The Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan occurred from 27 to 28 April 1920 when the Red Army of the Russian SFSR invaded Azerbaijan and destroyed the nationalist Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. In January 1920, both the Soviets and the Allies attempted to court Azerbaijan's assistance in the ongoing Russian Civil War, and Azeri Prime Minister Fatali Khan Khoyski opted to accept military aid from the Allies. Meanwhile, by April 1920, the Azerbaijan Communist Party had grown to 4,000 members, and a pro-Russian faction in Azerbaijani politics, headed by Interior Minister Mammad Hasan Hajinski, supported surrendering to the Soviets to preserve Azerbaijani autonomy. On 23 March 1920, the Azerbaijani military was sent south to suppress Armenian discontent in Karabakh, leaving northern Azerbaijan defenseless as the Soviet 11th Army conquered the North Caucasus and Dagestan and neared the Azerbaijani border. At the same time, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin ordered the Red Army to take the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, as the Reds desperately needed oil supplies for their war effort against the White Army. On 21 April 1920, the Russian general Mikhail Tukhachevsky ordered an offensive against Baku, and, on 24 April, the Bolsheviks mobilized as Azerbaijani communists demonstrated in Baku and called on the Red Army ofr support. On midnight, 27 April, Soviet troops entered Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijanis were unable to shift their forces northward to confront the invaders. On 28 April, the Parliament of the ADR transferred authority to the Communists, ending the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and creating the Azerbaijan SSR.