Far Eastern Republic

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Borders of the Far Eastern Republic - in orange (map based on oblasts)

Flag of the Far Eastern Republic

The Far Eastern Republic (Russian: Дальневосто́чная Респу́блика (ДВР); English transliteration: Dalnevostochnaya Respublika (DVR)) sometimes called Chita Republic was a nominally independent state established at Blagoveshchensk, covering the former Russian Far East and Siberia east of Lake Baikal on April 6, 1920. Although nominally independent, it was largely controlled by the RSFSR. It is briefly mentioned in Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago.

After the Japanese evacuated Vladivostok, on November 15, 1922, the Far Eastern Republic was merged with the RSFSR.

It occupied the territory of modern Chita Oblast, Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai of Russia (was: Transbaikal, Amur, and Primorsky oblasts). Before October 1920, its capital was Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude), and after that date it was Chita.

1 History
2 Territory
3 Modern era
4 Postage stamps
5 See also
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] History

The first president was Alexander Krasnoshchekov. The state was created with the tacit support of the new Russian Bolshevik government for reasons of external politics, as a buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan. In this conflict an army of 70,000 Japanese mostly supported the White Army. Japan already controlled Vladivostok and parts of the Pacific coast, as well as the Chinese borderlands occupied since 1918. During 1920-1922, the Japanese forces gradually withdrew from Eastern Siberia.
Initially the Far Eastern Republic comprised only the area around Verkhne-Udinsk, but during the Summer of 1920, the Soviet government of the Amur territory agreed to join. Ataman Grigori Semenov was evicted from his lair in Chita in October 1920, and in December 1920 the coastal provinces with the important city of Vladivostok finally joined the Far Eastern Republic as well. Japan kept the northern half of Sakhalin Island occupied until 1925, as compensation for the massacre of Japanese civilians in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur in 1920.
In 1921, a White coup in Vladivostok and environs caused that area to break away from the Far Eastern Republic, surviving behind a cordon sanitaire of Japanese troops as the Provisional Government of the Priamur. Its leaders, the Merkulov brothers, were deposed in June 1922 and replaced by one of Kolchak's generals, General Diterikhs. All to no avail, as the army of the Far Eastern Republic retook the territory of this last White enclave, ending with the fall of Vladivostok on 25 October 1922.
The reunion of the Far Eastern Republic was short-lived, as its government asked to be admitted to the RSFSR soon after. On 15 November 1922 the Far Eastern Republic was absorbed by Soviet Russia.

[edit] Territory

The frontiers of the Far Eastern Republic followed the western coastline of Lake Baikal along the nortern borders of Mongolia and China (similar to the Amur-Primorsky Krai-Manchuria frontier lines) and reached the Chukchi and Kamchatka peninsulas. They were, however, often the subject of White and Japanese military intervention during this period. The Buryat lands were divided between Russia and Far Eastern Republic: the western part was under Russian rule, while the eastern portion fell under Far Eastern authority.

[edit] Modern era

After the fall of Soviet Union, the coastal regions, including the capital of the Russian Far-East region, Khabarovsk and the economic center Vladivostok, saw a renewal of regionalist and even separatist efforts, pushing for greater decentralization of authority from the distant capital Moscow.[1]

[edit] Postage stamps

1922 20-kopeck value postal stamp printed at Chita

The Far Eastern Republic issued a number of postage stamps during its brief existence. The first stamps were issued in late 1920 for local usage only in the coastal provinces, and consisted of overprints of Imperial Russian issues, later joined by 4 stamps of an original design. Other areas continued to use locally issued stamps well into 1921, such as the Semenov surcharges in Chita, and the Blagoveshchensk issue in the Amur Oblast. The central government in Chita issued a definitive set in 1921-1922 which was widely used throughout the Russian Far East up to February 1924.

After Vladivostok and its surroundings split off from the Far Eastern Republic in May 1921, various locally overprinted stamps were issued there as well.

Several of these stamps were produced in large numbers, and are readily available today, while others are very rare. Genuine usages on cover are seldom seen for some issues, and somewhat scarce for most. Some alleged stamp issues of the Far Eastern Republic should be treated with caution, as there is no evidence they were ever postally used. These include the so-called Nikolaevsk-on-Amur issue and the 1923 Vladivostok Airmail issue. Fantasy issues also exist, such as the "Pribaikal" overprints.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

Die Fernöstliche Republik (1920–1922) – Ein staatlicher Ordnungsversuch zur Zeit des Russischen Bürgerkrieges. In: Harald Heppner/Eduard Staudinger (Hrsg.): Region und Umbruch 1918 – Zur Geschichte alternativer Ordnungsversuche. Frankfurt a. M. 2001 (German)
David Golinikow: Fiasko einer Konterrevolution – Das Scheitern antisowjetischer Verschwörungen in der UdSSR 1917–1925. Berlin 1982 (German)
W.P. Potjomkin (Hrsg.): Geschichte der Diplomatie, Zweiter Band (Die Diplomatie der Neuzeit, 1872–1919). Berlin/Leipzig 1948 (German)