The British Non-Recognition of Bukharas Independence in 1922: Assessments, Forecasts, and Mechanism

The article examines the British vision and assessments of the situation in Bukhara in the winter of 1921–1922, immediately after the split of the Union of Bolsheviks and Young Bukharians, which previously led to the creation of the so-called Bukhara People's Soviet Republic in the fall of 1920. Drawing on British archival sources, the article examines the decision-making process and projections for future development and outlines the mechanism of interaction between the various institutions of the British Indian administration and its decisions regarding Anglo-Bukharian relations. The United Kingdom needed to prevent any threat to its Indian possessions. Therefore, the recognition of the independent statehood of Bukhara immediately after the overthrow of the emir by the Bolsheviks and the Young Bukharans, and the establishment of the pro-Soviet regime, became particularly important. The problem of recognition affected a wide range of issues, including British positions in the East, its relations with individual countries of the region, primarily with Afghanistan, and the establishment of relations with Soviet Russia, which, on the one hand, showed its interest in promoting them, and on the other, engaged in anti-British activities in the East with an emphasis on India. The Afghan authorities, pursuing their own goals in Central Asia, persistently appealed to the British to recognize the independence of Bukhara, referring to the Soviet and Afghan examples. British diplomats reacted cautiously to all appeals, without losing sight of the Afghan plans and goals of London. Their final refusal to participate in the Bukhara chaos is caused, to a greater extent, by the lack of a real force on which the British could rely. Thus, the very idea of British recognition turned out to be unviable because of the nature of the puppet regime established in the BNSR, and because of the unwillingness of the British to aggravate their relations with Soviet Russia.

Keywords

Afghanistan, Bukhara, Central Asia, Great Britain, India, independence

Received

20.09.2021

Publication date

25.01.2022

Number of characters

52601

Cite

GOST	Ulunyan A. The British Non-Recognition of Bukhara's Independence in 1922: Assessments, Forecasts, and Mechanism // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2022. – Issue 1 C. 135-150 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640018264-8-1 (circulation date: 04.10.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018264-8
MLA	Ulunyan, Arutyun "The British Non-Recognition of Bukhara's Independence in 1922: Assessments, Forecasts, and Mechanism." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 1 (2022):135-150. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018264-8
APA	Ulunyan A. (2022). The British Non-Recognition of Bukhara's Independence in 1922: Assessments, Forecasts, and Mechanism. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (1), pp.135-150 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018264-8

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 363

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Abdullayev K.N. Ot Sin'tszyanya do Khorasana. Iz istorii sredneaziatskoy emigratsii XX veka [From Xinjiang to Khorasan. From the history of the Central Asian emigration of the 20th century]. Dushanbe, 2009. (In Russ.)

2. Genis V.L. “Butaforskaya revolyutsiya”, ili rossiyskoye polpredstvo v Khive v 1920g. [“Fake revolution”, or the Russian embassy in Khiva in 1920] // Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriya i sovremennost' [Orientis: Afro-Asian Societies: History and Modernity]. 2000. № 2. S. 5–26. (In Russ.)

3. Genis V.L. “S Bukharoy nado konchat'...” K istorii butaforskikh revolyutsiy. Dokumental'naya khronika [“We must end with Bukhara ...” On the history of fake revolutions. A documentary chronicle]. Moskva, 2001. (In Russ.)

4. Sergeyev Ye.Yu. Bol'sheviki i anglichane. Sovetsko-britanskiye otnosheniya, 1918–1924 gg. Ot interventsii k priznaniyu [The Bolsheviks and the British. Soviet-British relations, 1918–1924. From intervention to recognition]. Sankt-Peterburg, 2019. (In Russ.)

5. Sherstyukov S.A. Enver-pasha, Dzhemal'-pasha i Talaat-pasha mezhdu Moskvoy i Berlinom (1918–1922) [Enver Pasha, Dzhemal Pasha and Talaat Pasha between Moscow and Berlin (1918–1922)] // Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriya i sovremennost' [Orientis. Afro-Asian Societies: History and Modernity]. 2018. № 4. S. 55–69. (In Russ.)

6. Tikhonov Yu.N. Dzhemal'-pasha v Afganistane i Sovetskoy Rossii v 1921–1922 gg. [Dzhemal Pasha in Afghanistan and in Soviet Russia in 1921–1922] // Vostochnyy arkhiv [Oriental Archive]. 2010. № 2 (22). S. 50–62. (In Russ.)

7. Ulunyan Ar.A. Turkestanskiy platsdarm. 1917–1922. Britanskoye razvedyvatel'noye soobshchestvo i britanskoye pravitel'stvo [Turkestan bridgehead. 1917–1922. British intelligence community and British government]. Moskva, 2019. (In Russ.)

8. Correspondence respecting Afghanistan. Confidential. Part 1. January to December 1922. Printed for the use of the Foreign Office. UK. 1922.

9. Dumont P. La fascination du bolchevisme: Enver pacha et le parti des soviets populaires, 1919–1922 // Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique. 1975. Vol. 16. № 2. P. 141–166.

10. Erșan M. Hüsein Fevzi Bey’in, Enver Pașa – İslam İhtilal Cemiyetleri İttihadı – Anadolu ilișkilere dair raporu // Turkish Studies International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic. 2009. Vol. 4/3. S. 952–975.

11. The Parliamentary Debates. Official Report. Fifth Series – Volume 157. Fifth Session of the Thirty-First Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 13 George V. House of Commons. Seventh Volume of Session, 1922. Comprising Period from Monday, 24th July, to Friday, 4th August, 1922. London, 1922.

12. Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. The Federation of the Central Asian States under the Kabul Government // Journal of the Central Asian Society. 1921. Vol. VIII. Part I. P. 29–48.

13. Yenen A. The Other Jihad: Enver Pasha, Bolsheviks, and Politics of Anticolonial Muslim Nationalism during the Baku Congress 1920 // The First World War and its Aftermath: The Shaping of the Middle East / ed. T.G. Fraser. London, 2015. P. 273–293.