Qualla: Anzali Operation

Anzali Operation: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In May 1920, a Soviet flotilla crossed the Caspian Sea and descended on the Iranian port of Anzali, where a fleet of White Russian warships sat interned under British guard with their guns deliberately disabled. The raid lasted only hours, but its consequences rippled across three empires. The British withdrew from northern Persia, a short-lived socialist republic rose in the forests of Gilan, and the last naval chapter of the Russian Civil War slammed shut on Caspian waters.

Read more: Anzali Operation on Qualla

Anzali Operation: Warships with No Teeth

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The stage was set by a cascade of retreats. After the British Caspian Flotilla was disbanded and the White Russian fleet withdrew south to Anzali, the remaining warships sat idle in the Iranian harbor under British military custody. Every gun had its breechblock removed, renderin...

Read more: Anzali Operation on Qualla

Anzali Operation: Lenin and Trotsky's Gamble

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In Moscow, Lenin and Trotsky agreed on an audacious plan. A military strike against Anzali would accomplish two goals simultaneously: recover the warships and military material formerly controlled by White general Anton Denikin, and deal a humiliating blow to British power in nor...

Read more: Anzali Operation on Qualla

Anzali Operation: A Republic in the Forest

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The most unexpected consequence came on 5 June 1920, when the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Gilan. The Jangali movement, led by local revolutionaries who had long opposed both foreign interference and the central Persian government, seized the opportunity cr...

Read more: Anzali Operation on Qualla

Anzali Operation: The British Retreat

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The loss stung London badly. The withdrawal of the British garrison, combined with the earlier capture of the British naval mission at Baku by Raskolnikov's forces, provoked alarm in the British Cabinet and in public opinion. On 21 May, the government ordered the transfer of Brit...

Read more: Anzali Operation on Qualla