Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

1921    27 January: Great Britain and France afford de jure recognition to the Democratic Republic of Georgia. 1–3 February: R. F. Ungern von Sternberg’s forces drive the Chinese authorities out of Urga (Ulan Batar); Ungern becomes virtual dictator of Mongolia. 12 February: Soviet forces enter Georgian territory under the pretext of policing the border dispute between Georgia and Armenia. Mid-February–early April: An anti-Bolshevik rising in Armenia briefly drives the Soviet Revolutionary Committee from Yerevan; it is restored to power by the 11th Red Army. 16–25 February: Red forces on the Caucasus Front capture the Georgian capital, Tiflis. The government of the independent Georgian Democratic Republic, under N. N. Zhordaniia, flees first to Batumi (occupied by Turkey on 11 March) and then into exile, as the Georgian SSR is proclaimed. 21 February: Soviet forces occupy Dushanbe, eastern Bukhara, as the emir flees into Afghanistan. 22–28 February: A strike wave occurs in Petrograd, directed against government food supply policies and the militarization of labor. 26 February: A treaty of friendship and cooperation between Persia and the RSFSR is signed in Moscow. 28 February: A treaty of friendship and cooperation between Afghanistan and the RSFSR is signed in Moscow. 28 February–18 March: An uprising of sailors of the Baltic Fleet at the naval base of Kronshtadt, under the slogan “Soviets without Communists,” is crushed after two brutal assaults by forces of the 7th Red Army (commanded by M. N. Tukhachevskii); thousands of rebels are killed in the fighting, and at least 2,000 more are subsequently executed. February–May: Red Army units battle a series of peasant uprisings in Western Siberia. 4 March: A treaty of alliance is signed between Soviet Russia and the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic. 8–16 March: The 10th Congress of the RKP(b) sees the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the “Ban on Factions,” quashing the Workers’ Opposition. 16 March: The Anglo–Soviet Trade Agreement is signed in London. A treaty of friendship and cooperation between Kemalist Turkey and the RSFSR (The Treaty of Brotherhood) is signed in Moscow, granting Turkey sovereignty over extensive territories claimed by Armenia. 17–19 March: Fighting in Batumi between Georgian and Turkish forces ends with the expulsion from the city of the latter, the occupation of the city by the Red Army, and the evacuation of the Georgian government and the British mission attached to it, marking Soviet dominance across all Transcaucasia. 18 March: The Treaty of Riga formally ends the Soviet–Polish War. 21 March: A Sovnarkom decree on the introduction of a tax in kind on agricultural produce signals the end of War Communism and the beginning of the NEP. 7 May: A treaty of alliance (the Treaty of Moscow) is signed between Soviet Russia and the Georgian SSR. 8 May: Transcarpathia is annexed by Czechoslovakia. May–June: Decisive and merciless operations of Red forces under M. N. Tukhachevskii (appointed to head the operation on 27 April) finally crush the rebellion in Tambov province. June: The Reds defeat the remnants of Makhno’s forces in Ukraine. 29 June–22 August: Offensive operations of forces of the Far Eastern Republic, the Mongolian People’s Republic, and the 5th Red Army of the RSFSR capture (on 6 July) Urga (Ulan Bator) and crush the army of Ungern von Sternberg. 8–14 July: Fruitless talks between Soviet Russia and the Armenian Dashnaks are held at Riga. 25 July: As the potential scale of the disaster on the Volga is realized, Maxim Gorky announces that Soviet Russia will accept the offer of famine relief made by Herbert Hoover and the American Relief Association. 20 August: An agreement is signed in Riga between Soviet Russia and the American Relief Administration concerning procedures for famine relief. 28 August: Makhno and the remnants of his army are driven across the border into Romania. August–April 1922: Red forces battle a prolonged anti-Soviet uprising in Gornyi Altai. September: The 1st Cavalry Army battles against insurgents in the North Caucasus. October: There is an outbreak of a major anti-Soviet uprising in eastern Bukhara, led by Enver Pasha. 7 October: An agreement is signed between Soviet Russia and Poland concerning the expulsion from Poland of Boris Savinkov’s Russian Political Committee. 13 October: A treaty of friendship (the Treaty of Kars) is signed between Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR, and Georgian SSR (with the participation of the RSFSR) and Kemelist Turkey. 21 December: White forces capture Khabarovsk from the FER. 22 December: White forces under V. M. Molchanov capture Harbin. 30 December: A Sovnarkom decree is issued on the disbanding of Labor Armies.