Stavka (Russian: Ставка) was the term used to refer to a command element of the armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of Imperial Russia as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Soviet Union. In western literature it is sometimes incorrectly written STAVKA in uppercase, although the word is not an acronym. The term may be applied to personnel of the military Staff, as well as to military Staff location, its original meaning from the old Russian word ставка — Tent.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian army at the beginning of World War I was Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch, a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I. Appointed at the last minute in August 1914, he played no part in formulating the military plans in use at the beginning of the war. He was competent, if not brilliant. Nikolai Yanushkevich was his chief of staff. In the summer of 1915 the Tsar himself took personal command, with Mikhail Alekseyev as his chief of staff.