The Pro-Azerbaijani Policy of the British Command (December 1918 – August 1919)
The Pro-Azerbaijani Policy of the British Command (December 1918 – August 1919)
Ghulyan Yurik
Summary
Key words: Great Britain, Transcaucasia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, political goals, economic interests, anti-Soviet front, oil
Between December 1918 and August 1919, Great Britain, officially claiming to maintain law and order in the Transcaucasus, pursued hidden strategic goals aimed at controlling the region, including Dagestan. Emphasizing the Transcaucasus’s importance for the British imperial interests, the British sought to influence political and economic processes across the area.
The British openly took Azerbaijan, their former military opponent, under protection, highlighting its role in forming a unified anti-Soviet front. In 1919, they prevented Azerbaijan from falling under A. Denikin’s control, whose Volunteer Army had expelled Bolsheviks from southern Russia and reached the Caspian Sea.
To maintain political balance, the British often pitted local republics against one another, acting as arbiters in territorial disputes, ceding contested areas, or declaring them “neutral zones,” generating tension among newly independent states. British interests in Azerbaijan were both political and economic, with oil as a key priority. Using British support, Azerbaijan advanced its own goals, intensifying efforts to control Karabakh and Zangezur, continuing a policy of coercion and territorial consolidation against Armenia.