North Caucasian Soviet Republic

Origins

In July 1918 the Bolsheviks merged the Kuban-Black Sea Soviet Republic with the Terek Soviet Republic and the Stavropol Soviet Republic, creating the North Caucasian Soviet Republic as part of the Russian SFSR. Its first capital was Yekaterinodar. The merger was meant to unite Red forces in the south against the advancing White armies and hostile Cossacks.

Rule and society

The republic was governed by a central executive committee and fought the Volunteer Army of Denikin, which took Yekaterinodar in August 1918 and forced the government to move to Pyatigorsk. Its large Red Army forces suffered from poor discipline and quarrels between party leaders and commanders, culminating in the commander Ivan Sorokin's arrest and execution of the republic's leaders in October 1918.

Decline and legacy

Sorokin was himself killed, and by the end of 1918 the Whites had crushed the republic's army; it was abolished in December 1918. Its remnants retreated towards Astrakhan, and Soviet rule returned to the North Caucasus only in 1920.