Stavka was the term used to refer to
command elementA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the...
of
armed forcesThe armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external and internal aggressors. In some countries...
from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of
Imperial RussiaThe Military history of Imperial Russia encompasses the period of history in which Russian Imperial ground, naval and air forces participated from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union.-Conditions in Russian...
as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the
Soviet UnionThe military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power. The new government formed the Red Army to fight various enemies in the Russian Civil War. The years 1918-1921 saw Red Army's defeats in Polish-Soviet war and...
. In western literature it is sometimes incorrectly written STAVKA in uppercase, although the word is not an acronym. The term may be applied to personnel of the military Staff, as well as to military Staff location, its original meaning from the Russian root став- to halt (movement).
The commander-in-chief of the
Russian armyThe Military history of Imperial Russia encompasses the period of history in which Russian Imperial ground, naval and air forces participated from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union.-Conditions in Russian...
at the beginning of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
was
Grand DukeThe title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
Nicholas Nicholaievitch, a grandson of
TsarTsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or Tzar in English, is a Slavic term with Bulgarian origins used to designate certain monarchs...
Nicholas INicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres.Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and...
.
Stavka was the term used to refer to
command elementA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the...
of
armed forcesThe armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external and internal aggressors. In some countries...
from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of
Imperial RussiaThe Military history of Imperial Russia encompasses the period of history in which Russian Imperial ground, naval and air forces participated from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union.-Conditions in Russian...
as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the
Soviet UnionThe military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power. The new government formed the Red Army to fight various enemies in the Russian Civil War. The years 1918-1921 saw Red Army's defeats in Polish-Soviet war and...
. In western literature it is sometimes incorrectly written STAVKA in uppercase, although the word is not an acronym. The term may be applied to personnel of the military Staff, as well as to military Staff location, its original meaning from the Russian root став- to halt (movement).
Stavka of the Commander-in-chief during World War I
The commander-in-chief of the
Russian armyThe Military history of Imperial Russia encompasses the period of history in which Russian Imperial ground, naval and air forces participated from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union.-Conditions in Russian...
at the beginning of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
was
Grand DukeThe title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
Nicholas Nicholaievitch, a grandson of
TsarTsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or Tzar in English, is a Slavic term with Bulgarian origins used to designate certain monarchs...
Nicholas INicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres.Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and...
. He was appointed at the last minute in August, 1914, and had no part in formulating the military plans in use at the beginning of the war. He was competent, if not brilliant.
Nikolai YanushkevichNikolai Yanushkevich served as Chief of Staff of the General Headquarters of the Imperial Russian Army from March 1914 to September 1915 during World War I.-World War I:...
was his chief of staff. In the summer of 1915 the Tsar himself took personal command. Mikhail Alekseyev was his chief of staff.
Stavka was divided into several departments:
- Department of General-Quartermaster (Operations department)
- Department of General on Duty (Organisation of troops, supplies, promotions, staff matters)
- Department of military transportations
- Naval department
- Diplomatic chancery (liaison with Ministry of foreign affairs)
The Stavka was first established in
BaranovichiBaranovichi , is a city in the Brest Province of western Belarus with a population of 173,000. It is a significant railway junction and home to a state university.- History :...
. In august 1915 after the German advance Stavka was moved to
MogilevMogilev is a city in eastern Belarus, about 76 km from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. It has more than 367,788 inhabitants...
.
Chief of Staff
- 19.07.1914—18.08.1915 — Lieutenant-General (from 22.10.1914, General of Infantry) Nikolai Yanushkevich
Nikolai Yanushkevich served as Chief of Staff of the General Headquarters of the Imperial Russian Army from March 1914 to September 1915 during World War I.-World War I:...
- 18.09.1915—01.04.1917 — General of Infantry (from 1916-Adjutant General) Mikhail Alekseyev
- 10.11.1916—17.02.1917 — General of cavalry Vasily Gurko
Vasily Iosiforich Gurko served for a brief period as Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Russian Army before being forced out of the country in exile following the October Revolution of 1917.-World War I:...
- 11.03.1917—05.04.1917 — General of Infantry Vladislav Napoleonovich Klembovsky
Vladislav Napoleonovich Klembovsky was a Russian military commander during the First World War.- References :...
- 05.04.1917—31.05.1917 - Lieutenant-General Anton Denikin
- 02.06.1917—30.08.1917 - Lieutenant-General Alexander Lukomsky
Alexander Sergeyevich Lukomsky was a Russian military commander, General Staff, Lieutenant-General . He fought for the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War and was one of the organizers of Volunteer army during the Russian Civil War.- References :* Lukomskii [Loukomsky], A.S...
- 30.08.1917—09.09.1917 — General of Infantry Mikhail Alekseyev
- 10.10.1917—03.11.1917 — Lieutenant-General Nikolay Dukhonin
Nikolay Nikolayevich Dukhonin was a Russian general, the last commander-in-chief of the Russian Imperial Army.-Biography:...
