Baku's Islamic population was outraged by the disarming of members of the "Savage Division" and threatened to attack the Soviet. The demanded that the Executive Committee deliver the confiscated weapons to their rightful owners and punish those responsible for the humiliation. At sunset, on March 30, after several tense hours, Shahoumian authorised return of the weapons through the intermediary of the Social Democrat Hummet organisation. 79 But before the Moslem Marxists could implement the decision, an exchange of fire sounded from the Shemakhinka Moslem sector of the city. A battle between the Tatar units and the Red Guard of the Military Revolutionary Committee raged all night, and, although it did not spread to the Christian quarter, many Armenian soldiers hurried to join the Red Guard against the "common enemy." 80
By the morning of March 31, the conflagration had enveloped a large part of the city. Shahoumian formed the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution, which immediately sent the Tatars an ultimatum to submit to the commands of the Baku Soviet, to disband the "Savage Division" or remove it from the city, and to take effective measures to clear the rails from Baku to Tiflis and to Petrovsk. Nonetheless the strife continued and on April 1 extended into the Armenian sectors. Even those troops that had been maintained neutrality now joined the swelling ranks of the Soviet's military forces. 81 The union was natural; Bolshevism signified Russia while Islam was only another name for Turkey. That which had begun as a Bolshevism-Musavat feud ended in all-out interracial warfare. Many of the Moslem neighbourhoods were looted and burned as several thousand Tatars were cut down. At last the Musavat accepted Shahoumian's ultimatum, but another day passed before the turbulence subsided. Joint Armenian-Tatar deputations travelled throughout the city proclaiming peace, but only after killing several of these heralds did the enraged combatants withdraw to their respective quarters. 82
Many Armenian sources claim that every effort were made to avoid the clash and, when that had become impossible, to mitigate the suffering the Tatar civilians. They cite the testimony of Moslem civic leaders grateful to the Armenian Council for saving the lives of thousands by protecting them in many public buildings. Musavat writers caustically refute this claim and indict the Bolshevik-Armenian entente for the death of thousands of most peaceful Moslems. 83 The "March Days" strengthened the conviction of most Tatars that only with the assistance of a mighty outside power such as the Ottoman Empire could Baku, the Islamic capital of Transcaucasia, be retrieved from the usurpers. The Moslems were to wait for six months to wreak an exceedingly sweet revenge.
The "usurpers" did not remain united for long. Shahoumian realised that the moment was propitious for asserting undisguised Soviet control in Baku. He was assisted by Dashnaktsoutiun and the Social Revolutionary party, which had swung far to the left and now supported his efforts to abolish all non-Soviet administrative bodies functioning in Baku. But having fortified the Bolshevik position, these same collaborators were then compelled to make concessions. The Armenian Council submitted to Shahoumian's demand to merge its military units, the strongest single force in Baku, with the Red Guard. Even as part pf the Red forces, however, the Armenians continued to maintain distinct units headed by Dashnakist officers. 84 Elated by the turn of events, Stepan Shahoumian created the Baku Council of People's Commissars. Soviet order had gained an official foothold in Transcaucasia. 85
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