The Terek-Dagestan region in the summer-autumn of 1918 in the "Essays of the Russian troubles" by general A. I. Denikin

The article touches upon the topics related to the events of the Civil War in the North Caucasus in the summer-autumn of 1918 as presented by General A. I. Denikin in Chapter 12 of Volume 4 of the “Essays on the Russian Troubles”. The author examines the situation in the Terek-Dagestan region at the turn of 1917-1918, on the eve of and during the Terek Uprising of 1918. The extent to which each Terek Soviet Republic citizen participated in the revolt was examined. The author insists on the inevitability of an armed uprising of the Terek Cossacks and some Kabardians and Ossetians, citing the reasons for the indignation of the rebels. Denikin believed that in the North Caucasus, Soviet power did not have mass support because of the absence of large cities and, as a result, a local proletariat, so the Bolsheviks used the interethnic friction of local peoples to consolidate their position in the region. In this regard, the powers of the Terek Soviet Republic entered into an alliance with the mountain peoples against the Terek Cossacks, using their land shortage in their own interests. According to Denikin, in order to destroy the military and economic power of the Cossacks, a resolution was adopted at the 3rd Congress of the People of the Terek in May 1918 on the resettlement of 4 Cossack villages, which provoked the initially well-disposed Cossacks to an armed uprising. A.I. Denikin’s negative opinion regarding the leadership of the rebels led by G.F. Bicherakhov, which did not actually oppose Soviet power, but only the excesses at the local level, which consisted of Cossacks disarmament and the deprivation of part of the land. The “government” was constantly looking for a compromise with the Soviet leadership, which did not make concessions to the rebels. In opposition to the “government”, there was a “command” of the rebels, headed by General E.A. Mistulov, Colonel N.K. Fedyushkin, General I.N. Kolesnikov. It can be conditionally called “pro-Denikin”. It advocated the creation of a regular army, discipline in the units, and an uncompromising armed struggle against the Bolsheviks. General A.I. Denikin saw the main reason for the defeat of the uprising in the disunity of the rebels. 

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