State Defense Committee

Powerful body in the Soviet government during World War II

State Defense CommitteeГосударственный комитет обороны

All ministry seals of the Soviet Union used the USSR coat of arms

Agency overview
Formed| 30 June 1941
Preceding agency|

* Defense Committee

Dissolved| 4 September 1945
Jurisdiction|  Soviet Union
Headquarters| Moscow, Russia
Agency executives|

* Joseph Stalin, Chairman
* Vyacheslav Molotov, Deputy Chairman

Parent agency| All-Union Congress of Soviets
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The State Defense Committee (Russian: Государственный комитет обороны (ГКО), romanized: Gosudarstvennyĭ komitet oborony (GKO)) was an extraordinary organ of state power in the Soviet Union during World War II with complete state power in the country.

## General scope

[edit]

The Soviets set up the GKO on 30 June 1941, a week after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, by a joint decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The war situation at the front lines required a more centralized form of government. The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, however, continued unsuspended. On 18 June 1942, over a thousand members attended the 9th session of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow.[1]

Geoffrey Roberts described the GKO as "a sort of war cabinet".[2]

## Composition

[edit]

The initial composition of the committee was such:

* Chairman – Joseph Stalin
* Deputy Chairman – Vyacheslav Molotov
* Members – Lavrentiy Beria (State Security), Georgy Malenkov (Aviation Industry), Kliment Voroshilov

On 3 February 1942, Nikolai Voznesensky and Anastas Mikoyan were added as additional members of the committee. On 20 February 1942, Lazar Kaganovich was added. On 16 May 1944, Beria replaced Molotov as deputy chairman. On 22 November 1944, Nikolai Bulganin replaced Voroshilov as a member.

## See also

[edit]

* Council of Labor and Defense

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Compare: Handbook on the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: "Верховный Совет СССР, сессии [:] I созыв [:] всего 1143 депутата, 569 в Совете Союза и 574 в Совете Национальностей [...] 18.6.1942 [:] IX сессия (Москва)"
2. ^ Roberts, Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 95\. ISBN 9780300112047. Retrieved 2018-10-01. "The State Defence Committee, or GKO, stood at the pinnacle of Stalin's decision-making system during the war [...]. As a sort of war cabinet chaired by Stalin, it was a political body charged with directing and controlling all aspects of the Soviet war effort."

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Barber, John, and Harrison, Mark. (1991). The Soviet Home Front 1941–1945: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-00964-2, ISBN 0-582-00965-0.
* Werth, Alexander. (1964). Russia at War 1941–1945. New York: Carrol and Graf.

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Category: GKO Orders (in Russian)

## Further reading

[edit]

* Glantz, David M. When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7006-0899-7 Overview of Eastern Front from Soviet side.
* Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-300-11204-1 Post-revisionist study of Stalin's wartime and post-war leadership.

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