Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: Difference between revisions

However, having been defeated in World War I, the Ottoman Empire had to withdraw its forces from the borders of Azerbaijan in the middle of November 1918. Headed by General [[William Montgomery Thomson|William Thomson]], a British force of 1,600 troops{{sfn|Winegard|2016|p=210}} arrived in Baku on 17 November, and martial law was implemented on the capital of [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] until "the civil power would be strong enough to release the forces from the responsibility to maintain the public order". There were also British occupations of the Georgian cities of [[Tiflis]] and [[Batumi|Batum]] in Georgia, along with the full length of the Baku-Batum railway, since the British wanted to protect this strategic line which connected the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Caspian Sea]].{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|pp=78–79}} By January 1919, the British presence was 40,000 strong, the largest of all British intervention contingents in Russia.{{sfn|Winegard|2016|p=229}} Again, these British occupations of territory in the Caucasus were in part motivated by a desire to 'protect India's flank' and secure the local oilfields, but they were also motivated by a desire to support the three new independent states and supervise the German and Ottoman withdrawal.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=79}} The British forces served only a defensive purpose and were withdrawn in the summer of 1919, as regular troops were needed elsewhere and others were long overdue for demobilisation after the Armistice that ended the First World War.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=230}} The last British forces left Baku on 24 August.{{sfn|Winegard|2016|p=239}}

 

{{main|Malleson mission}}

With the British fearing that German and Ottoman forces may penetrate into Russian central Asia, possibly via a crossing of the Caspian sea to the key port of [[Krasnovodsk]], the Trans-Caspian area became an area of interest.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|pp=15–16}} Allied military action began on 11 August 1918, when General [[Wilfrid Malleson|Malleson]] intervened in support of the [[Transcaspian Government|Ashkhabad Executive Committee]], who had ousted the [[Tashkent Soviet]] Bolsheviks from the western end of the [[Trans-Caspian Railway]] in July 1918 and had taken control of Krasnovodsk.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=16}} Malleson had been authorised to intervene with Empire and British troops, in what would be referred to as the [[Malleson mission]]. He sent the Machine Gun Section of the [[19th Punjabi Rifles]] to [[Baýramaly]] located on the [[Trans-Caspian railway]]. On 28 August, the Bolsheviks attacked [[Serhetabat|Kushkh]] on the Afgan border but were repulsed, with 3 officers and 24 rank and file being killed or wounded. 2 British liaison officers were shot from behind as they advanced, presumably treacherously.{{sfn|Sargent|2004|p=19}} There was further action at [[Kaka, Turkmenistan|Kaka]] on 28 August as well as 11 and 18 September. The British forces were reinforced on 25 September by two squadrons of the [[28th Light Cavalry]]. At this point, Malleson, against the wishes of the Indian Government, decided to push further into Transcaspia and attack the Bolsheviks. Fighting alongside Trans-Caspian troops, they subsequently fought at [[Arman Sagad]] (between 9 and 11 October) and [[Dushak]] (14 October). At Dushak, the British force suffered 54+ killed and 150+ wounded while inflicting 1,000 casualties on the Bolsheviks.{{sfn|Sargent|2004|p=21}} British attacks continued to inflict heavy losses on Bolshevik forces.{{sfn|Kinvig|2006|p=16}}