Crimea during the Russian Civil War

Crimea in the five years after the Russian Revolution had a large number of governments culminating in being a stronghold of anti-Communist forces and the place on Russian soil where they made their last stand.

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the military and political situation in Crimea was chaotic like that in much of Russia. During the ensuing Russian Civil War, Crimea changed hands numerous times and was for a time a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army. It was in Crimea that the White Russians led by General Wrangel made their last stand against Nestor Makhno and the Red Army in 1920. When resistance was crushed, many of the anti-Bolshevik fighters and civilians escaped by ship to Istanbul.

Approximately 50,000 White prisoners of war and civilians were summarily executed by shooting or hanging after the defeat of General Wrangel at the end of 1920.[1] This is considered one of the largest massacres in the Civil War.[2]

A 25-ruble banknote of the Crimean Regional Government

Between 56,000 and 150,000 of the Whites were murdered as part of the Red Terror, organized by Béla Kun.

Crimea changed hands several times over the course of the conflict and several political entities were set up on the peninsula. These included:

CountryJurisdictionPeriodDetails
Russian Revolution and Civil War (1917–1921) Crimean People's RepublicDecember 1917 – January 1918Crimean Tatar government
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic19 March – 30 April 1918Bolshevik government
Ukrainian StateMay–June 1918
First Crimean Regional Government25 June – 25 November 1918German puppet state under Lipka Tatar General Maciej (Suleyman) Sulkiewicz
Second Crimean Regional GovernmentNovember 1918 – April 1919Anti-Bolshevik government under Crimean Karaite former Kadet member Solomon Krym
Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic2 April – June 1919Bolshevik government
South Russian GovernmentFebruary 1920 – April 1920Government of White movement's General Anton Denikin
Government of South RussiaApril (officially, 16 August) – 16 November 1920Government of White movement's General Pyotr Wrangel
Bolshevik Revolutionary committee governmentNovember 1920 – 18 October 1921Bolshevik government under Béla Kun (until 20 February 1921), then Mikhail Poliakov
Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic18 October 1921 – 30 June 1945Autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR
Soviet era (1921–1991)

References
  1. Gellately, Robert (2007). Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe. Knopf. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-4000-4005-6.
  2. Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartosek, Jean-Louis Panne, Jean-Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stephane Courtois, Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press, 1999, hardcover, page 100, ISBN 0-674-07608-7. Chapter 4: The Red Terror


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