Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. It began on April 28, 1920, after the Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan. During its first two years, it operated as an independent country before joining the Transcaucasian SFSR together with the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR.

In December 1922, the Transcaucasian SFSR became part of the Soviet Union. The constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was approved in March 1937. In February 1991, the Azerbaijan SSR changed its name to the Republic of Azerbaijan. It stayed part of the USSR until declaring independence in October 1991. The old constitution stopped being used in 1995 when a new one was adopted for Azerbaijan.

Etymology

The name "Azerbaijan" comes from the words meaning "Land of Atropates," a king from long ago. This name was chosen in 1918 to replace older names used by the Russians.

When the area became part of the Soviet Union, it was called the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic. Later, it was known as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. After gaining independence in 1991, it became the Republic of Azerbaijan, a name that continues today.

History

Main article: History of Azerbaijan

Establishment

Main article: Armenian–Azerbaijani War

The Azerbaijan SSR started on 28 April 1920 after the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gave in to local leaders and soldiers from Russia.

On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed a treaty with Turkey called the Treaty of Kars. The area of Nakhcivan became an autonomous ASSR inside Azerbaijan because of this treaty.

Transcaucasian SFSR

Main article: Transcaucasian SFSR

On 12 March 1922 the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia made a group called the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (TSFSR). This was the first try to join Soviet republics together. The leaders of the three republics were Nariman Narimanov (Azerbaijan), Polikarp Mdivani (Georgia), and Aleksandr Fyodorovich Miasnikyan (Armenia). The leader of the Transcaucasian Communist Party was Sergo Ordzhonikidze.

In December 1922 TSFSR decided to join with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. But in December 1936, the Transcaucasian Union ended when the leaders could not agree on some things. Then Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia each became a republic of the Soviet Union by itself.

Economy and development

In spring 1921, the government changed from using old groups to using Soviets. To help Azerbaijan’s oil industry grow, the government gave it what it needed right away. New oil fields like Ilyich bay, Qaraçuxur, Lökbatan and Qala were found. By 1929, a big movement to farm together had started and Azerbaijan became the second Soviet tea maker after the Georgian SSR. On 31 March 1931, the oil industry of the Azerbaijan SSR got the Order of Lenin because it made more than 60% of all Soviet oil at that time. The republic got a second Order on 15 March 1935 for its 15th birthday. By the end of the second five-year plan (1933–1937) Azerbaijan became the 3rd republic in the Soviet Union by how much it spent to build things.^{[citation needed]}

World War II

From 17 September 1939 to 21 June 1941, Nazi Germany bought oil from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic because of an agreement and good trade.

This changed when Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. In the first year of the war, Azerbaijan made 23.5 million tons of oil—a record for its oil industry. By the end of 1941, thousands of Azerbaijanis had joined volunteer groups. Everyone worked harder, especially in the oil fields. A week after the war started, oil workers decided to work 12-hour shifts with no days off until the war ended.

In September 1942, Hitler’s generals gave him a big cake showing the Caspian Sea and Baku. Baku became the main goal of Hitler’s 1942 attack. This attack did not work. The German army got to the mountains of the Caucasus, but lost badly at the Battle of Stalingrad and had to leave, giving up all hopes for controlling the area. In 1942, Azerbaijan also became the second-largest tea maker for the Soviet Army. Because of a rule in February 1942, more than 500 workers and employees in Azerbaijan’s oil industry got awards and medals. Of the about 600,000 Azerbaijanis who joined the Soviet Army during the war, 290,000 did not come back.

Post-war period

Main article: Azerbaijan People's Government

An important event for people on both sides of the border was when the Soviet Union took over Iranian Azerbaijan in the summer of 1941. The Soviet soldiers being south of the Aras River made people in Azerbaijan feel more connected. During the occupation, the Azerbaijani language was helped to grow again with support from writers, reporters, and teachers from Soviet Azerbaijan. In November 1945, with Soviet help, an autonomous “Azerbaijan People's Government” was started at Tabriz under Jafar Pishevari, the leader of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party. Schools and culture grew in Iranian Azerbaijan, and people thought maybe the two Azerbaijani republics could join under Soviet control. But it turned out that the issue of Iranian Azerbaijan became one of the first problems of the Cold War, and under pressure from Western countries, the Soviet army left. The Iranian government took back control over Iranian Azerbaijan by the end of 1946 and the leaders of the Democratic Party went to Soviet Azerbaijan. Jafar Pishevari, who was not fully trusted by Stalin, died under strange circumstances.

