the principal of a giant school, making big decisions! He was in charge of the country from 1955 to 1958.

Before that, he was like the head coach of the country's sports team, leading the army during a big war called World War II. He was born in a city called Nizhny Novgorod a very long time ago, in 1895.

Nikolai had many important jobs. First, he joined a special club called the Bolshevik Party when he was about your age! Then, he worked for the police, making sure things were safe.

He was also in charge of the bank where the country kept its money. Later, he became the leader of the whole country, called the Premier. He even became a Marshal, which is like a super-duper general in the army, as tall as a very tall building!

When the leader before him, named Stalin, passed away, Nikolai helped choose the new leader. He was like a referee in a game, helping decide who would be in charge next. For a while, he and another leader named Nikita Khrushchev worked together.

But then, they didn't agree on everything, and Nikolai was asked to step down from his big job. It’s like if your class president had a disagreement and had to stop being president.

Even though he had to stop being the Premier, Nikolai lived a long life. He was born in 1895 and lived until 1975, which means he was 79 years old! That’s like being a grown-up for a very, very long time. He was a person who played a big part in his country's story, like a character in a history book that you might read about.