The First World War and Turkistan

There was no fighting in Turkistan, but because it was a colony of the Russian Empire, the war’s burden fell on it. Taxes were raised and more cotton, grain and other goods were taken out. In the summer of 1916, by the decree of Tsar Nicholas II, men of Turkistan aged 19 to 43 began to be taken for labour behind the army, building defences and railways. Many families were left without a breadwinner. This stirred great discontent, and in July 1916 an uprising began and covered Khujand, Tashkent, Jizzakh and other places. 11,000 men were due from Jizzakh; the people of Jizzakh opposed it, led by Nazirkhoja Abdusalomov and Abdurahman Jevachi. In Tashkent women too, for example Rizvonbibi Ahmadjonova, protested. The rebels’ weapons were hoes and sticks, they had not prepared carefully, and the army was modern-armed. The uprising was cruelly put down and many were punished. Even so fewer than planned, a little over 120,000, were sent for labour; they worked in hard conditions. The 1916 uprising showed that the people could stand up for their rights.