Turkic Revolution

The **Turkic Revolution**, as it is known was a series of events during the Russian Civil War that resulted in the independence of the Turkic people from Russian rule, from 1925-1927.

## Turkic Revolution

Map of Central Asia in the aftermath of the conflict

### **Outcome**

Turkic victoryEvacuation of Russian forces from the region

## Before Independence

The Great War changed everything for Russian people, culture and the fate of the nation for decades onwards. While the Russian Tsar made the fatal mistake that most did, thinking the war will be over shortly, the morale of the Russian people rallied behind defeating Germany, and for the first time in years support of the Russian Tsar grew considerably, for the Russians that is. Many other ethnic minorities did not care for the Great War, nor the Tsar, and this sentiment was the norm in Central Asia, where the Turkic population held complicated feelings for Petrograd, but for the most part they did not care as they did not view it as their war to fight, until 1916.

In 1916, it became clear the war was not going to be short. The Russians began throwing men at the German frontlines, and news of the dead rapidly piling up in Eastern Europe sparked a wave of anti-monarchist pacifism, leading a shortage of manpower in the Empire, which lead the Tsar to remove the Muslim exemption law that did not require Muslims to serve in the Russian army, leading to widespread riots and violence across Central Asia, targeting Russian settlers en masse. Known as the Basmachi movement, waves of anti-Russian violence would continue until 1925, when Central Asia finally forced the Russians out.

By the time the Great War ended and the Russian Republic was declared, the Basmachi movement was almost dead, as the Russians in Moscow reinstated Muslim exemption in the Russian army and granted the Turkic people more autonomy, leading many to leave the movement, but it would never die out. Instead, it operated underground, slowly growing in popularity as the republican government proved ineffective at ruling the vast swathes of the late-Russian empire's territory, including Central Asia. The fragile system that governed Central Asia was doomed to fail, and it would come crashing down 8 years after the republic was declared.

## Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War began with a literal bang, as prominent activist Ignacy Daszyński was assassinated in Poland in June 1925, leading to a wave of anti-Russian riots in Eastern Europe, and soon after Warsaw fell to Polish nationalists as the civil war officially began. At first, Russian Turkestan remained neutral in the situation, but it became clear that, as the Russian communists entered the Caspian Sea, the Turkic people could finally rise up and remove the Russians from power.

## The Socialist Republic of Turkestan

Aligning with the communists, some Kazakh separatists helped the communists reach Central Asia, and because of this various leftist uprisings occurred in Central Asia. After Operation Kornilov lead to a retreat of communists from the region, many socialists felt isolated, but when various Russian divisions were cut off and still near the Caspian Sea, the general there made the daring operation to retreat into Central Asia lands, hoping to stall a confrontation between White Russians. This event, known as the Turkic Leap lead to the Russian communist army retreating across Central Asia all throughout 1925, and by 1927 the Battle of Bukhara lead to a communist victory. There, the Russian army proclaimed the Socialist Republic of Turkestan.

The reason for this victory is complicated, but can be summed up as the fact that Turkic nationalists did not have the equipment or training necessary to suppress the communists and the Whites were busy fighting in the East. With so little people opposed to them they entered Bukhara, and after that a series of uprisings across the region allowed the communists to secure their influence, and by 1927 the Socialist Republic stretched from Turkmenabat to Shonzhy. With added support from Turkic volunteer units, the republic was able to secure their new borders.

## The birth of modern Turkestan

Russian presence in the region was severely damaged in late 1925, as Kazakh nationalists abandoned their alliance with the left and rose up in Algha, where Alash Orda was proclaimed. Shortly after this declaration, the Kazakh population aligned themselves with the government in Algha, and in the following months vast swathes of North Turkestan fell to the rebels.

WIP

Over the next 2 years, Russia would gradually be pushed out of Central Asia until a separate peace treaty was signed, finalizing the borders of the region.

## Aftermath

For the first time in modern history, Turkic people in Central Asia finally achieved independence, but the road to prosperity would be rocky. For most new countries born out of the Russian Civil War, their cities and lands would be devastated, and would require huge sums of money and manpower to rebuild which these nations did not have. It was only Alash Orda in reality which had any type of economy and industry, while most other countries had to rebuild from scratch.

Because of this, the newly created Merv and Khiva Khanates were forced to seek out help from Tehran to keep themselves afloat, and since the early 30s both states have become de-facto puppets of Iran. Being surrounded by enemies on all sides, the Socialist Republic of Turkestan is the most impoverished country in all of Asia, stuck in a state of limbo of being too poor to develop themselves but being just stable enough to the point where they don’t collapse.