The Bukhara operation (1920), was a military conflict fought between the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and the Young Bukharans against the

Emirate of Bukhara The Emirate of Bukhara (, ) was a Muslims, Muslim-Uzbeks, Uzbek polity in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rive ...

. The war lasted between 28 August and 2 September 1920, ending in the defeat of the Emirate of Bukhara, which was instead replaced by the RSFSR-controlled Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.

Background

The Emirate of Bukhara was officially created in 1785, upon the assumption of the throne by the Manghit emir, Shah Murad. Over the course of the 18th century, the emirs slowly gained effective control of the

Khanate of Bukhara The Khanate of Bukhara was an Uzbek state in Central Asia from 1501 to 1785, founded by the Abu'l-Khayrid dynasty, a branch of the Shaybanids. From 1533 to 1540, Bukhara briefly became its capital during the reign of Ubaidullah Khan. The Khana ...

from their position as ''ataliq''. In 1868 the emirate was conquered by

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

, which had colonial aspirations in the region. Russia annexed much of the emirate's territory, including the important city of

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

. The

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

erupted on 7 November 1917, pitting the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

-led

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

against the White Army. During the first two years of the conflict, communist troops failed to make considerable progress in the Central Asian theaters, as the majority of Red Army forces were tied down on other fronts. In spring 1918, a group of British intelligence agents visited

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

in an effort to identify what was happening in the region, due to poor British intelligence. The mission was headed by British officer

Frederick Marshman Bailey Frederick Marshman Bailey (3 February 1882 – 17 April 1967) was a British Political officer (British Empire), political officer and one of the last protagonists of ''The Great Game.'' His expeditions in Tibet and Assam Himalaya gave him many ...

, who subsequently went on to evade Bolshevik capture for several months until he escaped. Mikhail Frunze Red Army Bukhara offensive

The defeat of the White Army troops led by

Alexander Kolchak Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a mili ...

during the second half of 1919 radically changed the situation on the Turkestani theater of the war. The Red Turkestan Front was formed on 14 August 1919, as the communists began relocating their forces by means of the Central Asian railroad network that had remained intact since the beginning of the war. The emir of Bukhara became aware of the communist maneuvers, enacting mobilization, which brought Bukhara's army to a total of 35,000 soldiers, 15 machine guns and 55 small cannons. A surge in the activities of the leftist Young Bukharans movement in August 1920 prompted Red Army commander

Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (; ; 2 February 1885 – 31 October 1925) was a Soviet revolutionary, politician, army officer and military theory, military theorist. Born to a Bessarabian father and a Russian mother in Russian Turkestan, Frunze at ...

to act in their support.

The Battle

Οn the night 28 August 1920, Young Bukharans launched a revolt in Charjou, subjugating the city. At the same time the Red Army launched an offensive on Qorakoʻl, approaching it from the south-west. On 30 August, communist troops had reached

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

and began bombarding the Karshin gates, in preparation of an upcoming assault. Soviet forces then attacked the bridges over the Burdalik, Nardalik and

Amu Darya The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

rivers, securing them on 31 August. That day, Red Army reinforcements arrived with new guns. Heavy artillery was positioned closer to the walls: fortress 152-mm cannons on platforms and 122-mm batteries. A massive bombardment of the city was unleashed. The Red Army had no shortage of shells, which were supplied by rail. A total of 12,000 shells were fired upon the city. A breach appeared in the city wall, which was enlarged by a detachment of

sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

s in armored cars. On 2 September, communist forces penetrated the gates and overtook Bukhara. The city was on fire. Emir Muhammad Alim Khan had however already fled to the eastern part of the state with a group of 1,000 soldiers. The remaining Bukhara troops entrench themselves in the Ark fortress. Frunze ordered the Ark to be bombed by heavy artillery and aircraft, which left the fortress in ruins. The fortress surrendered the same day.

Aftermath

The old center of Bukhara had been greatly damaged and hundreds of civilians had been killed. Alim Khan's defeat enabled the revolutionaries to establish the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

-controlled Bukharan PSR. Fires in Bukhara 1920

Muhammad Alim Khan was forced to emigrate to Dushanbe and eventually supported Enver Pasha and his campaign against bolshevik power.

Notes

References

* * * *

Background

The Battle

Aftermath

Notes

References

Further reading

See also