The anti-Bolshevik regional government that controlled the former Transcaspian region of the Russian Empire from July 1918 until early 1919.

 

It was established as a result of the Askhabad (Ashgabat) uprising on July 11–12, 1918. The Askhabad Railway Strike Committee was transformed into a Provisional Executive Committee of the Transcaspian Region, combining legislative and administrative functions (chaired by a Socialist Revolutionary Fyodor Funtikov). The Transcaspian Provisional Government also included representatives of the Turkestan Union for the fight against Bolshevism and Turkmen civilians. The Government was dominated by Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and Dashnaks who were deputies of the Askhabad Council. By July 21, 1918, almost the entire territory of the Transcaspian region was ruled by Railway Strike Committees that supported the Transcaspian Provisional Government. The Government advocated the convocation of the Transcaspian Regional and Turkestan Constituent Assemblies and then the All-Russian Constituent Assembly.

 

After the Bolshevik forces defeated the units of the Transcaspian Provisional Government near Chardzhou on July 28, Funtikov turned to the head of the British military mission in Mashhad (Iran), Major General Wilfrid Malleson for help. On August 19, the Transcaucasian Provisional Government signed an agreement with him, according to which the Transcaspian region came under the control of the British. Carried out by representatives of the socialist parties, the policy of the Transcaspian Provisional Government did not suit the British. In January 1919, the Transcaspian Provisional Government, in agreement with the British military mission, created the Committee of Public Safety (consisting of 5 people). The Committee was vested with full power and represented a collective dictatorship or Directory. The former head of the Transcaspian Provisional Government Fyodor Funtikov and his associates were arrested and expelled from the region.

 

After the withdrawal of British troops (April–July 1919), the region got under the control of the representatives of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR) Anton Denikin. On August 8, the Committee of Public Safety was abolished and all power was passed to the AFSR military command. The regional government of the White Movement in the Transcaspian region ceased to exist in February 1920 when the Red troops occupied the entire Transcaspian region.