It was the successor to General Anton Denikin's South Russian Government (Южнорусское Правительство Yuzhnorusskoye Pravitel'stvo) set up in February 1920.

The Government of South Russia received assistance from the Allied Powers including France (which recognized it in August 1920) and the United States, as well as from the newly independent Poland.

In early November with the Perekop–Chongar operation, the Bolsheviks won decisive victories and entered Crimea proper.

Between 7 and 17 November it broke through Russian Army defenses on the Isthmus of Perekop, crossing the Sivash and capturing the Lithuanian Peninsula, the fortified Turkish Wall [ru], Yushun, and Chongar positions.

With this withdrawal, the final remnants of the White forces in European Russia were defeated.