How the Bolsheviks tried to Sovietize Iran
Russia Beyond (Photo: Public Domain)
While the Civil War was still raging in Russia, the Soviet leadership was already thinking about how to ignite the flame of socialist revolution in Asia.
On May 18, 1920, Soviet sailors unexpectedly disembarked in the Iranian port of Enzeli [today Anzali]. Their goal was to seize the fleet of their main adversaries in the Civil War - the Whites - which was stationed there. As it turned out, it was just the first phase of a campaign to establish a Communist regime in Iran.
Surprise attack
The Caspian Flotilla of the White Movement was forced to withdraw to Iran when, by spring 1920, the main forces of the Whites in southern Russia had either been destroyed or had retreated to Crimea. In Enzeli, their ships were under the protection of the British, who were hostile to the Bolsheviks and had maintained their forces in Iran ever since World War I.