After the discovery of the oil fields, Baku became a special place, where various economic and political interests of international coalitions, industrial clans and leaders were concentrated and clashed. VK begins publishing chapters from the book by Ismail Agakishiev "History of the Baku Oil Industry and the Second Oil Boom (second half of the 19th century - beginning of the 20thcentury.)". The book presents a historical analysis of the emergence and current state of the Azerbaijani oil industry.
All in all, 400 companies were nationalized. As a result of haste and failures made during the preparatory phase, companies which had ceased operating a long time before were nationalized. The same decree abolished the Congress of the Baku oil producers, which had been successfully working since 1884. The nationalization of the oil industry led to a sharp decline of oil production, which was confirmed by a telegram from July 9, 1918 sent by the chairman of Baku People's Commissars, S. G. Shaumyan to Joseph Stalin: "In the course of June all in all 17 million pounds of oil products have been produced, while in May (due to the transition from the old to the new style he counted only 19 days) - about 12 million pounds." 1 The political strategy of the Bolsheviks in the field of economics called for the nationalization of transport, an integral part of the oil business after the nationalization of the oil industry. On June 5th 1918 the Baku Council of People's Commissars decided to nationalize the Caspian fleet.
The implementation of the decision was also accompanied by fierce resistance from the owners. On June 20th 1918 the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR approved a decree on the nationalization of the oil industry and passed a resolution on the responsibility of credit institutions and other institutions and individuals for the preservation of property of the nationalized oil companies. These documents caused outrage even in neutral European countries. The diplomatic representatives of Spain, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Switzerland and Azerbaijan's neighbor Persia actively protested against the nationalization of the oil industry of Azerbaijan along with foreign shareholders. Under these conditions, Turkey became a natural ally of Azerbaijan. The Turks appeared to expand their influence on the Caucasus and qualify for acquiring the oil wealth of Azerbaijan.
The Baku Bolsheviks openly talked about an expedition to the Caucasus in the near future, controlled, as they claimed, by counter-revolutionary governments. At the end of May 1918 the Baku Red Army entered the area of the county town of Geokchay. In response to their actions, the 5th Turkish Division entered the central town of Yelizavetpol province, the town of Yelizavetpol (Ganja). The rule of the Council of People's Commissars over the oil industry did not last long, due on the one hand to contradictions between the Bolsheviks and Dashnaks, and on the other to the attack on Baku of Azerbaijani military units, supported by Turkish troops. Clashes between the armed forces of Turkey and the People's Commissars of Baku became inevitable. Turkey, as well as the Soviet government in Russia, avoided open confrontation. Therefore, the so-called Caucasian Islamic army began to form in Ganja, the backbone of which consisted of the 5th Caucasian and 15th Chanahgalinskaya division of the Turkish army.
Some of the Azerbaijani corpus was to become an integral part of the troops. The total number of the Islamic army was twenty thousand people. The actual foundation of the Turkish-Azerbaijani military alliance was documented by an agreement on peace and friendship between the two countries signed on July 4th 1918 at the Batumi peace conference. From the Azerbaijani side the agreement was signed by the chairman of the National Council, Mammad Emin Rasulzade and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the republic, Mammad Hasan Hadjinsky, from the Turkish side – by the Minister of Justice, Halilbek and the commander-in- chief of the Caucasian Front, Wahid Pasha. Under this treaty, the Ottoman government was obliged to render armed assistance to Azerbaijan in order to "maintain order and security in the country." In this regard, researchers M. Volkhonsky and V. Mukhanov note that "this agreement allowed them (Turkey – I.A.) to qualify for the Baku oil, and win a dispute over control of Azerbaijan over its ally, Germany." 1 Thus, the dream of Turkey about Baku's oil began to come true, while Azerbaijan received a strong ally on the way to strengthening its independence.
The decisive battle between the joint Turkish-Azerbaijani forces and units of the People's Commissars of Baku occurred next to Geokchaya. The battle ended with the retreat of the Red Army in
the direction of Baku. Panic telegrams of Shaumyan to Lenin requesting to send more troops from Russia went unanswered. At the same time, the Islamic army occupied Achsah on July 2nd, Kurdamir on July 10th, Shamakhi on July 20th, and Hajigabul on July 27th. By this time the political situation had sharply deteriorated in Baku. Unhappy with failures on the front, the Baku right-wing faction of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Dashnaks in Baku urged the Council to invite the British troops from Persia for the protection of the city. Interruptions in supply of the city with products and high prices caused understandable discontent with the authorities among the workers. The Dashnaktsutyun party saw the arrival of the British troops in Baku as the solution. The Bolsheviks, led by Shaumyan, were actively against that.
On July 25th, 1918 a resolution to invite the British was adopted with 259 votes of the Right Socialist Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks and the Dashnaks against 236 votes of the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs at an emergency meeting of the Baku Council. That was the end of the cooperation between the Bolsheviks and Dashnaks. On this occasion Shaumyan wrote: "The Dashnaks have obviously betrayed us with their votes." 1. Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the army of the Baku People's Commissars Avetisov demanded to open negotiations with the Turks. Under these conditions, on July 31, 1918 the Council of People's Commissars resigned. 2 On August 1, 1918 the power in the city passed to the government formed from the Right wing of the SRs, Mensheviks and Dashnaks. This government was known as the "Centrocaspian Dictatorship and the Presidium of the Provisional Executive Council of Worker and Soldier Deputies." The invitation of the British as a means of solving many urgent problems found support among the general population of Baku, including the workers. On August 4 British troops arrived in Baku under the commandment of Colonel Stokes. On August 17 a small reinforcement army arrived headed by the commander of British forces in Persia, General Major Dunsterville. All in all, about one thousand soldiers and officers of the British troops arrived to Baku. These forces were not enough to prevent the attack of the Turkish-Azerbaijani troops.
