Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus explained

Conventional Long Name:Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus
Year Start:1918[1]
Year End:1919[2]
Flag Caption:Flag[3] [4] [5] [6]
Common Name:Mountain Republic
Leader1:Tapa Tchermoeff
Title Leader:Prime Minister
Year Leader1:11 May 1918 – December 1918
Leader2:Pshemakho Kotsev
Year Leader2:December 1918 – 12 May 1919
Established Event1:Union of the Peoples of the Northern Caucasus within Russia[7]
Established Date1:6 March 1917
Established Event2:Independence declared
Established Date2:11 May 1918
Established Event3:Replaced by North Caucasian Emirate[8]
Established Date3:September 1919
P1:Russian Republic
Flag P1:Flag of Russia.svg
S1:North Caucasian Emirate
Flag S1:Flag of North Caucasian Emirate.svg
Flag Type:Flag
Flag Size:130
Coa Size:70
Area Km2:430874
Area Sq Mi:157000
Population Census:11,221,860[9]
Population Census Year:1919
Government Type:Confederated parliamentary republic under a provisional government
Currency:Tumen
Demonym:North Caucasian
Religion:Sunni Islam (majority and state-backed faith)
Russian Orthodox Church (minority)
Today:Russia

The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC), also referred to as the United Republics of the North Caucasus, Mountain Republic, or the Republic of the Mountaineers, was a state in Eurasia and encompassing the entirety of the North Caucasus that emerged during the Russian Civil War and existed from 1918 to 1919. It formed as a consolidation of various Caucasian ethnic groups, including the Abazins, Circassians, Chechens, Karachays, Ossetians, Balkars, Ingush, and Dagestanis.

The MRNC encompassed the former territories of Terek Oblast and Dagestan Oblast within the Russian Empire. These territories now constitute the present-day republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia–Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, and a portion of Stavropol Krai in the Russian Federation. Spanning approximately 430874km2, the MRNC had a population of approximately 11.2 million. Throughout its existence, the capital of the MRNC relocated from Vladikavkaz to Nazran and ultimately settled in Temir-Khan-Shura.

The MRNC broke away from the Russian Empire after the February Revolution, just before the outbreak of the Russian Civil War. The Russian Volunteer Army captured the state in 1919, and it ceased to exist.[10] However, in September 1919, the North Caucasian Emirate was proclaimed as the successor of the Mountain Republic.[11] However, in August 1920, it was captured by the Soviet Russia, which led to an uprising.[12] In April 1921, the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established by the Bolsheviks within the RSFSR, but the uprising lasted until 1925.[13]

State formation

The Union consisted seven "states" distributed on a national basis and united under a confederative principle within the territories: Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya, North Ossetia–Alania, Circassia (including West Circassia, although the union had control only over East Circassia), Karachay-Balkaria, the Nogai steppes, and also asserted claims in Abkhazia.[14] [15] [16]

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Mountain Republic comprised representatives from nearly all regions of the North Caucasus.

History

See also: Flag of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. The Union of the Peoples of the Northern Caucasus was established in March 1917 and an Executive Committee was elected to oversee its operations. Abdulmajid Tapa Tchermoev was appointed as Chairman of the Executive Committee. In August 1917, the Executive Committee decided to readopt the 1847 constitution of Imam Shamil.

The independent republic was declared on 11 May 1918 at the time of the collapse of the Russian Tsarist empire during the Russian Revolution of 1917. The new republic established a government led by Prime Minister Tchermoev, Rashid Khan Kaplanov, and Haidar Bammate.[17] The capital was initially Vladikavkaz but was later relocated to Temir-Khan-Shura after being occupied by the Red Army.[18] The Republic received support from Said Shamil, the grandson of Imam Shamil, and gained international recognition from various countries. The United Kingdom formed an alliance with Russian general Anton Denikin and made efforts to reinstate Tsarist rule in the region.

During the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, an effort was made to dispatch delegates to represent the Republic under Ottoman supervision. However, the Ottomans later declined this association due to an unfavorable response from the Bolsheviks. On 30 May 1918, the Bolshevik government issued a diplomatic note declaring their non-recognition of the MRNC. In March 1919, a delegation led by Tapa Tchermoeff and Ibrahim Bey Gaydarov went to Paris to participate in the Treaty of Versailles and sought international recognition of the Republic's independence.[19]

The Dagestan cavalry regiments, units within the Caucasian Native Cavalry Division, pledged their allegiance to the Mountainous Republic and Ottoman pashas of Circassian descent arrived with their forces to provide assistance. An army was formed and participated in confrontations against General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army. With backing from the North Caucasus Army, led by Yusuf Izzet Pasha, the Caucasus region was liberated from Soviet Russia.

Following the conclusion of World War I and the withdrawal of Turkish troops, the Mountain government underwent reorganization. In late 1918, Pshemaho Kotsev was confirmed as leader of the coalition cabinet in the Mountain Congress held in Temir-Khan-Shura. Hostilities ended in January 1920 with Denikin's army defeat by the 11th Red Army. In January 1921, the Red Army occupied the Mountain Republic and established the Soviet Mountain Republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

Legacy

The "Congress of the Peoples of the North Caucasus", a political organization operating in the 21st century, has invoked the Mountainous Republic to advocate for the cooperation of different Northern Caucasus separatist groups in their struggle against Russia.

