1. Background

2. The revolt
    Institution of conscription  Beginning of the uprising  Rebel weaponry  Massacres by the rebels  Suppression of the revolt 

3. Deaths

4. Legacy

5. See also

6. External links

7. Literature

8. References

• {{flagicon|Emirate of Bukhara}} Emirate of Bukhara^[1]
  
• Kazakh aristocracy^[1]

• Kazakhs^[2]
• Kyrgyz^[2]
• Dungan^[2]
• Uyghurs^[2]

The Central Asian revolt of 1916, also known as the Semirechye Revolt^[7] and as Urkun ({{lang-ky|үркүн}}, exodus, {{IPA-all|yrˈkyn}}) in Kyrgyzstan, was an anti-Russian uprising by the Muslim inhabitants of Russian Turkestan. Its direct cause was the conscription of Muslims who were formally exempted into a military service on the Eastern Front of World War I. Underlying issues also included tensions between different ethnic groups under Russian rule.^[8] The revolt led to the exodus of thousands of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs into China, while the suppression of the revolt by the Russian army led to thousands of deaths. However, the Russian state was not able to restore complete order until the outbreak of the October Revolution. Russian liberals like Alexander Kerensky and some Russian historians were the first to bring an international attention to these events.^[9]

Background

By 1916, the Turkestan and Governor-Generalship of the Steppes had accumulated many social, land and inter-ethnic contradictions caused by the resettlement of Russian and Ukrainian settlers, which began in the second half of the 19th century, after the Emancipation reform of 1861 which abolished serfdom. A wave of resettlement was introduced by a number of lands and legislative reforms.

On June 2, 1886, and March 25, 1891, several acts were adopted which were "Regulations on the management of the Turkestan Krai" and "Regulations on the management of Akmola, Semipalatinsk, Semirechye, Ural and Turgai regions" that allowed most of the lands of these regions to be transferred to the ownership of the Russian Empire. Each family from the local population were allowed to own a plot of land of 15 acres for a perpetual use.^[10]

From 1906 to 1912, as a result of Stolypin reforms in Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia, up to 500,000 peasant households were transported from central regions of Russia,^[10] which divided about 17 tithes of developed lands.

The revolt

Institution of conscription

After Emperor Nicholas II adopted on the "requisition of foreigners" at the age of 19 to 43 years inclusive, for rear work in the front-line areas of the First World War. The discontent of people fueled the unfair distribution of land, as well as the calls of Muslim leaders for a holy war against the 'infidel' Russian rule.^[1]

On 25 June 1916 (8 July 1916, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}),^[11] shortly before the start of the rebellion, Tsar Nicholas II adopted a draft of conscripting Central Asian men from the age of 19 to 43 into labor battalions for the service in the ongoing in support of the ongoing Brusilov Offensive.^[12] Some regional Russian officers were bribed to exempt certain people from conscription.^[13] The cause of the uprising was also due to the transfer of lands by the Tsarist Government to Russian settlers, Cossack's, and poor settlers. Political and religious extremism played a role too{{cn|date=November 2018}}, as well as the fear of being used as Human shields during the Russo-German trench warfare.^[14]

Beginning of the uprising

The first casualties of the revolt were in July 3-4, 1916 (16-17 July 1916, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}) in Khujand, present-day Tajikistan, when an outraged mob assaulted Russian officials.^[15] However, not all 10 million people living in Turkestan were willing to participate. Such as the Tekeans living in the Transcaspian region, who were willing themselves to be conscripted. On July 7 (July 20, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), the civil unrest spread to Tashkent, in modern-day Uzbekistan.^[16]

The Rebels had several demands, including Transparency in how the lists of citizens due for conscription were compiled, to delay the draft until the end of the harvest, and for one man of each family to stay at home.^[17]

83 Russian settlers died and 70 were captured following riots in Jizzakh. Subsequently, Russian troops entered the city and captured it, causing many civilian casualties.^[18]

