Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus | |||||||||||
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Capital | Terek-kale (now Vladikavkaz) | ||||||||||
Religion | Sunni Islam (majority and state-backed faith) Russian Orthodox Church (minority) | ||||||||||
Demonym(s) | North Caucasian | ||||||||||
Government | Confederated parliamentary republic under a provisional government | ||||||||||
• 11 May 1918 – December 1918 | Tapa Tchermoeff | ||||||||||
• December 1918 – 12 May 1919 | Pshemakho Kotsev | ||||||||||
Establishment | |||||||||||
6 March 1917 | |||||||||||
• Independence declared | 11 May 1918 | ||||||||||
• Replaced by Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic | 30 November 1922 | ||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||
• Total | 430,874 km2 (166,361 sq mi) | ||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||
• 1919 census | 11,221,860 [6] | ||||||||||
Currency | Tumen | ||||||||||
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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 1917 to 1922. It formed as a consolidation of various Caucasian ethnic groups, including the Abkhazians, 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 430,874 square kilometers (166,361 sq mi), 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. Soviet Russian forces captured the state in 1921, and transformed it into the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. [7]
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. [8] [9] [10]
The Cabinet of Ministers of the Mountain Republic comprised representatives from nearly all regions of the North Caucasus.[ citation needed ]
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.[ citation needed ]
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. [11] The capital was initially Vladikavkaz but was later relocated to Temir-Khan-Shura after being occupied by the Red Army. [11] [12] 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. [12]
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. [12] 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. [13]
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. [13]
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).
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. [14]
Imam Shamil was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim shaykh of the Naqshbandi Sufis.
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a mountainous region in Eastern Europe, governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which forms the natural border between Europe and West Asia. It is 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.
Kumyks are a Turkic people, living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.
Dagestan, officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Federal District. The republic is the southernmost tip of Russia, sharing land borders with the countries of Azerbaijan and Georgia to the south and southwest, the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia to the west and north, and with Stavropol Krai to the northwest. Makhachkala is the republic's capital and largest city; other major cities are Derbent, Kizlyar, Izberbash, Kaspiysk, and Buynaksk.
Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country of Georgia to its south; and borders the Russian republics of North Ossetia–Alania to its west and north and Chechnya to its east and northeast.
Ingush, historically known as Durdzuks, Gligvi and Kists, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group mainly inhabiting Ingushetia in central Caucasus, but also inhabitanting Prigorodny District and town of Vladikavkaz of modern day North-Ossetia. The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language.
Kumyk is a Turkic language spoken by about 426,212 people, mainly by the Kumyks, in the Dagestan, North Ossetia and Chechen republics of the Russian Federation. Until the 20th century Kumyk was the lingua-franca of the Northern Caucasus.
Tapa Bey Ortsu Tchermoev was a North Caucasian statesman of Chechen origin, general, oil magnate and the first prime minister of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. He was in office from 11 May 1918 until December 1918. His official title was General Tchermoeff, Prime Minister of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus.
The Shamkhalate of Tarki, or Tarki Shamkhalate was a Kumyk state in the eastern part of the North Caucasus, with its capital in the ancient town of Tarki. It formed on the territory populated by Kumyks and included territories corresponding to modern Dagestan and adjacent regions. After subjugation by the Russian Empire, the Shamkhalate's lands were split between the Empire's feudal domain with the same name extending from the river Sulak to the southern borders of Dagestan, between Kumyk possessions of the Russian Empire and other administrative units.
Historically, Dagestan consisted of a federation of mountainous principalities in the eastern part of the North Caucasus. Located at the crossroads of world civilizations of north and south, Dagestan was the scene of clashes of interests of many states and until the early 19th century most notably that of between Persian Empire (Iran) and Imperial Russia.
Simsim was either a historical region or kingdom in the North Caucasus during the Middle Ages, existing in the 14th century. Predominantly localized roughly in Eastern Chechnya (Ichkeria), with some also connecting part of Kumyk Plain. Simsim is also localized in both Chechnya and Ingushetia. Its name may have been derived from the Chechen village of Simsir. However, according to folklore the King Gayur-khan was chosen as the leader of all Chechens by the Mehk-Khel. In its later years it allied itself with the Golden Horde before being destroyed in 1395 by Timurlane, which was recorded in Zafarnama by Nizam al-Din Shami and the Zafarnama by Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi.
Kumykia, or rarely called Kumykistan, is a historical and geographical region located along the Caspian Sea shores, on the Kumyk plateau, in the foothills of Dagestan and along the river Terek. The term Kumykia encompasses territories which are historically and currently populated by the Turkic-speaking Kumyk people. Kumykia was the main "granary of Dagestan". The important trade routes, such as one of the branches of the Great Silk Road, passed via Kumykia.
Ibrahim Bey Gaydarov or İbrahim Gaydar Bey was a travel engineer, noble, nationalist activist and one of the Northern Caucasian intellectuals. In 1918–1919 he served as Minister of Transport, Post and Telegraph in the Mountainous Republic. In 1919 he participated in the Versailles Peace Conference in France.
Pshemakho Tamashevich Kotsev, was a North Caucasian writer, activist and second leader of the government of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus of Circassian descent, being one of the most prominent political figures in the North Caucasus in 1917–1920.
Circassians is a broad ethnonym of the Turkic origin, which in Russia, Turkey and Persia used to be, and in the case of Turkey is now, applied to peoples of different ethnicities living on the North Eastern and Eastern shores of the Black Sea, and in the Northern Caucasus.
The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, an unrecognized state created during the Russian Civil War that existed from 1917 to 1922, used two flags as its symbols. One of them consisted of seven green and white stripes and a blue canton with seven yellow stars, in its top left corner. The other featured a green canton with a yellow or white crescent and seven stars, placed in the top left corner, on the red background.
The Nazranians were a historical Ingush ethnoterritorial subethnic group (society) which inhabited modern day Nazranovsky District and Prigorodny District.
Nuh-bey Tarkovsky was a descendant of the Kumyk shamkhals, participant of the World War I, military dictator of Dagestan and minister of war of the Mountain Republic.
Tashaw-Hadji was one of the prominent leaders of the North Caucasian resistance during the Caucasian War, a companion of imam Shamil. He was the imam of Chechnya since 1834. Upon the death of Gazi-Muhammad, he was one of the major candidates at the elections of the Imam of Dagestan, losing to Shamil by one vote only. Later, he became one of the mudirs of Imam Shamil. He was also the governor (naib) of Aukh.
Pan-Caucasianism is a political current supporting the cooperation and integration of some or all peoples of the Caucasus. Pan-Caucasianism has been hindered by the ethnic, religious and cultural diversity of the Caucasus, and frequent regional conflicts. Historically popular during the Russian Civil War, pan-Caucasianism has formed a part of the foreign policy of Georgia and Chechen militants since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.