The Russian Conquest of Central Asia : A Study in Imperial Expansion, 1814–1914

The Russian conquest of Central Asia was perhaps the nineteenth century's most dramatic and successful example of European imperial expansion, adding 1.5 million square miles and at least 6 million people - most of them Muslims - to the Tsar's domains. Alexander Morrison provides the first comprehensive military and diplomatic history of the conquest to be published for over a hundred years. From the earliest conflicts on the steppe frontier in the 1830s to the annexation of the Pamirs in the early 1900s, he gives a detailed account of the logistics and operational history of Russian wars against Khoqand, Bukhara and Khiva, the capture of Tashkent and Samarkand, and the bloody subjection of the Turkmen, as well as Russian diplomatic relations with China, Persia and the British Empire. Based on archival research in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and India, memoirs and Islamic chronicles, this book explains how Russia conquered a colonial empire in Central Asia, with consequences that still resonate today. -- Provided by Publisher Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Title - Complete......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 List of Maps......Page 12 List of Tables......Page 13 Acknowledgements......Page 14 Note on Translation, Transliteration and Dates......Page 19 List of Abbreviations......Page 20 Glossary......Page 24 Map......Page 26 Introduction......Page 28 1 Russia’s Steppe Frontier and the Napoleonic Generation......Page 79 2 ‘Pray for the Camels’: The Winter Invasion of Khiva, 1839–41......Page 110 3 ‘This Particularly Painful Place’: The Failure of the Syr-Darya Line as a Frontier, 1841–63......Page 141 4 From Ayaguz to Almaty: The Conquest and Settlement of Semirechie, 1843–82......Page 195 5 The Search for a ‘Natural’ Frontier and the Fall of Tashkent, 1863–5......Page 243 6 War with Bukhara 1866–8......Page 282 7 The Fall of Khiva 1872–3......Page 334 8 ‘Those Who Should Be Spared’: The Conquest of Ferghana 1875–6......Page 401 9 ‘The Harder You Hit Them, the Longer They Will Be Quiet Afterwards’: The Conquest of Transcaspia, 1869–85......Page 436 10 Aryanism on the Final Frontier of the Russian Empire: The Exploration and Annexation of the Pamirs, 1881–1905......Page 503 Epilogue: After the Conquest......Page 558 Sources and Bibliography......Page 567 Index......Page 620 Russia's conquest of Central Asia was perhaps the nineteenth century's most dramatic and successful example of European imperial expansion. Alexander Morrison provides a definitive diplomatic and military history, explaining how and why a vast region of steppe, desert, mountain and oasis, mainly populated by Muslims, came under Russian rule.