[10] The ADR was founded by the Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis on 28 May 1918 after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, and ceased to exist on April 28, 1920.

[15][16][17] Under the ADR, a government system was developed in which a Parliament elected on the basis of universal, free, and proportionate representation was the supreme organ of state authority; the Council of Ministers was held responsible before it.

[26] By 1917, when both Russian revolutions took place the territory, Azerbaijan had been part of the empire's Caucasus Viceroyalty for more than 100 years, alongside the rest of the Transcaucasus, ever since Iran's cession.

Stepan Shaumyan, a Bolshevik, and Prokopius Dzhaparidze, a leftist SR, were elected Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissioners of the Commune of Baku.

The Ottoman Empire delivered an ultimatum to the Sejm with requirements to accept the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and initiated an attack to occupy the territories of Kars, Batumi, and Ardahan.

This rising, instigated by the Mussavat, set the Tartar and Turkish population, led by their reactionary bourgeoisie, against the Soviets, which consisted of Russians with support from the Armenians.

Despite the objections of Mammad Amin Rasulzadeh, Shafi bey Rustambayli, and others, the Parliament decided to surrender the government in order not to cause bloodshed.

New schools for girls, hospitals in villages, libraries, courses for teachers were founded in different parts of the country by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

The formation of the next cabinet was assigned to Mammad Hasan Hajinski, but he was unable to form it, due to lack of time and majority backing in the parliament, and also the Bolshevik invasion.

There has been no change in representation as a result of recognition; as before, His Majesty's Government have a British Chief Commissioner for the Caucasus with Headquarters at Tiflis, and the three Republics have their accredited representatives in London...[6]The Allies recognized the Transcaucasian Republics partly because of their fear of Bolshevism, but their activities directed against Bolshevism, at least in Transcaucasia, did not go much beyond words, the strongest of which was status quo, recognition, demarche, and a list of standard diplomatic remonstrances.

In addition, the consulates of Azerbaijan started operating in Tabriz, Khoy, Anzali, Rasht, Ahar, Mashhad, Batumi, Kiev, Crimea, Ashgabat, and elsewhere.

Baku, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark, Italy, France, Sweden, Switzerland, England, USA, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, and other countries have official representations at different levels.

[15][16][17] According to Tadeusz Swietochowski (1995):[46] Although the proclamation restricted its claim to the territory north of the Araz River, the use of the name Azerbaijan would soon bring objections from Iran.

Likewise, the national revolutionary Jangali movement in Gilan, while welcoming the independence of every Muslim land as a "source of joy," asked in its newspaper if the choice of the name Azerbaijan implied the new republic's desire to join Iran.

Consequently, to allay Iranian fears, the Azerbaijani government would accommodatingly use the term Caucasian Azerbaijan in its documents for circulation abroad.

According to Ahmad Kasravi, Khiabani's deputy at the time, the main reason for such a change was to prevent any future claim by the pan-Turkist Ottomans to Iranian Azerbaijan on the basis of the similarity of the names.On 16 July 1919, the Council of Ministers [of ADR] appointed Adil Khan Ziatkhan, who had up to that time served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic representative of Azerbaijan to the court of the Persian King of Kings.

In the summer of 1918, the Dashnaks, together with the SRs and the Mensheviks, expelled the Bolsheviks, who refused to ask for British support, and founded the Centro Caspian Dictatorship (1 August 1918 – 15 September 1918).

The purpose of the British forces (led by Major General Lionel Dunsterville, who arrived from Persia's Enzeli at the head of a 1,000-strong elite force) was to seize the oil fields in Baku ahead of Enver Pasha's advancing Turkish troops (Army of Islam) or the Kaiser's German troops (who were in neighboring Georgia) and to block a Bolshevik consolidation in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Unable to resist advancing Turkish troops during the Battle of Baku, Dunsterville ordered the evacuation of the city on September 14, after six weeks of occupation, and withdrew to Iran; most of the Armenian population escaped with the British forces.

The Ottoman Army of Islam and its Azeri allies, led by Nuri Pasha, entered Baku on September 15 and slaughtered between 10,000 – 20,000 Armenians in retaliation for the March massacre of Muslims.

The ADR found itself in a difficult position, hemmed in from the north by advancing Denikin forces, unfriendly Iran in the south; the British administration was not hostile but indifferent to the plight of Muslims.

On April 25, 1919, a violent protest organized by Talysh workers of pro-Bolshevik orientation exploded in Lankaran and deposed the Mughan Territorial Administration, a military dictatorship led by Russian colonel T. P. Sukhorukov.

On June 16, 1919, the ADR and Georgia signed a defensive treaty against the White troops of General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army who were threatening to start an offensive on their borders.

The fighting increased in intensity by February 1920 and martial law was introduced in Karabakh, which was enforced by the newly formed National Army, led by general Samedbey Mehmandarov.

The Soviets considered this position as support rendered by Azerbaijan to the White army led by Denikin, and lobby of the British interests on the Caspian Sea.

[47] In order to promote this idea, Vosugh ed Dowleh dispatched two separate Iranian delegations; one to Baku and one to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

[51][52] The Iranian delegation at Baku, at the behest of Zia ol Din Tabatabaee, held intensive negotiations with the leadership of the Musavat party during the increasing chaos and instability in the city.

[47] During the closing stages, an accord was reached between them; however, before the idea was presented to Vossug ed Dowleh in Tehran, the Communists took over Baku and terminated the Musavat-Ottoman rule.

Leaders of the ADR either fled to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, Turkey and Iran, or were captured by the Bolsheviks and executed, including Gen. Selimov, Gen. Sulkevich, Gen. Agalarov: a total of over 20 generals (Mammed Amin Rasulzade was later allowed to emigrate),[56] or assassinated by Armenian militants like Fatali Khan Khoyski and Behbudagha Javanshir.

Признать флагом Азербайджана флаг, изготовленный из красной материи с изображением белого полумесяца и белой восьмигранной звезды на красном фоне.40°30′N 47°34′E / 40.50°N 47.56°E / 40.50; 47.56