THE TEREK COSSACKS’ STRUGGLE AGAINST THE BOLSHEVIKS IN THE SUMMER-AUTUMN OF 1918 THROUGH THE MEMOIRS OF GENERAL G.A. VDOVENKO

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH21138-44

Keywords:

Terek Cossacks, mountaineers, revolution, Civil War, Terek, Dagestan, Karaulov, Denikin, Chermoev, Kotsev

Abstract

This article examines the memoirs of General G.A. Vdovenko to analyze the Terek Cossacks’ struggle against the Bolsheviks during the 1918 Terek Uprising, a pivotal event in the North Caucasus during the Russian Civil War. Utilizing established historical research methodologies, including historicism, objectivity, and systematic analysis, this study investigates the causal relationship between the initial neutrality of the Terek Cossacks in late 1917 and early 1918 and the subsequent Sovietization of the Terek region. The research findings indicate that the Bolsheviks’ anti-Cossack agrarian policies, formalized at the Third Congress of the Working Peoples of the Terek in May 1918, instigated a radical shift in Cossack sentiment, culminating in the Terek Uprising of June-August 1918. This uprising marked the large-scale involvement of the Terek Cossacks in the anti-Bolshevik movement within the Volunteer Army and the Armed Forces of Southern Russia. The theoretical significance of this work lies in its contribution to a more nuanced understanding of the Civil War in the North Caucasus and the specific role of the Terek Cossacks within this conflict. The findings and conclusions presented herein are relevant for educational institutions studying the Soviet period of Russian history, particularly the years 1917-1922.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Vladimir Borisovic Lobanov, Northwest Branch of the Russian State University of Justice
    Cand. Sci., Associate Prof. at the Dep. of Humanities and Socio-Economic Disciplines

References

Vdovenko GA. The struggle of the Terek Cossacks with the Bolsheviks in 1918. Resistance to Bolshevism. 1917-1918. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001: 448-454. (In Russ)

Daudov AH., Meskhidze DI. National statehood of the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus (1917-1924). Saint-Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 2009. (In Russ)

Zhansitov OA. Revolutionary processes in the national districts of the Tersk region (1917-1918). Proceedings of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2017; 2(76): 113-118. (In Russ)

Mikhailov VV., Lobanov VB. “Unite the entire North Caucasus on the basis of the unity of Russia”. Report of Major General B.N. Lazarev to the Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army, Lieutenant General A.N.I. Denikin. 1918. Historical Archive. 2011; 2: 148-164. (In Russ)

Puchenkov AS. The national policy of General Denikin (spring 1918 – spring 1920). Moscow: Nauchno-politicheskaya kniga, 2016.

Lobanov VB., Mikhailov VV. Periodization of the struggle for power in the North Caucasus in 1917-1920. Military Historical Journal. 2016; 9: 32-37. (In Russ)

Lobanov VB. Tersk anti-Bolshevik uprising (June-November 1918): A modern look. Bulletin of the Kostroma State University named after N.A. Nekrasov. 2012; 18(4): 47-51. (In Russ)

Dobryakova NA., Kambiev AM. On the question of the mountain national movement on the Terek and in Dagestan in 1917-1921. Sovremennaya nauchnaya mysl. 2021; 6: 88-91. (In Russ)

Matiev TH. The Mountain National movement participated in revolutions and the civil war in the North Caucasus (1917-1921). Nazran: LLC “Kep”, 2020. (In Russ)

Gorbach A. The White Movement in the Tersk region. Resistance to Bolshevism. 1917-1918. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2001: 455-463. (In Russ)

Dobryakova NA., Donin AYa., Lobanov VB. Anti-Bolshevik forces of the Tersk-Dagestan region during the Civil War of 1917-1920. Sovremennaya nauchnaya mysl. 2019; 2: 58-67. (In Russ)

Gagkuev RG. Participant in the Great Russian Revolution and the Civil War in the North Caucasus. 1917-1920. Russia in the era of revolutions and reforms. Problems of history and historiography. 2019; 1(7): 196-210. (In Russ)

Kajarov A.G. Mountain intelligentsia on ethnopolitical processes in the North Caucasus: ideas, projects and results of national self-determination in 1917-1918. Bulletin of ASU. 2017; 4(209): 100-110. (In Russ)

Kambiev AM. Abdul-Majid Chermoyev – the first head of the Mountain Republic during the Civil War in the North Caucasus. Trends in the development of science and education. 2022; 81(1): 21-23. (In Russ)

Kambiev AM. Pshemakho Kotsev as one of the leaders of the movement of highlanders of the North Caucasus for independence during the Revolution and Civil War. Trends in the development of science and education. 2022; 81(1): 23-26. (In Russ)

Pyltsyn YS. Lazar Bicherakhov’s detachment and the Tersk uprising of 1918. Regions of Russia in the military history of the country. collection of materials of the All-Russian scientific and practical conference. Yoshkar-Ola, 2020: 76-85. (In Russ)

Marshall A. The Сaucasus under Soviet rule. London-New York: Routledge, 2010.

Adamchevsky P., Wojtkowiak Ya., Mamulia G. Memoirs of Ismail Bek (Jozef) Petrushin-Petrushevsky as a source on the history of the February Revolution and the War in the Caucasus. 1917-1919. Warsaw, 2022. (In Russ)

Downloads

Published

2025-04-14

Issue

Section

History

How to Cite

1.
Lobanov VB. THE TEREK COSSACKS’ STRUGGLE AGAINST THE BOLSHEVIKS IN THE SUMMER-AUTUMN OF 1918 THROUGH THE MEMOIRS OF GENERAL G.A. VDOVENKO. ИАЭК. 2025;21(1):38-44. doi:10.32653/CH21138-44