On July 17, 1916 (July 30, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), a martial law was declared over Turkestan Military District.^[19] The insurrection began spontaneously, but it was unorganized without a single leadership; nevertheless, the rebellion took a long time to suppress.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}

On 31 July (13 August, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), Aleksey Kuropatkin, The Governor-General of Russian Turkestan, conducted a purge of the local hierarchy and convinced Nicholas II of Russia to postpone the conscription until mid-September. However, this effort proved too late to reverse the uprising. ^[20]

On August 10 (23 August, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), Rebels numbering in the thousands attacked the city of Prebechakenska, While wielding White Banners. It was only defended by a local garrison of Russian Soldiers who were on leave from the front, who swiftly constructed two wooden cannons to try and beat back the attack. The First blew up, while the second was lost in a Kyrgyz attack. Undeterred, The defenders created 4 new cannons, which still work today.^[21]

By August 11 (24 August, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), a cavalry force of the Kyrgyz rebels disrupted a telegraph line between Verniy, Bishkek, Tashkent and European Russia. A wave of inter-ethnic violence also swept through Semirechye. Dungan detachments destroyed several Russian settlements of Ivanitskoe and Koltsovka in the region of Przhevalsk.

A Kyrgyz attack on the Russian settlers in Sazanovka, Near lake Issyk-Kul was repelled after local women shot on the Khan leading the attack, causing the offensive to disintegrate.^[22]

Rebel weaponry

The Rebels, Including those under the control of Ibrahim Tulayaf, suffered weapon shortages throughout the course of the Rebellion. Weapons used by the rebels included iron-tipped spears and horse-whips.^[23]

At one point in the rebellion, Ibrahim had discovered that several cart munitions would soon pass through the mountain road that followed the Chu River. Subsequently, he organized an ambush in Bomgorch. After a brief cavalry skirmish and exchange of fire, the Rebels managed to capture 7 carts, with 9 crates of guns and 12 ammunition boxes. The Rebel troops were delighted to be able to fight the Russian Army with their own tools. A rebel leader was quoted as saying "God has given us guns that Nicholas meant to use against the Kyrgyz - His cruelty will befall his own head.".^[24]

Massacres by the rebels

Other villages full of Russian immigrants, Cossacks, and workers were burnt down by the insurgents. Because the majority of men got drafted and were at the home front, the settlers could not organize a resistance. Some settlers fled, Some fought, while others were helped by friendly Kyrgyz neighbors.^[25] At the beginning of the uprising, the majority of the relocated population who were mostly women, old people, and children died. Responses In a telegram to the Minister of War August 16 (29 August, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), Turkestan Governor-General and Commander of the Turkestan Military District Alexei Kuropatkin reported: "In one Przewalski Uyezd 6024 families of Russian settlers suffered from property damage, of which the majority lost all movable property. 3478 people lost and died.

In some places, especially in the Ferghana Valley, the uprising was led by dervish preachers who were calling for a jihad. One of the first people who announced the beginning of a "holy war" against the "infidels" was Kasim-Khoja, an Imam in the main mosque of Zaamin village. He proclaimed Zaaminsky Bek and organized the murder of A local police officer Sobolev, in which after that he then appointed his own ministers and announced a military campaign to capture the railway stations of Obruchevo and Ursatievskaya. Along the way, his force killed any Russian person that was encountered.

The Governor-General of the Steppe Region Nikolai Sukhomlinov postponed the draft service until September 15, 1916 (28 September, {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}); however, it had no effect onto stopping the uprising in the province. Even the requests by Alikhan Bukeikhanov and Akhmet Baitursynov who were the leaders of a Kazakh nationalist movement which later became known as the Alash Party did not calm the population in an attempt to prevent brutal repressions towards unarmed civilians. The leaders repeatedly tried to convince the administration not to hurry with mobilization, conduct preparatory measures, and they also as well demanded a freedom of conscience, improving the environment of academic work, organizing the training of Kyrgyz and Kazakh children in their native language by establishing boarding schools for them and allowing local press.

