The Battle for Baku May-September 1918 : A Peculiar Episode in the History of the Caucasus

Öz

The Battle for Baku May-September 1918 : A Peculiar Episode in the History of the Caucasus

Öz

Whcn thc Bolshcviks seizcd powcr in Russia in Novcmbcr 19171
the
First World War had alrcady been approaching its fourth ycar. Although thc
Russian armics had controllcd thc regions of Transcaucasia and part of eastcrn
Anatolia since 1916, on thc Europcan borders of Russia thc control vvas in
the hands of the Central Powcrs. Tlıe armics of Gcrınany and Austro-Hungary
had invadcd Russian Poland and had rcached thc borders of thc Ukrainc.
It was not a surprise that the urgent task which the ncw regime in
Pctrograd set for itsclf vvas that of pcacc. Thc Russian pcoplc wcrc wcary of
fighıing. After four years of war there was a vvidcsprcad cry for pcace among
thc Russian population. Thc soldiers particularly wantcd to return to thcir
homes. In Lenin's words, "the soldiers arc tircd out, thc soldiers are
barcfootcd, thc soldiers arc starving, thc soldiers do not want to fight".2
It is
only logical in this context to understand vvhy in thc days prcccding the
Novembcr Rcvolution thc Bolshcviks had promiscd pcacc.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• The Battle
• Peculiar Episode
• History of the Caucasus