The progressive development of Russia as a great power is deeply rooted in its ability to conduct domestic policy while accounting for the historical and legal heritage of its diverse peoples. This article examines projects aimed at overcoming political turmoil in North Ossetia during the period of 1917–1920. The relevance of this study is determined by the growing need for an objective analysis of the historical past of Russia’s peoples – an area currently subjected to unprecedented socio-economic and ideological pressures, including efforts to distort its history. The necessity for ideological resistance to historical falsification underscores the importance of a retrospective analysis of state and legal transformations during the transition from monarchical rule to a republican system. During the specified period, what is now modern North Ossetia was part of the Terek region, while South Ossetia belonged to the Tiflis province. Both territories were integral parts of the Russian Empire. Following the abdication of Nicholas II in February 1917, the empire entered a period of political upheaval, affecting both the central government and the regions. On the empire’s periphery, various forces emerged, seeking solutions to political instability and attempting to form their own models o f governance. The purpose of this study is to analyze the socio-political state of society in North Ossetia during this transformative period. This objective necessitated the author’s engagement with previously unexplored or superficially studied sources and literature on the subject, as well as an attempt to draw conclusions and generalizations regarding the phenomena observed during the revolutionary events and the Civil War. The authors assert that contemporary circumstances require a reevaluation of prior conclusions about the events of 1917–1920 in the North Caucasus. An objective analysis of the past demands a qualitatively new interpretation of many historical facts. These events were formalized through various programs of administrative zoning and the codification of regional legislation, culminating in the transition from oral to written legal practices. The process of legal acculturation initiated after the incorporation of these regions into the Russian Empire – unique in its nature – enabled the peoples of the North Caucasus to develop distinct pathways toward statehood during the revolutionary turbulence of 1917–1920. The Soviet administration played a crucial role in this transformation, incorporating not only local leaders but also representatives of various nationalities from across the country. Among the various state-building projects, only the Soviet model of socialist transformation within the Russian Federation – and later the USSR – proved sustainable. This success was largely facilitated by the imperial policy of legal acculturation of non- Russian peoples, as well as the Soviet cultural r evolution’s policies.
Russia; USSR; North Caucasus; North Ossetia; Ossetians; Cossacks; Soviet power; legal acculturation; Union of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus.