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3.1. Pre-Revolutionary Era
Both Russia and the neighboring regions were in chaos just before the 1917
Revolutions. The Great War conditions struck Tsarist Russia, and Tsarist Russia
could not stand the heavy burden of the war. The civil war was about breaking out
inside the country. In 1916, an important event occurred in the Steppe region of the
Empire. Then the uprisings spread to Turkistan. Native Muslim communities
upraised against the ongoing poverty and starvation in the lands of Central Asia. The
indigenous in Central Asia were force to renounce their water rights and irrigation
lands for the behalf of Russian settlers. Since the policy of specialization in cotton
production was implemented in Turkistan and the grain needs were supplied from
Russia; Turkistan and the Steppe fell into starvation because of collapse of grain
supply in the war years. Moreover, recruitment of Moslem natives by Tsarist regime
was the last triggering factor for break out of uprising. The uprisings were pressed by
the governorate general of Turkistan. The uprisings in the Steppe continued until
February Revolution.
150
The international arena was also full of problems and
questions just after the Great War. Ottoman Empire, as the most prominent and
leading state for Muslim countries in the world, was about collapsing at the end of
1917. Persia was inside anarchy and Afghanistan was in a war with Britain. In China,
the ruling Manchu dynasty fell and the region of Sinkiang (the lands of the late
Kasghar Khanate) was in power vacuum due to the lack of ruling authority. Central
150
Carrere D’Encausse, Hèlene, trans.,
Islam and the Russian Empire Reform and Revolution in
Central Asia
, (London: I.B.Tauris-Co Ltd, 1966), 121.
62
Asia was shaken by the effects of Revolutions at that time period. Inside the borders
of Turkistan, at least 40,000 German, Austrian and Hungarian prisoners of war were
deployed by Russia.
151
Just before the February Revolution, the peasant revolt broke
out in 1916 among the Steppe peasants of Central Asian Muslims. The inconsistent
policies and enormous increase of Russian and Ukrainian settlers in Central Asia
caused native population to give reactions to the Russian rule. The break out of 1916
peasant revolt was a result of these reactions to inconsistent policies. After the
February Revolution, the native people got hopeful about the possible change of
ongoing Russian policies in the region. They expected the restoration of their rights
over water sources and lands.
152
After the February Revolution, a wind of freedom
influenced the Steppe, Idil-Ural and Turkistan regions. There was not enough
intelligentsia among Central Asian Muslims at that time (in revolutionary era). For
instance, 97-98 % of the population was illiterate except a very small group of the
Kazakhs.
153
There was no enough intelligentsia among Muslim elements to organize
a modern state in the region. There was no military tradition for centuries. They were
excluded from military service. There was also exception in the khanates. They had
few military forces because of remaining under protectorate. Communication
services, railways, telegraphs or industrial facilities, all of them belonged to
Russians.
154
Among the peoples of Turkestan, there was not an idea or identity of
nation and nationality. The communities were tribal, nomadic, especially in Turkmen
basin and the Steppe, and bound to Islam extremely in Turkestan, the khanates, the
emirate and Fergana. Especially, sedentary population was under severe influence of
151
Wheeler, Geoffrey,
The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia
, (New York: Greenword Press,
1964),98.
152
Ibid, 97
153
Ibid, 97.
154
Caroe, Olaf,
Soviet Empire:
The Turks of Central Asia and Stalinism,
(New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1967), 97-98.
63
religiosity. The peoples did not recognize the Western ideologies like nationalism or
nation concept because of the illiteracy of majority and lack of an intelligentsia.
155
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