The formation and crisis of the Cossack statehood on the Terek (1917 - early 1918)

The article highlights the creation of state structures on the territory of the Terek Cossack troops after the victory of the February Revolution of 1917. It analyzes the nature of the Cossack statehood and its place in the structure of the government bodies in the Terek region, traces the evolution of the power institutions of the Troops during the period of spring 1917 - spring 1918, reveals the causes of the systemic crisis which broke out in the Terek Cossacks in early 1918 and resulted in a temporary collapse of the military statehood institutions. The results of the study indicated that the seizure of power by Bolsheviks in October 1917 in Petrograd became a convenient excuse for the Cossack elite, who were seeking to expand their political rights, to stand apart from the rest of Russia, declaring their non-recognition of the Council of People's Commissars. However, the increasing social and national contradictions between the Terek Cossacks on the one hand and the highlanders on the other hand, and the need for unity of all anti-Bolshevik forces, forced the Cossack elite in early December 1917 to cede partially their acquired sovereignty and to recognize the supreme power of the Terek-Dagestan government. This decision was perceived negatively by the Cossack radicals, whose positions prevailed in Mozdok and Sunzha departments. As a result, in December 1917 - February 1918 the Terek Cossack army had an acute political crisis, which caused the resignation of the Military government, the death of two military chieftains, the split within the Cossack elite and, as a consequence, paralysis and disintegration of all governmental institutions created by Cossacks in spring of 1917. All this resulted in a temporary fall of the political significance of the Terek Cossacks in spring 1918 and the establishment of Soviet power throughout the Terek region.