People's Commissariat for Military Affairs (Soviet Russia)
| Народный комиссариат по военным делам РСФСР | |
All ministry seals of the RSFSR used the RSFSR coat of arms | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 8 November 1917 |
| Preceding agencies |
|
| Dissolved | 12 November 1923 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic |
| Headquarters | Petrograd, (later in Moscow), RSFSR |
| Parent agency | Council of People's Commissars Revolutionary War Council |
People's Commissariat for Military Affairs (Russian: Народный комиссариат по военным делам РСФСР, Narodny komissariat po voyennym delam RSFSR) was the very first military government agency (ministry of defense) of Soviet Russia, initially named as the Committee on War and Navy Affairs. The People's Commissariat was created on November 8, 1917 (day after the October Revolution) on the decree of the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets "On creation of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government" which was the name of the Russian Sovnarkom.
The Kornilov Affair sanctioned by Alexander Kerensky which resulted in detention of the Russian Supreme Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov and the Bolshevisation of Soviets also played a major role in establishing of the Soviet military presence. The council gradually overtook the authority of the Ministry of War of the Russian Republic completely changing the defense policy of Russia.