March Days
The March Days, occurring from 30 March to 2 April 1918 in Baku, Azerbaijan, consisted of intense urban clashes between Bolshevik-aligned forces—including Red Guards and Armenian Dashnak militias under the leadership of Commissar Stepan Shaumyan—and Azerbaijani Muslim nationalists primarily from the Musavat party, alongside other Muslim armed groups, culminating in the near-total expulsion or slaughter of the Muslim population from the city and the imposition of Bolshevik rule via the short-lived Baku Commune.[1] These events unfolded amid the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and fears of an advancing Ottoman army, with Bolsheviks exploiting ethnic divisions to consolidate power by allying with Dashnaks against perceived Muslim threats to Soviet authority and oil infrastructure control.[1] The violence erupted after provocations such as the disarming of Muslim military units and inflammatory rhetoric, rapidly escalating into street fighting that devastated Muslim neighborhoods, with Dashnak units conducting house-to-house killings and Bolshevik forces providing logistical support.[1] Casualties were disproportionately borne by Muslims, with contemporary investigations estimating around 12,000 killed in Baku itself and up to 24,000 in surrounding areas, though Bolshevik reports like Shaumyan's claimed only 3,000 total deaths across sides; hundreds of Bolsheviks and Dashnaks also perished.[1] The outcome entrenched the Baku Commune's dictatorship until its fall in July 1918, but the massacres left enduring ethnic scars, later framed by Soviet historiography as a proletarian uprising against bourgeois nationalists while Azerbaijani accounts document it as targeted ethnic cleansing supported by primary testimonies from an Extraordinary Investigation Commission.[1]Historical Context
Pre-Revolutionary Baku Society and Demographics
Baku's population underwent rapid expansion in the late imperial period, driven primarily by the burgeoning oil industry and its attendant economic opportunities. In 1863, the city counted approximately 14,500 residents, increasing to 111,904 by the 1897 census and reaching 214,672 by 1913.[2] This growth was accelerated by the relocation of the provincial center from Shamakhi to Baku following the 1859 earthquake, as well as influxes of labor migrants to the oil fields and refineries.[2] Demographically, pre-revolutionary Baku was a cosmopolitan hub with substantial ethnic diversity, reflecting its role as an industrial entrepôt. Turkish-speaking Muslims (chiefly Azerbaijanis) formed a core group concentrated in the historic Icherisheher Fortress and western districts, while Armenians, Russians, and other migrants predominated in the industrial northern zones and suburbs.[2] By 1909, the population neared 222,000, comprising a mix where Armenians and Russians each accounted for about one-third, alongside a significant Turkish-speaking element and smaller minorities such as Persians, Georgians, and Jews.[3] This multiethnic composition stemmed from waves of settlers attracted by oil-related employment, overlaying the city's longstanding Muslim substrate. Socially, the oil boom stratified Baku into distinct classes, with the industry dominating economic life and fostering both prosperity and tensions. A nascent bourgeoisie of Muslim industrialists, such as Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiev, coexisted with Armenian merchants, Russian administrators, and foreign capitalists who controlled much of the extraction and export infrastructure.[3] At the base lay a multinational proletariat of oil workers—drawn from local Muslims, Armenians, Russians, and Dagestanis—who endured harsh conditions, prompting early labor activism including strikes and the negotiation of Baku's first general labor contract in 1904.[3] By 1901, Baku produced over half the world's oil, underscoring its pivotal role in imperial Russia's economy and amplifying urban-rural divides, as well as ethnic occupational patterns where Armenians often dominated commerce and Muslims supplied much of the manual labor.[3]Russian Revolution's Impact on the Caucasus
The February Revolution of 1917 dismantled Tsarist administrative structures in the Caucasus, replacing centralized imperial control with the Provisional Government's Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom), which proved ineffective in maintaining order amid rising local initiatives. National political organizations proliferated, including the Georgian Mensheviks, Armenian Dashnaktsutyun, and Azerbaijani Musavat Party, each advocating for ethnic self-determination and autonomy as Russian garrisons disintegrated and economic disruptions from the war compounded social strains.