- 03.11.1917—07.11.1917 — Maj. Gen. Mikhail Dieterichs
Mikhail Diterikhs was a Russian general and a key figure in the White movement in Siberia during the Russian Civil War, noted in particular for his for his monarchist and anti-Semitic views ....
- 07.11.1917—02.1918 — Major General Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich
Mikhail Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich was an Imperial Russian and Soviet military commander, Lieutenant General .From 1892-1895, Bonch-Bruyevich served as an officer with the Lithuanian Guards Regiment, posted at Warsaw....
Stavka of the RKKAThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
during World War II
Stavka of the
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
Armed ForcesThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(The Great Patriotic War), or the headquarters of the "Main Command of the Armed Forces of the Union of SSR" (
Stavka Glavnogo Komandovaniya) , was established on June 23, 1941 by the top secret decree signed by
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
in his capacities both as the head of government and as the leader of the
Communist Party of the Soviet UnionThe Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the ruling and only legal political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the...
. According to this decree Stavka was composed of the defence minister Marshal
Semyon TimoshenkoSemyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko was a Soviet military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.-Early life:Timoshenko was born into a peasant family at Furmanivka, in Southern Bessarabia, now a...
(as its president), the head of General Staff
Georgy ZhukovMarshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, honorary GCB was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played an important role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis...
,
StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
,
Vyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
, Marshal
Kliment Voroshilovor Klyment Voroshylov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military commander and politician.-Early life and Russian Revolution:...
, Marshal
Semyon BudyonnySemyon Mikhailovich Budyonny was a Soviet military commander and an ally of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.-Early life:...
and the People's
CommissarCommissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution.The title was mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in many Bolshevik and Soviet government military forces during the Russian Civil War; the White Army widely used...
(Narkom) of the
NavyThe Soviet Navy was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to...
AdmiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM"...
Nikolai Gerasimovich KuznetsovAdmiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov was a Soviet naval officer and People's Commissar of the Navy during World War II.- Early Years and Advancement :...
.
The same decree organized at Stavka "the institution of permanent counsellors of Stavka comprising of comrades Marshal
KulikGrigory Ivanovich Kulik was a Soviet military commander and was born into a peasant family near Poltava in Ukraine. A soldier in the army of the Russian Empire in World War I, he joined the Bolshevik Party in 1917 and the Red Army in 1918...
, Marshal
ShaposhnikovBoris Mikhailovitch Shaposhnikov , Soviet military commander, was born at Zlatoust, near Chelyabinsk in the Urals. He joined the army of the Russian Empire in 1901 and graduated from the Nicholas General Staff Academy in 1910, reaching the rank of colonel in the Caucasus Grenadiers division during...
,
Kirill MeretskovKirill Afanasievich Meretskov was a Soviet military commander.- Early life and career :He was born in the Ryazan province, southeast of Moscow. His parents were peasants and lived in a rural village...
, head of the
Air forceAn air force, also known in some countries as an air army or historically an army air corps, is in the broadest sense, the national military that primarily conducts aerial warfare...
Zhigarev, Nikolay Vatutin, head of Air Defence
VoronovVoronov, Voronoff, Woronoff , or Voronova , is a popular Russian surname which may refer to the following people:* Natalya Voronova Russian athlete...
,
MikoyanAnastas Hovhannesi Mikoyan was an Armenian Old Bolshevik and Soviet statesman during the Stalin and Khrushchev years. In the Soviet Union he is primarily known as Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan ....
,
KaganovichLazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and a close associate of Joseph Stalin.-Beginning:...
, Lavrenty Beria, Voznesenskiy,
ZhdanovAndrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov was a Soviet politician.-Life:Zhdanov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1915 and rose through the party ranks, becoming the All-Union Communist Party leader in Leningrad after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934...
,
MalenkovGeorgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. He briefly became leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin's death and was Premier of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1955...
, Mekhlis".
Very soon afterwards the deputy defence minister army Meretskov was arrested following the false charges by Beria and
MerkulovVsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov , was the head of NKGB from February to July 1941, and again from April 1943 to March 1946...
. Meretskov was subsequently released from the jail and on the same day at the end of the first week of September 1941 was called for by Stalin.
Stavka of the Main Command was reorganised into the Stavka of the Supreme Command (
Stavka Verkhovnogo Komandovaniya)
http://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%93%D0%9A%D0%9E_%E2%84%96_83%D1%81%D1%81_%D0%BE%D1%82_10.07.41 on July 10, 1941. On August 8, 1941 it was again reorganised into Stavka of the Supreme Main Command (
Stavka Verkhovnogo Glavnokomandovaniya).
On the same day were instituted the commands of Strategic Directions.