There were significant social changes. Mass education was introduced with some success. In 1927, Moscow mandated the liberation of Central Asian women, undertaking campaigns against veiling and female seclusion in Uzbekistan. In reality, these practices were not universal, and Jadidist and other local reformers had long called for such changes. Soviet policies, which invaded very personal territory, produced a reaction. Folk Islam and traditions, such as veiling, a practice that varied from region to region, and male circumcision became symbols of identity. Moscow ultimately prevailed with regard to the veil. Women gained full legal equality with men and equal career opportunities. Some women pursued this; many, especially in the rural areas, did not or could not. Russians and Central Asians worked side by side, especially in the cities, but intermarriage was rare.
By the late 1950s, improving living standards produced a substantial demographic upswing. Soviet Russian culture remained dominant, but accorded more latitude in expression to local cultures. The fictionalized biography of the Kazakh modernizer Abay Qunanbayulï (Russian: Kunanbaev) by the novelist Mukhtar Auezov introduced Soviet audiences to the richness of Kazakh nomadic culture, while pressing themes acceptable to the administration. Major novelists, such as the Kyrgyz Chingiz Aitmatov, whose The Day Lasts more than a Hundred Years (1980) encapsulates the experiences of the Kyrgyz under Soviet rule, appeared in both Kyrgyz and Russian, to local and international acclaim.
By the 1970s, the central government felt more at ease in turning over leadership in the Central Asian republics to “natives,” usually with a Russian theoretically his subordinate in the local government and party hierarchy, but actually there to watch Moscow’s interests. During the “stagnation” and growing corruption that typified much of the era in which Leonid Brezhnev led the USSR (1964-82), this indigenous leadership became a real force with which Moscow had to negotiate. Anti-Soviet sentiments were more openly expressed in the late 1980s, the age of glasnost’ (freedom of expression) ushered in by Mikhail Gorbachev, Brezhnev’s ultimate successor and the last Communist ruler. In December 1991, the Soviet Union was disbanded and reorganized into a loose union termed the Commonwealth of Independent States (with the exception of Georgia and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia).
In the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse, Central Asians, under authoritarian regimes of varying severity that came to power in late Soviet times, found themselves on the threshold of a new era. They now face enormous problems. Pollution has left a legacy of disease and ecological disaster. There is the prospect of great wealth (oil, gas, and other natural resources), but uncertainty as to how to exploit it.
National identities established by the Soviets continue, but are being infused with new content. Tamerlane, whose descendants were driven out of Transoxiana by the Uzbeks, has become a symbol of Uzbek identity. The Uzbek leadership wants association with the image of a powerful conqueror and major figure on the world stage. It also wants to put some distance between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, in effect continuing Soviet policy.16 National, ethnic and regional rivalries remain unresolved. Indeed, even the long-standing, but occasionally tense, symbiosis of Uzbek and Tajik has been undergoing severe strains. Tajiks in Uzbekistan claim discrimination. In some regions, there is the threat of radical Islamic movements, usually termed “Wahhâbis” after the name of the conservative Sunni sect dominant in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have often provided the funds for Islamic revival movements. In Uzbekistan and elsewhere, some of these groups have engaged in violent opposition to the current governments and have joined the Taliban or al-Qaeda.17
Language remains a critical component of identity. Many Central Asian states have sought to “purify” their language by ridding them of Russian terms. Some have changed alphabets. In 1991, Turkmenistan, like Azerbayjan in Transcaucasia, adopted a Latin alphabet largely modeled on that of Modern Turkish, a close relative. In Uzbekistan, a “reformed” Latin-based alphabet appeared in 1995,18 but books continue to be published in Cyrillic.
Most of the current leaders have practiced varying degrees of political repression, familiar to them from the Soviet system in which they were raised. Saparmurat Niyazov, leader of Turkmenistan from 1990 until his death in 2006, declared himself Türkmenbashï, “Leader of the Turkmen.” His extravagant personality cult accompanied a repressive regime. The less flamboyant Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, has been equally intolerant of political opposition. Nursultan Nazarbayev, who became the president of Kazakhstan in 1991, has been more effective in promoting economic growth without overt political oppression. Oil and mineral wealth accounted for 80 percent of earnings, but 40 percent of the population lived in poverty in 2008.19Desertification is claiming once fertile pastures in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan has a fragile democracy torn by factional strife. Tajikistan’s civil war (1992-97) pitting reformers against Islamists, often with strong undercurrents of regional and ethnic factionalism, left the country in ruins.
