Kuban People's Republic

Coordinates: 45°02′N 38°58′E / 45.033°N 38.967°E / 45.033; 38.967
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with the Republic of Cuba.
Kuban People's Republic
Кубанская Народная Республика (Russian)
Кубанська Народна Республiка (Ukrainian)
1918–1920
Coat of arms of Kuban
Coat of arms
Anthem: 
Yekaterinodar
Common languagesRussian
Ukrainian
GovernmentRepublic
Ataman 
• 1918–1919
Alexander Filimonov
• 1919
Nikolai Uspensky [ru]
• 1920
Nikolai Bukretov [ru]
Chairman of the Kuban Rada 
• 1917–1918
Luka Bych [ru]
• 1918–1919
Philip Sushkov
• 1919
Pavel Kurgansky
• 1919–1920
Philip Sushkov
• 1920
Vasily Ivanis [ru]
LegislatureKuban Rada
History 
• Rada formed
March 1917
• Republic proclaimed
January 28 1918
• Independencea
16 February 1918
• Evicted and dissolved
March 17 1920
Population
• 1918[1]
3,500,000
CurrencyRuble
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kuban oblast
Kuban Rada
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Today part ofRussia
  1. Proclaimed by the Kuban Rada.

The Kuban People's Republic or Kuban National Republic (

Bolshevik state during the Russian Civil War, comprising the territory of the Kuban region in Russia
.

The republic was proclaimed by the

Kuban Oblast of the Russian Empire. During its brief independence, it unsuccessfully sought union with the Ukrainian People's Republic. The Kuban People's Republic was de facto occupied by the forces of Anton Denikin
on 6 November 1919, before being fully occupied and annexed by the Soviets in the spring of 1920.

History

Background

Main article: Kuban Cossacks

During the Russian Empire, the region of the Kuban was a Cossack territory. Like many similar provinces, its demographics constituted several differences from ordinary Russian governorates (guberniyas). The western regions belonged to the descendants of the Black Sea Cossack Host from Ukraine in 1792. The southern and eastern regions were made from the Caucasus Line Cossack Host, descendants of the Don Cossacks.

The Kuban Cossacks were formed to guard the Russian borders against the Mountain peoples they fought in the

Caucasus War (1817–1864). Kuban Cossacks sent large contingents to fight alongside the Imperial Russian Army in many wars and formed the Tsar's personal bodyguard. In return for such loyalty, they lived free from taxes in a semi-independent way, with various privileges. The military nature of their lifestyle was mirrored in the administration of the region, where stanitsa settlements had much more autonomy than traditional Russian villages, electing a local Ataman (commander). The notion promoted by the government in the 19th century was that the Cossack Hosts had a special and unique bond with the Emperor
and were personally loyal to him rather than Russia.

However, during the reforms of Tsar

Kuban Oblast was heavily invested in and extensive peasant migrants from Russian, Armenian and Ukrainian provinces migrated to cultivate the land. The question of land ownership caused extensive friction between the peasants and the Cossacks, and often resulted in the latter's action to ensure its ownership. The Cossacks called the non-Cossack peoples living beside them inogorodyne ("outlanders"), a rather disparaging and insulting term.[2]

February Revolution

Following 1917's

Petrograd, the Russian Provisional Government continued fighting in the increasingly unpopular First World War. As a result, the Russian Army began to collapse. Kuban Cossack units deserted the front lines and returned home to protect their homelands from a threatened Turkish invasion
.

During the Russian Empire, the Kuban was directly administered by an appointed Ataman (Nakaznoy Ataman) directly by the Tsar, usually a skilled non-Cossack general. The notion that the Cossack Hosts were personally loyal to the emperor rather than Russia meant that with the end of the monarchy in March 1917 that many Cossacks felt that they had no more loyalty to Russia.[3] With the sovereign's abdication, the Kuban governing council, the Kuban Rada (parliament) in March 1917 proclaimed itself as the sole administration body with intentions to create a military government that would retain control of the Kuban, and on June 17 of that year proclaimed the Kuban People's Republic.

