The Collapse of Imperial Order in the Caucasus

When Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich walked through Tiflis in late March 1917, the streets were filled with red flags and the Marseillaise sung by Social Democrats. This scene symbolized the dramatic changes sweeping across the Russian Empire’s southern periphery following the February Revolution. The Caucasus Viceroyalty, established in 1844 as Russia’s imperial administration in the region, found itself in limbo as news arrived piecemeal about events in Petrograd.

The region had already been exhausted by three years of World War I fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Russia’s occupation of northern Persia and eastern Anatolia had created new power dynamics that now intersected with revolutionary fervor. Unlike during the 1905 Revolution, the 1917 upheaval occurred amid total war, with the Caucasus Front stretching from the Black Sea to Persia. Few could have predicted that within two years, both the Russian and Ottoman empires would collapse, giving birth to several short-lived republics in this mountainous borderland.

Revolution on the Front Lines

The Russian Revolution in the Caucasus was never just a “Russian” affair. Among the first to learn about the February events were soldiers – predominantly Slavic conscripts of the imperial army. Nurse Nino Djordjadze photographed crowds of soldiers in occupied Anatolia listening to officers read the Provisional Government’s manifesto on March 17, 1917.

The revolution immediately resonated beyond Russian subjects. Ottoman and Persian populations in occupied territories closely followed developments. Assyrian Bishop Eliya of Khoy wrote to Prince Lvov, head of the Provisional Government, reminding him of Assyrian suffering during the war. Persian elites, led by Prime Minister Vossug ed-Dowleh, attempted to revive the solidarity of their 1900s constitutional revolution.

Even Ottoman troops across the trenches monitored Russian revolutionary developments. Ottoman officer Vasfi Sansoyen reported unusual scenes: Russian soldiers holding meetings, with one climbing a mound to deliver a speech that earned applause. Though some Ottoman units displayed white flags, no widespread fraternization occurred as on the European fronts.

The Triple Crisis of 1917

The new Caucasian authorities faced three simultaneous challenges in 1917:

1. Economic collapse with hyperinflation and severe famine in Persia
2. Political fragmentation as the Special Transcaucasian Committee competed with proliferating Soviets
3. Military disintegration as soldiers deserted en masse to return home

General Vladimir Lebedinsky proposed reorganizing the army along ethnic lines – creating Armenian and Georgian units but excluding Muslim formations. This discriminatory policy fueled tensions, with Tatar elites protesting while Ottoman leaders like Enver Pasha began positioning themselves as protectors of Caucasus Muslims.

The Bolshevik coup in November 1917 removed what little central authority remained. Isolated Caucasus commanders signed an armistice with Ottoman General Vehib Pasha on December 18, creating only an illusion of stability as political chaos deepened.

The Brief Life of Transcaucasian Federation

Unlike Ukraine or the Baltic provinces, Caucasian leaders hesitated to declare independence in early 1918, still hoping for a federal Russian structure. They transformed the Special Committee into a Commissariat, awaiting a “central government recognized by all.” A regional parliament, the Seim, served as provisional legislature.

However, military collapse accelerated. Ethnic-based units divided the front: Armenian corps under General Nazarbekov guarded areas considered Armenian, while Georgian units under General Gabashvili protected the Black Sea coast. The absence of Muslim units became increasingly contentious as Ottoman forces watched the unraveling order with growing interest.

On February 13, 1918, Ottoman troops crossed armistice lines, exploiting the Brest-Litovsk Treaty (March 3) which returned Kars, Ardahan, and Batum to Ottoman control. The subsequent Trabzon negotiations (March 12) revealed Transcaucasia’s fatal divisions, with Ottoman diplomat Rauf Orbay skillfully exploiting tensions between Georgian Mensheviks, Armenian Dashnaks, and Azerbaijani Musavat delegates.

The Birth and Death of Republics

The Transcaucasian Federation declared independence on April 23, 1918, as leaders faced what they called the choice between “waiting for death or destroying their peoples’ lives themselves.” This fragile union lasted barely a month before national divisions tore it apart.

On May 26, Georgia became the first to declare independence, with German support. Armenia and Azerbaijan followed, each with distinct relationships to regional powers:

– Georgia leaned on German advisors and economic concessions
– Azerbaijan depended on the Ottoman “Army of Islam” under Nuri Pasha
– Armenia, having unexpectedly defeated Ottomans at Sardarabad, maintained the most independence but faced dire humanitarian crises

The three republics signed separate treaties with the Ottoman Empire on June 4, 1918, but their borders remained contested and populations mixed, setting the stage for future conflicts.

The Impossible Territorialization

The post-imperial Caucasus became a patchwork of competing territorial claims and semi-independent zones:

1. British-established neutral zones like Batum (under occupation until 1920)
2. Self-declared Muslim governments in Kars and Nakhichevan
3. Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes over Karabakh and Zangezur
4. Georgian-Armenian disputes in border regions like Borchaly

British intervention temporarily mediated some conflicts, but could not resolve fundamental tensions. As Armenian Foreign Minister Alexander Khatisian noted in December 1918, communication across Transcaucasia had become nearly impossible, with travelers facing multiple checkpoints on short journeys.

Living Between States

The new republics struggled to establish functioning administrations amid economic collapse and population displacements. Border regions became gray zones where:

– Muslim communities in Armenian territory petitioned both Yerevan and Baku
– Orthodox Old Believers formed unusual alliances with other minorities
– British-occupied Batum became a haven for White Russians and Greek refugees

Trade routes disintegrated, with landlocked Armenia particularly suffering. The port of Batum, controlled by British and later Georgian forces, became a hub for both legitimate commerce and smuggling, until Bolshevik advances forced British withdrawal in 1920.

Legacy of Fragmentation

The 1918-1920 independence period, though brief, established the basic contours of today’s South Caucasus:

1. The three Soviet republics largely retained these borders
2. Current conflicts (Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia) originated in this era
3. Post-1991 independence movements drew inspiration from this “first independence”

The period represents both a foundational moment and a cautionary tale about the challenges of state-building in ethnically mixed post-imperial spaces. As contemporary maps continue to shift, the echoes of 1918-1920 remind us how deeply today’s conflicts are rooted in the collapse of empires a century ago.