State Defense Committee

State Defense Committee

Государственный 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, Russian SFSR
Agency executives	Joseph Stalin, Chairman Vyacheslav Molotov, Deputy Chairman
Parent agency	All-Union Supreme Soviet

The State Defense Committee (Template:Langx) was an extraordinary organ of state power in the Soviet Union during World War II with complete state power in the country.

General scope

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.

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

Composition

Portrait	Name (Lifespan)	Term of office			Notes
		Took office	Left office	Duration
File:Joseph Stalin official portrait.jpg	Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)	30 June 1941	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts	Chairman
File:V.M. Molotov TASS Portrait Trim Edit Crop.jpg	Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986)	30 June 1941	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts	Deputy Chairman until 16 May 1944
File:Lavrentiy Beria portrait 2.jpg	Lavrentiy Beria (1899–1953)	30 June 1941	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts	Representing State Security; Deputy Chairman from 16 May 1944
File:G.M. Malenkov TASS Portrait Trim Edit.jpg	Georgy Malenkov (1901–1988)	30 June 1941	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts	Representing Aviation Industry
File:Kliment Voroshilov.jpg	Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969)	30 June 1941	22 November 1944	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts	Replaced by Bulganin
File:Nikolai Voznesensky Weil Portrait.jpg	Nikolai Voznesensky (1903–1950)	3 February 1942	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts
File:A.I. Mikoyan TASS Portrait Trim Edit.jpg	Anastas Mikoyan (1895–1978)	3 February 1942	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts
File:L.M. Kaganovich TASS Portrait Trim Edit.jpg	Lazar Kaganovich (1893–1991)	20 February 1942	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts
File:Nikolai Bulganin.jpg	Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975)	22 November 1944	4 September 1945	REDIRECT Template:Age in years and days nts	Replaced Voroshilov

See also

• Council of Labor and Defense

Bibliography

• 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. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN.
• Werth, Alexander. (1964). Russia at War 1941–1945. New York: Carrol and Graf.

Further reading

• Glantz, David M. When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Template:ISBN 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. Template:ISBN Post-revisionist study of Stalin's wartime and post-war leadership.