Centrocaspian Dictatorship

Central-Caspian Dictatorship Диктатура Центрокаспия
Unrecognized state
← 1918 →
Flag
Capital	Baku
Government	Single-party state
Historical era	World War I
- Established	July 26, 1918
- Battle of Baku	August 26-September 14
- Fall of Baku	September 15, 1918
- Armistice of Mudros	October 30, 1918

The Central-Caspian Dictatorship (Russian: Диктатура Центрокаспия, Diktatura Tsentrokaspiya), or the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, was a short-lived anti-Soviet client state proclaimed in Baku, the capital of present-day Azerbaijan, during World War I. Forged by the Russian Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks and the Armenian Dashnaks with backing of the British Empire, this unrecognized state replaced the Bolshevik Baku Commune in a bloodless coup d'etat on July 26, 1918^[1], and fell on September 15, 1918, when the Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces took control of Baku^[2].

Background

All these forces asked for British help in order to stop the advancing Ottoman Army of Islam that was marching towards Baku. British forces under General Dunsterville occupied the city and helped the mainly Dashnak-Armenian forces to defend the capital in the Battle of Baku. However, Baku fell on September 15, 1918 and an Azerbaijani-Ottoman army entered the capital, causing British forces and much of the Armenian population to flee. The Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, and the British occupational force re-entered Baku.

References

1. ^ Dunsterville, Lionel Charles (1920). The adventures of Dunsterforce. E. Arnold. p. 207. http://books.google.com/books?id=4BkDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA207. 
2. ^ Companjen, Françoise; Maracz, Laszlo; Versteegh, Lia (2011). Exploring the Caucasus in the 21st Century: Essays on Culture, History and Politics in a Dynamic Context. Amsterdam University Press. p. 119. ISBN 9789089641830. http://books.google.com/books?id=ifHj0xaf7hMC&pg=PA119.