Don Republic

Origins

After Ataman Alexey Kaledin shot himself in February 1918 as Bolsheviks overran the Don, a Cossack uprising in spring drove them out. In May 1918 a Cossack assembly in Novocherkassk elected General Pyotr Krasnov ataman and proclaimed the independent Almighty Don Host, heir to the Don Cossack Host.

Rule and society

Krasnov allied with Germany, from which he obtained weapons, and organised a sizeable Don army that besieged Tsaritsyn in 1918. The republic had a constitution, its own currency and a government based on Cossack institutions. After Germany's defeat Krasnov resigned in February 1919, and under Ataman Afrikan Bogaevsky the Don joined Denikin's Armed Forces of South Russia.

Decline and legacy

The White advance on Moscow failed in 1919. The Red Army captured Novocherkassk in January 1920, and the Don was absorbed into the Russian SFSR. The Bolsheviks' policy of decossackisation brought executions and deportations.