Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic

{{Short description|Soviet republic from 1922 to 1936}} {{Infobox country | conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic | native_name = <div style="padding-top:0.4em; font-weight:normal; font-size: 85%;">{{plainlist| * {{langx|hy|Անդրկովկասի Խորհրդային Սոցիալիստական Դաշնային (Ֆեդերատիվ) Հանրապետություն}} ''Andrkovkasi Khorhrdayin Soc'ialistakan Dashnayin (Federativ) Hanrapetut'yun'' * {{langx|az|{{noitalic| Zaqafqaziya Sosialist Federativ Sovet Respublikası}}}} زاقافقازیا اجتماعی فدراتیو شورا جمهوریتی * {{lang-ka|{{noitalic|ამიერკავკასიის საბჭოთა ფედერაციული სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა}}}} ''Amierk'avk'asiis Sabch'ota Pederatsiuli Sotsialist'uri Resp'ublik'a'' * {{langx|ru|Закавказская Социалистическая Федеративная Советская Республика}} ''Zakavkazskaya Sotsalisticheskaya Federativnaya Sovetskaya Respublika'' }}</div> | image_flag = Flag of the Transcaucasian SFSR (variant).svg | flag_type = Flag<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.vexillographia.ru/zsfsr/zsfsr.htm | title=закавказская федерация }}</ref> (1925–1936) | image_coat = Emblem of the Transcaucasian SFSR (1930-1936).svg | symbol_type = Emblem (1930–1936) | national_anthem = {{lang|ru|Интернационал}} "The Internationale" {{parabr}}{{center|}} | image_map = Transcaucasian SFSR in Soviet Union.svg | image_map_caption = Location of the Transcaucasian SFSR (red) within the Soviet Union | status = '''1922:''' Condominium state '''1922–1936''': Union Republic of the Soviet Union | capital = Tiflis (Tbilisi) | common_languages = Armenian Azerbaijani Georgian Russian | ethnic_groups = 30.7% Georgians 28.2% Azerbaijanis 22.7% Armenians 5.7% Russians 5.2% Iranian peoples 1.1% Jews 1.0% Lezgic peoples 1.0% Greeks 1.0% Abkhazians 3.4% Others | ethnic_groups_year = 1926 | demonym = Transcaucasian | government_type = Federal communist state | legislature = All-Caucasian Congress of Soviets | area_km2 = 186,043 | percent_water = 1.49% | date_start = 12 March | year_start = 1922 | event1 = Admitted to the Soviet Union | date_event1 = 30 December 1922 | date_end = 5 December | area_water_km2 = 2,785 | year_end = 1936 | currency = Transcaucasian rouble, Soviet rouble | p1 = Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia{{!}}SSR Abkhazia | p2 = South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast{{!}}South Ossetian AO | p3 = Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Armenian SSR | p4 = Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Azerbaijan SSR | p5 = Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Georgian SSR | s1 = Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Abkhaz ASSR | s2 = South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast{{!}}South Ossetian AO | s3 = Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Armenian SSR | s4 = Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Azerbaijan SSR | s5 = Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Georgian SSR | flag_p1 = Flag of the SSR Abkhazia.svg | flag_p3 = Flag of SSRA.svg | flag_p4 = Flag of Azerbaijan SSR (1921-1922).svg | flag_p5 = Flag of Georgian SSR (1921-1922).svg | flag_s1 = Flag of the SSR Abkhazia.svg | flag_s3 = Flag of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1940).svg | flag_s4 = Flag of Azerbaijan SSR (1937-1940).svg | flag_s5 = Flag of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1922–1937).svg | today = {{tree list}} * Armenia * Azerbaijan * Georgia ** ''Abkhazia'' ** ''South Ossetia'' {{tree list/end}} }}

The '''Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic''' ('''Transcaucasian SFSR''' or '''TSFSR'''), also known as the '''Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic''', or simply '''Transcaucasia''', was a republic of the Soviet Union that existed from 1922 to 1936.

The TSFSR comprised Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, traditionally known as the "Transcaucasian Republics" as they were separated from Russia by the Caucasus Mountains.<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Transcaucasia | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date=August 19, 2025 | author=Solomon Ilich Bruk | url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Transcaucasia}}</ref> It was created in March 1922 to unify the region following a Soviet invasion two years prior, and was one of the four republics to sign the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics establishing the Soviet Union in December 1922. The TSFSR was dissolved upon the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution and its constituent republics were elevated individually to republics of the Soviet Union.<ref name="BSE">[http://bse.chemport.ru/zakavkazskaya_federatsiya.shtml Закавказская федерация] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925080238/http://bse.chemport.ru/zakavkazskaya_federatsiya.shtml |date=2015-09-25 }}. ''Большая советская энциклопедия'', 3-е изд., гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. Москва: Советская энциклопедия, 1972. Т. 9 ({{cite book| section = Transcaucasian Federation | title = Great Soviet Encyclopedia | editor = A. M. Prokhorov| language = ru | publisher = Soviet Encyclopedia | publication-place = Moscow | year = 1972 | volume = 9|display-editors=etal}})</ref>

