Conflict coverage · South Caucasus

The Soviet autonomy map is drawn

1921 – 1936Key event

PoliticalTerritorial changeGeorgia / Abkhazia / South Ossetia

The NKAO is created inside Soviet Azerbaijan (1923); Abkhazia's status is stepped down from treaty republic to autonomous republic inside Georgia (1931); South Ossetia becomes an autonomous oblast inside Georgia, mirrored by North Ossetia inside Russia; the North Caucasus is divided into national autonomies. The 1936 constitution fixes the hierarchy.

Why it mattersSoviet autonomy was a storage system for national questions — each grievance got an institutional address, a titular elite and a boundary. When the centre weakened in the 1980s, every autonomy was a ready-made state project, and every internal boundary a potential front line.

Confidence: HighSources: Established historical recordMethodology Corrections

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Related structure

2 records that this event names, or that name it. Every one is an explicit reference in a published record — nothing here is inferred from subject matter.

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Where this fits

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