The Far Eastern Republic ( rus, Дальневосто́чная Респу́блика, ДВР, r=Dalnevostochnaya Respublika, DVR, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə), sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a
nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the
Russian Far East. Although theoretically independent, it largely came under the control of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which envisaged it as a
buffer state
A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between ...
between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by
Japan during the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
of 1917–1922. Its first president was
Alexander Krasnoshchyokov
Alexander Mikhailovich Krasnoshchyokov (russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Краснощёков, real name – Avraam Moiseevich Krasnoshchyok, russian: Абра́м Моисе́евич Краснощёк, October 10, 1880 – ...
.
The Far Eastern Republic occupied the territory of modern
Zabaykalsky Krai,
Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast ( rus, Аму́рская о́бласть, r=Amurskaya oblast, p=ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrative ...
, the
Jewish Autonomous Oblast,
Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai ( rus, Хабаровский край, r=Khabarovsky kray, p=xɐˈbarəfskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal Distric ...
, and
Primorsky Krai of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
(the former
Transbaikal and
Amur oblasts and
Primorsky krai). Its capital was established at
Verkhneudinsk
Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...
(now Ulan-Ude), but in October 1920 it moved to
Chita.
The
Red Army occupied
Vladivostok on 25 October 1922. Three weeks later, on 15 November 1922, the Far Eastern Republic merged with the RSFSR.
History
Establishment
The Far Eastern Republic was established in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War. During the Civil War local authorities generally controlled the towns and cities of the Russian Far East, cooperating to a greater or lesser extent with the
White Siberian government of
Alexander Kolchak
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (russian: link=no, Александр Васильевич Колчак; – 7 February 1920) was an Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought ...
and with the succeeding invading forces of the Japanese Army. When the Japanese evacuated the Trans-Baikal and Amur oblasts in the spring of 1920, a political vacuum resulted.
A new central authority was established at Chita to govern the Far Eastern Republic remaining in the Japanese wake.
["The Far Eastern Republic," ''Russian Information and Review'', vol. 1, no. 10 (Feb. 15, 1922), pp. 232–233.] The Far Eastern Republic was established comprising only the area around
Verkhneudinsk
Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...
, but during the summer of 1920, the Soviet government of the Amur territory agreed to join.
The Far Eastern Republic was formed two months after Kolchak's death with the tacit support of the government of Soviet Russia, which saw it as a temporary
buffer state
A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between ...
between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by
Japan.
[Alan Wood, "The Revolution and Civil War in Siberia," in Edward Acton, Vladimir Iu. Cherniaev, and William G. Rosenberg (eds.), ''Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914–1921''. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1997; pp. 716–717.] Many members of the
Russian Communist Party had disagreed with the decision to allow a new government in the region, believing that their approximately 4,000 members were capable of seizing power in their own right.
[George Jackson and Robert Devlin (eds.), ''Dictionary of the Russian Revolution''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989; pp. 223–225.] However,
Vladimir Lenin and other party leaders in Moscow felt that the approximately 70,000 Japanese and 12,000 American troops might regard such an action as a provocation, which might spur a further attack that the Soviet Republic could ill afford.
On 1 April 1920, the
American Expeditionary Force, Siberia
The American Expeditionary Force, Siberia (AEF in Siberia) was a formation of the United States Army involved in the Russian Civil War in Vladivostok, Russia, after the October Revolution, from 1918 to 1920. The force was part of the larger Al ...
headed by General
William S. Graves
Major General William Sidney Graves (27 March 1865 – 27 February 1940) was a United States Army officer who commanded American forces in Siberia during the Siberian Expedition, part of the Allied Intervention in Russia, towards the end of Wor ...
departed Siberia, leaving the Japanese the sole occupying power in the region with whom the Bolsheviks were forced to deal.
[N.G.O. Pereira, ''White Siberia: The Politics of Civil War''. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996; pg. 153.] This detail did not change the basic equation for the Bolshevik government in Moscow, however, which continued to see the establishment of a Far Eastern Republic as a sort of
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in the east, providing the regime with a necessary breathing space that would allow it to recover economically and militarily.
[Pereira, ''White Siberia'', pg. 152.]
On 6 April 1920, a hastily convened Constituent Assembly gathered at
Verkhneudinsk
Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...
and proclaimed the establishment of the Far Eastern Republic. Promises were made that the republic's new constitution would guarantee free elections under the principles of universal, direct, and equal suffrage and that foreign investment in the country would be encouraged.
The Far Eastern Republic, controlled by moderate socialists, was only grudgingly recognized by the various cities of the region towards the end of 1920.
Violence, atrocities, and reprisals continued to erupt periodically for the next 18 months.
