The Bashtanka Republic was a peasant insurgent republic in the Nikolaev district of Kherson governorate, which existed in the autumn of 1919 in the rear of Anton Denikin’s armies. The center of the rebels was the village Poltavka, located on the Bashtanka ravine, which gave its name to the uprising.

 

On August 18, 1919, during the offensive of the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR), the Whites occupied Poltavka. As early as September 16, a peasant uprising began here, joined by several neighboring villages. In the Bashtanka Republic (one of the leaders was the Communist Pyotr Vilkul), self-government was organized and Soviet power was restored. In late September and early October, the armed forces of the insurgents were organized into six detachments with a total of 2,000 men. The most famous insurgent commanders were the brothers Pavel and Ivan Tur.

 

The insurgents tried to establish relations with the Bolshevik underground in Nikolaev as well as with the neighboring Visunsk People’s Republic (a peasant movement in October – November 1919 centered in Visunsk, Nikolaev district of Kherson governorate. On November 21, 1919 the Whites took and burned down Visunsk, the insurgents retreated to Krivoy Rog).

 

In early November 1919, Bashtanka Republic detachments attempted to march on Nikolaev, but were defeated. On November 12, Poltavka was captured by the Whites under the command of Yakov Slashchev. About 300 huts were burned in the village and 852 people were shot. The repression mostly affected civilians, as the armed groups managed to break out of the encirclement.

 

On December 27, a peasant partisan detachment led by the Tur brothers recaptured Poltavka but was surrounded by the Whites. Pavel Tur managed to escape, and Ivan Tur shot himself. Poltavka was under the control of the AFSR until January 26, 1920, when it was liberated by units of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.

 

The Bashtanka and Visunsk Republics, as well as other peasant uprisings in the rear of the AFSR, attracted White forces and thus contributed to the outcome of the Civil War. In 1925, for merits in the revolution, the 9th All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets on the proposal of Grigory Petrovsky, the chairman of the Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, awarded Poltavka the Red Banner of Honor. In 1928, Poltavka was renamed Bashtanka.