BATTLE FOR BAKU

The first national government formed by the National Council of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan moved from Ganca to Baku on 17 September 1918. The government was unable to work for half a year. There was fierce fighting for Baku, the centre of the country's political, public and cultural life. Like in the early 21st century, the interests of world powers clashed in Baku at the beginning of the 20th century. In this war, all means were "good", except for the desire of the Azerbaijani people to be free and independent. Eighty-nine years have passed since then.

Everyone needs Baku

Everything began in October (by the old calendar) 1917 as the Baku council of workers, peasants and soldiers' deputies (Baksovet) seized power in Baku one week after the demise of the provisional government in St Petersburg and formed a government led by Stepan Shaumyan. The government went down in Soviet history as the government of 26 commissars. The goal of this government was clearly formulated by its leader in a telegram sent to the chairman of the Russian economic council, Vladimir Lenin, in July 1918. "We must save Baku for Russia," he said. The way the commissars "saved Baku" was clearly shown by the March events of 1918 when several thousand Azerbaijanis were exterminated in Baku, Samaxi, Quba and other regions of the country. 

On 13 April, the leader of the Baku Bolsheviks, Stepan Shaumyan, humbly reported to Moscow: "There was fierce fighting in Baku for three days - 30 and 31 March and 1 April. The fighting was between the Soviet Red Army, the International Red Army, which we set up, the Red Fleet, which we managed to reorganize in a short period of time, and Armenian national units on the one hand, and on the other, the savage Muslim division which included a lot of Russian officers and gangs of armed Muslims led by the Musavat party… The enemy was totally defeated. We already had armed forces - about 6,000 people. Dashnaktsutyun also had about 3,000-4,000 people who were at our disposal. Their participation partly transformed the civil war into an ethnic massacre… We did it consciously."

It must be remembered that the world war unleashed in 1914 was still continuing, in which Russia, Britain and France confronted Germany and its allies. One of Germany's allies was Turkey. After the coup of 1917, Russia withdrew from the war and signed a truce with Germany. However, this did not stop both states from fighting for their own interests. Their main interest was to capture Baku, or to be more precise, its oil. In his report, Shaumyan said: "The oil is now at our disposal. We have already sent the first three schooners to Astrakhan together with our representative Saak Ter-Gabrielyan (Stalin knows him). He will be living in Astrakhan."

British General Dunsterville who led the then British military mission in Baku was also frank. In his book "British Imperialism in Baku and Persia in 1917-1918", which was published in Russian in Tiflis in 1925, he wrote: "Thus, our plan was to dominate the Caspian Sea, and since occupation of Baku was the only way to achieve this, we had to defend this city from being captured by the enemy. Baku was of great importance and any risk to capture it was justified." Then he went on to say: "The capture of Baku would have had the following consequences: It would have closed the enemy's access to oil reserves and its door to Central Asia."

The general also says that Germany had an agreement with Lenin and through him, with Baku Bolsheviks on the unhindered handover of the city to Germans. "For the Germans, Turkish occupation of the city was no better than British," Dunsterville thought.

However, regardless of the plans that were made in the capitals of great powers, it is impossible to turn back the course of history, especially if they do not have the main thing - the wish of the people. The Azerbaijani people and its intellectual elite could not allow one occupying state to be replaced with another. The National Council which expressed the interests of the people was not able to defend the country's independence on its own and asked Turkey for help. In order to help Azerbaijan, Turkey set up the Caucasus Islamic Army which also included armed units comprised of Azerbaijanis. The army started a march to Baku.

Change of power

Armed resistance to the Bolshevik government in the capital, the defeat of the Red Army in the Caucasus, the successful march of the Caucasus Islamic Army to Baku and differences in the interests of political parties represented in the Baku Council led to power change in the city. The government of the 26 Baku commissars failed to run the city on its own as there was no military support from Russia. The opponents of the government - the bloc of social revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Dashnaks adopted a resolution at a session of the Baku Council on 25 July 1918 "to invite British troops to Baku and form a government of representatives of all socialist parties". We have to point out that the so-called Armenian National Council actively supported the arrival of the British troops in Baku. Its representatives contacted the British mission in Persia.

The Bolsheviks refused to join such a coalition and at a meeting held on 31 July, gave up their powers. Thus, power in Baku was handed over to the Provisional Centro-Caspian Dictatorship.

