The Kuban People's Republic

On February 16, 1918, however, the Kuban Rada (Council) proclaimed the independence of the Kuban People's Republic from Bolshevik Russia. A few days after the closing of the sessions, the members of the Council voted for a resolution to join the Kuban under a federal structure with Ukraine under the conservative Skoropadsky government.

During the Russian Empire, the region of the Kuban was a Cossack territory. Like many similar provinces, its demographics constituted several differences from ordinary Russian regions. The western parts belonged to the descendants of the Black Sea Cossack Host from Ukraine in 1792. The southern and eastern regions were made from the Caucasus Line Cossack Host, descendants of the Don Cossacks.

Historically, the Kuban Cossacks were formed to guard the Russian borders from the Mountain peoples which caused the Caucasus War that lasted for six decades up until 1860. In addition, during many wars, Cossacks sent large army contingents to fight alongside the Imperial Russian Army; moreover it was the Kuban Cossacks that made the Tsar's personal bodyguard. In return for such loyalty, they lived free from taxes in a semi-independent way with various privileges. The military nature of their lifestyle was also mirrored in the administration of the region, where stanitsa settlements were in place of traditional Russian villages, and had much more autonomy such as the election of a local Ataman, or commander.

With the October Revolution the people of the Kuban found themselves divided among several groups. The large non-Cossack peasants were infiltrated and influenced by the Bolsheviks and proclaimed a Kuban Soviet Republic, which dispersed the Council. On February 16, 1918, however, the Kuban Rada (Council) proclaimed the independence of the Kuban People's Republic from Bolshevik Russia. A few days after the closing of the sessions, the members of the Council voted for a resolution to join the Kuban under a federal structure with Ukraine under the conservative Skoropadsky government.

Thus, the Kuban People's Republic  was an anti-Bolshevik state that comprised the territory of the Kuban in the modern-day Russian Federation.  The republic was proclaimed by the Kuban Council (Rada) on January 28, 1918 and declared its independence on February 16. The Kuban People's Republic would include all territory of the former Kuban Oblast of the Russian Empire. It was crushed 7 November 1919 and existed for a period of 1 year 9 months.


Related post: Ethnographic map of Ukraine. 1949