The Soviet autonomy map is drawn — Key Events — Caucasus

What happened

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.

Soviet 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: High

When1921 – 1936

KindPolitical · Territorial change

ArenaGeorgia / Abkhazia / South Ossetia

Confidence: High Sources: Established historical record Methodology Corrections

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Connected records

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

Actors2

Actor records this event names.

Where this fits

This is one entry in the Caucasus timeline. The full Key Events surface carries every dated turning point with its filters and its essential subset, and this event in place shows what came before and after it. How Vigil grades, dates and sources its claims is set out in the methodology.