Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist Respublikası, in Cyrillic alphabet: Азәрбаjҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы; Russian: Азербайджанская Советская Социалистическая Республика, often shortened to АССР) was the name given to Azerbaijan when it was part of the Soviet Union from 1936 to 1991.

Established as a Soviet Socialist Republic on April 28 1920, from March 12 1922 to December 5 1936 it was part of the Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic together with the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR. The constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was approved by the 9th Extraordinary All-Azeri Congress of Soviets on March 14, 1937. On November 19 1990 it was renamed into Republic of Azerbaijan, remaining in the USSR for a year before independence.

Government

Chairmen of the Supreme Council and the Presidium of the Supreme Council

Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee

Mukhtar Gajiyev (1921-1922)
Samed Aliyev (1922-1929)
Gazanfar Musabekov (1929-1931)
Sultan-Mejid Efendiyev (1932-1937)
Mir Bashir Kasumov (1937-1938)

Military

Under the military structure of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan shortly before gaining independence was host to over 60,000 Soviet military personnel deployed throughout the country in units of the Ground Forces, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, and Navy. The primary combat formation of Ground Forces in Azerbaijan was the Soviet 4th Army, which housed its headquarters and various support units in Baku. In addition to the independent surface-to-air missile (SAM), artillery, and SCUD brigades, the principal combat elements of the Fourth Army were the 23rd (Ganja), 295th (Lenkoran), 60th (Baku) and 75th (Nakhichivan) motorized rifle divisions (MRD), and the Ganja Helicopter Assault Regiment (Mi-24 Hinds and Mi-8 Hips). The only ground forces training establishment in Azerbaijan was the Combined Arms Command School at Baku.

History

Development

In the spring of 1921 a general change-over from revkoms and kombeds to Soviets took place. In order to help the Azeri oil industry the Supreme Council of the National Economy decided in the same year to provide it with everything necessary out of turn. The new oilfields, like Ilyich Bay, Qara-Chukhur, Lok-Batan and Kala have been discovered. In 1929 a great kolkhoz movement have developed and Azerbaijan became the second Soviet tea producer after the Georgian SSR for the first time. On March 31, 1931 the oil industry of the Azerbaijan SSR, which supplied over 60% of the total Soviet oil production at the time, was awarded the Order of Lenin. The republic gained the second Order on March 15, 1935 during the observation of the 15th anniversary. At the end of the second five-year plan (1933-1937) Azerbaijan appeared on the 3rd place in the Soviet Union by the capital investment size.

Soviet-German War

In April, 1940 intelligence flights by the British and French Air Forces did fly over the Absheron Peninsula. In the first year of the Soviet-German War, Azerbaijan produced 25,4 million tons of oil - a record for the entire history of its oil industry. Meanwhile Great Britain and France seriously considered the possibility of bombing the Republic's oil fields. By the end of 1941, thousands of Azeris had joined the so-called People's Voluntary Corps. Mobilization affected all spheres of life, particularly the oil industries. A week after fighting began, the oil workers themselves took the initiative to extend their work to 12-hour shifts, with no days off, no holidays, and no vacations until the end of the war. Meanwhile in September 1942 Hitler's generals presented him with a large decorated cake which depicted the Caspian Sea and Baku. In 1942 Azerbaijan became the second largest tea producer of the Soviet Army. By the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in February of 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan was awarded orders and medals. Of the estimated 700,000 Azeris who were recruited into the Soviet Army, 400,000 never returned home.

The post-war period

Apart from the Oil Rocks, Azerbaijan's first offshore field was opened in the early 50s.

References

История государства и права Азербайджанской ССР. Б., Академия наук ССР, 1964.
Гражданский кодекс Азербайджанской ССР. Б., Верховный совет, 1964.
Madatov, G. Azerbaijan During the Great Patriotic War. Baku, 1975.
Независимая газета, 12 August 1992, pp. 1-2.

External links

History of Azerbaijan | Soviet Republics

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