How did Bukhara become a Russian protectorate
The first goal of the Russian military campaigns was the Kokand Khanate, whose possessions extended to Zailiysky Krai and bordered on the Kazakh nomad camps that were part of Russia. In 1820's - 1840's. The construction of Russian fortresses in the Kazakh lands began. So, in 1824, Kokchetav was founded, in 1830 - Akmolinsk, in 1846 - Novopetrovskoye (Fort-Shevchenko), Uralskoye (Irgiz) and Orenburg (Turgai) fortifications, in 1847 - Raimskoye, and in 1848 - Kapalskoye fortifications. The first expedition to Zailiysky region was undertaken in 1850, and from the beginning of the 1860's. n troops began a systematic advance into the depths of Turkestan, pushing Kokand. In 1865, the Turkestan region was formed, which included a significant part of the territory of modern Uzbekistan. At about the same time that the Russian Empire came into conflict with the Kokand Khanate, the confrontation with the Bukhara Emirate began.
In the second half of the XIX century, the Emirate of Bukhara extended its power to the territory of modern Tajikistan, southern Uzbekistan and part of Turkmenistan. In the emirate, which arose on the basis of the Bukhara Khanate, the rules of the Mangyt dynasty are representatives of the Uzbek tribe of the same name, in turn ascending to one of the Mongol tribes participating in the campaigns of Genghis Khan. In 1756, the Mangytov dynasty replaced the ruling Ashtarhanid dynasty from 1601 in the Khanate of Bukhara, the descendants of Juchi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, who previously ruled the Astrakhan khanate. The emirate of Bukhara was a typical Eastern absolute monarchy with the unlimited power of the emir over its subjects. The main population of the emirate was nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, as well as Arabs, Persians, Bukhara Jews, Kalmyks, Kirghiz, Karakalpaks and other ethnic groups.
All power was in the hands of the privileged Uzbek aristocracy. The customs of the Bukhara Emirate are written in sufficient detail in the works of the famous Soviet Tajik writer Sadriddin Aini. Throughout its history, the Emirate of Bukhara waged constant wars with its neighbors - the Kokand Khanate, the Khiva Khanate, Afghanistan, and the Turkmen tribes. However, the beginning of the Russian expansion into Central Asia was perceived very negatively in Bukhara, because the top of the emirate felt in it a serious threat to its own power and established order.
In the spring of 1865, Russian troops under the command of Mikhail Chernyaev launched an operation to capture Tashkent. On the Russian side, 1300 soldiers and officers with 10 guns participated in the siege and assault on Tashkent, up to 30 thousands of people led by Mullah Alimkul Hasanbiy, the de facto ruler of the Kokand khanate, who had the title atalyk, participated in the defense of 10 guns. But, despite the repeated numerical superiority of the Kokands, they did not manage to cope with the Russian detachment - the difference in combat training and armament affected it. Especially since May 1865 of the year 17 died from a fatal injury to mullah Alimkul. 29 (1865) June XNUMX of the year Tashkent capitulated. Mikhail Chernyaev and representatives of the Tashkent nobility signed a special agreement in which the Russians guaranteed the inviolability of the foundations of Islam and their observance by the inhabitants of the city, while the Tashkent elders promised to completely abolish slavery and human trafficking in the city and immediately release all slaves.
The capture of Tashkent was very dissatisfied with the Bukhara emir Said Muzaffar Khan, who felt in the advance of the Russian troops in Turkestan a serious threat to the Bukhara emirate. Detachments of supporters of the Emir of Bukhara, operating in the outskirts of Tashkent, constantly organized attacks against Russian troops. At the same time, Muzaffar Khan demanded that Russia liberate the conquered territories and confiscated the property of the Russian merchants living in Bukhara. The Russian mission, which arrived in Bukhara to resolve the situation, was insulted, after which the Russian Empire had no choice but to speak out against Bukhara.
8 (May 20) 1866 of the year The 2-thousandth Russian detachment under the command of the military governor of the Turkestan region Dmitry Romanovsky defeated the army of Bukhara emirate in the Battle of Irdjar, having put all the Emir army to flight. Muzaffar himself was forced to flee. The error of the emir was the decision to continue the war with Russia, taken under the pressure of religious circles and nobles. This indicated that the Bukhara elite lacked an adequate perception of the capabilities of the emirate. The emir’s army simply could not resist the Russian army. Already in October, 1866 was taken by Russian troops to Ura-Tube, and then to Jizzakh. Turkestan Governor-General Konstantin von Kaufman offered Muzaffar Khan to conclude a peace treaty, but the Bukharan ruler continued to seriously rely on victory over the Russian troops. He set about collecting the militia, hoping that the Gazavat he had announced would collect many Central Asian Muslims under the banner of the emirate.
While the emir was collecting troops, the Russian army was ordered to advance towards Samarkand - one of the most important cities of the Emirate of Bukhara and Central Asia as a whole. For the performance on Samarkand in the Jizak region, quite impressive forces were concentrated - 25 infantry companies, 7 Cossack hundreds of 3500 people in total with 16 artillery guns. 1 (13) May 1868, the detachment moved towards Samarkand. Emir concentrated for the defense of the city 40-thousandth army, which was armed with 150 artillery guns, though the old and strongly inferior to the Russian artillery. Russian troops waded across the Zyravshan River, after which they rushed to the attack on the Bukharians. Despite repeated superiority, the Bukharians fled, and the residents of Samarkand did not allow the retreating emir's army into the city.
