14 August 1921 year
People's independence was proclaimed Republic of Tuva — for the next 20 years, it was the only one of all the union republics that remained a sovereign state.
Soviet power in the territory of Tuva (former protectorate of the Russian Empire - Uryankhai Krai) established in the spring of 1918, but it did not last long: just a few months later, the regional congress liquidated the Soviets and supported the “white” Provisional Siberian Government.
The Reds were able to regain control only three years later.
We will be forced to submit to the state on whose side right and might will be found
(Uriankhai nobility)
The fate of Tuva was decided in Moscow. Local revolutionaries, supported by the Red Army, demanded national sovereignty.
We, representatives of two Khemchik kozhuuns [local districts], find that the only, most correct and best path for the future life of our people will be the path to achieving complete independence for our country.
In August, approximately 300 delegates—including representatives of Soviet Russia and the Mongolian Comintern—gathered for the All-Tuva Khural (congress). Two-thirds of the participants were ordinary arats (peasants).
On August 13, the Khural adopted a resolution on the creation of the Tuvan People's Republic, and on August 14, it proclaimed its independence.
Government bodies were established, and a Constitution was adopted—mostly declaratory. For example, it never included an article abolishing corporal punishment, and all power was vested in the government.
But the Tuvans were actively involved in lawmaking, and over the next 20 years they adopted six constitutions.
In international relations, the young republic operated under the auspices of the RSFSR. Soviet troops withdrew from its territory only in 1923, and the Union recognized its independence only in 1925.
Tuva was not spared by Stalin's repressions and purges—approximately 1,500 people were subjected to repression, including for religious reasons.
In 1929, the first general secretary of the ruling party and chairman of the government of Tuva, 37-year-old Buyan-Badyrgy (it was at his request in 1914 Nicholas II for the first time took a protectorate over Tuva). In 1932, he and the former Prime Minister Kuulara Donduka He was shot for "counterrevolutionary bandit-robbery" actions and participation in the uprising of the "black-yellow" feudal lords (against Soviet power). He was replaced by Salchak Toka, who ruled for 41 years and went down in history as the "Tuvan Stalin".
If you want a ram, ask for a camel.
I want to see the Arat people join the peoples of the great Soviet Union. Until I achieve this, I will consider my dream unfulfilled.
(Salchak Toka)
During the Great Patriotic War, Tuva was the first state to ally with the USSR in the fight against Germany. Legend has it that Hitler didn't react because he couldn't find a new enemy on the world map.
Around 8 Tuvans served in the Red Army; the republic donated its entire gold reserve (around 30 million rubles) to the Union, supplied horses, ammunition, equipment, and purchased 10 aircraft for a separate squadron.
In 1944, Tuva became part of the USSR as an autonomous region. At that time, it had a population of 95.
Life for the Tuvan people was hard and hopeless under the rule of feudal lords and foreign imperialists. The bright rays of the Great October Socialist Revolution reached Tuva through high mountains and dense forests, illuminating the Tuvan people's path to liberation.
(Declaration of the Small Khural on joining the USSR, August 17, 1944)
The news of joining the USSR was kept from the local population for several months; the Khural's decision only appeared in the Tuvan press in November.
Western researchers consider this to be a "complete annexation" of Tuva by the Union, primarily because there was no referendum. However, its constitution did not provide for such a procedure.
In 1961, Tuva's status was raised to that of an ASSR. Tuva The republic received its name only in 1993, when the local constitution specified the "Tuva language" as the national language.
