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Stavka of the Supreme Commander

The Stavka of the Supreme Commander (Russian: Ставка Верховного главнокомандующего) was the supreme headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army in the field during World War I until the demobilization of the army in March 1918.

For other uses of the term, see Stavka.

Stavka of the Supreme Commander

31 July 1914 – March 1918

Baranovichi (1914–15)
Mogilev (1915–18)
Petrograd (1918)

The Stavka was led by the supreme commander, Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevich from 1914 to 1915 and then Emperor Nicholas II until the February Revolution in 1917. Grand Duke Nicholas presided over the initial offensives in East Prussia and Galicia before the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive forced Russia to withdraw, becoming known as the Great Retreat. After this the emperor took command, and the second half of 1915 and early 1916 was a break from large-scale operations (with the exception of the Lake Naroch and Erzurum offensives) until the start of the Brusilov Offensive. While Nicholas II was the supreme commander he left military decisions to his chief of staff, Mikhail Alekseyev, who ran the Stavka.


Throughout the political upheaval of the Russian Revolution in 1917 the Stavka remained in command of millions of troops at the front line. After the emperor's abdication in March 1917, his chief of staff Alekseyev was appointed the Supreme Commander, but in May he was replaced by Aleksei Brusilov ahead of the June offensive, as he was more optimistic about working with the new "revolutionary army" of the Provisional Government. After the failure of the June offensive, in part because of troops disobeying orders, Alexander Kerensky appointed Lavr Kornilov as the head of the army to restore order. But the Stavka supported Kornilov when he attempted a military coup against the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government, causing Kerensky to take the post of Supreme Commander himself. When he fled during the October Revolution, his chief of staff, Nikolay Dukhonin, assumed command.


The Russian Army was the last tsarist institution to survive the Revolution, and in late November 1917 the Bolsheviks began taking control of the command structure. Nikolai Krylenko was appointed as Supreme Commander after Dukhonin refused to recognize the Bolsheviks as the legitimate government. After Krylenko and the Bolsheviks arrived and took control of the Stavka, the high command was kept in place for several months as military technical experts because of the need for the Bolsheviks to maintain an army at the front while negotiations with Germany were ongoing. The remaining "old army" was demobilized in March 1918 with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the Stavka was dissolved.

was appointed as Supreme Commander by Emperor Nicholas II on 31 July 1914.[2]

Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevich

Emperor took direct command of the army with himself as Supreme Commander on 23 August 1915.[11]

Nicholas II

Grand Duke Nicholas briefly briefly returned to the post after the emperor's abdication on 15 March 1917.

[17]

General was the Supreme Commander[17] after the Grand Duke stepped down on 24 March 1917.[29]

Mikhail Alekseyev

General replaced Alekseyev on 4 June 1917,[30] ahead of the Kerensky Offensive.[31]

Aleksei Brusilov

General was appointed Supreme Commander on 31 July 1917.[32]

Lavr Kornilov

assumed the post himself on 10 September 1917 after the Kornilov coup attempt when several generals, including Klembovsky and Lukomsky, refused it.[24]

Alexander Kerensky

Kerensky's chief of staff, became the Supreme Commander on 16 November 1917 when Kerensky disappeared.[21]

Nikolay Dukhonin

was appointed by the Bolsheviks to replace him on 22 November after Dukhonin refused to follow orders,[21] and arrived at the Stavka on 3 December 1917.[33]

Nikolai Krylenko

According to its regulations, in wartime the Russian Imperial Army in the field was led by a Supreme Commander appointed by and responsible to the Emperor, and was tasked with implementing the Emperor's general directives for military operations.[28]


Directly subordinated to the Supreme Commander were the front commanders (consisting of the Northern, Western, and Southwestern Fronts, later also included the Romanian Front) and two Navy commanders, the heads of the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet.[18]

the Chief of Staff, the main assistant to the Supreme Commander;

the Quartermaster-General, responsible for operations and distribution of troops. His department consisted of four sections: operations, records, reconnaissance, and topography;

the Adjutant-General, responsible for personnel and the organization of troops. His department included the Adjutant-General's office and the Medical Chancery;

the head of the railway department, responsible for the railways in the theater of operations.