Shaaban Abash

Shaaban Abash
Shaaban Abash
	Shabaan Abash in traditional Abkhaz garb
Native name	Шьаабан Амбер-иԥа Абашь
Born	Shaaban Amber-ipa Abash; 1890; Adzyubzha, Sukhum Okrug, Russian Empire
Died	1953 (aged 62–63) ; Adzyubzha, Abkhaz ASSR, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Russian Empire ; Soviet Russia ; Soviet Union
Branch	Imperial Russian Army; Red Army
Service years	1903–1954
Rank	Gefreiter
Conflicts	World War I; Russian Civil War;
Awards	Cross of St. George, 4th Class

Shaaban Abash (Russian: Шаабан Абаш, Abkhaz: Шьаабан Амбер-иԥа Абашь; 1890 – 1953) was the rider of the 'Abkhaz Hundred' Circassian cavalry regiment of the Caucasian native division in Imperial Russia during the First World War. Shaaban was also Afro-Abkhazian and one of the few ever photographed.^[1]

Early life

Shaaban Abash was born in the village of Adzyubzha, in what was then the Sukhum Okrug of the Kutais Governorate in the Russian Empire (now Abkhazia^[a]) to an Afro-Abkazian peasant family.^[1]

Shaaban Abash with the Circassian cavalry regiment during World War I (c.1914-1918)

Military service and career

At the age of 17, he enrolled in the 'Abkhaz Hundred' Circassian cavalry regiment, which took part in the First World War. He was awarded the Cross of St. George for making a reconnaissance raid across the river Dniester and returning under fire after collecting valuable intelligence.^[2] After the establishment of the Soviet Union, Shaaban Abash was an associate of the leader of Abkhazia Nestor Lakoba, in 1931 he was elected a member of the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia.^[3]^[4]

Notes

↑ Abkhazia is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Abkhazia and Georgia. The Republic of Abkhazia unilaterally declared independence on 23 July 1992, but Georgia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. Abkhazia has received formal recognition as an independent state from 7 out of 193 United Nations member states, 3 of which have subsequently withdrawn their recognition.

References

1 2 Tynes, Slava (February 10, 1973). "Many Africans Came to the Soviet Union During Turkish Rule (Afro-American 1973, - Part 2)". Baltimore Afro-American.
↑ "Абхазская сотня на фронтах Первой мировой войны" [Abkhaz Hundred on the Fronts of the First World War]. apsnyteka.org (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2025-12-16. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
↑ Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517055-9.
↑ Allison Blakely (1986). Russia and the Negro: Blacks in Russian History and Thought. Howard University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-88258-146-0.

[2] Abkhazia is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Abkhazia and Georgia. The Republic of Abkhazia unilaterally declared independence on 23 July 1992, but Georgia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. Abkhazia has received formal recognition as an independent state from 7 out of 193 United Nations member states, 3 of which have subsequently withdrawn their recognition.

[:0-1] 1 2 Tynes, Slava (February 10, 1973). "Many Africans Came to the Soviet Union During Turkish Rule (Afro-American 1973, - Part 2)". Baltimore Afro-American.

[3] "Абхазская сотня на фронтах Первой мировой войны" [Abkhaz Hundred on the Fronts of the First World War]. apsnyteka.org (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2025-12-16. Retrieved 3 November 2021.

[4] Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517055-9.

[5] Allison Blakely (1986). Russia and the Negro: Blacks in Russian History and Thought. Howard University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-88258-146-0.

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