Shamkhor massacre

The Shamkhor massacre (Russian: Шамхорская резня)[1][2] or the Shamkhor incident (Azerbaijani: Şamxor hadisəsi),[3][4][5][6] took place on 22–25 January (9–12 January, Old Style) 1918, Shamkir, Azerbaijan.[7] The Azerbaijani armed groups, acting on orders from the Military Council of Nationalities, massacred Russian soldiers who were returning home from the Caucasus Front,[8][9][10] in an effort to obtain sufficient arms.[11][12][13]

Shamkhor massacre
LocationŞəmkir, Azerbaijan
Date22–25 (9–12 Old Style) January 1918
TargetRussian military train holding military equipment
DeathsEstimates vary from several hundreds to 1000+[1]
Injured100+
PerpetratorsMilitary Council of Nationalities; Musavat, Tatar Cavalry Regiment

The Azerbaijani Musavatists[14] and Tatar Cavalry Regiment,[15] under the leadership of the Military Council of Nationalities, stopped a Russian train and demanded the handover of the military supply on it, but the Russian soldiers had refused to give the military equipment away. The following events resulted in the Azerbaijanis stormed the train, which led to hundreds of deaths.[16]

Events

After the October Revolution the Imperial Russian Army ceased to exist as an organized force and its soldiers in large numbers moved into Transcaucasia, trying to get home and often terrorized the local population, forcing it to flee. The leaders of Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic needed to act quickly to prevent the sacking of cities and the fall of their regime. Therefore, they organized a Military Council of Nationalities in which the Armenians, the Azerbaijanis, and the Georgians were represented.[3]

When a particularly large and militant group of Russian soldiers began to move along the railroad away from the front in January 1918, the Military Council of Nationalities decided to disarm them. The operation was ordered by Noe Ramishvili, the Interior Minister of Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.[17]

A large group of Azerbaijanis had stopped a Russian train near Shamkhor,[17] riding along what is known as the Baku–Tiflis rail line,[18] and demanded the handover of the military supply on the train, but the Russian soldiers had refused to give the military equipment away. It is impossible to determine who fired the first shot, but eventually Azerbaijanis stormed the train, which led to hundreds of deaths.[16] Azerbaijanis had gained significant amount of war equipment after their attack. Thousands of Russian soldiers were disarmed and sent on their way.[17] The events also had angered Bolshevik and Azerbaijani leaders which had led to confrontations later on in that year. The incident at Shamkhor was also followed by organized attacks against Russians throughout the region.[15]

Casualties

Various sources indicate that the death toll in the incident ranged from 1000[15][19] to over 2000 Russian soldiers.[20] However, a number of researchers consider these numbers to be clearly overestimated, believing that several hundred Russian soldiers and officers were killed.[1][3][21] The number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded remained unknown. According to S.I. Vereshchak, their "number was difficult to establish", since many corpses were burnt and "many were taken away by fellow villagers".[22]

Vladimir Buldakov notes that "the number of those killed and burned alive on both sides was impossible to count."[23] M.A. Volkhonsky and V.M. Mukhanov only note that "the number of victims on both sides was enormous."[24] Other authors indicate that the incident resulted in thousands of people getting killed.[25] I. S. Ratkovsky believes that the total number of those killed and wounded on both sides exceeded 5 thousand people.[26]

References
  1. Russian Azerbaijan, 1905-1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community By Tadeusz Swietochowski – page 113
  2. The New review, Volumes 13–15 – World Federation of Ukrainian Former Political Prisoners and Victims of the Soviet Regime, p. 27
  3. The struggle for Transcaucasia, 1917–1921 by Firuz Kazemzadeh, pp. 82–83
  4. Mahmudov, Yagub, ed. (2005). "Şamxor hadisəsi". Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti Ensiklopediyası (in Azerbaijani). Vol. 2nd. Baku: Lider. pp. 365–366.
  5. Prokofievich Vacek, Ivan (17 January 1922). "Шамхорские события. ("Из нашего прошлого")". Bakinskiy Rabochiy (in Russian). Baku.
  6. Lvovich Baikov, Boris (1923). Воспоминания о революции в Закавказье. Vol. 9. Berlin: Slovo. pp. 91–194.
  7. The Azerbaijani Turks: power and identity under Russian rule By Audrey L. Altstadt, p. 85
  8. The formation of the Soviet Union: communism and nationalism, 1917–1923 By Richard Pipes, p. 103
  9. the Modern encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet history, Volume 39 by Joseph L. Wieczynski, p. 170
  10. Wladimir S. Woytinsky: La Democratie. p. 113
  11. The making of the Georgian nation by Ronald Grigor Suny, p. 191
  12. Historical dictionary of Azerbaijan by Tadeusz Świętochowski, Brian C. Collins, p. 85
  13. The Berlin–Baghdad express: the Ottoman Empire and Germany's bid for world power By Sean McMeekin, p. 331
  14. Baberovski, Yorg (2010). Враг есть везде. Сталинизм на Кавказе [The enemy is everywhere. Stalinism in the Caucasus] (in Russian). Moscow: Rossiyskaya politicheskaya entsiklopediya (ROSSPEN) Fond «Prezidentskiy tsentr B. N. Yeltsina». pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-5-8243-1435-9. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022.
  15. Commissar and Mullah: Soviet–Muslim Policy from 1917 to 1924 By Glenn L. Roberts, p. 20
  16. The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule By Alex Marshall, p. 87
  17. The struggle for Transcaucasia, 1917–1921 by Firuz Kazemzadeh, p. 83
  18. The Russian Revolution, 1917–1921: From the Civil War to the consolidation of power by William Henry Chamberlin, p. 409
  19. Suny, Ronald (2019). The Baku Commune, 1917—1918: Class and Nationality in the Russian Revolution. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 199–200. ISBN 978-0-691-65703-5.
  20. Sobolyev, P.N. (1967). История Великой Октябрьской социалистической революции (in Russian). Nauka.
  21. Hovhannisian, Richard Gable (1967). Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-520-00574-7.
  22. Vereshchak, S.I. (1998). "О революции в Закавказье и о роли советов в ней". In Tyutyukin, S.V. (ed.). 1917 год в судьбах России и мира: Октябрьская революция. От новых источников к новому осмыслению (in Russian). Moscow: Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. pp. 422–423. ISBN 5-8055-0007-8.
  23. Buldakov, V.P. (2010). Красная смута: природа и последствия революционного насилия (in Russian) (2nd ed.). Moscow: ROSSPEN. ISBN 978-5-8243-1263-8.
  24. Volkhonsky, M.A.; Mukhanov, V.M. (2007). По следам Азербайджанской Демократической Республики. Moscow: Evropa. ISBN 978-5-9739-0114-1.
  25. Bezugolniy, A.Y. (2006). "Бакинская коммуна и её армия: социалистические цели — националистические средства". Vestnik Yevrazii. Moscow (3): 105. ISSN 1727-1770.
  26. Ratkovsky, I. S. (2017). Хроника белого террора в России. Репрессии и самосуды (1917—1920 гг.) (in Russian). Moscow: Algoritm. ISBN 978-5-906880-57-4.

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