Introduction: Great Power Stakes in Central Asia

Keyword(s):  
1837 ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Paul W. Werth

Russia’s military campaign against the khanate of Khiva in 1839–40 is noteworthy for its disastrous outcome. Planned for the winter months in order to obviate the absence of water in the arid Kazakh steppe, the campaign encountered an uncommonly severe winter, which imposed exceptional hardships and compelled the expedition to return to the outpost of Orenburg. Felled largely by the decimation of its camels in the cold winter, the campaign is enmeshed in larger changes unfolding in Russia’s relationship to Kazakhs, Central Asia, and the wider world. A growing Russian attitude of European superiority and preoccupations with great-power status after the defeat of Napoleon equipped tsarist elites with an enhanced sense of entitlement. The year 1837 proved critical for translating these sentiments into attempted conquest. Russian activity in the region also served as the midwife for an intense British Russophobia.


The article analyzes some features of public administration in the empire of Amir Temur. About a century before Amir Temur came to power, significant changes took place in the ethnic composition of the Movarounnakhr population. The invasion of the Mongols in the territory of Central Asia, in turn, contributed to the emergence of new tribes and nations. In particular, in the middle of the thirteenth century there was a migration of ethnic groups of jaloyir, barlos, kavchin and arlot to Central Asia. In the first half of the XIII-XIV centuries some groups of olchin, duglat, mongol, sulduz, oyrot, bakhrin, market, mang’it, kungrad and other tribes moved to Movarounnakhr. Even the Turkic Mongols living in Movarounnakhr gradually forgot the term "Mongol" and called themselves "chigatay." B.Manz, M. Haydar and other authors commented on the role of tribes in socio-political life, career and rank, as well as the great power of Amir Temur in distribution. It is possible to conclude that the tribes’ nobles of Amir Temur were widely involved in the posts.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document