The Basmachi Movement in Soviet Turkestan in the Plans of Some Anti-Bolshevik Forces (1918–1933)

The general themes of the history of the Basmachi movement, whose members fought against Soviet rule in Turkestan from 1918 until the second half of the 1930s, have been relatively well researched. However, most publications on the issue focus on an analysis of the reasons for the emergence of the movement, a description of its social base, and its main objectives and phases. Considerably less attention is given to issues revealing the ultimate objectives of the key allies of the Basmachi in their struggle against Bolshevism in Turkestan, and the role that this movement played in achieving those objectives. However, sources that have become available to researchers in recent years indicate that all the key participants of the anti-Soviet movement in Turkestan had their own plans for the future of the region. The implementation of these plans envisaged close cooperation with the Basmachi movement and set well-defined objectives for it. An analysis of these objectives in the plans of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, the ruling circles of Afghanistan, the Emir of Bukhara, and the secular and religious authorities of the Muslim community of the Chinese province of Xinjiang allows one, on the one hand, to clarify certain details of the movement's history and, on the other, to take a fresh look at a whole series of episodes in the civil war in Turkistan. In particular, the evidence suggests that the participants in the battle against Bolshevism were both bitter rivals in the struggle to bring their plans to fruition. It would appear that in the event of the defeat of the Soviets, a new phase of confrontation would have developed among the former allies, and the Basmachi movement would have been drawn into that struggle.

Keywords

Basmachi movement, Kolchak, White movement, armed groups, Afghanistan, Bukhara, Xinjiang, civil war, Turkestan, foreign policy, RSFSR, USSR

Received

06.09.2021

Publication date

25.01.2022

Number of characters

41286

Cite

GOST	Barmin V. The Basmachi Movement in Soviet Turkestan in the Plans of Some Anti-Bolshevik Forces (1918–1933) // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2022. – Issue 1 C. 84-97 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640018260-4-1 (circulation date: 07.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018260-4
MLA	Barmin, Valerii "The Basmachi Movement in Soviet Turkestan in the Plans of Some Anti-Bolshevik Forces (1918–1933)." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 1 (2022):84-97. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018260-4
APA	Barmin V. (2022). The Basmachi Movement in Soviet Turkestan in the Plans of Some Anti-Bolshevik Forces (1918–1933). Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (1), pp.84-97 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018260-4

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