Japan agreed to recognize the new buffer state in a truce with the
Red Army signed 15 July 1920, effectively abandoning Ataman
Grigory Semenov
Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov, or Semenov (russian: Григо́рий Миха́йлович Семёнов; September 25, 1890 – August 30, 1946), was a Japanese-supported leader of the White movement in Transbaikal and beyond from December 19 ...
and his
Russia Eastern Outskirts
The Eastern Okraina (russian: Российская Восточная Окраина) was a local government that existed in the Russian Far East region in 1920 during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1923.
In 1919 White forces in Western Siber ...
.
By October Semenov had been expelled from his base of operations in Chita. With Semenov out of the picture, the capital of the Far Eastern Republic moved to that city.
On 11 November 1920 a provisional national assembly for the Far East met in
Vladivostok. The gathering recognized the government at Chita and set 9 January 1921 as the date for new elections for the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic.
A new constitution closely resembling the
United States Constitution was written and approved on 27 April 1921.
The 1921 coup
However, right-wing elements rejected the idea of a fledgling democratic republic in the Russian Far East. On 26 May 1921 a White
coup took place in Vladivostok, backed by
Japanese occupying forces.
A ''
cordon sanitaire'' of Japanese troops protected the insurgents, who established a new régime, the
Provisional Government of the Priamur
The Provisional Priamurye Government or Provisional Priamur Government (russian: Приамурский земский край) existed in the region of Priamurye of the Russian Far East between May 27, 1921 and June 16, 1923. It was the las ...
,
[
]
in the
Primorskaya Oblast
Primorskaya Oblast (russian: Примо́рская о́бласть) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire and the early Russian SFSR, created on October 31, 1856 by the Governing Senate.''History of Soviet Primorye'', pg. 31 The na ...
. Shortly after the coup, Kolchak's designated successor,
Ataman Semenov, arrived in Vladivostok and attempted to proclaim himself commander-in-chief—an effort which failed when his Japanese benefactors forsook him.
[Pereira, ''White Siberia,'' pg. 155.]
The new Provisional Government of the Priamur attempted—with little success—to rally the various anti-Bolshevik forces to its banner.
[Pereira, ''White Siberia,'' pg. 156.] Its leaders, two Vladivostok businessmen -the brothers and , found themselves left isolated when the Japanese Army announced on 24 June 1922 that it would remove all of its troops from Siberia by the end of October.
A July 1922 ''
Zemsky sobor'' deposed the Merkulov brothers and named a Russian general who had served with the
Czechoslovak Legion
, image = Coat of arms of the Czechoslovak Legion.svg
, image_size = 200px
, alt =
, caption = Czechoslovak Legion coat of arms
, start_date ...
,
M.K. Dieterichs, as
military dictator
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
.
FER victory and demise, 1922
With the Japanese exiting the country throughout the summer of 1922, panic swept through the
White Russian insurgents. As the Red Army, thinly disguised as the (the People's Revolutionary Army), moved eastwards, thousands of Russians, including Dieterichs and his remaining troops, fled abroad to escape the new régime.
The army of the Far Eastern Republic retook Vladivostok on 25 October 1922, effectively bringing the Russian Civil War to a close.
With the Civil War finally over, Soviet Russia absorbed the Far Eastern Republic on 15 November 1922.
The government of the Far Eastern Republic dissolved itself and transferred all its authority and territory to the Bolshevik government in Moscow.
Aftermath
Japan retained the northern half of
Sakhalin Island until 1925, ostensibly as compensation for
Nikolayevsk incident
The was an international conflict in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East between Japan and the Far Eastern Republic during the Japanese intervention. The culmination was the execution of imprisoned Japanese prisoners of war and surviv ...
- the massacre of about 700 Japanese civilians and soldiers at
Nikolaevsk-na-Amure in May-June 1920.
This "compensatory" motive for holding the territory belied the fact that Japanese retaliation for the actions of Russian
partisans had taken between two and three times as many Russian lives.
Territory and resources
The Far Eastern Republic consisted of four provinces of the former
Russian empire—Trans-Baikal, Amur, the Maritime Province, and the northern half of
Sakhalin island.
Primarily, it represented the boundaries of the regions of
Transbaikal and
Outer Manchuria
Outer Manchuria (russian: Приаму́рье, translit=Priamurye; zh, s=外满洲, t=外滿洲, p=Wài Mǎnzhōu), or Outer Northeast China ( zh, s=外东北, t=外東北, p=Wài Dōngběi), refers to a territory in Northeast Asia that is no ...
