Baku: Violence, Identity, and Oil, 1905-1927
BAKU: VIOLENCE, IDENTITY, AND OIL, 1905-1927 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Jonathan H Sicotte, A.M. Washington, DC November 14, 2017 Copyright 2017 by Jonathan H Sicotte All Rights Reserved ii BAKU: VIOLENCE, IDENTITY, AND OIL, 1905-1927 Jonathan H Sicotte, A.M. Thesis Advisor: Michael David-Fox, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Baku: Violence, Identity, and Oil, 1905-1927 is an exploration of the economic, social, and political metamorphosis of Baku, Azerbaijan, from 1905 to 1927, from a growing boomtown to a city divided by ethnic and political violence to a reconfigured existence as a critical oil production center of the Soviet Union. It will address how Baku’s industry, crude oil drilling, and petrochemical refinement had profound social, political, and economic effects on the city— not only on the urban physical environment of the city itself but also on the demographics and livelihood of its population. The core purpose of this work is to connect outbreaks of violence and other events affecting Baku across this period, especially during the Russian Civil War, to the splintering of political identity and the contemporaneous shift in material circumstance that occurred in the city across the first two decades of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the thesis will address how this outcome was additionally complicated by geopolitical tensions caused by the First World War and its aftermath. iii Table of Contents Introduction: Baku at a Turning Point ...........................................................................................
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