Azerbaijan Democratic Republic 2409969 210786351 2008-05-07T12:04:15Z SmackBot 433328 Date the maintenance tags or general fixes {{Infobox Former Country |native_name = Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti |conventional_long_name = Azerbaijan Democratic Republic |common_name = Azerbaijan |continent = Europe |region = Caucasus |country = Azerbaijan |government_type = Republic |era = Interwar period |year_start = 1918 |year_end = 1920 |date_start = 28 May |date_end = 28 April |event_start = Independence |event_end = Soviet invasion |p1 = Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic |flag_p1 = Flag of the Transcaucasian Federation.svg |p2=Centrocaspian Dictatorship |flag_p2 = Flag of the Centrocaspian Dictatorship.svg |s1 = Transcaucasian SFSR |flag_s1 = Flag of Transcaucasian SFSR.svg |image_coat = Coat of arms of Azerbaijan.svg |image_flag = Flag of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan.svg |image_map = AzerbaijanDemocraticRepublicMap.png |image_map_caption = Map of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from 1919 to 1920. Consult the legend for further information. |national_motto = ''Bir kere yukselen bayraq, bir daha enmez!''<br>The flag once raised will never fall! |national_anthem = ''[[Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Himni]]''<br>March of Azerbaijan | |capital = [[Baku]] ([[Ganja (city)|Ganja]] until September 1918) | |common_languages = [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]] |currency = [[Azerbaijani manat]] | |title_leader = [[Prime Minister of Azerbaijan|Prime Minister]] |leader1 = Fatali Khan Khoyski |leader2 = Nasibbey Usubbeyov | |title_deputy = [[Speaker (politics)|Speaker]] |deputy1 = Mammed Amin Rasulzade |deputy2 = Alimardan Topchubashev |stat_pop1 = c. 3,000,000 + |stat_year1 = 1918 }} The '''Azerbaijan Democratic Republic''' ('''ADR'''; {{lang-az|Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti}}) was the first [[democratic]] and [[secular]] [[republic]] in the [[Muslim world]] (pre-dating the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]]). The ADR was founded on [[May 28]] [[1918]] after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by [[Azerbaijani National Council]] in [[Tiflis]]<ref name="kazemzadeh124">{{cite book | last = Kazemzadeh | first = Firuz | title = The Struggle for Transcaucasia: 1917-1921 | publisher = The New York Philosophical Library | date= 1951 | location = | pages = 124 | isbn = }}</ref>. Its established borders were with [[Russia]] in the north, [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] in the north-west, [[Democratic Republic of Armenia]] in the west, and [[Persian Empire]] in the south. It had a total land area of roughly 120,000 km², and a population of 6 million. [[Ganja (city)|Ganja]] was the temporary capital of the Republic as [[Baku]] was under [[Bolshevik]] control. Under the ADR, a government system was developed in which a Parliament elected on the basis of universal, free, and proportionate representation, was the supreme organ of state authority and Council of Ministers held responsible before it. [[Fatali Khan Khoyski]] became its first prime-minister <ref name="chesnais">La Chesnais, P.G. ''Les peuples de la Transcaucasie pendant la guerre et devant la paix'', Paris, 1921, pp. 108-110.</ref>. Besides the Azerbaijani nationalist [[Musavat|Musavat party]] majority, [[Ehrar]], [[Ittihad]], [[Muslim Social Democratic Party|Muslim Social-democrats]] as well as representatives of [[Armenians|Armenian]] (21 out of 120 seats <ref name="kazemzadeh222">Kazemzadeh, Firuz, ''open citation'', p. 222.</ref>), [[Russians|Russian]], [[Poles|Polish]], [[Jewish]] and [[Germans|German]] minorities<ref>[http://www.cac-biodiversity.org/aze/aze_history.htm Azerbaijan:History<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. Some members supported Pan-Islamist and Pan-Turkist ideas<ref>[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/az%7Dmus.html Musavat Party (Azerbaijan)]<br>Pan-Turkism: From Irrendentism to Coopersation by Jacob M. Landau P.55<br>On the Religious Frontier: Tsarist Russia and Islam in the Caucasus by Firouzeh Mostashari P. 144<br>''Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires'' by Aviel Roshwald, page 100<br>Disaster and Development: The politics of Humanitarian Aid by Neil Middleton and Phil O'keefe P. 132<br>The Armenian-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications by Michael P. Croissant P. 14</ref>. Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making [[Azerbaijan]] the first Muslim state in the world to give women equal political rights with men <ref name="kazemzadeh222" />. In this accomplishment, Azerbaijan preceded even such developed countries as the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]]. Another important accomplishment of ADR was the establishment of [[Baku State University]], which was the first modern-type university founded in Azerbaijan. == Etymology and usage == {{main|History of the name Azerbaijan}} {{see also|List of geographic names of Iranian origin|Arran (Republic of Azerbaijan)|Caucasian Albania}} The name of Azerbaijan derives from ''[[Atropates]]'', a [[Achaemenid|Persian]] satrap of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander of Macedonia]] in 328 B.C.E.<ref>{{cite book | last = Alstadt | first = Audrey | title = The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule | publisher =Hoover Press | date= 1992 | location = | pages = 2 | isbn =0817991824}}</ref>, who ruled over the region of present-day [[Iranian Azerbaijan]]. The original etymology of the name is thought to have its roots in ancient [[Zoroastrianism]], namely, in [[Avesta]]n Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels"), there is a mentioning of: ''âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide'', which literally translates from [[Old Persian]] as ''"we worship the Fravashi of the holy Atare-pata"''<ref>[http://www.avesta.org/ka/yt13sbe.htm Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels") -- translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898)]</ref>. The territory of present-day [[Republic of Azerbaijan]] roughly corresponded to the ancient state of [[Caucasian Albania]]<ref>Minorsky, V. "Caucasica IV", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London'', Vol. 15, No. 3. (1953), p. 504</ref>. ==Establishment 1917-1918== After the February Revolution like many ethnic minorities of Transcaucasia, Azeris aimed at seccession from Russia. In the provinces and districts where Azeris constituted considerable population local [[Muslim National Councils]] (MNC) were formed. The October Revolution brought the separation of South Caucasus, which dispossessed Tsar [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] of the Russian crown, the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus was abolished by the [[Russian Provisional Government]] on [[March 18]] [[1917]], and all authority, except in the zone of the active army, was entrusted to the civil administrative body called the [[Special Transcaucasian Committee]] or ''Ozakom'' (short for ''Osobyi Zakavkazskii Komitet'', Особый Закавказский Комитет). On March 27, 1917 delegates of MNCs gathered and elected a central committee Mammad Hasan Hajinski, Mammed Amin Rasulzade, Alimardan Topchubashev, Fatali Khan Khoyski, and other founders of the future Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The [[March Days|31 March–2 April massacres]] took place in Baku and Tbilisi became the headquarters of the [[Azerbaijani National Movement]]. After the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic fell on [[26 May]], [[1918]] and its bodies were dissolved, the Azerbaijani faction of the was renamed to Azerbaijani National Council (NC). It immediately undertook parliamentary functions and proclaimed the foundation of Azerbaijani Democratic Republic on [[28 May]], [[1918]]. The Council met with resistance of ultra-nationalists who accused it of being too left-wing. The Council was completely abolished after the opening of the Parliament on [[7 December]], [[1918]]. == Policy == {{History of Azerbaijan}} Despite existing for only two short years, the multi party Azerbaijani Parliamentary republic and the coalition governments managed to achieve a number of measures on national and state building, education, creation of an army, independent financial and economic systems, international recognition of the ADR as a de facto state pending de jure recognition, official recognitions and diplomatic relations with a number of states, preparing of a Constitution, equal rights for all, etc. This has laid an important foundation for the re-establishment of independence in 1991. === Domestic === Political life in ADR was dominated by [[Musavat]] Party, the