== History == The roots of a Transcaucasian condominium state trace back to the dissolution of the Russian Empire in 1918, following the October Revolution, when the provinces of the Caucasus seceded and formed their own state called the Transcaucasian Federation. Competing ethno-national interests and confrontation with the Ottoman Empire in World War I led to the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Federation only two months later, in April 1918.<ref>{{harvnb|Suny|1994|pp=191–192}}</ref> The three successor states—the First Republic of Armenia, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia<ref name="Suny 245">{{harvnb|Suny|1994|p=245}}</ref>—lasted until 1920, when they were invaded by the Red Army and sovietized during the Armenian–Azerbaijani war. The Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian Soviet Socialist Republics took the place of their respective nations.<ref name="BSE" />

The Soviets subsequently saw need for economic, military, and political unification of the region to fight against the imperialists in the ongoing Russian Civil War and to defend against counterrevolutionary remnants from the 1920 invasion, in addition to helping restore the region's economy and eliminate interethnic tensions.<ref name="BSE" /> Following a proposal by Vladimir Lenin, the three Soviet Republics were united into the '''Federative Union of Socialist Soviet Republics of Transcaucasia''' on 12 March 1922. On 13 December that year, the First All-Caucasian Congress of Soviets transformed this ''federation of states'' into a unified ''federal state'' and renamed it the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, though keeping formally the autonomy of its constituent republics. The congress also adopted the constitution, appointed the Central Executive Committee (the highest legislative body between congressional sessions), and the Council of People's Commissars (the government). Mamia Orakhelashvili, a Georgian Bolshevik leader, became the first chairman of the Transcaucasian SFSR's Council of People's Commissars.<ref name="Suny 245" /> Tbilisi was the capital of the republic.{{cn|date=April 2026}} [[File:Орден Трудового Красного Знамени Закавказской Советской Федеративной Социалистической Республики.jpg|thumb|Order of the Red Banner of Labour issued by the Transcaucasian SFSR, with Azerbaijani and Armenian scripts and imagery of a minecart and oil derrick.]] The republic became a founding member of the Soviet Union on 30 December along with the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved and divided again among the Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani SSRs.<ref name="BSE" />

== Autonomous republics within the TSFSR == thumb|Map of the Transcaucasian region during the Soviet era

After the Red Army invasion of Georgia, Abkhazia (an autonomous province within the Democratic Republic of Georgia) was declared a Soviet Republic. In March 1922, the Abkhaz Revolutionary committee renamed the region the SSR of Abkhazia. Despite the declaration of this new Soviet Republic, its relations with Georgia and Russia had yet to be formally settled.<ref>{{harvnb|Saparov|2015|pp=50–57}}</ref> On December 16, 1921, Abkhazia signed a treaty of alliance with the Georgian SSR codifying its status as a ''treaty republic'' (Russian: договорная республика). This agreement allowed the formation of an Abkhazia military while also establishing a political and financial union between the two Soviet republics. Thus, through Georgia, Abkhazia joined the TSFSR and was initially on an equal footing with the other republics of the federation.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewitt|1993|p=271}}</ref> On February 19, 1931, Abkhazia's republican status was downgraded to that of an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.<ref>{{harvnb|Blauvelt|2007|p=212}}</ref>

The Adjarian ASSR was established on July 16, 1921, within the Georgian SSR as a consequence of the Treaty of Kars. The treaty marking the end of the Caucasus Campaign in World War I provided for the division of the former Batum Oblast of the Kutais Governorate of the Russian Empire between Georgia and Turkey. According to the agreement the northern half with a significant Georgian Muslim population would become part of the Soviet Georgia but granted autonomy.{{cn|date=April 2026}}

Another autonomous republic was established in July 1920 in Nakhchivan, an area bordering Armenia, Turkey, and Iran, which was claimed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis. After the occupation of the region by the Red Army, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was declared with "close ties" to the Azerbaijani SSR. The Treaty of Moscow and the Treaty of Kars established the Nakhchivan region as an autonomous republic under the protection of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.<ref>[https://www.deutscharmenischegesellschaft.de/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Vertrag-von-Kars-23.-Oktober-1921.pdf Text of the Treaty of Kars]</ref>

== Heads of state == {{more citations needed|date=August 2013}} {| class="wikitable" |+ Chairs of the Union Council ! Name !! Dates !! Party |- | Nariman Narimanov || March–December 1922 || Communist Party of Azerbaijan |- | Polikarp Mdivani || March–December 1922 || Communist Party of Georgia |- | Aleksandr Myasnikyan || March–December 1922 || Communist Party of Armenia |- |}