Realizing that the crime committed against the local population was too serious, the Bolshevik-Dashnak leadership of Baksovet decided that it was too dangerous to stay in Baku in the new situation. The arrival of the British troops or the Caucasus Islamic Army in the city did not bode well for them. For this reason, the commissars boarded a ship on 31 July and left for Astrakhan, a city controlled by the Bolsheviks. However, on the same evening, the ships were detained and sent back to Baku on orders from the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, and the commissars were arrested. Following threats from Petrov's and Amirov's detachments, they were released the next morning. Several days later, on 13 August, Shaumyan and his team were given a chance to board the "Turkmen" ship and leave for Astrakhan. After setting sail, the ship turned to Krasnovodsk. At the demand of the local strike committee in Krasnovodsk, the commissars were arrested and put in a local prison, and then they were shot by a firing squad. One of the charges said that the commissars "had called on the population to rise up and overthrow the existing government and had prepared for a violent replacement of the government form".

However, the new government in Baku was not able to stop the Caucasus Islamic Army either. Centro-Caspian troops suffered one defeat after another. At a military meeting chaired by General Bagratuni on 30 July and attended by representatives of the government, political parties and military specialists, the Dashnaks promised to send 1,000 soldiers to the front line immediately. However, they managed to mobilize only 21 people.

It must be noted that the commander of the PCCD units which were mainly manned by Armenians was General Dokuchayev and the chief of staff was an Armenian named Avetisov. The military minister in the PCCD was General Bagratuni who was also of Armenian origin. As social revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Dashnaks came to power, preparations to bring British troops to Baku intensified. On 4 August, the first group of servicemen led by Colonel Stocks arrived in the city.

In his book, General Dunsterville pointed out that the British had started preparations to capture Baku earlier. In December 1917, he was given an instruction to "form a mission to go to Persia". In January 1918, the general arrived in Baghdad where he started recruiting a military contingent. On 27 January, a convoy of 12 officers, two clerks and drivers left Baghdad for the Iranian port of Anzali in 41 Ford vehicles loaded with gold and silver in order to get to Baku by sea. In mid-February, a detachment led by General Dunsterville arrived in Anzali. However, that city was controlled by the Bolsheviks at the time, who did not let the British go to Baku. The general was forced to leave the city and moved to another Iranian city - Hamadan. Due to the situation, an order was received from London - stay in Hamadan and find another way to get to Baku.

"The state of affairs in Baku is gloomy"

This is what General Dunsterville writes: "In Baku, there were people who were waiting for our arrival and who, especially Armenians, could send here some emissaries to help us go on". On 23 April, the general was visited by a representative of the Armenian National Council ("a doctor", Dunsterville clarified) who asked him to come to Baku as soon as possible. This person was some doctor from Baku named Araratints.

In late March, Dunsterville was allocated a detachment of 30 marines and in early April, General Byron with 12 officers and the same number of soldiers. Another detachment of 50 officers and 150 soldiers arrived in Hamadan in May. While in Hamadan, the general constantly received information about the situation in Baku through couriers. "…The state of affairs in Baku is gloomy. This problem must be considered independently from the Caucasus problem as a whole. The Armenian colony and Bolsheviks are fighting back the offensive of the Caucasus Islamic Army. The Georgians who deeply hate the Armenians are not helping them… Only troops can restore order here, but we don't have troops…"

The main British forces arrived in Baku from Anzali on board the "President Kruger" on 17 August. The general and his headquarters were put up in the Europe Hotel (now the representative office of Lukoil in Azerbaijan). However, military operations carried out by the British soldiers and officers could not change the state of affairs at the front as the Caucasus Islamic Army was approaching Baku day by day. On 31 August, the Caucasus Islamic Army seized the villages of Binaqadi, Digah and Mahammadli. 

General Dunsterville soon realized that resistance was pointless. On 1 September he decided to evacuate. But the PCCD leadership banned the British from leaving the city, saying that the British troops can leave only after local residents are evacuated. Both sides traded accusations of inability and unwillingness to fight.

The PCCD leaders started openly expressing their displeasure with the British troops' actions and accused them of failure to honour their obligations. On 4 September, Dunsterville received a letter from the PCCD which said that "… after the government in Baku was overthrown, Lenin's representatives wanted to form a coalition government here, promising to provide us with all necessary military materials and effective support in the fight against the Turks on condition that the British troops leave Baku and its districts. During all this time, you brought to Baku more than 1,000 people with 16 weapons."

On 5 September, General Dunsterville wrote to his recent "allies" from the PCCD: "… I have been informed that there are 10,000 armed fighters in Baku who only need to be correctly organized and supported by a small British detachment in order to repel the enemy's attack. As far as their discipline and resolve are concerned, they did not live up to my expectations."

In another letter, he was outraged: "They say that the British betrayed Baku by not sending here a sufficient number of troops. This is an unacceptable slander. The British soldiers bravely fought and gave up their lives for you." Regarding human casualties, General Dunsterville wrote in his book that "our common casualties in the latest fighting are 180 people killed, wounded and missing."

At 2300 on 14 September, the British left Baku on board the "Kursk" and the "Abo". On the next day, the city welcomed its liberators - the fighters of the Caucasus Islamic Army led by Nuru Pasa.