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 55. On 11 May 1918 the independence of the Republic of the North Caucasus was declared. The government sought international recognition and when on 8 June 1918 a Treaty of Friendship was signed with Turkey this implied recognition of the new Republic..
  2. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 56. The government of Kotsev was not able to defend its territory, and in May 1919 the White Army of Denikin conquered the territory of the Mountain Republic in Chechnya and Daghestan, and the Mountain Republic ceased to exist..
  3. The Flag Bulletin, vol. 148. The Flag Research Center. 1992. p. 184.
  4. Web site: Северный Кавказ, 1917-1945 гг.. vexillographia.ru. ru.
  5. Kathleen R. Jackson, Marat Fidarov: Essays on the History of the North Caucasus, HHN Media, New York, 2009.
  6. «После Февральской революции 1917 г. процесс политического самоопределения привел к образованию Карачаево-Балкарского штата в составе горской республики.» (ИЭА Российской академии наук. Серия энциклопедий «Народы и культуры», «Карачаевцы. Балкарцы.» — М.: Наука, ИЭА РАН, 2014. — С. 7. — 815 с. .)
  7. Web site: Владикавказский съезд горских народов Северного Кавказа в мае 1917 г.. Лобавнов, Артемьев. Артемьев А. С.. 2019. Современная научная мысль. 2. 74. 2023-06-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20230624182401/https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vladikavkazskiy-sezd-gorskih-narodov-severnogo-kavkaza-v-mae-1917-g.
  8. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 56. In 1919 Sheikh Uzun Haji, Pshemakho Kotsev and Sheikh Akushinskii called for a fight against the White or Volunteer Army of Denikin and in September 1919 the Emirate of the North Caucasus was proclaimed, comprising the North of Daghestan, Chechnya and part of Ingushetia. To secularist nationalists the Emirate was seen as the successor of the Mountain Republic..
  9. L'Europe orientale (Paris. 1919), N2
  10. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 56. The government of Kotsev was not able to defend its territory, and in May 1919 the White Army of Denikin conquered the territory of the Mountain Republic in Chechnya and Daghestan, and the Mountain Republic ceased to exist..
  11. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 56. In 1919 Sheikh Uzun Haji, Pshemakho Kotsev and Sheikh Akushinskii called for a fight against the White or Volunteer Army of Denikin and in September 1919 the Emirate of the North Caucasus was proclaimed, comprising the North of Daghestan, Chechnya and part of Ingushetia. To secularist nationalists the Emirate was seen as the successor of the Mountain Republic..
  12. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 56. In August 1920 however, the Bolshevik army attacked Chechnya from the north, and the leaders of the emirate called for a jihad, asking the grandson of Imam Shamil, Sait Shamil, to lead the fight. He was one of the two survivors of this fight and later fled to Turkey..
  13. Book: Charlotte, Hille. State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus. 2010 . Brill. 9789004179011. 57. It took the Russians until 1925 to arrest and kill Gotsinskii. The uprising was inter alia successful because the Caucasians obeyed the requests of the Sufi clerics who organized the revolt. In April 1921 a Mountain ASSR, of which Chechen territory was part, was established within the RSFSR. On 20 January 1921 the Daghestan ASSR was declared. On 30 November 1922 a Chechen Autonomous Oblast was created..
  14. «После Февральской революции 1917 г. процесс политического самоопределения привел к образованию Карачаево-Балкарского штата в составе горской республики.» (ИЭА Российской академии наук. Серия энциклопедий «Народы и культуры», «Карачаевцы. Балкарцы.» — М.: Наука, ИЭА РАН, 2014. — С. 7. — 815 с. .)
  15. Book: Петр Михайлович Шаститко . Обречённые догмы: большевизм и национальный вопрос . М. . 2002 . Восточная литература . 44 . 9785020183056.
  16. Book: Камалудин Гаджиев. Кавказский узел в геополитических приоритетах России . 2013 . Litres . 9785457145672.
  17. М. Вачагаев: Союз горцев Северного Кавказа и Горская республика, 2018
  18. Gülseven . Aslı . 2021-03-30 . Büyük Güçler Yarişi Bağlaminda Başariya Ulaşmamiş Bi̇r Bağimsizlik Hareketi̇: Kuzey Kafkasya Bağimsizlik Mücadelesi̇ (1917–1920) . Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversitesi SBE Dergisi . 11 . 1 . 245–259 . 10.30783/nevsosbilen.873522 . 2149-3871 . 233912811. free .
  19. Berzeg, Sefer E. (Mart 2003). Kuzey Kafkasya Cumhuriyeti 1917–1922, Kafkasya Dağlıları Birliği’nin Kuruluşu (I. Cilt). İstanbul : Birleşik Kafkasya Derneği.