[5] In April 1919, the Bolsheviks invaded Crimea for the second time (the first was in March 1918 and led to the creation of the short-lived Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic).

After the conquest of Crimea (with the exception of the Kerch Peninsula) by the 3rd Ukrainian Red Army, a Crimean Regional Party Conference at Simferopol from 28–29 April adopted a resolution forming the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic and a revolutionary committee government.

[5] By 30 April, the Bolsheviks had occupied the entire peninsula and, on 5 May, the government was formed with Dmitry Ilyich Ulyanov, Vladimir Lenin's brother, as chairman.

[5][6] On 1 June, the Crimean SSR joined in military union with soviet republics in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Lithuania, and Latvia.

[6] Starting in late May, Anton Denikin's White Volunteer Army, which had been gaining strength, threatened seizure of Crimea.