[4] The October Revolution accelerated fragmentation by challenging non-Bolshevik elements, leading to the establishment of the Transcaucasian Commissariat on November 15, 1917, in Tiflis under Menshevik leadership as a bulwark against Bolshevik expansion from Petrograd. This provisional entity, comprising representatives from Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani factions, negotiated independently with the Ottoman Empire but failed to unify the region, as Bolshevik agitation in industrial hubs like Baku promoted class-based soviets over national assemblies.[4][5] In Baku, home to over 70% of Russia's oil production by 1917, the revolution empowered a Bolshevik-Armenian alliance under figures like Stepan Shaumyan, leveraging proletarian Russian and Armenian workers against the Azerbaijani Muslim majority, whose nationalist leanings clashed with internationalist rhetoric. The evacuation of Russian Caucasian Army units created a security vacuum, arming irregular militias and exacerbating pre-existing ethnic frictions rooted in 1905 pogroms, while Bolshevik nationalization efforts threatened Azerbaijani commercial interests in the oil sector.[6][7] Broader regional instability from the revolution's fallout, including the Bolsheviks' Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 ceding territories to the Ottomans, emboldened Turkish irredentism and intensified territorial disputes over areas like Nakhchivan and Karabakh, pitting Armenian claims against emerging Azerbaijani statehood aspirations. This power void, absent imperial arbitration, transformed ideological divides into armed standoffs, culminating in the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic's declaration of independence on April 22, 1918, before its rapid dissolution into separate republics amid mutual distrust.[8]Prelude to Conflict
Collapse of Russian Authority and Rise of Local Factions
The October Revolution of 1917 dismantled centralized Russian authority across the empire's peripheries, including Baku, where the provisional government's Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom) had already proven ineffective in maintaining order following the Tsar's abdication in March 1917 (February by the Julian calendar then in use). The Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd led to the rapid disintegration of the Russian military presence in the Caucasus; the once-substantial Caucasus Army, numbering around 320,000 men, dissolved amid mass desertions, with Lenin's November 1917 Decree on Peace accelerating the dispersal of troops and the distribution of their weapons to local groups. In Baku, the Russian garrison—primarily sailors from the Caspian flotilla and infantry units—totaled several thousand but became paralyzed by internal divisions, ideological agitation, and refusal to intervene in ethnic tensions, effectively ceding control to emerging local entities.[9][1] This power vacuum intensified after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, which mandated Russian withdrawal from the region and exposed Transcaucasia to Ottoman military pressure, prompting local actors to arm and organize independently. The Baku Soviet, established in the wake of the February Revolution, gained Bolshevik dominance under Stepan Shaumyan, appointed Extraordinary Commissar for the Caucasus by Lenin in December 1917; however, the Bolsheviks commanded limited native support, relying on alliances with internationalist socialists like Left Socialist Revolutionaries and, crucially, Armenian paramilitary units affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaks), who controlled significant arsenals from redistributed Russian stockpiles—estimated at tens of thousands of rifles.[9][1] Opposing these forces, Azerbaijani (then termed Muslim) nationalists coalesced around the Musavat Party, a secular democratic organization advocating for cultural and political autonomy within a federal Russia, which formed the National Council of Muslims of the South-Eastern Transcaucasia to represent communal interests. Musavat and allied groups, including more conservative Muslim factions, raised irregular units numbering in the low thousands, seizing approximately 15,000 rifles from Russian depots in January 1918 amid provincial clashes, to counter perceived threats from Armenian militias and Bolshevik disarmament demands. These factional mobilizations, fueled by ethnic demographics—Baku's population roughly balanced between Muslims (about 25,000-30,000), Armenians (similar numbers), and Russians/Jews—escalated rivalries over city governance, resource control, and defense against external incursions, setting the stage for direct confrontation.[9][1]Formation of the Baku Commune and Allied Forces
