During the civil war, many state formations arose on the fragments of the Russian Empire. Some of them were relatively viable and existed for decades, and some still exist today (Poland, Finland). The lifespan of others was limited to a few months, or even days. One such state formation that emerged from the ruins of the empire was the Far Eastern Republic (FER).
The history of the creation of the DVR
At the beginning of 1920, a rather difficult situation was developing in the Far East of the former Russian Empire. At that time, it was on this territory that the most important events of the Civil War took place. During the offensive of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) and the internal uprising, the so-called Russian state of Kolchak collapsed, with its capital in Omsk, which previously controlled most of Siberia and the Far East. The remnants of this formation took the name of the Russian Eastern Outskirts and concentrated their forces in eastern Transbaikalia, with a center in the city of Chita under the leadership of ataman Grigory Semenov.
In Vladivostok, the uprising supported by the Bolsheviks won. But the Soviet government was in no hurry to annex this region directly to the RSFSR, since there was a threat from a third force in the face of Japan, which officially expressed its neutrality. At the same time, it increased its military presence in the region, clearly making it clear that in the event of further advance of the Soviet state to the east, it would openly enter into armed confrontation with the Red Army.
Birth of the Far Eastern Republic
In order to avoid a direct clash between the forces of the Red Army and the Japanese army, the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center, which briefly seized power in Irkutsk in January 1920, already then put forward the idea of creating a buffer state in the Far East. Naturally, he assigned himself the leading role in it. The Bolsheviks also liked this idea, but at the head of the new state they saw only a government from among the members of the RCP (b). Under pressure from superior forces, the Political Center was forced to yield and transfer power in Irkutsk to the Military Revolutionary Committee.
Establishment of the Far Eastern Republic as a buffer state especially zealously tried to implement the chairman of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee Alexander Krasnoshchekov. To resolve the Far Eastern issue in March 1920, a special bureau was created under the RCP (b). In addition to Krasnoshchekov, the most prominent figures of the Dalburo were Alexander Shiryamov and Nikolai Goncharov. It was with their active assistance that on April 6, 1920 in Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude) a newpublic education - Far Eastern Republic.
People's Revolutionary Army
The creation of the Far Eastern Republic would have been impossible without the active support of Soviet Russia. In May 1920, she officially recognized the new public entity. Soon the central Moscow government began to provide the FER with comprehensive assistance, both political and economic. But the main thing at this stage in the development of the state was military support from the RSFSR. This type of assistance consisted, first of all, in the creation of the FER's own armed forces, the People's Revolutionary Army (NRA), on the basis of the East Siberian Soviet Army.
The creation of a buffer state took away the main trump card from Japan, which officially expressed its neutrality, and she was forced to begin withdrawing her formations from the Far East from July 3, 1920. This allowed the NRA to achieve significant success in the fight against hostile forces in the region, and thereby expand the territory of the Far Eastern Republic.
On October 22, Chita was occupied by the forces of the People's Revolutionary Army, hastily abandoned by Ataman Semyonov. Soon after that, the government of the Far Eastern Republic moved to this city from Verkhneudinsk.
After the Japanese left Khabarovsk, in the fall of 1920, a conference of representatives of the Trans-Baikal, Primorsky and Amur regions was held in Chita, at which a decision was made to include these territories into a single state - the Far East. Thus, by the end of 1920, the Far Eastern Republic controlled most of the Far East.
DVR device
The Far Eastern Republic during its existence had a different administrative-territorial structure. Initially, it included five regions: Trans-Baikal, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Amur and Primorskaya.
As for the authorities themselves, at the stage of state formation, the role of the administration of the FER was assumed by the constituent assembly elected in January 1921. It adopted the Constitution, according to which the People's Assembly was considered the supreme body of power. It was chosen by general democratic vote. Also, the Constituent Assembly appointed the Government headed by A. Krasnoshchekov, who was replaced by N. Matveev at the end of 1921.
White Guard rebellion
On January 26, 1921, the White Guard forces, with the support of Japan, overthrew the Bolshevik government in Vladivostok and thereby removed the region from the Far East. On the territory of the Primorsky region, the so-called Amur Zemstvo Territory was formed. Due to the further offensive of the white forces, by the end of 1921, Khabarovsk was torn away from the Far East.
But with the appointment of Blucher as Minister of War, things went much better for the Far Eastern Republic. A counter-offensive was organized, during which the Whites suffered a heavy defeat, lost Khabarovsk, and by the end of October 1922 they were completely driven out of the Far East.
The accession of the Far Eastern Republic to the Soviet state
Thus, the Far Eastern Republic (1920 - 1922) fully fulfilled its purpose as a buffer state, the formation of which did not give Japan a formal reason to enter into an open armed confrontation with the Red Army. Due to the expulsion of the White Guard troops from the Far East, the further existence of the FER became inexpedient. The question arose of joining this state entity to the RSFSR, which was done on November 15, 1922 on the basis of an appeal from the People's Assembly. The Far Eastern People's Republic ceased to exist.