{| class="wikitable" |+ Chairmen of the Presidium of the USSR CEC from TSFSR ! Name !! Dates !! Party |- | Nariman Narimanov || 1922–1925 || Communist Party of Azerbaijan |- | Gazanfar Musabekov || 1925–1938 || Communist Party of Azerbaijan |- |}

{| class="wikitable" |+ Chairs of the Central Executive Committee ! Name !! Period !! For |- | Mikhail Tskhakaya (1st time) || 1922–1927 ||Georgia |- | Samad aga Aliyev || 1922–1929 || Azerbaijan |- | Sarkis Hambartsumyan || 1922–1925 || Armenia |- | Sarkis Kasyan || 1927–1931 || Armenia |- | Filipp Makharadze (1st time) || 1927–1928 || Georgia |- | Mikhail Tskhakaya (2nd time) || 1928–1931 || Georgia |- | Gazanfar Musabekov || 1929–1931 || Azerbaijan |- | Filipp Makharadze (2nd time) || 1931–1935 || Georgia |- | Armenak Ananyan || 1931–1935 || Armenia |- | Sultan Majid Afandiyev || 1931–1936 || Azerbaijan |- | Sergo Martikyan || 1935–1936 || Armenia |- | Avel Enukidze || March–May 1935 || Georgia |- | Filipp Makharadze (3rd time) || 1935–1936 || Georgia |- |}

== Stamps and postal history == {{more citations needed section|date=July 2011}} Before 1923, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan each issued their own postage stamps. The Transcaucasian Federation began issuing its own stamps on September 15, 1923, and superseded the separate republics' issues on October 1.

The first issues consisted of some of the stamps of Russia and Armenia overprinted with a star containing the five-letter acronym of the Federation inside the points. Massive inflation having set in, this was followed by an issue of the Federation's own designs, four values of a view of oil fields, and four with a montage of Soviet symbols over mountains and oil derricks, values ranging from 40,000 to 500,000 Transcaucasian rubles. The 40,000 rubles and 75,000 rubles were then surcharged to 700,000 rubles. On October 24, the stamps were re-issued with values from 1 to 18 gold kopecks. Starting in 1924, the Federation used stamps of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stampworldhistory.com/country-profiles-2/asia/transcaucasia-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D1%8C%D0%B5/ |title= Transcaucasia | Stamps and postal history | StampWorldHistory|work= StampWorldHistory|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171214163509/http://www.stampworldhistory.com/country-profiles-2/asia/transcaucasia-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D1%8C%D0%B5/|access-date=12 August 2018|archive-date= 2017-12-14}}{{title missing|date=May 2022}}</ref> <gallery> Transcaucasia 1923 CPA 2 stamp (Lesser Coat of Arms of Russian Empire. Star with 'ZSFSR' handstamped).jpg|A 1923 stamp overprinted on the stamp of the Russian Empire Transcaucasia 1923 CPA 6 stamp (Lesser Coat of Arms of Russian Empire. Star with 'ZSFSR' handstamped).jpg|A 1923 stamp overprinted on the stamp of the Democratic Republic of Armenia File:Transcaucasia 1923 CPA 8 stamp (Oil derricks, mounts Ararat and Elbrus, rising sun, Soviet symbols - hammer and sickle, red star).jpg|1923 40,000-rouble stamp File:Transcaucasia 1923 CPA 19 stamp (oil derricks, mounts Ararat and Elbrus, rising sun, Soviet symbols - hammer and sickle, red star, star and crescent).jpg|1923 two-kopeck stamp </gallery>

Most of the stamps of the Federation are not especially rare today, with 1998 prices in the US$1–2 range, although the overprints on Armenian stamps range up to US$200.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} As might be expected from a short period of usage, used stamps are less common than unused and covers are not often seen.

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{Citation|last=Blauvelt|first=Timothy|date=May 2007|title=Abkhazia: Patronage and Power in the Stalin Era|journal=Nationalities Papers|volume=35|issue=2|pages=203–232|doi=10.1080/00905990701254318|s2cid=128803263 }} * {{Citation|last=Forestier-Peyrat|first=Etienne|date=January 2018|title=Soviet Federalism at Work: Lessons from the History of the Transcaucasian Federation, 1922–1936|journal=Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas|volume=65|issue=4|pages=529–559|doi=10.25162/jgo-2017-0020 |s2cid=252457317 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01783416 }} * {{Citation|last=Hewitt|first=B.G.|date=1993|title=Abkhazia: a problem of identity and ownership|journal=Central Asian Survey|volume=12|issue=3|pages=267–323|doi=10.1080/02634939308400819}} * {{Citation|last=Lang|first=David Marshall|author-link=David Marshall Lang|year=1962|title=A History of Modern Georgia|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|location=London}} * {{Citation|last=Saparov|first=Arsène|year=2015|title=From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh|publisher=Routledge|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-41-565802-7}} * {{Citation|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny|year=1994|title=The Making of the Georgian Nation|edition=Second|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana}}

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