Book contents
- The Russian Conquest of Central Asia
- The Russian Conquest of Central Asia
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Translation, Transliteration and Dates
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Russia’s Steppe Frontier and the Napoleonic Generation
- 2 ‘Pray for the Camels’: The Winter Invasion of Khiva, 1839–41
- 3 ‘This Particularly Painful Place’: The Failure of the Syr-Darya Line as a Frontier, 1841–63
- 4 From Ayaguz to Almaty: The Conquest and Settlement of Semirechie, 1843–82
- 5 The Search for a ‘Natural’ Frontier and the Fall of Tashkent, 1863–5
- 6 War with Bukhara, 1866–8
- 7 The Fall of Khiva, 1872–3
- 8 ‘Those Who Should Be Spared’: The Conquest of Ferghana, 1875–6
- 9 ‘The Harder You Hit Them, the Longer They Will Be Quiet Afterwards’: The Conquest of Transcaspia, 1869–85
- 10 Aryanism on the Final Frontier of the Russian Empire: The Exploration and Annexation of the Pamirs, 1881–1905
- Epilogue: After the Conquest
- Sources and Bibliography
- Index
9 - ‘The Harder You Hit Them, the Longer They Will Be Quiet Afterwards’: The Conquest of Transcaspia, 1869–85
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 November 2020
- The Russian Conquest of Central Asia
- The Russian Conquest of Central Asia
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Translation, Transliteration and Dates
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Russia’s Steppe Frontier and the Napoleonic Generation
- 2 ‘Pray for the Camels’: The Winter Invasion of Khiva, 1839–41
- 3 ‘This Particularly Painful Place’: The Failure of the Syr-Darya Line as a Frontier, 1841–63
- 4 From Ayaguz to Almaty: The Conquest and Settlement of Semirechie, 1843–82
- 5 The Search for a ‘Natural’ Frontier and the Fall of Tashkent, 1863–5
- 6 War with Bukhara, 1866–8
- 7 The Fall of Khiva, 1872–3
- 8 ‘Those Who Should Be Spared’: The Conquest of Ferghana, 1875–6
- 9 ‘The Harder You Hit Them, the Longer They Will Be Quiet Afterwards’: The Conquest of Transcaspia, 1869–85
- 10 Aryanism on the Final Frontier of the Russian Empire: The Exploration and Annexation of the Pamirs, 1881–1905
- Epilogue: After the Conquest
- Sources and Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The fall of the great Turkmen fortress of Gök-Tepe in 1881 took place in the full glare of international publicity, but it was preceded by over ten years of skirmishing and raiding between the Russians and the Akhal-Teke and Yomud Turkmen from the shores of the Caspian to the Köpet Dagh mountains. In 1879 the hapless General N. P. Lomakin was defeated beneath the walls of Gök-Tepe and forced to retreat, the most significant defeat inflicted on Russian arms throughout the entire history of the conquest of Central Asia. The celebrated and sadistic General M. D. Skobelev was tasked with wiping out the memory of Lomakin’s humiliation, which he did by storming the fortress and massacring 8,000 Turkmen, women and children included. Over the next four years the Russians would annex Merv and the Panjdeh oasis, arousing Persian and British alarm, before they came to an agreement both with the Qajars and with the British on drawing what would become the new southern frontier of the Empire.
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- The Russian Conquest of Central AsiaA Study in Imperial Expansion, 1814–1914, pp. 409 - 475Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020