ABSTRACT
The chaotic and fluid period of the Russian Revolution and Civil War provided a brief opportunity for diverse ethnic groups of the former Empire to assert demands for and struggle to realize their individual national aspirations. The collapse of the Romanov Dynasty had shattered the power structure required to hold together the multinational state. The different ethnic groups viewed their participation in the Civil War as a means to fulfill their own national goals. When the Imperial Army collapsed, many nationalities formed their own units to defend and achieve independence for their native territories. The bloody Civil War was played out in an unending series of temporary agreements, betrayals, broken promises, and alliance reversals between the Reds and Whites and the various ethnic groups that sided with them. In the Transcaucasus, national units fought to realize specific national goals and do not appear to have collaborated in the establishment of Soviet power in the respective territories.