2 May 1868, the Russian troops entered Samarkand. However, on May 30, the bulk of the Russian troops moved from Samarkand for further action against the Emir, and a small garrison remained in the city. This circumstance was decided to take advantage of Bukharians, who 2 June broke into Samarkand. The Russian garrison and the Jews and Christians living in the city closed in the citadel, which they managed to keep until June 8, when after learning about the return of the main Russian troops, the Bukharians retreated from the city. In the battles for the citadel, up to a third of the personnel of the Russian garrison died.
Following Samarkand, the Russian troops took Katta-Kurgan, and on June 2 inflicted a crushing defeat on the Zerabulak heights to Emir Muzaffar. The war with the Russian Empire, as one would expect, was completely lost to the Bukhara emirate, despite the fact that the Bukhara army was dozens of times superior to the Russian troops in terms of numbers, fighting on its territory and could count on the support of the local population. After the defeat at Zerabulak Heights, the emir Muzaffar appealed to Russia with a request for peace. Under the peace treaty, the Bukhara Emirate yielded to Russia very significant lands - the Samarkand, Penjikent, Urgut and Katta-Kurgan bekovies. Bukhara also pledged to pay Russia 500 thousands of rubles of indemnity, allow complete freedom of trade in the emirate for Russian merchants and ensure the personal and property security of Russian nationals in the territory of the emirate. The Emir guaranteed the free passage of Russian merchants through the territory of the Bukhara emirate and pledged not to raise the duty on goods imported by Russian merchants above 2,5% of their value.
Thus, in fact, since June 1868, the Emirate of Bukhara has turned into a protectorate of the Russian Empire, and the emir was forced to follow in the wake of Russian politics and submit to St. Petersburg. However, in Bukhara, they soon realized all the advantages that this status gave to the emirate. Thus, the emir began to rely on the help of Russian troops in any conflict situations, including frequent popular unrest. For example, in the same year 1868, with the help of the Russian troops, the emir suppressed an uprising in Karshi bekism and restored control of the city of Karshi. Two years later, in the same way, the uprisings in Kitab and Shaar were suppressed and control of Shakhrisyabz beyism was returned. In 1876, the Kulyab and Gissar Bekships were returned to the control of the Bukhara emir with Russian help, and Darvaz and Karategin were conquered in 1877.
The subordination of the Russian Empire had a positive impact on the economic and cultural development of the Bukhara Emirate. However, the Bukhara nobility and the top clergy were very afraid of the spread of the Russian language and secular culture in the emirate, believing that this would entail a loss of influence on the population of the emirate. But in the changed political situation, Russian cultural expansion could no longer be stopped, especially since it followed the economic modernization of the emirate. Industry, banks appeared in Bukhara, the Bukhara bourgeoisie began to form, whose representatives were no longer focused on blindly following the age-old traditions, but thought more globally, understanding the need for both modern knowledge and proficiency in Russian. The appearance of railways and telegraph lines led to the creation of Russian settlements on the territory of the Bukhara Emirate, in which workers and employees lived. In 1894, the first Russian-native school appeared in Bukhara, and from the beginning of the twentieth century, new method schools began to appear, which combined the study of the foundations of Islamic religion and sharia with the teaching of the Russian language. Conductors of new trends in Bukhara were Kazan and Siberian Tatars, who played an important role in the Russian-Bukhara trade.
Naturally, the gradual modernization of Bukhara society was very frightening to the conservative part of the population of the emirate, who saw in the new trends a threat to religion and traditions. Anti-Russian sentiments in the emirate continued to be supported by Turkish emissaries, as well as agents of neighboring Afghanistan. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, Russian agents in the Bukhara Emirate reported to Petersburg that the Afghan presence is felt even stronger than the Turkish one, the Afghans secretly supply the Bukharians weapons, study the situation in the emirate. In the 1910 year, when ultraconservative forces were preparing an uprising against the Emir in Bukhara, the Russian security department found that groups of disguised soldiers of the Afghan regular army were infiltrating into the emirate across the Afghan-Bukhara border.
It is noteworthy that Afghanistan provided comprehensive support to the ultraconservative forces of the Bukhara Emirate, while the “reformers” (Jadids) were inclined to focus on the Ottoman Empire, where in the early twentieth century the “Young Turks” won. Since the Russian Empire did not pay enough attention to the modernization of the education system in the Bukhara Emirate, in order to preserve the existing order of things, the “advanced” Bukharas were guided by the Ottoman Empire and preferred to go on their own and send their children to study in Istanbul. Emissaries operating in Bukhara also promoted the popularization of Turkish education.
Thus, despite the status of the protectorate of the Russian empire and the inclusion in its orbit of its political, cultural and economic influence, the struggle between various political forces focused on Afghanistan, the Ottoman Empire or Russia continued in the Bukhara Emirate. In general, the situation in the emirate was very restless, there was always the risk of the beginning of the next popular unrest, unrest, and the first victims in the event of a destabilization of the situation would automatically be Russians and subjects of the Russian Empire, whom conservative Bukharians accused of all sins and considered the cause of the deplorable state of affairs in the emirate. Therefore, it was not surprising that as soon as Russia found itself in a difficult situation, having entered World War I, Central Asia was seized by a wave of anti-Russian uprisings.
The revolutions in Russia that followed in 1917 inevitably influenced the political situation in the Bukhara Emirate. They brought hope to the Jadids for further modernization changes, while the traditionalists hoped to break free from the influence of Russia and return to the old order. However, the victory of the October Revolution in Russia and the subsequent assertion of Soviet power led Central Asia to the largest changes in its new history, laid the foundation for the political development of the region a century ahead and finally led to the formation of the main Central Asian nations in their modern form.
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