Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus

Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus
← 1917–1920 →
Flag
Capital	Temir-Khan-Shura
Language(s)	Russian, Chechen, Ingush, Ossetic, Kabardian, Balkar, Dagestani languages
Government	Republic
Historical era	Interwar period
- Independence	March 1917
- Incorporated by the Russian SFSR	June 1920
Currency	Ruble

The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC; also known as the Mountain Republic or the Republic of the Mountaineers) (1917–1920) was a short-lived state situated in the Northern Caucasus. It included most of the territory of the former Terek Oblast and Dagestan Oblast of the Russian Empire,^{[citation needed]} which now form the republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan and part of Stavropol Krai of the Russian Federation.^{[citation needed]}

The total land area of the MRNC was about 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 sq mi)^{[citation needed]}, with a population of about 1 million.^{[citation needed]} Its capital was initially at Vladikavkaz, then Nazran,^{[citation needed]} and finally Temir-Khan-Shura.

History

Leaders of the MRNC with prime minister Tapa Tchermoeff front row centre.

The "Union of the Peoples of the Northern Caucasus" was created in March 1917, and an Executive Committee of the Union was elected. The Chairman of the Executive Committee was one of the leaders of the National‐Liberation movement of the Peoples of the Northern Caucasus, Tapa Tchermoeff. The "Nizam" of Imam Shamil (the Constitution of Shamil of 1847) was adopted on 5 August 1917 by the "Central Committee of the Northern Caucasus". The republic was officially established on 11 May 1918,^{[citation needed]} after the collapse of the Russian Tsarist empire in the Russian revolution of 1917,^{[citation needed]} when the Government of the MRNC was established.

The main founders of the MRNC included^{[citation needed]} Said Shamil (grandson of Imam Shamil, who in 1924 would become a founder and leader of the "Committee of Independence of the Caucasus" in Germany), Prime Minister Tapa Tchermoeff, Sheikh Ali-Khaji Akusha and Haidar Bamat. The Republic's capital was Temir-Khan-Shura.

The Mountainous Republic was de jure recognized by the Ottoman Empire, Germany, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Democratic Republic of Georgia and the Kuban People's Republic.^{[citation needed]}

General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army and regional Armed forces after Armistice of Mudros

During the Russian Civil War, the Mountaineers were engaged in fierce clashes against the invading White troops of General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army. The fighting ended in January 1920,^{[citation needed]} when Denikin's army was completely defeated by the XI Red Army. The advancing Red Army was at first greeted with red flags in the villages of the Northern Caucasus, but the promises of autonomous rule made by the Bolsheviks went unrealized.^{[citation needed]}

In June 1920, the MRNC was occupied by the Red Army of Bolshevik Russia^{[citation needed]} and the Government of the republic was forced to leave the Caucasus.^{[citation needed]} In January 1921 the Soviet Mountain Republic of the Russian SFSR was established.

See also

• Caucasian Imamate
• North Caucasian Soviet Republic
• Prometheism

References

• J. "Obedinennyi Kavkaz" ("Vereinigtes Kaukasien"), No: 1–3 (30–32), München, 1954 (Russian)
• Levan Z. Urushadze, About the history of the question of unity of the Caucasian Peoples. J. "Amirani", XIII, Montreal‐Tbilisi, 2005, pp. 72–87 (in Georgian, English summary)
• Baddeley, J. F., 1908, The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus, Longmans, Green, and Co., London
• Henrey, Mrs Robert, 1954, Madeleine Grown Up, J. M. Dent & Sons, London
• Caucasian Republic Mission to the Peace Conference Appeal for Help, Friday 4 April 1919, The Morning Post, London.
• Tapa Tchermoeff's Obituary The Times written by Elti Temihan
• Storozhenko (Ed.), 1995, Ingushetia and Chechen Republic Map, Northern Caucasian Aerogeodesic Company of Roskartografia, Russia.
• Kathleen R. Jackson, Marat Fidarov, Essays on the History of the North Caucasus (New York, HHN Media, 2009)

External links

• Colorado College paper

Coordinates: 42°49′N 47°07′E / 42.817°N 47.117°E / 42.817; 47.117