Independent Kuban National Republic

Luka Bych, the First Chairman of the Kuban People's Republic

From 30 April through 3 May 1917, a Cossack meeting took place in

Yekaterinodar. It formed a Cossack government – the Kuban Military Council – electing Mykola Riabovil
as its head.

With the

Skoropadsky government).[4]

In March 1918, after Lavr Kornilov's successful offensive, the Kuban Rada was re-established and placed itself under his authority. The Cossacks, formerly loyal to the Russian Empire, supported the White movement. Yet after the early successes of Kornilov's Volunteer Army, which rid the Kuban of the Bolsheviks, the front lines moved north into the Don territory.

This affected the importance of the Rada, and in June 1918 friction began to grow between the head of the leadership and the Cossacks. In particular, the main focal point was between the Chernomortsy and the Lineitsy. The former, disappointed with ineffective attempts of different authorities, pursued a policy of attaining full independence for the Kuban. However, the Lineitsy continued to believe in a re-created Russian state.

Russian Civil War

As the populace was already discontent with past struggles over land, the idea of a future Cossack state was unsuitable to many.

Pavlo Skoropadsky, and after its downfall, entered into a similar union with the Democratic Republic of Georgia, whilst its foreign envoys in France proclaimed independence from Russia. Some Cossacks left the government, and others defected to the Red Army.[citation needed
]

The Kuban National Republic included the

Chernomore guberniya.[citation needed] 4 December 1918 at the special session of the Council where the 2nd Constitution was proclaimed, the Kuban National Republic was renamed Kubanskiy krai. On 15 December 1918, the Kuban Cossacks elected as their field ataman Vyacheslav Naumenko, a man known to be against Cossack separatism.[5] Until has forced to resign on 15 September 1919 under the pressure from the separatists, Naumenko did his best to ensure that the Kuban Host co-operated with the Volunteer Army as the Red Army.[6]

In December 1918, the Rada sent a delegation headed by First Chairman

White Movement. None of this satisfied the Triple Entente. The Kuban People's Republic was, however, de jure recognized by the Ukrainian People's Republic, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic[7] the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus
.

Denikin, learning of this "back-stabbing" on 6 November 1919, ordered the Rada building to be surrounded, and with the help of Ataman

Wrangel and then retreated from Crimea to Turkey
.

Legacy

Both Soviet and later contemporary Russian historians viewed the decision of the Kuban People's Republic to break with the

Bolshevik
victory.

Some Ukrainian historians argue that the Kuban People's Republic was an attempt by the

Aleksander Kolchak would have acted in the same time frame in the East.[citation needed
]

Modern developments

In the summer-autumn of 1991 several Cossack republics were proclaimed on the territory of the former Kuban People's Republic:

Batalpashinska
, and the last two merged into the Cossack Upper Kuban. Of these, only the Zelenchuksko-Urupskaya Cossack Republic, which lasted six months, had actual power. The reason for the proclamation of the republics in Karachay-Cherkessia was a referendum held by Cossack activists in the summer of 1991: 64.8% of whose participants were in favour of creating autonomy. [9] [10]

See also

References and sources

References
  1. ISBN 0-313-30984-1
    .
  2. ^ Pipes, Richard Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime, New York: Vintage Books, 1993 p.19
  3. ^ Pipes, Richard Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime, New York: Vintage Books, 1993 p.19
  4. ^ "Примарний день незалежності // Українська Кубань". Archived from the original on 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
  5. ^ Kenez, Peter Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971 p. 180
  6. ^ Kenez, Peter Civil War in South Russia, 1919-1920: The Defeat of the Whites, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977 p.118
  7. ^ As stated by Khoyski, Official Azerbaijan Archives, folio.895, list.1, w. 288, pp.28-49
  8. Kubijovyč, Volodymyr (1963). Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
    . pp. 790–793.
  9. ^ Markedonov, Sergey (2008). "Де-факто государства постсоветского пространства: выборы и демократизация". The Eurasian Scientific Journal (Вестник Евразии). 2008: 76–98. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  10. ISBN 9780429968877
    . Retrieved 25 March 2022.
Sources

Further reading

  • "Kuban People's Republic" by Kirill Protopopov, in
    philatelic
    information.)

45°02′N 38°58′E / 45.033°N 38.967°E / 45.033; 38.967

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