Central Asian and Caucasian republics survive the Russian Civil War

What if the Republics of the Caucasus, Crimea and the Central Asia which had succeeded from Russia during the Russian Civil War had managed to not be re-conquered by the Bolsheviks, and thus become non-communist independent republics just like Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?
 

Deleted member 94680

For this to happen I imagine you'd need a less clear cut result to the RCW. If the Reds and the Whites collapse into a weary Cold War between the two, the "peripheral republics" might manage to escape notice long enough to stabilise their independence and find a backer.
 
There were no republics in Central Asia during the Russian Civil War. And the Crimean government was just a largely Russian regional administration which itself claimed to be a part of "indivisible Russia"...so that basically just leaves the Caucasian republics.
 
For the Crimea to be independent of Moscow, Ukraine pretty much has to be as well. Otherwise the Russians will eventually take it back. It is too important for access to the Mediterranean.

If Ukraine is independent as well the world is considerably different outside of the former Russian Empire.

Otherwise, the absence of direct control over Baku oil would be the single largest difference from otl.
 
Crimea had its own, German-aligned government in 1918 under General Sulkevich (not sure of spelling). He was the equivalent of Hetman Skoropadski in the Ukraine, and if the latter could hold on, so could Sulkevich. In OTL, he was deposed at the end of 1918, and found a new position leading the Azerbaijani armies.

The present Central Asian republics weren't around during the Russian Civil War, but other entities did hold significant territory. The Emirate of Bukhara, for instance, regained its independence; the Tashkent Soviet -- isolated from the European Bolsheviks by the Orenberg Cossacks -- competed with the anticommunist Transcaspian government based at Ashkabad; there were various irregulars like the Basmachi; and the British Malleson Mission was operating in the same area as the Transcaspians. It's a bit of a challenge to get any of them beyond the transitory stage, but maybe somebody's up to the challenge.
 
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