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The surrender of Ottoman Turkey on
October 30, 1918, and the subsequent end of World War I in November resulted
in evacuation of regular troops of the defeated Central Powers from the Caucasus. They were then replaced by some British
forces that occupied the districts of Baku and
Batum (Batumi),
and stayed there for most of the brief
period of Transcaucasian independence. The major European powers recognized
the Transcaucasian republics of Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
According to the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference, Turkey had to surrender all of
its previous territorial claims. Moreover, seven eastern provinces (former
Turkish Armenia and Paryadria) were to be ceded to the Armenian Republic.
Meanwhile in North Caucasia, all
Antibolshevik forces were reorganized into "The Military Forces of Southern Russia" under the leadership of
General Anton Denikin. In January-May 1919 they undertook a new offensive
against the Bolsheviks, and in spite of obstinate resistance of the
newly-formed Red Army, vast territories in Southern
Russia were put under Antibolshevik control by early autumn,
1919.
Because of temporary crisis
situations in Russia and Turkey, both of which unable to satisfy their
ambitions in the Caucasus at least during the year 1919, the new nations of
Transcaucasia had a chance to establish their statehood. However, that chance
was to varying extents missed by all three republics. Their governments
failed to drive the countries' economies out of the post-war crisis. The few
years of Georgian and Azerbaijani independence were economically very hard,
while the situation in Armenia
was absolutely disastrous, mainly due to its geographic and political
isolation. On the other hand, the period of nation-building in Transcaucasia was marked by numerous territorial
disputes, which caused both financial and ideological exhaustion of the young
nations.
The Republic
of Armenia claimed the Eastern
provinces of Turkey with
the cities of Erzerum, Van and Trabzon.
These territorial ambitions were legally satisfied by the terms of the Treaty
of Sevres on August 10, 1920, but the Armenian republic was still unable to put the
acquired lands under its control because by that time there were no Armenians
left in Eastern Turkey, and local Turkic and
Kurd population took up arms against Armenian administration. Meanwhile, the
leaders of the Georgian
Republic aimed at
establishing Greater Georgia within its historical borders, ignoring the fact
that the ethnic makeup of the area had changed drastically compared to the
13th and even 18th century. In Early 1919 Georgia
took control over all former Tiflis and Kutais provinces, as well as over the
Northern part of Kars
Territory. These lands
included 4 districts (Ahalkalaki, Borchalo, Ardaghan and Olti) inhabited by
Armenian majority and claimed by the Republic of Armenia.
The conflict ended in several border clashes and permanent transportation
problems between the two states. During the whole period of the civil war in Russia, Georgia was involved in several
conflicts with Russian Antibolshevik South, both over disputed territories
and over Georgian moral and military support for separatist Kuban Cossacks
and the Confederation of Mountaineers.
Mutual territorial claims of Armenia and Azerbaijan caused a brutal and
confusing war between the two nations. Guerrilla and Semi-Guerrilla
operations accompanied by periodical massacre of civilians in the disputed
districts of Kazakh-Shamshadin, Nakhichevan, Zanghezur and Karabakh, began in
October 1918 and finally ended only in 1922.
By
February 1920 The Military Forces of Southern Russia, weakened by their
uncertain goals, Cossack separatism and insufficient Allied support, were
defeated by the more substantial Red Army, and the Bolshevik government of
Russia gradually reasserted its control over North Caucasia. In March fell
the last strongholds of the White Army on the North-Caucasian Black Sea
coast. At the same time the main forces of the Confederation of Mountaineers
surrendered in Dagestan, and the Soviet
Republic of North Caucasus was proclaimed. The leaders of Russian Bolshevism
were prepared to attack Transcaucasia
carrying out their doctrine of The World Revolution.
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