In the 1880s, the Russian Empire subjugated almost all of Central Asia. The domination of the Russian administration in the conquered lands seemed unshakable. Everything changed in 1916, when a grandiose revolt of the indigenous population broke out.
Indigenous "construction battalion"
By 1916, many problems had accumulated in the Asian possessions of the empire. Local residents were unhappy with the constant weaning of pasture land for distribution to Russian colonists. The First World War only made the situation worse. The requisitioning of cattle for the needs of the army at penny prices (10% of the market value) clearly did not add to the popularity of the tsarist administration.
The last straw that caused the explosion was the decree of Nicholas II of June 25, 1916 on the attraction of "foreigners of the Turkestan region" (as the indigenous population of Central Asia was then called) for rear work in the front-line areas.
Petersburg officials calculated as follows: since the inhabitants of Turkestan are not subject to military conscription, then let them contribute to the "forging of a common victory" with the help of a pick and a shovel. In modern terms, young Asians (Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks, etc.) were supposed to make up one big “construction battalion”. Its number was estimated at 480 thousand people.
This was the calculation of the officials. But the Asians calculated differently …
The Tajiks and Uzbeks were the first to challenge the imperial administration. Already on July 4, in Khojand, a large crowd of Tajiks attacked the guard team, which was forced to open fire. These shots set off the most grandiose mutiny that Russian Turkestan has ever known.
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Outraged crowds gathered in all cities and auls, which began to smash police stations and destroy the lists of young men assigned for mobilization. At first, the policemen were simply beaten, but very soon they began to kill. Military detachments, called to help, dispersed crowds of rebels with shots. They fled, leaving the dead and wounded in order to gather again very soon - in an even more evil, more numerous crowd.
Following the Tajiks and Uzbeks, the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz rose. A particularly fierce struggle broke out in the Semirechye (lands in the area of the Balkhash and Issyk-Kul lakes). To paralyze Russian troops, the rebels destroyed bridges, destroyed the telegraph line, looted and burned all postal and railway stations. All Russian officials, doctors, railway and other employees who fell into the hands of the rebels were ruthlessly destroyed.
Siege of Przewalsk
The tragedy of the situation was aggravated by the fact that there were many settlements with Russian settlers in Semirechye. In 1916, mainly women, old people and children remained in them (men fought at the front). All of these villages were devastated by the rebels. Those of their inhabitants who did not have time to escape were killed, young and old (only about 3 thousand people).
The civilians who managed to escape sought refuge in Przhevalsk, the main Russian military outpost in Kyrgyzstan. 12 thousand refugees have accumulated there. The Przewalsk garrison was not designed to fight a rebellion of this magnitude. A mortal threat looms over the city. The fall of Przhevalsk would mean not only the loss of all of Kyrgyzstan, but also the guaranteed death of the Russian refugees who took refuge there.
The rebels were well aware of the significance of this Russian outpost, so they sent all their troops to this key point. In early August 1916, countless hordes of rebels surrounded the Russian fortress from all sides. The city's fate hung in the balance.
The military administration of Przewalsk thought quickly. And she carried out her plans even faster. The first step was to strengthen the rear. The Przhevalsk prison held about a hundred Kyrgyz prisoners. They were all immediately stabbed to death to avoid a possible riot. At the same time, they killed all the Asian traders from the local market - about 700 Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Dungans, Kazakhs. Trouble could be expected from them, too.
Having eliminated the “fifth column” in the fortress in such a radical and cruel way, the Przhevals began to strengthen the external defense. Of all the male refugees capable of holding weapons, militias were formed. These measures, and even the presence of several machine guns, made it possible to somehow compensate for the catastrophic numerical inequality.
The insurgents went on an attack, but each time they rolled back, thrown back by well-coordinated machine-gun fire. This went on for two weeks. It was clear that the fortress, surrounded and deprived of a supply of supplies, would not last long.
But the Turkestan command turned out to be on top. The besieged Russian garrison was not left to fend for themselves. At the end of August, three detachments at once - the captains of Kravchenko and Bychkov, as well as the cornet Ugreninov - broke into the besieged fortress with cannons and machine guns. Realizing that the case was lost, the rebels lifted the siege and retreated.
The second conquest of Turkestan
Who is the sensible general who saved Przhevalsk? Oddly enough, it turned out to be Alexey Kuropatkin. The one who commanded so ineptly in the Russo-Japanese War. This time he showed himself very differently.
In his youth, Kuropatkin participated in the conquest of Turkestan under the leadership of the legendary General Skobelev. Now he had to conquer Turkestan for the second time.
At the end of July 1916, at the height of the rebellion, the tsar appointed Kuropatkin as Governor-General of Turkestan. The new boss immediately began to vigorously clean up the mess. He drew up a sensible strategic plan - to push the rebels away from the main roads, drive them into mountain gorges and finish them off there. For this, Kuropatkin divided the rebellious territories into sections. Each section was assigned an intelligent officer with a military detachment (always with machine guns). This military team was supposed to carry out a total "cleanup" on the territory entrusted to it.
For the operation, it was even necessary to transfer from the German front two Cossack regiments and two machine-gun teams (12 machine guns in each).
However, Kuropatkin understood that in a colonial war, one regular army could not do.
Therefore, he made a decision: to arm the Russian colonists, to form autonomous detachments from them and to "release" these detachments on the rebels.
The general believed that a private initiative on the ground would bring more effect than all the staff ideas. An example from American history was familiar to him: individual "scalp hunters" did almost more to conquer the Indians than the regular army. Why not crank up the same number in Turkestan?
Revenge of the militia
Everything promised success. The surviving Russian population was extremely angry with the rebels - many of them lost their relatives and friends. This means that people expressed their readiness to take revenge. In addition, Kuropatkin also took into account "personal interest." All property seized by the militias in the rebellious villages remained in the hands of these same militias.
There were enough people willing to take part in the "restoration of order". And the situation has changed radically. If at first the rebels exterminated the settlements of Russian colonists, now the colonists began to burn the native villages. And already the local residents fled from the Russian avengers on the territory of neighboring countries (China, Persia, Afghanistan).
By the end of 1916, the uprising was suppressed. What were its results? The inhabitants of Central Asia did not succeed in completely disrupting the labor mobilization - 120 thousand people were nevertheless called up. Although this figure is clearly far from the planned 480 thousand.
The exact number of indigenous people killed is still a topic of debate, but there is no doubt that the count goes to tens of thousands. Several hundred thousand more migrated abroad (at least 100 thousand people fled from Kyrgyzstan alone).
The number of victims among Russian settlers is estimated at 7-8 thousand people.
Thousands of settlements - both on the one and on the other - were destroyed to the ground. This is the result of this uprising - the most terrible in the Asian possessions of the Russian Empire. However, after this uprising, the empire itself did not have long to live …
Marat KURAMSHIN