March Days

The March Days or March Events (Azerbaijani: Mart hadisələri) was a period of inter-ethnic strife and clashes which took place between 30 March – 2 April 1918 in the city of Baku and adjacent areas of the Baku Governorate of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.

This article is about the 1918 inter-ethnic clashes and Bolshevik takeover attempt in Baku. For Polish student and intellectual protests of 1968, see 1968 Polish political crisis.

March Days
Part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani War and the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War

Azerbaijani victims in Baku
Date30 March – 2 April 1918
Location
Baku Governorate, Transcaucasian Commissariat
Result
Belligerents
Bolsheviks
Armenian Revolutionary Federation		 Musavat Party
Caucasian Native Cavalry Division
Commanders and leaders
Stepan Shahumyan Mahammad Amin Rasulzade
Strength
Bolsheviks
6,000 regular troops, Russian Fleet gunboats
Dashnaks
4,000 militiamen		 10,000 troops and militiamen
Casualties and losses
2,500 Armenians 3,000-12,000 Azerbaijanis and other Muslims

Facilitated by a political power struggle between Bolsheviks with the support of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) on one side and the Azerbaijani Musavat Party on another, the events led to rumours of a possible Muslim revolt on the part of Bolshevik and Dashnak forces and the establishment of the short-lived Baku Commune in April 1918.

Most historic sources and accounts interpret the March events in the context of civil war unrest, while contemporary Azerbaijani sources officially refers to the March Days as a genocide. These were followed by the September days where 10,000 ethnic Armenians were massacred by Army of Islam and their local Azerbaijani allies upon capturing Baku.

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