The Revolutionary Military Council (russian: Революционный Военный Совет, Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet, Revolutionary Military Council), sometimes called the Revolutionary War Council Brian Pearce
Introduction
to Fyodor Raskolnikov s "Tales of Sub-lieutenant Ilyin." or ''Revvoyensoviet'' (), was the supreme military authority of Soviet Russia and later the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. It was instituted on September 2, 1918 by decree of the

All-Russian Central Executive Committee The All-Russian Central Executive Committee ( rus, Всероссийский Центральный Исполнительный Комитет, Vserossiysky Centralny Ispolnitelny Komitet, VTsIK) was the highest legislative, administrative and r ...

(VTsIK), known as the "Decree Declaring the Soviet Republic Military Camp". Prior to ''Revvoyensoviet'', the two main military authorities had been the Supreme Military Council (, ') and the operations division of the People's Commissariat on War and Navy Affairs. The decree put all fronts and military organizations under the command of the chairman of ''Revvoyensoviet'', with a commander-in-chief second-in-line to the chairman to lead strategic and military operations stateside. The chairman was appointed by VTsIK on to serve as

People's Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eas ...

(or ''narkom'') of War and Navy Affairs. The first chairman of ''Revvoyensoviet'' was

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

, with Latvian rifleman

Jukums Vācietis Jukums Vācietis (russian: Иоаким Иоакимович Вацетис, link=no, ''Ioakim Ioakimovich Vatsetis''; 11 November 1873 – 28 July 1938) was a Latvian Soviet military commander. He was a rare example of a notable Soviet leader w ...

as his commander-in-chief. Vācietis was replaced in July 1919 by

Sergei Kamenev Sergey Sergeyevich Kamenev (russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Ка́менев; April 16 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._April_4.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O.S._April_4">Old_Style_and_New ...

who served until 1924. On November 30, 1918, the

Council of Labour and Defense The Council of Labor and Defense (Russian: Совет труда и обороны (СТО) Sovet Truda i Oborony, Latin acronym: STO), first established as the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense in November 1918, was an agency responsible fo ...

was created with the goal of mobilizing the country's resources towards defense. Headed by

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

, the council consisted of the

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

(Lenin), the chairman of ''Revvoyensoviet'' (Trotsky), a representative of VTsIK (

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

), and several ''narkoms''. ''Revvoyensoviet'' was dissolved under the Soviet Union in 1934.

References

* Earl F. Ziemke: ''The Red Army 1918–1941: From Vanguard of World Revolution to US Ally.'' Frank Cass, New York 2004. Military history of the Soviet Union Military of the Soviet Union 1918 establishments in Russia Military units and formations disestablished in 1934 {{russia-mil-stub

See also

References