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| Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASSR of theRussian SFSR | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1921–1924 | |||||||||||||||||||
.png) Possible flag (reconstruction) | |||||||||||||||||||
 Soviet Caucasus as of 1922 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Vladikavkaz | ||||||||||||||||||
| • Type | Socialist republic | ||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||||||||||||
• Incorporation intoRSFSR | 20 January 1921 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Annexation | 7 July 1924 | ||||||||||||||||||
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TheMountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian:Горская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика,romanized: Gorskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika;Chechen:Лаьмнийн Автономин Советийн Социалистийн Республика,romanized: Lämniyn Avtonomin Sovetiyn Socialistiyn Respublika) orMountain ASSR (Russian:Го́рская АССР,romanized: Górskaya ASSR) was a short-livedautonomous republic within theRussian SFSR in theNorthern Caucasus that existed from 20 January 1921 to 7 July 1924.TheMountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was created from parts of theKuban andTerek Oblasts by the indigenous nationalities after theRussian Revolution; however, Soviet rule was installed on this territory after theRed Army conquered the Northern Caucasus in the course of theRussian Civil War, and the former republic was transformed into a Soviet one. The area of the republic was over 73,000 square kilometres (28,000 sq mi), and the population was about 800,000. It comprised sixokrugs:Balkar,Chechen,Kabardian,Karachay,Nazran (Ingushetia), andVladikavkaz Okrug (Ossetia)[1][2] and had two cities:Grozny andVladikavkaz. In addition, a special autonomy was provided to theTerek Cossacks:Sunzha Cossack Okrug, which included a large enclave in Northern Ingushetia, and a smaller one bordering Grozny. Its boundaries approximated those of classicalZyx.
The ASSR did not exist in its original state very long. Already on 1 September 1921, Kabardin Okrug was split from the ASSR as separateKabardin Autonomous Oblast, subordinated directly to the RSFSR. Next came Karachay Okrug, which was transformed intoKarachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast on 12 January 1922; Balkar Okrug, which was merged with Kabardin AO intoKabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast on 16 January 1922; and Chechen Okrug, which was transformed into theChechen Autonomous Oblast on 30 November 1922.
By the Decree of theSupreme Soviet of 7 July 1924, the remaining territory of the ASSR was partitioned into theNorth Ossetian Autonomous Oblast and theIngush Autonomous Oblast. The Sunzha Cossack Okrug and the city of Vladikavkaz were directly subordinated to the VTsIK until 17 October 1924, whenNorth Caucasus Krai was formed and integrated all of the former ASSR in addition to those two units.
In the 19th century, the best land in the Region was given toCossacks,Russian andUkrainian military colonizers, while many natives were driven to the mountains. In 1920, the Soviet government decided to deport theTerek Cossacks and give their farms to the natives. A total of 34,637 individuals were deported toVladikavkaz,Arkhangelsk andDonbas. Hundreds of families were later found to be supporters of the Soviet government. In January 1921, the forced resettlement of the Cossacks was stopped, and some families returned to occupy abandoned farms, but the densely populated line of Tsarist-era military settlements was erased from the North Caucasus forever and the natives were free to occupy the fertile lands on the valley floors. In 1882, 24.7% of theIngush lived in the mountains, but by 1924 only 2.1% did.[3]
During theCold War, many Western historians saw the disintegration of the Mountaineer Republic as adivide-and-conquer strategy by theSoviet government to keep thepeoples of the Caucasus weak and subjugated to Moscow. The Soviet archives that became public in the 1990s have shown this not to be the case. The disintegration of the republic started in March 1921, just two months after its creation, when the leaders ofKabarda expressed their discontent at having been made part of the republic and cited the absence of economic links between the Kabards and other Mountaineer peoples. From April to June 1921, Kabarda held a congress at which 140 delegates, only 28 of theBolsheviks, had overwhelmingly voted not just to become an autonomous oblast, but to also demand autonomous republic status.Joseph Stalin had to talk the leader of the Kabards,Betal Kalmykov, out of applying for afull union republic status.[4]
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