The Crimea Operation was a combined

military offensive An offensive is a military operation that seeks through an aggressive projection of armed forces to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational, or tactical goal. Another term for an offensive often used b ...

by Imperial German and Ukrainian forces in April 1918 against the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic.

Background

Following the Russian Revolution in December 1918, the

Crimean People's Republic The Crimean People's Republic ( crh, Qırım Halq Cumhuriyeti; uk, Кримська народна республіка, translit=Kryms'ka narodna respublika; russian: Крымская народная республика, translit=Krymskaya ...

was declared which encompassed the entire territory of

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. However, this proclamation was challenged by

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

forces and by January 1919, Crimea was overrun and the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic was declared. Upon seizing Crimea, Bolshevik forces enacted a campaign of terror upon the Crimean Tatar population, killing Muslim clerics and wealthy landowners with the express goal of eliminating the Tatarian "bourgeois nationalists". In addition to the internal campaign of terror, Bolshevik forces attacked Ukrainian and German forces in the neighboring

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

The operation

The Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic was quickly overrun by German and Ukrainian forces under command of Petro Bolbochan during the Crimean Offensive. The relative quick pace of the operation was due to desertion and widespread demoralization amongst the forces of Taurida, in addition to simultaneous peasant revolts across Crimea. By the end of April 1918, the majority of the members of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, including council leader Anton Slutsky and local Bolshevik chief Jan Tarwacki, were arrested and shot in

Alushta Alushta ( uk, Алушта; crh, Aluşta; ) is a city of regional significance on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula which is within the Republic of Crimea, an internationally recognized ''de jure'' part of Ukraine, but since 2014 a ''de ...

by insurgent Crimean Tatars, partially in reaction to the prior killing of Tatar independence leader Noman Çelebicihan by the Bolsheviks earlier in February. On 30 April, the Taurida SSR was abolishe and former Chief of Staff Mikhail Sablin raised the colours of the

Ukrainian National Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

on 29 April 1918.

Aftermath

Despite the offensive violating the terms of the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

, German forces immediately set up a military administration in Crimea against the wishes of the local Tatar population. General

Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914 ...

began plans to set Crimea up as a German colony and used the territory as a stepping stone for German offensives in the Caucasus region.

Background

The operation

Aftermath

References

See also