Centrocaspian Dictatorship

Central-Caspian Dictatorship Centro-Caspian Dictatorship
Диктатура Центрокаспия
Unrecognized state
1918
Flag
Capital		Baku
Government		Dictatorship
Historical era		World War I
•	Established	July 26, 1918
•	Battle of Baku	Aug 26 – Sep 14, 1918
•	Fall of Baku	September 15, 1918
•	Armistice of Mudros	October 30, 1918
Preceded by Succeeded by Russian SFSR Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

The Central-Caspian Dictatorship (Russian: Диктатура Центрокаспия, Diktatura Tsentrokaspiya), or the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, was a short-lived anti-Soviet administration proclaimed in the city of Baku during World War I. Created from an alliance of Russian Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and the Dashnaks, it replaced the Bolshevik Baku Commune in a bloodless coup d'état on July 26, 1918, and fell on September 15, 1918, when Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces captured Baku.

Background

The Central-Caspian Dictatorship asked for British help in order to stop the advancing Ottoman Army of Islam that was marching towards Baku. A small British force under General Lionel Dunsterville was sent to Baku and helped the mainly Dashnak-Armenian forces to defend the capital during the Battle of Baku. However, Baku fell on September 15, 1918 and an Azerbaijani-Ottoman army entered the capital, causing British forces to evacuate and much of the Armenian population to flee. After the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, a British occupational force re-entered Baku.