Autonomous Republics. Chart. 1922
During the formation of Bolshevik Russia into administrative units after the Civil War, Crimea was designated as an autonomous republic, despite its predominantly Russian population. This status remained until 1954, creating a precedent for its wholesale transfer to the Ukrainian SSR, despite its minority Ukrainian population.
Original Source: Territorial’noe i administrativnoe delenie SSSR (Moscow, 1924).
| Autonomous Republic | When Formed | Area in Sq. Kilometers | Population (add 000) | |
| 1 | Bashkir | March 23, 1919 | 145,380 | 2,691 |
| 2 | Tatar | May 27, 1920 | 67,241 | 2,622 |
| 3 | Kirghiz | August 26, 1920 | 2,009,303 | 6,491 |
| 4 | Daghestan | Jan 20, 1921 | 55,272 | 788 |
| 5 | Gorsk | Jan 20, 1921 | ….. | … |
| 6 | Abkhazia | March 4, 1921 | 8,172 | 199 |
| 7 | Turkestan | April 11, 1921 | ….. | … |
| 8 | Adzharsk | June 16, 1921 | 1,329 | 129 |
| 9 | Crimea | Oct 18, 1921 | 25,775 | 700 |
| 10 | Yakutsk | April 27, 1922 | 4,023,407 | 279 |
| 11 | Karelia | July 25, 1923 | 146,313 | 267 |
| 12 | Buryat-Mongol | Sept 12, 1923 | 419,000 | 522 |
| 13 | Nakhichevan | 1923 | 6,524 | 104 |
| 14 | German Volga | Feb. 20, 1924 | 27,423 | 571 |
| 15 | Moldavia | Oct. 12, 1924 | 8,288 | 567 |
| 16 | Tadzhik | Feb. 4, 1925 | 154,095 | 827 |
| 17 | Chuvash | June 15, 1925 | 18,413 | 894 |
| 18 | Kirghiz | April 30, 1927 | 195,171 | 997 |
The Kirghiz ASSR was renamed Kazak ASSR by virtue of a decree dated October 14, 1924 At the same time a Kara-Kirghiz autonomous region was formed out of the former republic. A decree dated May 27, 1925, changed the name to Kirghiz autonomous and finally On April 30, 1927, the transformation into the Kirghiz ASSR was effected.
By a decree dated November 30, 1922, the Gorsk ASSR was transformed into two autonomous regions on the basis of national characteristics: the Severno-Ossetiia and Ingushetiia. Part of the Gorsk ASSR was transferred to the Kabarda-Balkarsk region and to the Karachevo-Cherkess region.
Abkhazia is called a “treaty socialist soviet republic.” … Turkestan disappeared as such after the territorial redistribution of Central Asia in 1925 and the consequent formation of the Uzbek and Turkmen Socialist Soviet Republics.
Source: Walter Russell Batsell, Soviet Rule in Russia (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929), p. 124.