. The frontiers of the short-lived nation followed the western coastline of
Lake Baikal along the northern borders of
Mongolia and
Manchuria to the
Sea of Japan and the
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Island ...
.
The total area of the Far Eastern Republic was reckoned at approximately and its population at about 3.5 million people.
Of these an estimated 1.62 million were ethnic
Russians and just over 1 million were of Asian extraction, with family lineages originating in China, Japan, Mongolia, and
Korea.
The Far Eastern Republic was an area of substantial mineral wealth, including territory which produced about one-third of the entire Russian output of gold as well as that country's only source of domestically produced
tin.
Other mineral reserves of the Far Eastern Republic included
zinc,
iron, and
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dead ...
.
The fishing industry of the former Maritime Province was substantial, with a total catch exceeding that of
Iceland and featuring ample stocks of
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, ...
,
salmon, and
sturgeon.
The Republic also boasted extensive forestry resources, including over of harvestable
pine,
fir,
cedar,
poplar, and
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
.
Chairmen of the Government (heads of state)
*
Alexander Krasnoshchyokov
Alexander Mikhailovich Krasnoshchyokov (russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Краснощёков, real name – Avraam Moiseevich Krasnoshchyok, russian: Абра́м Моисе́евич Краснощёк, October 10, 1880 – ...
6 April 1920 – December 1921
*
Nikolay Matveyev
Nikolay Mikhailovich Matveyev (russian: Николай Михайлович Матвеев) (May 22, 1877, village Bogdat, Nerchinsko-Zavodsky uezd, Transbaikal – April 26, 1951, Moscow) was a Russian Soviet politician and revolutionary who was ...
December 1921 – 15 November 1922
Chairmen of the Council of Ministers (Prime Ministers)
*Alexander Krasnoshchyokov 6 April 1920 – November 1920
*
Boris Shumyatsky
Boris Zakharovich Shumyatsky (russian: Бори́с Заха́рович Шумя́цкий; November 16, 1886 – July 29, 1938) was a Soviet politician, diplomat and the ''de facto'' executive producer for the Soviet film monopolies Soyuzkino a ...
November 1920 – April 1921
*
Pyotr Nikiforov 8 May 1921 – December 1921
*Nikolay Matveyev December 1921 – 14 November 1922
*
Pyotr Kobozev 14 November 1922 – 15 November 1922
Prominent people born in the Far Eastern Republic
*
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...
, actor
See also
*
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War or Allied Powers intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions which began in 1918. The Allies first had the goal of helping the Czechoslovak Legi ...
*
American Expeditionary Force, Siberia
*
Postage stamps and postal history of the Far Eastern Republic
The Far Eastern Republic, sometimes called the Chita Republic, existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of Siberia. It was formed from the Amur Oblast, Amur, Transbaikal, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and Primorye regions. In theory, ...
*
Outer Manchuria
Outer Manchuria (russian: Приаму́рье, translit=Priamurye; zh, s=外满洲, t=外滿洲, p=Wài Mǎnzhōu), or Outer Northeast China ( zh, s=外东北, t=外東北, p=Wài Dōngběi), refers to a territory in Northeast Asia that is no ...
*
Green Ukraine
Green Ukraine, also known as Zelenyi Klyn ( uk, Зелений клин, Zelenyi Klyn, russian: Зелёный Клин, Zelyonyy Klin, literally: 'the green gore/wedge') or Zakytaishchyna ( Ukrainian and Russian: , literally: 'Trans China'), ...
*
Siberian Intervention
The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian fo ...
*
*
Priamur electoral district (Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917)
Footnotes
Further reading
''A Short Outline of the History of the Far Eastern Republic.''Washington, DC: Special Delegation of the Far Eastern Republic to the United States of America, 1922.
* Alan Wood, ''Russia's Frozen Frontier: A History of Siberia and the Russian Far East 1581–1991.'' London: A&C Black, 2011. .
* Canfield F. Smith, ''Vladivostok Under Red and White Rule: Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Russian Far East, 1920–1922.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975.
* Jamie Bisher, '' White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian.'' London: Routledge, 2005. .
* John Albert White, ''The Siberian Intervention.'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950.
* Richard K. Debo, ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918–1921.'' Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen's Press, 1992. .
{{Authority control
1922 disestablishments in Asia
Former countries in East Asia
Post–Russian Empire states
History of Primorsky Krai
Early Soviet republics
Former Slavic countries
History of Manchuria
Former unrecognized countries
History of the Russian Far East
States and territories established in 1920
States and territories disestablished in 1922
Japan–Soviet Union relations
Former socialist republics
1920 establishments in Asia
Former countries of the interwar period
Far Eastern Republic