Abdulmajid Tapa Tchermoev (1882 – August 28, 1937) was a North Caucasian statesman of Chechen origin, general, oil magnate and the first

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of the

Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC), also referred to as the United Republics of the North Caucasus, Mountain Republic, or the Republic of the Mountaineers, was a transcontinental state in Eurasia. It encompassed the entiret ...

. He was in office from 11 May 1918 until December 1918. His official title was ''General Tchermoeff, Prime Minister of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus''.

Early life

Tchermoev was born in

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

, then part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty within the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now in modern day

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

within the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) in 1882. Tapa was the eldest son of General Ortsu Tchermoev and belonged to the Biltoy

teip A ''teip'' (also ''taip'', ''tayp'', ''teyp''; Chechen language, Chechen and Ingush language, Ingush: тайпа, romanized: ''taypa'' , ''family'', ''kin'', ''clan'', ''tribe''Нохчийн-Оьрсийн словарь (Chechen-Russian Dict ...

. He was educated at the

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...

real school Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

and at the in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. He graduated in 1901 and joined an elite military unit, His Majesty's Own Cossack Escort of Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

. Tapa Tchermoev married Princess Khavarsultan Khanim Ibrahimbeyova of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in 1906. Although still a young man, he was obliged to leave the army in 1908 when his father died. During this time, he threw himself into economic and industrial activities. His family owned important parcels of oil-bearing land in the Grozny area. Tapa automatically became one of the most active and energetic pioneers of the Grozny oil industry.

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

interrupted Tapa's economic activity. He joined the famous native

Savage Division The Caucasian Native Cavalry Division (), or "Savage Division" () was a cavalry division of the Imperial Russian Army. Formed on 23 August 1914, it was transformed into the Caucasian Native Cavalry Corps on 4 September 1917 before being dissolved ...

of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

with the rank of captain. In the war he proved himself a brilliant military leader and a fearless soldier. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, Tapa returned to his native land with an intention to stem the rise of

Bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...

in Chechnya.

The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus

Tapa believed the unifying of all

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

highlanders to be the only way of saving the

Northern Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

from the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. On his initiative and thanks to his unrelenting energy, a convention of Caucasian highlanders took place in March 1917. This meeting resolved to form an independent highland state. On 11 May 1918 the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was officially established. Tapa was first the prime minister and then the minister for foreign affairs. Early in March 1919, Tapa headed a delegation to Paris in an attempt to take part in the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. The object of the delegation was to secure the recognition of the independence of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. A year later, the North Caucasus was in the hands of the Bolsheviks and in January 1921 the

Soviet Mountain Republic The Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (; ) or Mountain ASSR () was a short-lived autonomous republics of the Soviet Union, autonomous republic within the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Russian SFSR in the Northern Cauca ...

of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

was established. From his second marriage he had a daughter, Marianne Bicat (March 27, 1921 - 1985).Full text of "The Times, 1985, UK, English"
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Notes

References

* Baddeley, J. F., 1908, ''The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus'', Longmans, Green, and Co., London * Henrey, Mrs Robert, 1954, ''Madeleine Grown Up'', J. M. Dent & Sons, London * Caucasian Republic Mission to the Peace Conference Appeal for Help, Friday 4 April 1919, ''The Morning Post'', London. * Tapa Charmoyev's Obituary ''The Times'' written by Elti Temihan * Storozhenko (Ed.), 1995, ''Ingushetia and Chechen Republic Map'', Northern Caucasian Aerogeodesic Company of Roskartografia, Russia.

External links

Conflict in Chechnya: A Background PerspectiveCharlotte Aliston. The Suggested Basis for a Russian Federal Republic': Britain, Anti-Bolshevik Russia and the Border States at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919''Madeline Grown Up'' by Mrs Robert Henrey, 1952
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tchermoeff 1882 births 1937 deaths Chechen politicians Russian military personnel of World War I People of the Russian Revolution Chechen anti-communists People from Grozny North Caucasian independence activists Muslims from the Russian Empire