Apart from the Oil Rocks, Azerbaijan’s first offshore oil field opened in the early 1950s. Changes in rules and better times after the 1950s led to better schools and living conditions for most people in Azerbaijan. This also was when the country started growing fast and making more things. During this time, a new push against religion and a return to a rule of making all people of the USSR into one new Soviet nation happened.

Pre-secession

In the 1960s, problems in the Soviet system started to show up. Azerbaijan’s important oil industry lost importance in the Soviet economy, partly because oil was found in other places and partly because the oil that could be reached from land ran out, while offshore oil was not thought to cost too much. Because of this, Azerbaijan had the slowest growth in making things and earning money among the Soviet republics, only Tajikistan was slower. Tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis grew, but the fighting was stopped. To try to fix these problems, the government in Moscow chose Heydar Aliyev to lead the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev made things a little better and started other industries like cotton besides oil. He also made the leaders of the republic mostly ethnic Azerbaijanis, changing the old way of making everyone into one new Soviet nation. In 1982 Aliyev became a member of the Communist Party's Politburo in Moscow. In 1987, when Mikhail Gorbachev started his changes called perestroika, Aliyev had to leave because he did not agree with Gorbachev’s ideas.^{[citation needed]}

Secession

The late 1980s, during Gorbachev’s time, were busy with unrest in the Caucasus, starting with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The fighting showed that the Communist Party was not good at protecting people’s interests and, because of glasnost, free newspapers and political groups started to appear. The most famous group was the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which by the fall of 1989 had many people supporting it. The group wanted to leave the USSR.^{[citation needed]}

The unrest got worse when the Red army tried to stop the calls for leaving. At least 132 people were killed and other people in Baku were hurt on 20 January 1990.^{[citation needed]}

Azerbaijan joined a vote to keep the union together but with different rules. The vote passed with 93.3% of the votes that were counted. The Armenian SSR did not join the vote. The Supreme Soviet of the exclave of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic also decided not to join the vote. The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party said that only 15% of people had joined the vote.

The “Treaty of the Union of Sovereign States” did not get approved because the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt made Soviet Socialist Republics say they wanted to leave between August and December. Azerbaijan said it would leave on 18 October 1991. The Soviet Union finally ended on 26 December 1991. Shortly before that, the Azerbaijan SSR joined the Commonwealth of Independent States.

By the end of 1991 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh had become a big war, which ended in a stop in 1994 that lasted until the 21st century. Azerbaijan did well in the war of 2020 and a big attack in 2023 brought back the land Azerbaijan had as a Soviet Republic.

Government

On 28 April 1920, a new group took control of the country and formed a government called the Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan SSR.

Later, a new rule book was approved, and a new group was chosen to make important decisions. In 1937, this group changed again to a new one called the Supreme Soviet.

Heads of state

• Sergey Kirov (1921–1926)
• Levon Mirzoyan (1926–1929)
• Ruhulla Akhundov (1925–1926)
• Mir Jafar Baghirov (1933–1953)
• Imam Mustafayev (1954–1959)
• Veli Akhundov (1959–1969)
• Heydar Aliyev (1969–1982)
• Kamran Baghirov (1982–1988)
• Abdurrahman Vazirov (1988–1990)
• Ayaz Mutallibov (1990–1991)

Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee

• Mukhtar Gajiyev (1921–1922)
• Samed Aliyev (1922–1929)
• Gazanfar Musabekov (1929–1931)
• Sultan Medjid Efendiev (1932–1937)
• Mir Bashir Gasimov (1937–1938)

Chairperson of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

Main article: Chairperson of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

President of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

• Ayaz Mutallibov (1990–1991)

Military

Before it became independent, Azerbaijan had more than 60,000 soldiers from the Soviet Union stationed there. These soldiers were part of different groups like the army, air force, and navy. The main army group was called the 4th Army and was based in Baku. It included several important units spread across places like Ganja, Lenkaran, Baku, and Nakhchivan. There was also a special school in Baku to train soldiers.