THE CAUCASUS
RUSSIAN VICE ROYALTY OF THE CAUCASUS
The Russian conquest of the Caucasus area started in 1552, when part of the Adyghe tribes recognized Russian authority. It was however only in 1878 - after the last major Chechen revolt had been crushed in 1877 - that the whole region actually came under Russian rule. (1) (1) The Russian administrative unit of Caucasia at first covered a much larger area than the actual Caucasian lands (= present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the mountain republics of the Russian Federation) as it also included : - until 1832 : the Government of Astrakhan - until 1899 : the Government of Stavropol - from 1881 to 1890 : the Territory of Transcaspia in Central Asia Its final southern frontiers were reached in 1878 when the Osmanli ceded the area Batum-Kars to Russia (Treaty of San Stefano) On the eve of the revolutions of 1917 the administrative divisions (and their principal inhabitants - Russians excluded) were : - 6 provinces (Gubernii) - Baku : Armenians, Azeri, Daghestani (Lesgians,...), ... - Chernomore : Abkhaz, Georgians, ... - Elisavetpol : Armenians, Azeri, ... - Erivan : Armenians, Azeri, ... - Kutais : Georgians, ... - Tiflis : Armenians, Georgians, ... - 5 regions (Oblasti) - Batum : Armenians, Georgians (including the Islamic Adjar), Osmanli Turks, ... - Daghestan : Avar, Lesgians, Nogai, ... - Kars : Armenians, Osmanli Turks - Kuban : Cossacks, Adyghe, ... - Terek ; Cossacks, Chechen, Osset,... - 1 district (Okrug) - Zakataly : Daghestani (Lesgians, ...), ... EVOLUTION OF THE RUSSIAN ADMINISTRATION FOR THE CAUCASUS 1844 - 1917 1844 - 1881 As the civilian-military administrators in charge of the Caucasus since the early 19th century had proved themselves incapable of pacifying and organizing the area, they were replaced in 1844 by a Vicegerent (Namestnik) with nearly absolute powers and only subordinated to the Emperor himself. At first his administration enjoyed very fargoing autonomy, but as pacification and integration of the area progressed, this was gradually abolished. (2) 1881 - 1905 The integration of the Caucasus into the Russian empire was achieved in the 1880's and consequently : - the Vicegerent was replaced by a kind of Governor General who only coordinated the activities of the different ministries, the "Head Chief of the Civil Administration of the Caucasus" - the still existing Caucasian administrations were absorbed by the Russian central ministries in 1883. 1905 - 1917 As a conseequence of the revolutionary and nationalist agitation - culminating in the Tiflis general strike and the so-called Armeno-Tatar war - the Caucasus was once again placed under a Vicegerent, with extraordinary powers, in 1905. __________________________________________________________________________________RUSSIAN CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
(not all ranks could be traced) Vicegerents of the Caucasus Namestniki Kavkaza [Also Commanders-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army Corps (until 1857), of the Caucasian Army (1857 - 1865), of the Caucasian Military District (since 1865) and since 1860 also Army Atamans of the Caucasian Cossack Armies] 1845 - 1854 InfGen. Knyaz Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov 1782 - 1856 Acting during his absence 1853 - 1854 CavGen. Nikolay Andreyevich Read 1792 - 1855 1854 - 1856 InfGen. Nikolay Nikolayevich Muravyev (since 1855 : Muravyev-Karsky) 1794 - 1866 Acting during his absence (on campaign) 1854 - 1855 CavGen. Nikolay Andreyevich Read s.a. 1856 - 1862 InfGen. (until 1859), then FieldMar. Knyaz Aleksandr Ivanovich Baryatinsky 1814 - 1879 1862 - 1881 GenFieldMar. Veliky Knyaz Mikhail Nikolayevich Romanov, son of Russian Emperor Nikolay I (1796 - 1855; r. 1825 - 1855) 1832 - 1909 Civilian Assistants Chief Directors of the Civil Administration on the Caucasus 1847 - 1857 Knyaz Vasily Osipovich Bebutov 1791 - 1858 Acting during his absence (on campaign) 1854 - 1855 CavGen. Nikolay Andreyevich Read s.a. 1857 - 1858 Alexis (Aleksey Fyodorovich) af Krusenstiern 1813 - 1887 Chiefs of the Main Administration of the Caucasus 1858 - 1863 Alexis (Aleksey Fyodorovich) af Krusenstiern s.a. 1863 - 1875 Alexander (Pavlovich), Friherre Nicolay 1821 - 1895 Chiefs of the Main Administration of the Viceroy 1875 - 1877 Pavel Nikolayevich Klushin 1814 - 1886 1878 - 1881 LtGen. Dmitry Semenovich Staroselsky 1832 - 1884 Military assistants of the Viceroy 1868 - 1880 LtGen. Knyaz Dmitry Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky 1826 - 1899 1880 - 1881 Knyaz Levan Ivanovich Melikov 1817 - 1892 Supreme Chiefs of the Civil Administration on the Caucasus Glavnonachalstvuyushchiy Grazhdanskoy Chastyu na Kavkaze (Also Commanders-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District and Army Atamans of the Caucasian Cossack Armies) 1882 - 1890 CavGen. Knyaz Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Dondukov-Korsakov 1822 - 1893 1890 - 1896 CavGen. Sergey Aleksandrovich Sheremetyev 1836 - 1896 1896 - 1904 InfGen. Knyaz Grigory Sergeyevich Golicyn 1835 - 1907 1904 - 1905 LtGen. Yakov Dmitriyevich Malama* 1841 - 1912 Civilian Assistant 1881 - 1884 LtGen.Dmitry Semenovich Staroselsky s.a. (office abolished after the integration of most of the last Caucasian administrations into the Russian ministries) Military assistants 1881 - 1884 none 1884 Knyaz Sergey Nikiforovich Trubeckoy 1829 - 1899 1884 - 1890 LtGen. Sergey Alekseyevich Sheremetyev s.a. 1890 - 1897 LtGen. Graf Ivan Dmitriyevich Tatishchev 1830 - 1913 1897 - 1904 LtGen. Aleksandr Alekseyevich Freese 1840 - 1904 - 1905 Ltgen. Yakov Dmitriyevich Malama s.a. Vicegerents on the Caucasus Namestniki na Kavkaze [Also Commanders-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District and Army Atamans of the Caucasian Cossack Armies (3)] 1905 - 1915 CavGen. Graf Illarion Ivanovich Vononcov-Dashkov 1837 - 1916 1915 - 1917 CavGen. Veliki Knyaz Nikolay Nikolayevich Romanov, grandson of Russian Emperor Nikolay I (s.a.) 1837 - 1929 Assistants for Civil Affairs 1905 Nikolay Aleksandrovich Sultan-Krym-Giray 1836 - 19.. 1906 - 1909 Justin Vasilyevich Mickevich 1841 - 19.. 1909 - 1913 Emanuil Aleksandrovich Vataci 1856 - 1920 1913 - 1915 Nikolay Leonidovich Peterson 18.. - 1920 1915 - 1917 Knyaz Vladimir Nikolayevich Orlov 1868 - 1927 Assistants for Military affairs 1905 - 1907 LtGen. Jakov Dmitriyevich Malama s.a. 1907 - 1913 LtGen. Nikolay Pavlovich Shatilov 1849 - 1913 - 1915 InfGen. Aleksandr Zakharevich Myshlayevsky 1856 - 1915 - 1917 InfGen. Nikolay Nikolayevich Yanushkevich 1868 - 1918 Leader of the Police in the Caucasus 1905 - 1917 Gen. Yevgeny Nikiforovich Shirinkin 1842 - ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES With the possible exception of the Armenian Melikates of Karabagh, the indigenous Caucasian polities - the Georgian Kingdoms and Principalities, the Azeri Khanates and the Northern Caucasian Khanates, Principalities, Village Confederations, etc - continued to exist under a regime of "indirect rule" - which can be compared to the one existing in British India - during the first times of Russian rule. Later they were however gradually integrated into the Russian state and by 1867 - when the Georgian Principality of Mingrelia was annexed - most had disappeared, only some minor non-Christian ones retaining some local selfgovernment under the tight supervision of Russian representatives or military commanders. (4) To supervise all these local Russian agents and to coordinate "native" politics a speciel civil administration was created within the office of the Quartermaster General of the Caucasian Army in 1859. A year later a separate "Chancery for the Administration of the Moantaineers" was established. In 1870 it was reorganized and became the "Caucasian Military Peoples Administration" and after the reforms of 1883 the office was reduced to a section within the personal Chancery of the Russian Chief Administrators. (All additional information concerning incumbents and structures is welcome) After the "February Revolution" of 1917 the Vicegerent left the Caucasus, leaving the area without a real central government. For the subsequent history of the Caucasus region see : - Northern Caucasus - Transcaucasia (both areas to be added) (2) Different independent vice regal offices were created between 1844 and 1858. In the later year they were united into a kind of council of government, the "Main Administration of the Caucasus". Among the different Caucasian offices were : - the Diplomatic Chancery (abolished 1868), - the Caucasian Army (integrated into the Russian military system in 1865), - the Administrations of Education, of Finances, of Mining, etc ..., - the Administration of Colonization by Foreign Colonists (= Germans) in the Caucasus and in Transcaucasia, (all integrated into the Russian Ministries in 1883) (3) In 1915 Veliky Knyaz Nikolay Nikolayevich Romanov also became Commander-in -Chief of the Caucasian Front. He was replaced as commander of the district by Gen. Sigismund (Viktorovich) Jelita von Wolsky (1852 - 19..) (4) With the notable exception of the Buddhist Kalmuck/Kalmyk - who were under the Caucasian authorities from 1840 to 1899 - all these communities were Muslim. Among them were : - in Northern Caucasia : the Balkar, the Chechen, the Nogai, etc - in Southern Caucasia and Central Asia : the Osmanli Turk (since 1878), the Osset, the Turkmen (from 1881 to 1890), etc As to suppressed polities like the Georgian Kingdoms and the Azeri Khanates, all that remained of their former structure was their nobility, who was integrated into the Russian nobility and toke service in the Russian army and administration.
HOME INDEX