local winner of the [[Constituent Assembly]] elections of 1917. First parliament of the republic opened on December 5, 1918. Musavat had 38 of its members in the parliament that consisted of 125 deputies, and with the some independent MPs formed the biggest faction. The republic was governed by five cabinets, all formed by a coalition of the Musavat and other parties including [[Muslim Socialist Bloc]], the Independents, [[Ehrar]], the [[Muslim Social Democratic Party]]. Conservative [[Ittihad]] party was the major opposition force and didn't participate in the cabinet formations, except its member was State [[Inspector General]] in the last Cabinet. The premier in the first three cabinets was [[Fatali Khan Khoyski]]; in the last two, [[Nasibbek Usubbekov]]. The formation of the next cabinet was assigned to [[Mammed Hasan Hajinski]], but he was unable to form it, due to lack of time and majority backing in the parliament, and also [[Bolshevik]] invasion. The Chairman of the Parliament, [[Alimardan Topchubashev]], was recognized as the head of state. In this capacity he represented Azerbaijan at the Versailles Paris Peace Conference in 1919. == Foreign relations == Between 1918 and 1920, the Republic of Azerbaijan had diplomatic relations with a number of states. Agreements on the principles of mutual relations were signed with some of them; sixteen states established their missions in Baku <ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.az/eng/armenian_aggresion/legal/index.shtml Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan].</ref>. The ADR government always remained [[Neutral country|neutral]] on the issue of [[Russian Civil War]] and never sided with the [[Red Army|Red]] or [[White movement|White Army]]. ==== Recognition by Allies ==== The Azerbaijani delegation attended the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919]]. Upon its arrival in Paris, the Azerbaijani delegation addressed a note to [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]], making the following requests: ::1. That the independence of Azerbaijan be recognized, ::2. That Wilsonian principles be applied to Azerbaijan, ::3. That the Azerbaijani delegation be admitted to the Paris Peace Conference, ::4. That Azerbaijan be admitted to the League of Nations, ::5. That the United States War Department extend military help to Azerbaijan, and ::6. That diplomatic relations be established between the United States of America and the Republic of Azerbaijan <ref>''Bulletin d'Information de l'Azerbaidjan'', No. I, September 1, 1919, pp. 6-7</ref>. President Wilson granted the Azerbaijani delegation an audience, at which he displayed a cold and rather unsympathetic attitude. As the Azerbaijani delegation reported to its Government, Wilson had stated that the Conference did not want to partition the world into small pieces. Wilson advised the Azerbaijanis that it would be better for them to develop a spirit of confederation, and that such a confederation of all peoples of Transcaucasia could receive the protection of some Power on the basis of a mandate granted by the League of Nations. The Azerbaijani question, Wilson concluded, could not be solved prior to the general settlement of the Russian question <ref>''Report of the Delegation'', No. 7, June, 1919, Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dossier No. 3, p. 7, as cited in Raevskii, ''Английская интервенция и Мусаватское правительство'', p. 53</ref> However, despite Wilson's attitude, on January 12, 1920, the [[Allied Supreme Council]] extended ''de facto'' recognition to Azerbaijan, along with Georgia, and ahead of Armenia.<ref>Prof. Avtandil Menteshashvili, "From the history of relations of Georgian democratic Republic with Soviet Russia and Entente". 1918-1921. Tbilisi State University: October 1989.</ref> ''Bulletin d'information de l'Azerbaidjan'' wrote: "The Supreme Council at one of its last sessions recognized the ''de facto'' independence of the Caucasian Republics: Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. The delegation of Azerbaijan and Georgia had been notified of this decision by M. Jules Cambon at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 15th January, 1920" <ref>''Bulletin d'information de l'Azerbaidjan'', No. 7, January, 1920, p. 1</ref>. Furthermore, in the House of Commons the [British] Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, [[Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood|Mr. Greenwood]], was asked on what date recognition had been extended to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, and whether "in accordance with such recognition, official representatives have been exchanged, and the boundaries of the Transcaucasian Republics defined" <ref>Firuz Kazemzadeh. ''Struggle For Transcaucasia (1917-1921)'', New York Philosophical Library, 1951, p. 269</ref>, Mr. Greenwood replied: {{quote|"Instructions were sent to the British Chief Commissioner for the Georgian and Azerbaijani Governments that the Allied Powers represented on the Supreme Council had decided to grant ''de facto'' recognition of Georgia and Azerbaijan, but that this decision did not prejudge the question of the respective boundaries... There has been no change in representation as a result of recognition; as before, His Majesty's Government have a British Chief Commissioner for the Caucasus with Headquarters at Tiflis, and the three Republics have their accredited representatives in London..." <ref>''125 H.C.Debs.'', 58., February 24, 1920, p. 1467.</ref>}} The Allies recognized the Transcaucasian Republics partly because of their fear of Bolshevism, but their activities directed against Bolshevism, at least in Transcaucasia, did not go much beyond words, the strongest of which were ''status quo'', recognition, ''demarche'', and a list of standard diplomatic remonstrances. <ref>Firuz Kazemzadeh. ''Struggle For Transcaucasia (1917-1921)'', New York Philosophical Library, 1951, p. 270.</ref> ==== League of Nations ==== Due to occupation and cessation of the existence of ADR on 27-28 April 1920, the application for ''de jure'' recognition and membership in the [[League of Nations]], made on 1 November 1920, was turned down on 24 November 1920 {{Fact|date=February 2007}}. ==== Persia ==== The decision to use [[History of the name Azerbaijan|the name Azerbaijan]], drew some protests from Iran. According to Tadeusz Swietochowski<ref>Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. pg 69</ref>: {{quote|Although the proclamation restricted its claim to the territory north of the Araxes, the use of the name Azerbaijan would soon bring objections from Iran. In Teheran, suspicions were aroused that the Republic of Azerbaijan served as an Ottoman device for detaching the Tabriz province from Iran. Likewise, the national revolutionary Jangali movement in Gilan, while welcoming the independence of every Muslim land as a "source of joy," asked in its newspaper if the choice of the name Azerbaijan implied the new republic's desire to join Iran. If so, they said, it should be stated clearly, otherwise Iranians would be opposed to calling that republic Azerbaijan. Consequently, to allay Iranian fears, the Azerbaijani government would accommodatingly use the term Caucasian Azerbaijan in its documents for circulation abroad.}} On 16th of July, 1919, the Council of Ministers [of ADR] appointed Adil Khan Ziatkhan, who had up to that time served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic representative of Azerbaijan to the court of the Persian King of Kings <ref>"Внешняя политика контрреволюционных правительств в начале 1919-го года", ''Красный Архив'', No. 6 (37), 1929, p. 94.</ref>. A Persian delegation headed by Seyed Ziaed-Din Tabatai came to Baku, to negotiate transit, tarriff, mail, customs, and other such agreements. Speeches were made in which the common bonds between Caucasian Azerbaijan and Iran were stressed <ref>Kazemzadeh, Firuz. ''open citation'', p. 229.</ref>. ==Territorial disputes== Much like its other counterparts in the [[Caucasus]], the ADR's early years of existence were plagued with territorial disputes. In particular, these included disputes with the [[Democratic Republic of Armenia]] ([[Nakhchivan]], [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], Zangezur (today the Armenian province of [[Syunik]]), and [[Qazakh]]) and the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] ([[Balakan]], [[Zaqatala (rayon)|Zaqatala]], and [[Qakh]]). The ADR also claimed territories of the [[Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus]] ([[Derbent]]), but they were not as persistent about these claims as they were about the territories they disputed between Armenia and Georgia. ===Armenian-Azerbaijani war=== {{main|Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1918 - 1920)}} The city of [[Baku]] became the capital of the ADR only in September, 1918 (until that time the Azeri National Government was first in [[Tblisi]], then in [[Ganja (city)|Ganja]]); previously, the city was in many different hands. Following the [[October Revolution]], a government of the local [[Soviet]] was established in Baku: the so-called Baku Commune (November 1917 - 31 July 1918). The Commune was formed by 85 [[Social Revolutionaries]] and [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries|Left Social Revolutionaries]], 48 [[Bolsheviks]], 36 [[Dashnaks]], 18 [[Musavat|Musavatists]] and 13 [[Mensheviks]]. [[Stepan Shaumyan]], a Bolshevik, and [[Prokopius Dzhaparidze]], a leftist SR, were elected Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissioners of the Commune of Baku. The Baku Soviet was at odds with emergent Transcaucasian Federation and was supportive of Bolshevik governments in most areas, except peace treaty with Ottoman Empire. Uneasy truce existed between different faction, until Treaty of Brest-Litovsk exposed weakness of the coalition. In March 1918, ethnic and religious tension grew and the Armenian-Azeri conflict in Baku began. Musavat and Ittihad parties were accused of [[Pan-Turkism]] by Bolsheviks and their allies. Armenian and Muslim militia engaged in armed confrontation, with the formally neutral Bolsheviks tacitly supporting the Armenian side. All the non-Azeri political groups of the city joined the Bolsheviks against the Muslims: Bolsheviks, [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation|Dashnaks]], Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and even the anti-bolshevik [[Kadets]] found themselves for the first time on the same side of the barricade because they were all fighting "for the Russian cause". Equating the Azeris with the Ottoman Turks, the Dashnaks launched a massacre on the city's Azeris in revenge for the [[Armenian Genocide]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name="Croissant-14">Michael P. Croissant. ''The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications'', p. 14. ISBN 0-275-96241-5</ref> <ref name="Swietochowski">Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition''. ISBN 0-231-07068-3</ref> As a result, between 3,000 and 12,000 Muslims were killed in what is known as the [[March Days]].<ref name="Transcaucasia">Firuz Kazemzadeh, Ph.D. ''The Struggle For Transcaucasia: 1917-1921''. ISBN 0-8305-0076-6</ref><ref name="Smith1">{{ru icon}} [http://www.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm Michael Smith. Azerbaijan and Russia: Society and State: Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani National Memory]</ref><ref name="hrw">[http://hrw.org/reports/1995/communal/ Human Rights Watch. “Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights”]</ref><ref name="Smith2">Michael G. Smith. Anatomy of a Rumour: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narratives of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917-20. Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr., 2001), pp. 211-240</ref> Muslims were expelled from Baku, or went underground. At the same time the Baku Commune was involved in heavy fighting with the advancing Ottoman Caucasian Army of Islam in and around Ganja. Major battles occurred in Yevlakh and Agdash, where the Turks routed and defeated Dashnak and Russian forces.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} The Bolshevik account of the events of March 1918 in Baku is presented by Victor Serge in ''Year One Of the Russian Revolution'': "The Soviet at Baku, led by Shaumyan, was meanwhile making itself the ruler of the area, discreetly but unmistakably. Following the Moslem rising of 18 March, it had to introduce a dictatorship. This rising, instigated by the Mussavat, set the Tartar and Turkish population, led by their reactionary bourgeoisie, against the Soviet, which consisted of Russians with support from the Armenians. The races began to slaughter each other in the street. Most of the Turkish port-workers (the ''ambal'') either remained neutral or supported the Reds. The contest was won by the Soviets." In the summer of 1918, the Dashnaks, together with the SRs and the Mensheviks, expelled the [[Bolsheviks]], who refused to ask for British support, and founded the [[Centro Caspian Dictatorship]] (1 August 1918 - 15 September 1918). The CCD was