The Baku Soviet, established in the aftermath of the February Revolution and increasingly dominated by Bolsheviks after the October Revolution, served as the primary organ of local soviet power in the city. Stepan Shaumyan, appointed by Lenin as Extraordinary Commissar for Caucasus Affairs and arriving in Baku in late 1917, chaired the Soviet and pursued policies aimed at proletarian internationalism while navigating ethnic divisions. By early 1918, with the collapse of Russian imperial authority following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March, the Bolsheviks sought to assert control over Baku's oil resources and administration, facing resistance from Azerbaijani socialist and nationalist groups like Musavat and Hummet, which represented Muslim workers and elites.[1][10] To bolster their military weakness, the Bolsheviks and allied Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (SRs) entered a tactical coalition with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaksutyun), whose paramilitary units—numbering several thousand and battle-hardened from prior engagements—provided critical armed support. This alliance, formalized through joint commissions and mutual agreements in the Baku Soviet, pitted the socialist-Dashnak bloc against Muslim factions amid escalating strikes, protests, and disarmament demands in late March. The Dashnaks, prioritizing Armenian security against perceived Turkish and Muslim threats, contributed fighters and logistics, enabling the coalition to mobilize Red Guards (primarily Russian and Armenian workers) alongside irregular Armenian detachments for potential confrontation.[1][10][7] The coalition's efforts culminated in the establishment of the Baku Commune on 13 April 1918, shortly after the March Days violence had neutralized much Muslim opposition. Governed by a Council of People's Commissars led by Shaumyan and comprising 26 commissars (mostly Bolsheviks with Left SR and Dashnak representation), the Commune declared soviet rule, nationalizing industry and suppressing counter-revolutionary elements. Its allied forces, totaling around 20,000-30,000 including Red Guards, Dashnak legions, and sailor contingents from the Caspian Flotilla, enforced this authority, though internal frictions over nationality policies foreshadowed instability.[1][10][7]
Chronology of Events
Outbreak on 30 March 1918
On 29 March 1918, Bolshevik Red Guards confronted approximately 50 soldiers from the Muslim Savage Division at the Baku docks, firing on them during an attempt to disarm and detain the group, an action linked to the arrival of these troops via the steamship Evelina, which heightened fears among the Bolshevik-led Baku Soviet of an impending Muslim uprising.[1] This incident exacerbated longstanding ethnic tensions in Baku, where the Bolsheviks, under Commissar Stepan Shaumyan, had allied with Armenian Dashnak militias and Red Guards to maintain control amid the collapse of Russian imperial authority, while facing opposition from Azerbaijani nationalist groups like Musavat and local Muslim armed elements seeking greater autonomy.[1] Rumors circulated of Muslim plans to arm for massacres against Armenians and Bolsheviks, fueling preemptive actions by Soviet forces.[1] The outbreak of widespread violence occurred on the evening of 30 March 1918, when sporadic shots echoed across the city, rapidly escalating into coordinated attacks by Bolshevik and Dashnak units on Muslim neighborhoods.[1] By approximately 6 p.m., fighting engulfed central Baku, with armed clashes centering on key streets and quarters inhabited by Azerbaijanis and other Muslims, as Soviet-aligned forces moved to suppress perceived threats from Muslim militias.[11] Initial volleys reportedly originated from Armenian-Bolshevik positions, including possible ship-based fire from the Caspian Flotilla, targeting Azerbaijani areas and prompting disorganized Muslim resistance.[12] The Baku Soviet's disproportionate military advantage, including access to artillery and organized irregulars, allowed rapid dominance in the early hours, though Muslim groups mounted defenses in districts like Sabail and Ichari Shahar.[1] These initial engagements marked the start of the March Days, transforming political rivalries into inter-ethnic street fighting, with Bolshevik-Dashnak forces prioritizing the neutralization of Muslim political and military elements to secure oil-rich Baku against separatist challenges.[1] Eyewitness accounts from the period describe chaos spreading from the docks and Armenian-populated zones outward, as barricades formed and looting began in Muslim commercial areas, setting the stage for intensified combat over the following days.[1] The Soviet leadership's decision to deploy Dashnak auxiliaries, known for their paramilitary prowess, reflected a strategic calculus favoring alliance with Armenian nationalists over accommodation of Azerbaijani demands, despite mediation attempts by moderate socialists that proved futile.[1]Escalation from 31 March to 2 April
