Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Кабардино-Балкарская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian) Къэбэрдей-Балъкъэр Автоном Совет Социал Республикэ (Kabardian) Къабарты-Малкъар Автоном Совет Социалист Республика (Karachay-Balkar) | |||||||||
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1936–1991 | |||||||||
![]() Location of Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR within Russian SFSR | |||||||||
Capital | Nalchik | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Type | Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | 1936 | ||||||||
1944 | |||||||||
• Name restored | 1957 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1991 | ||||||||
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The Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union, and was originally a part of the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On 16 January 1922 the region was detached from the Mountain ASSR and the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast on 1 September 1921.[ vague ] It became an autonomous republic on 5 December 1936. On 30 January 1991, the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR declared state sovereignty. [1] It is now the Kabardino-Balkaria republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. The Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR bordered no other sovereign states during the existence of the Soviet Union.
Like the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR was shared by two nationalities. Both autonomous republics resided as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and featured Russians as the ethnic majority. [2] [ full citation needed ][ failed verification ]
The Russian, Ottoman and Persian Empires fought for the region between the 17th and 19th centuries, during which the region was under Russian control. After the October revolution, the region joined the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921, during the Russian Civil War. The territories were detached from the Mountain ASSR to the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast in 1922, and on 5 December 1936 it was renamed the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. [2] [3]
In 1944, Joseph Stalin accused the Balkars of cooperating with Nazi Germany, men of military age suspected of being collaborators were deported to internment camps in Central Asia. [3] [4] Stalin ceded the Baksan valley to the Georgian SSR. [5] "Balkar" was dropped from the state's name, which was renamed to the Kabardin ASSR. After the war's end, most of those interned were allowed to return, except those who actually were involved in anti-Soviet conspiracies. In 1957, the original name of Balkar-Kabardin ASSR was restored. [5]
The Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was located in the North Caucasus mountains. It covered an area of 12,500 km2 (4,800 sq mi).
The main rivers include the Terek River (623 km), Malka River (216 km), Baksan River (173 km), Urukh River (104 km), and Cherek River (76 km). [4]
An area of 18,740 km2 (7,240 sq mi) is covered solely by river basins. More than 100 lakes are located in the borders, although none of them has very large surface area. [4] Most of the lakes are located in the mountains, formed by glacial processes. [4] Lakes located on a plain include Tambukan Lake.
Mount Elbrus (5,642 m) is volcanic and the highest peak in the Caucasus. [3]
Other major mountains include Mount Dykhtau (5,402 m), Mount Koshkhatau (5,151 m), and Mount Shkhara (5,068 m).
Along with timber, the mining of minerals such as iron, molybdenum, gold, coal, tungsten, and lead were a main industry in the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR. [3] The region also has a great abundance of mineral water. [4]
Karachay-Cherkessia, officially the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. It is administratively part of the North Caucasian Federal District. Karachay-Cherkessia has a population of 469,865. Cherkessk is the largest city and the capital of the republic.
Nalchik is the capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, situated at an altitude of 550 meters (1,800 ft) in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about 100 kilometers (62 mi) northwest of Beslan. It covers an area of 131 square kilometers (51 sq mi). Population: 247,054 (2021 Census); 240,203 (2010 Census); 274,974 (2002 Census); 234,547 (1989 Census).
The Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic or Mountain ASSR was a short-lived autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR in the Northern Caucasus that existed from 20 January 1921, to 7 July 1924. The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was created from parts of the Kuban and Terek Oblasts by the indigenous nationalities after the Russian Revolution; however, Soviet rule was installed on this territory after the Red Army conquered the Northern Caucasus in the course of the Russian Civil War, and the former republic was transformed into a Soviet one. The area of the republic was over 73,000 square kilometres (28,000 sq mi), and the population was about 800,000. It comprised six okrugs: Balkar, Chechen, Kabardian, Karachay, Nazran (Ingushetia), and Vladikavkaz Okrug (Ossetia) and had two cities: Grozny and Vladikavkaz. In addition, a special autonomy was provided to the Terek Cossacks: Sunzha Cossack Okrug, which included a large enclave in northern Ingushetia, and a smaller one bordering Grozny. Its boundaries approximated those of classical Zyx.