supported by the [[United Kingdom|British]] who sent an expeditionary force to Baku to help the Armenians and the [[Mensheviks]]. Fleeing the coup, the [[26 Baku Commissars]] of the Soviet Commune were captured by British troops in [[Turkmenistan]] and executed by a [[firing squad]]. The purpose of the British forces (led by [[Major General]] [[Lionel Dunsterville]], who arrived from [[Persian Empire|Persia]]'s [[Enzeli]] at the head of a 1,000-strong elite force) was to seize the oil fields in Baku ahead of [[Enver Pasha]]'s advancing Turkish troops ([[Army of Islam]]) or the [[Wilhelm II of Germany|Kaiser]]'s [[German peoples|German]] troops (who were in neighboring Georgia) and to block a Bolshevik consolidation in the [[Caucasus]] and [[Central Asia]]. Unable to resist advancing Turkish troops during the [[Battle of Baku]], Dunsterville ordered the evacuation of the city on [[September 14]], after six weeks of occupation, and withdrew to Iran; most of the Armenian population escaped with British forces. The Ottoman [[Army of Islam]] and its Azeri allies, led by [[Nuri Pasha]], entered Baku on [[September 15]] and slaughtered between 10,000 - 20,000 Armenians in retaliation for the March massacre of Muslims. <ref name="hrw"/> <ref name="Croissant-15">Croissant. ''Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict'', p. 15.</ref> <ref name="Swietochowski"/> The capital of the ADR was finally moved from Ganja to Baku. However, after the [[Armistice of Mudros]] between Great Britain and Turkey on October 30, Turkish troops were substituted by the [[Allies of World War I]]. Headed by British general W. Thomson, who had declared himself the military governor of Baku, 5,000 [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] soldiers arrived in Baku on [[November 17]], 1918. By General Thomson's order, [[martial law]] was implemented in Baku. ===Fight for survival=== The ADR found itself in a difficult position, hemmed in from the north by advancing [[Denikin]] forces, unfriendly Iran in the south; the British administration was not hostile but indifferent to the plight of Muslims. General Thomson initially did not recognize the Republic {{Fact|date=February 2007}} but tacitly cooperated with it. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} On [[April 25]], [[1919]], a violent protest organized by [[Talysh people|talysh]] workers of pro-Bolshevik orientation exploded in [[Lankaran]] and deposed the [[Provisional Military Dictatorship of Mughan|Mughan Territorial Administration]], a military dictatorship led by russian colonel V.T. Sukhorukov. On [[May 15]], the Extraordinary Congress of the "Councils of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies" of Lankaran district proclaimed the ''[[Mughan Soviet Republic]]''. By mid-1919 the situation in Azerbaijan had more or less stabilized, and British forces left on August 19, 1919. This made the ADR pursue a neutral policy with regards to the Russian Civil War. On [[June 16]], [[1919]], the ADR and Georgia signed a defensive treaty against the White troops of General [[Anton Denikin]]'s [[Volunteer Army]] who were threatening to start an offensive on their borders. Denikin concluded a secret military pact with Armenia. The Republic of Armenia with its forces formed the 7th corps of Denikin's army and gained military support from the White Movement. This fact increased the tension between the ADR and Armenia. However, the war never materialized as by January 1920, Denikin's army was completely defeated by the [[Soviet 11th Army|XI Red Army]], that later started to concentrate its troops on Azerbaijan's borders. Armenia and Azerbaijan were engaged in [[Armenian-Azeri war 1918|fighting over Karabakh]] for some part of 1919. The fighting increased in intensity by February 1920 and martial law was introduced in Karabakh, which was enforced by the newly formed National Army, led by general [[Samedbey Mehmandarov]]. ==Sovietization of Azerbaijan, April 1920== [[Image:Azerbaijansovietrep1920-1921.svg|right|200px|thumb|Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1920 to 1921]] By March 1920, it was obvious that Soviet Russia would attack the much-needed Baku. [[Vladimir Lenin]] said that the invasion was justified by the fact that [[Bolshevist Russia|Soviet Russia]] couldn't survive without Baku oil{{Fact|date=May 2008}}. According to prevailing opinion in Moscow, Russian [[Bolsheviks]] were to assist Baku [[proletariat]] in overthrowing the "counter-revolutionary nationalists." After major political crisis, the Fifth Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gave its resignations on [[April 1]], [[1920]]. On [[April 25]], 1920, the [[Russia]]n [[Soviet 11th Army|XI Red Army]] crossed into Azerbaijan and entered Baku on [[April 27]]. They demanded the dissolution of Azerbaijani Parliament (Majlis) and set up their own Bolshevik government headed by [[Nariman Narimanov]]. The deputies obliged to do so to avoid bloodshed, and on [[April 28]], 1920, the ADR officially ceased to exist. The Red Army met very little resistance from Azerbaijani forces in Baku, which were tied up on Karabakh front. The first [[Communist]] government of Azerbaijan consisted almost entirely of native Azerbaijanis from the left factions of ''Hummat'' and ''Adalat'' parties.<ref name="Pipes">Richard Pipes. ''The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism 1917-1923'', pp 218-220, 229 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997).</ref> In May 1920, there was a major uprising against the occupying Russian XI Army in [[Ganja (city)|Ganja]], intent on restoring [[Musavat|Musavatist]]s in power. The uprising was crushed by government troops by May 31. Leaders of the ADR either fled to [[Democratic Republic of Georgia|Menshevik Georgia]], Turkey and Iran, or were captured by Bolsheviks, like [[Mammed Amin Rasulzade]] (who was later allowed to emigrate) and executed (like Gen. Selimov, Gen. Sulkevich, Gen. Agalarov, a total of over 20 generals)<ref>[http://www.zerbaijan.com/azgenerals.htm List of Azerbaijani Generals and Admirals, Military Leaders and Heroes, May 2006]</ref>, or assassinated by Armenian militants like [[Fatali Khan Khoyski]] and Behbudagha Javanshir.<ref>[http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/73_folder/73_articles/73_parliamentfate.htm "The Fate of some of the ADR Parliament Members", Azerbaijan International (7.3) Autumn 1999]</ref> Most students and citizens travelling abroad remained in those countries never to return again to their country. Other prominent ADR military figures like the former Minister of Defense General [[Samedbey Mehmandarov]] and deputy defense minister General [[Ali-Agha Shikhlinski]] (who was called "the God of Artillery" ) were at first arrested, but then released two months later thanks to efforts of [[Nariman Narimanov]]. Gen. Mehmandarov and Gen. Shikhlinsky spent their last years teaching in the [[Azerbaijan SSR]] military school. In the end, "[t]he Azeris did not surrender their brief independence of 1918-20 quickly or easily. As many as 20,000 died resisting what was effectively a Russian reconquest." <ref> Hugh Pope, "Sons of the conquerors: the rise of the Turkic world", New York: The Overlook Press, 2006, p. 116, ISBN-10 1-58567-804-X</ref> However, it has to be noticed that the installation of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was made easier by the fact that there was a certain popular support for Bolshevik ideology in Azerbaijan, in particular among the industrial workers in Baku.<ref>[http://www.zerbaijan.com/azeri/svante_cornell.html Svante Cornell. "Undeclared War-The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Reconsidered", ''Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies'', vol. 20, no. 4, Fall 1997]</ref> ==Footnotes== {{Reflist|2}} ==See also== *[[Democratic Republic of Armenia]] *[[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] ==External links== * [http://www.argo.net.au/andre/captain_judge.htm Account of British Force in Baku] [[Category:Former countries in Europe]] [[Category:1918 establishments]] [[Category:1920 disestablishments]] [[Category:History of Azerbaijan]] [[Category:Post-Russian Empire states]] [[Category:Short-lived states|Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] {{Link FA|id}} [[az:Azərbaycan Demokratik Respublikası]] [[ca:República Democràtica de l'Azerbaidjan]] [[es:República Democrática de Azerbaiyán]] [[fa:جمهوری دمکراتیک آذربایجان]] [[ko:아제르바이잔 민주 공화국]] [[id:Republik Demokratik Azerbaijan]] [[ms:Republik Demokratik Azerbaijan]] [[nl:Democratische Republiek Azerbeidzjan]] [[ja:アゼルバイジャン民主共和国]] [[pl:Demokratyczna Republika Azerbejdżanu]] [[ro:Republica Democratică Azerbaidjan]] [[ru:Азербайджанская Демократическая Республика]] [[tr:Azerbaycan Demokratik Cumhuriyeti]]