The Russian Civil War was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the social-democratic Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century.
Simferopol, also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, controlled by Russia, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The flag of Crimea is the flag of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine and the Republic of Crimea controlled by Russia. The flag was officially adopted on 24 September 1992 as the flag of the Republic of Crimea, readopted on 21 April 1999, then readopted on 4 June 2014 as the flag of the Republic of Crimea, annexed by the Russian Federation.
Taurida Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire. It included the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River with the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. It formed after Taurida Oblast was abolished in 1802 during the course of Paul I's administrative reform of the territories of the former Crimean Khanate which were annexed by Russia in 1783. The governorate's centre was the city of Simferopol. The name of the province was derived from Taurida, a historical name for Crimea.
The Southern Front was a military theater of the Russian Civil War.
The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as Tauris, Taurica, and the Tauric Chersonese, begins around the 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established along its coast, the most important of which was Chersonesos near modern day Sevastopol, with Scythians and Tauri in the hinterland to the north. The southern coast gradually consolidated into the Bosporan Kingdom which was annexed by Pontus and then became a client kingdom of Rome. The south coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years including under Roman successor states, the Byzantine Empire (341–1204), the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461), and the independent Principality of Theodoro. In the 13th century, some Crimean port cities were controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese, but the interior was much less stable, enduring a long series of conquests and invasions. In the medieval period, it was partially conquered by Kievan Rus' whose prince Vladimir the Great was baptised at Sevastopol, which marked the beginning of the Christianization of Kievan Rus'. During the Mongol invasion of Europe, the north and centre of Crimea fell to the Mongol Golden Horde, and in the 1440s the Crimean Khanate formed out of the collapse of the horde but quite rapidly itself became subject to the Ottoman Empire, which also conquered the coastal areas which had kept independent of the Khanate. A major source of prosperity in these times was frequent raids into Russia for slaves.
The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukrainian republic, most of which was absorbed into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic between 1919 and 1920. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991.
The Crimean People's Republic or Crimean Democratic Republic was a self-declared state that existed from December 1917 to January 1918 in the Crimean Peninsula. The Republic was one of many short-lived states that declared independence following the 1917 Russian Revolution caused the collapse of the Russian Empire.
The Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic was an unsuccessful attempt to establish a Soviet republic situated in the Crimean Peninsula part of Soviet Russia. The republic was established by Bolsheviks Jan Miller and Anton Slutsky who previously participated in the Petrograd Bolshevik Revolution.
The Crimean Regional Government refers to two successive short-lived regimes in the Crimean Peninsula during 1918 and 1919.
The Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic or the Soviet Socialist Republic of the Crimea was a state allied with Soviet Russia that existed in Crimea for several months in 1919 during the Russian Civil War. It was the second Bolshevik government in Crimea and its capital was Simferopol.
Crimea, or the Crimean Peninsula, historically also known as the Tauric Chersonese, is a major peninsula in the north of the Black Sea.
The Operation Faustschlag, also known as the Eleven Days' War, was a Central Powers offensive in World War I. It was the last major offensive on the Eastern Front.
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 as a result of the February Revolution, and in June, it declared Ukrainian autonomy within Russia. Its autonomy was later recognized by the Russian Provisional Government. Following the October Revolution, the Central Council of Ukraine denounced the Bolshevik seizure of power and proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic with a territory including the area of approximately eight Russian imperial governorates. It formally declared its independence from Russia on 22 January 1918.
The Ukrainian–Soviet War is the term commonly used in post-Soviet Ukraine for the events taking place between 1917 and 1921, nowadays regarded essentially as a war between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks. The war ensued soon after the October Revolution when Lenin dispatched Antonov's expeditionary group to Ukraine and Southern Russia.
Yuri Petrovich Gaven, born Jānis Daumanis, was a Latvian revolutionary and Soviet politician and Chekist. He was a key figure in the defeat of the Crimean People's Republic and the establishment of the short-lived Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic and an active participant in the Red Terror in Crimea. Executed during the Stalinist purges in 1936, he was rehabilitated in 1958.
Gadzhibey (Гаджибей) was one of eight Fidonisy-class destroyers built for the Imperial Russian Navy during World War I. Completed in late 1917, too late to see active service during the war, Gadzhibey's sailors joined the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. In early 1918, the destroyer assisted in the consolidation of Soviet control over Crimea, fighting against Crimean Tatar forces at Yalta and Alushta. After the German-Ukrainian invasion of Crimea, she was withdrawn to Novorossiysk and scuttled there in June to avoid capture by German forces. Raised by the Soviet Union in the late 1920s, Gadzhibey was deemed uneconomical to repair and scrapped. Her propulsion machinery was used to refit a sister ship.
Amet Seid Abdulla oğlu Özenbaşlı was a Crimean Tatar politician and writer. A leading member of the Crimean Tatar nationalist movement and a minister in the Crimean People's Republic, he was later involved in the Crimean Tatar community in the Soviet Union. After supporting Crimean Tatar collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was released in 1955. Following his prison service, he lived in Tajikistan until his death.
Cafer Seydamet, also known by his adopted surname Qırımer, was a Crimean Tatar politician and writer who was one of the founders and leaders of Milliy Firqa and Crimean People's Republic. He served as Prime Minister and Director of Foreign and Military Affairs in the Crimean People's Republic, and maintained the latter role within the Crimean Regional Government.
During World War II, the Crimean Peninsula was subject to military administration by Nazi Germany following the success of the Crimean campaign. Officially part of Generalbezirk Krym-Taurien, an administrative division of Reichskommissariat Ukraine, Crimea proper never actually became part of the Generalbezirk, and was instead subordinate to a military administration. This administration was first headed by Erich von Manstein in his capacity as commander of the 11th Army and then by Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist as commander of Army Group A.
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic 