Suppression of the revolt

As a response, around 30,000 soldiers, including Cossacks, armed with machine guns and artillery were diverted from the Eastern Front of World War I and sent in to crush the rebels, and arrived 2 weeks later via trains. The town of Novayrsiskya, which had resisted the Rebels for 12 days, was finally relieved thanks to the reinforcements.^[26]

Local Cossacks and settler militias played an additional role too. By the end of the summer, the insurrection was put down in the Samarkand, Syrdarya, Fergana and in the other number of regions as well, forcing the rebels into the mountains. In the mountains, the Rebels suffered from the cold.^[27] In September and early October, the revolt was suppressed in Semirechye and the last remnants of resistance were crushed in late January 1917 at the Transcaspian region.

By the end of Summer 1916, The Rebellion had started to wane. Aleksey Kuropatkin issued an order, explaining who was exempt from the draft, what kind of service the Kyrgyz would serve, and that conscripts would receive 1 ruble per day and free food and lodging. However, With no reliable lines of communication this message took over a month to reach the rebels.^[28]

As the uprising was being put down, there were often instances of executions including the ones committed by the settlers, which suffered brutally from the insurgents. For the murder of their parents, wives, and children; militiamen sometimes took revenge on innocent civilians or imprisoned people in those atrocities.

By order of the Turkestan governor-general, military courts were established in district cities and imposed death sentences towards all the rebels who took part in the uprising.

In the eastern part of Russian Turkestan, tens of thousands of surviving Kyrgyz and Kazakhs fled toward China. In the Tien-Shan Mountains they died by the thousands in mountain passes over 3,000 meters high.^[29]

On December 13, 1916 (December 26th, 1916 {{abbrlink|N.S.|New Style}}), Alexander Kerensky convened in the Russian Parliament to propose the Segregation of the Russian settlers and the local settlers. He was quoted as saying "How can we possibly blame a backward, uneducated and suppressed aboriginal people so dissimilar to us, for having lost patience and committing acts of revolt for which they immediately felt remorse and regret?"^[30]

Deaths

3,000 Slavic settlers were killed during the first phase of the revolt.^[6] Arnold Toynbee alleges 500,000 Central Asian Turks perished under the Russian Empire though he admits this is speculative. ^[31] Rudolph Rummel citing Toynbee states 500,000 perished within the revolt.^[32] Kyrgyz sources put the death toll between 100,000 and 270,000. Russian sources put the figure at 3,000.^[33] {{fcn|date=November 2018}}

Kyrgyz historian Shayyrkul Batyrbaeva puts the death toll at 40,000, based on population tallies.^[34]

Legacy

During the Soviet Union, leaders of the rebellion such as Amangeldy Imanov and Alibi Jangildin were seen as revolutionary heroes against the Tsarist regime, by having many streets and settlements in Kazakhstan named after them.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Urkun was not covered by Soviet textbooks, and monographs on the subject were removed from Soviet printing houses. As the Soviet Union was disintegrating in 1991, interest in Urkun grew. Some survivors have begun to label the events a "massacre" or "genocide."^[29] In August 2016, a public commission in Kyrgyzstan concluded that the 1916 mass crackdown was labelled as "genocide."^[35]

See also

• Basmachi movement
• Western imperialism in Asia

External links

• Photo gallery of human and animal remains from Urkun incident at Bedel Pass, from RFE/RL
• [https://rtd.rt.com/films/semirechye-on-fire/ Semirechye on Fire. A Story of Rebellion] - Documentary on the 1916 Rebellion

Literature

• Noack, Christian: Muslimischer Nationalismus im Russischen Reich. Nationsbildung und Nationalbewegung bei Tataren und Baschkiren 1861–1917, Stuttgart 2000.
• Pierce, Richard A.: Russian Central Asia 1867–1917. A Study in Colonial Rule, Berkeley 1960.
• Zürcher, Erik J.: Arming the State. Military Conscription in the Middle East and Central Asia, 1775-1925, London 1999.

References

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