Hovhannes Khachatury Bagramyan (I) (Armenian: Հովհաննես Խաչատուրի (or, Քրիստափորի, Christapory) Բաղրամյան; Russian: Оване́с Хачату́рович Баграмя́н; December 2 [O.S. November 20] 1897 – September 21, 1982) was a Soviet Armenian military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Bagramyan was the first non-Slavic military officer to become a commander of a Front. He was among several Armenians in the Soviet Army who held the highest proportion of high ranking officers in the Soviet military during the war,[1] and one of fifty Armenians who attained the rank of General in the same period.[2]

Bagramyan's experience in military planning as a chief of staff allowed him to distinguish himself as a capable commander in the early stages of the Soviet counter-offensives against Nazi Germany. He was given his first command of a unit in 1942, and in November 1943 received his most prestigious command as the head of the First Baltic Front. As head of the Baltic Front, he participated in the offensives which moved westward and pushed German forces out of the Baltic republics.

He did not immediately join the Communist Party after the consolidation of the October Revolution, becoming a member only in 1941, which was atypical for a Soviet military officer. After the war, he served as a deputy member of the Supreme Soviets of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic and Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and was a regular attendee of the Party Congresses. In 1952, he became a candidate for entry into the Central Committee and, in 1961, was inducted as a full member. Outside Armenia, he is primarily known by the Russified version of his name, Ivan (or Ovannes) Khristoforovich Bagramyan (Russian: Ива́н Христофо́рович Баграмян). For his contributions during the war, he was widely regarded as a national hero in the Soviet Union,[3] and continues to hold such esteemed status among Armenians.