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, located in Eurasia, on the division between Asia and Eastern Europe. It is entirely governed by Russia, bordered by the Sea of Azov and Black Sea to the west, the Caspian Sea to the east, and the Caucasus mountains to the south. The region shares land borders with the South Caucasus countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Krasnodar is the largest city within the North Caucasus.
An Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was a type of administrative unit in the Soviet Union (USSR), created for certain ethnic groups to be the titular nations of. The ASSRs had a status lower than the constituent union republics of the USSR, but higher than the autonomous oblasts and the autonomous okrugs.
Kabardino-Balkaria, officially the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 904,200. Its capital is Nalchik. The area contains the highest mountain in Europe, Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 m (18,510 ft). Mount Elbrus has 22 glaciers that feed three rivers — Baksan, Malka and Kuban. The mountain is covered with snow year-round.
Tyrnyauz is a town and the administrative center of Elbrussky District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, located on the main road leading to the Upper Baksan valley area and on the main climbing route for Mount Elbrus. Population: 21,000 (2010 Census). Tyrnyauz is the largest town in the Baksan Valley and an essential provisioning point for trips into the Elbrus region.
The Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Caucasus region.
The Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast was an autonomous oblast within the Kabardino-Balkaria region of the Soviet Union. The Oblast was formed in 1921 as the Kabardin Autonomous Oblast before becoming the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast on 16 January 1922. On 16 October 1924 it became part of the North Caucasus Krai, but was separated from it on 5 December 1936, elevated in status and renamed the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
The United Vilayat of Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachay, also known as Vilayat KBK, was a militant Islamist Jihadist organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia in the North Caucasus. Vilayet KBK has been a member of the Caucasus Emirate group since 2007.
The flag of Kabardino-Balkaria in the Russian Federation is a horizontal tricolour, charged with a white silhouette of Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, in the center. The colors are arranged in the order of light blue, white, and green, with the charge of Mount Elbrus following the same order.
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, previously known as the Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, as well as being unofficially referred to as Soviet Russia, the Russian Federation, or simply Russia, was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous Soviet socialist republic of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991, the last two years of the existence of the USSR. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group. The capital of the Russian SFSR and the USSR as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Gorky and Kuybyshev. It was the first socialist state in the world.
Balkar and Karachay nationalism is the national sentiment among the Balkars and Karachai. It generally manifests itself in:
The First Secretary of the Kabardino–Balkarian regional branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the position of highest authority in the Kabardino-Balkarian AO (1921–1936), Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR and the Kabardin ASSR (1944–1957) in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union. The position was created in 1921, and abolished in August 1991. The First Secretary was a de facto appointed position usually by the Politburo or the General Secretary himself.
Kabardino-Balkarski Nature Reserve is a Russian 'zapovednik' on main ridge of the north Caucasus Mountains. It contains all of the mountains in Europe over 5,000 meters besides Mt. Elbrus and Mt. Kazbek, and contains the most glaciers. The ridge at the reserve forms the famous "Bezengi wall" consisting of the peaks Gestola, Katyn-Tau, Janga, Eastern Jangi-Tau and Shkhara. There are 256 glaciers in the reserve's boundaries. The reserve is situated in the Chereksky District of Kabardino-Balkar Republic; it was created in 1976, and covers an area of 82,507 ha (318.56 sq mi).
The Deportation of the Balkars was the expulsion by the Soviet government of the entire Balkar population of the North Caucasus to Central Asia on March 8, 1944, during World War II. The expulsion was ordered by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria after approval by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. All the 37,713 Balkars of the Caucasus were deported from their homeland in one day. The crime was a part of a Soviet forced settlement program and population transfer that affected several million members of non-Russian Soviet ethnic minorities between the 1930s and the 1950s. Officially the deportation was a response to the Balkars' supposed collaboration with occupying German forces. Later, in 1989, the Soviet government declared the deportation illegal.
The national emblem of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted in 1937 by the government of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem is identical to the emblem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
The flag of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted in 1957 by the government of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The flag is identical to the flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
Khachim Mukhamedovich Karmokov is a Russian politician who served as a senator from Kabardino-Balkaria from 2001 to 2009.