Supreme Commander-in-Chief

E82074

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief was the highest military authority in the Soviet Union, held by the top political leader who exercised ultimate command over all branches of the Soviet armed forces.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf command position
military office
appliesToJurisdiction Soviet Union
authorityOver Soviet Air Forces
Soviet Army
Soviet Navy
Soviet strategic missile forces
all branches of the Soviet armed forces
controls nuclear forces of the Soviet Union
country Soviet Union
decisionMakingBodySupportedBy Defense Council of the USSR
Politburo of the CPSU
dissolvedWith dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991
existedDuring 20th century
Cold War
hasCharacteristic centralized command structure
combination of political and military authority
hasPower authority over peacetime military policy
authority over wartime command decisions
authority to direct military strategy
ultimate command over Soviet armed forces
hierarchicalLevel highest military authority in the Soviet Union
influencedBy Russian Empire military traditions
languageOfTitle Russian
legalBasis Soviet constitutional framework
party and state decrees
linkedToIdeology Marxism–Leninism
Soviet communism
officeHoldersInclude Joseph Stalin
Leonid Brezhnev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Nikita Khrushchev
partOf Soviet military command structure
politicalControl Communist Party of the Soviet Union
politicalSystemContext one-party socialist state
relatedConcept civilian control of the military
party control of the armed forces
roleIn Soviet Armed Forces
RussianName Верховный Главнокомандующий
seatOfPower Moscow
successorStateContext Russian Federation
supervises Soviet General Staff
Soviet Ministry of Defense
typicallyHeldBy General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
head of state of the Soviet Union
top political leader of the Soviet Union
usedInConflict Cold War military planning
Second World War

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Soviet armed forces
commanderTitle
Russian General Staff ("Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces")
subordinateTo

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