On 31 March 1918, Bolshevik forces under the Baku Soviet initiated escalated violence against Muslim neighborhoods by shelling key sites such as the Tazapir and Shah mosques using artillery from the Red Caspian Fleet.[1] Armenian Dashnak paramilitary units, supported by select Red Guards, launched targeted assaults on Muslim-held areas, transforming initial clashes into a coordinated pogrom.[1] Homes were systematically searched, residents herded into makeshift camps like police stations and cellars, and widespread looting and killings ensued in the Inner City and primary Muslim quarters.[1] Stepan Shaumyan, the Bolshevik commissar, later acknowledged exploiting the unrest to mount a "full-frontal" assault aimed at securing control.[1] The fighting on 31 March resulted in hundreds of deaths among Bolshevik and Dashnak combatants, but the Muslim population, predominantly civilians, suffered far heavier losses estimated at around 12,000 over the course of the events.[1] Eyewitness accounts described the assaults as a campaign of terror against non-combatants, with Dashnak forces bearing primary responsibility for ground-level atrocities.[1] This phase marked a shift from sporadic skirmishes to organized suppression, as Commune-aligned groups leveraged superior firepower and numerical advantages in urban combat.[1] From 1 to 2 April, the violence intensified with continued looting, torture, and executions perpetrated by Dashnak and Russian troops, leading to the burning of entire Muslim neighborhoods including the Ismailie district and the Kaspiia publishing house.[1] Muslim defenders, lacking equivalent armament, mounted desperate resistance but were overwhelmed, prompting surrenders among community elites by the morning of 2 April.[1] Bolshevik and Russian elements eventually intervened to curb the Dashnak-led excesses, halting the pogrom and consolidating the Baku Commune's authority over the city.[1] The escalation effectively dismantled organized Muslim opposition, paving the way for the Commune's brief dictatorship, though at the cost of approximately 24,000 total deaths across Baku and surrounding areas.[1]Casualties and Character of Violence
Demographic Impact and Mortality Estimates
The March Days of 1918 in Baku resulted in heavy casualties, predominantly among the Azerbaijani (then referred to as Muslim or Tatar) population, with estimates varying based on sources and methodologies. Historical analyses drawing from eyewitness accounts and contemporary reports indicate approximately 11,000 to 12,000 Azerbaijanis killed in the city over the four days of fighting from 30 March to 2 April.[13] Azerbaijani government and commemorative sources frequently cite higher figures of 20,000 to 30,000 deaths in Baku alone, attributing these to systematic killings by Armenian Dashnak and Bolshevik forces targeting civilian Muslim quarters.[12] These elevated estimates often encompass unrecovered bodies and extend to adjacent regions like Shamakhi, where additional massacres claimed 5,000 to 7,000 lives, contributing to a broader toll exceeding 20,000 across Azerbaijan in March-April 1918.[14] Armenian casualties during the events were comparatively limited, with reports suggesting around 200 to 500 deaths, primarily among Dashnak militias and Bolshevik supporters engaged in combat or reprisals.[13] The asymmetry in mortality reflects the one-sided nature of the violence after initial clashes, as Armenian-Bolshevik forces gained control and conducted house-to-house searches, burnings, and executions in Azerbaijani neighborhoods, while Bolshevik-led pacification efforts curtailed counter-violence.[15] Demographically, the massacres precipitated a profound shift in Baku's ethnic composition. Prior to 1918, Muslims constituted roughly 25-30% of the city's population of about 267,000 in 1913, concentrated in specific quarters. The killings and subsequent flight of survivors led to the near-depopulation of these areas, with tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis evacuating to rural regions or Ganja, reducing the Muslim share significantly by mid-1918. This exodus, compounded by property destruction in the Tatar mahallas, facilitated a temporary Armenian dominance in urban Baku until Ottoman intervention later that year, though long-term recovery occurred under the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Soviet rule. Recovery was partial, as fear and ongoing conflicts deterred full repatriation, marking the events as a pivotal ethnic realignment in the Caucasus oil capital.[16]| Source Type | Estimated Azerbaijani Deaths in Baku | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eyewitness-based historical accounts | 11,000-12,000 | Focus on verified bodies and testimonies; excludes missing persons.[13] |
| Azerbaijani official estimates | 20,000-30,000 | Includes broader regional impacts and unaccounted victims.[12] |
| Extended regional toll | Over 20,000 | Encompasses Shamakhi and other sites in March-April 1918.[14] |