The Revolutionary Military Council (Russian: Революционный Военный Совет, romanized: Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet, lit.

Prior to Revvoyensoviet, the two main military authorities had been the Supreme Military Council (Высший военный совет, Vysshy voyenny sovyet) and the operations division of the People's Commissariat on War and Navy Affairs.

The decree put all fronts and military organizations under the command of the chairman of Revvoyensoviet, with a commander-in-chief second-in-line to the chairman to lead strategic and military operations stateside.

The chairman was appointed by VTsIK on to serve as People's Commissar (or narkom) of War and Navy Affairs.

The first chairman of Revvoyensoviet was Leon Trotsky, with Latvian rifleman Jukums Vācietis as his commander-in-chief.