Central Aspic dictatorship

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Central Aspic dictatorship
Flag of the Centrocaspian Dictatorship.svg
[ Details ]
Capital Baku
Existence period August 1, 1918 - September 15, 1918

The Centrocaspian Dictatorship ( Russian Диктатура Центрокаспия Diktatura Zentrokaspija ) was a short-lived state in the peninsula Absheron in today's Azerbaijan , which was founded on August 1, 1918th The name of this state is due to the border location of the occupied territory to the Caspian Sea . The Central Aspic dictatorship was not recognized by the international community. It existed until September 15 of the same year. Their flag consisted of three horizontal stripes in light blue-red-light blue.

Emergence

In April 1918 a Soviet commune was established in Baku. The Baku Commune only existed for a few weeks. In the summer of 1918, the Ottoman army threatened to advance on Baku. Of the parties represented in the Council of People's Representatives of the Commune, the right wing of the Social Revolutionaries , the Armenian nationalist Dashnaks and the Mensheviks wanted to call on General Lionel Dunsterville's British troops stationed in northern Iran for help; the Bolsheviks refused out of loyalty to Soviet Russia . However, the Bolsheviks were in the minority and were outvoted by the other parties. They founded the Central Aspic dictatorship on August 14th. Shortly afterwards, the British they invited marched into Baku.

British support

The Central Aspic dictatorship was supported by the United Kingdom . This sent an expeditionary force to support the Armenians and Mensheviks. The fleeing 26 Baku commissars of the Soviet commune were captured by British troops in Turkmenistan and executed by firing squad. The intention of the British troops, led by Major General Lionel Dunsterville, was to clear the oil fields in Baku from the Ottoman Army of Islam , an association of Ottoman troops, Dagestans and Azerbaijanis, as well as German troops, which was set up by Enver Pasha stayed in neighboring Georgia to protect and prevent a consolidation of the Bolsheviks in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

resolution

Unable to stop the Turkish troops in the battle for Baku , Dunsterville evacuated the city after six weeks of siege on September 14 and withdrew to Iran . Most of the Armenian population fled with the British troops. The Ottoman Army of Islam and its Azerbaijani allies, led by Nuri Pasha , entered the area on September 15 and, in revenge for the March events, killed between 10,000 and 20,000 Armenians in a pogrom .

The Central Aspic dictatorship was replaced by the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (with the capital Gäncä ), which was the first democratic state in the history of Azerbaijan .

See also

supporting documents

  1. ^ History of Azerbaijan ( Memento from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Tadeusz Swietochowski: Russian Azerbaijan, 1905–1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community. Cambridge University Press, 1985, p. 138.
  3. ^ Dictatorship in Azerbaijan
  4. ^ Account of British Force in Baku ( Memento from August 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Military in Azerbaijan