After the Chinese Revolution of 1911, a series of warlords replaced Qing rule in Xinjiang. They held power, while fending off encroachments from Russia/USSR and the Chinese Republican government. All of them faced unrest from the local Turkic Muslims. In 1921, a group of east Turkestani intellectuals meeting in Tashkent revived the Uighur name (unused for centuries) and began to promote Uighur nationalism. The majority of the settled Turkî-speaking population adopted this common designation. Uighur uprisings produced the East Turkestan Republic in 1944 under Uighur leadership, while Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist government was distracted by war with Japan and the struggle with the Chinese Communists. In 1949, the Communists, victors in the Chinese civil war, dismantled it. They suppressed Uighur nationalism and rewrote the history of Xinjiang, portraying it as an ancient possession of China. Periodic attempts were made to more closely integrate the region and its diverse, non-Chinese population into China proper.
During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and ‘70s, large numbers of Chinese were settled there, putting the demographic dominance of the local Muslim peoples in jeopardy. In 1949, there were 300,000 Chinese in Xinjiang. Today, 7.5 million Chinese constitute 40 percent of the population while the 8.5 million Uighurs form 45 percent.20Cognizant of these concerns, the government has exempted the Uighurs and other national minorities from its one child per family policy. Newspapers and books are published in the local languages. Uighurs use the Arabic script, which separates them from Turkic-speaking post-Soviet Central Asia. An increasing number of the younger generation knows Chinese, essential to full participation in the life of the country, but they are a minority. Uighur resistance and separatist movements have developed. Some of them, such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, have adopted violent tactics and are considered terrorist organizations with possible ties to al-Qaeda.
Inner Mongolia remained within the Chinese orbit after 1911. Chinese economic and demographic pressure continued. Although united by language and a historical consciousness largely based on the Chinggisid Empire, Mongol nationalists were divided by region. Prince Demchukdongrob, a nationalist leader, had hoped to gain autonomy within China in return for cooperation against the Japanese. When this policy failed, the local aristocracy, seeking Japanese support for their conquest of Outer Mongolia, cooperated with Japan, which had established itself in neighboring Manchuria in 1931. Inner Mongolia remains under Chinese rule.
Outer Mongolia, caught between Russia and China, retained an uneasy independence during the twentieth century. It declared the eighth Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu, Bogdo Khan, the ruler of independent Mongolia in 1911. Russia backed him, but declined to support plans to include Inner Mongolia and other Mongol territories in this state. In 1913, China, while retaining its nominal sovereignty, agreed to Outer Mongolian self-rule. The Treaty of Kiakhta (1915) between Russia, China, and the Mongols confirmed Mongolia’s autonomous (de facto independent) status. China, taking advantage of the Russian Civil War, reasserted its claims and retook the country in
1919-20. Sükhe Bator, a young revolutionary, reclaimed Mongol independence in 1921 and established the People’s Government of Mongolia. When Bogdo Khan died in 1924, the monarchy was abolished and the Mongol People’s Republic (MPR) was declared, based on Soviet models. China remained its nominal overlord, while the MPR drew closer to Moscow. Internal policies, such as collectivization and political purges, mirrored those of the USSR. Choibalsan, the army chief, ultimately emerged as the dominant figure.
The Japanese threat produced a treaty of alliance with the USSR in 1936. Three years later, a joint Soviet-Mongol army defeated Japanese forces in a series of engagements in the ill-defined borderlands. When the USSR declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, the MPR followed two days later.
After the close of World War II, a national plebiscite (1945) confirmed Mongolian independence, subsequently reconfirmed by China and the USSR. Under the premiership of Tsedenbal, who came to power after Choibalsan’s death in 1952 Mongolia, still concerned about China’s ultimate goals, remained a Soviet satellite state until the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1991, it changed its name to the Republic of Mongolia and has since become a multiparty democracy. Its population of 2.5 million face enormous problems of economic underdevelopment. Pasturelands account for 75 percent of Mongolia’s landmass, but pastoral nomadism, the dominant industry, faces an uncertain future in the modern world economy. Chinggis Khan, whose name appears on everything from vodka and beer labels to rock bands, remains a potent national symbol.
Pronunciation Guide
Diacritics for long vowels in place-names have been omitted, for example, Bukhara instead of Bukhârâ. They have been retained for personal names and titles, for example, Khwarazm is used for the city and country, but Khwârazmshâh for the title of the ruler.
The following is a simplified guide for English speakers.
VOWELS
CONSONANTS
Chronology
CA. 38000 BCE
Humans enter Central Asia
CA. 6000 BCE
Development of agriculture
CA. 4800 BCE
Domestication of the horse
CA. 3000 BCE
Building of irrigation canals in Central Asia
CA. 2000 BCE
Wheeled carts, chariots, emergence of pastoral nomadism
CA. 1500 or 1200
Birth of Zoroaster (perhaps as late as 600 BCE)
CA. 1000 BCE
Appearance of the composite bow in Central Asia; emergence of mounted, organized armed groups
CA. 700 BCE
Scythian-Saka tribes in Pontic steppes and Central Asia
556–330 BCE
Achaemenid Empire
CA. 308–128 BCE
Graeco-Bactrian Empire
CA. 209 BCE–155 CE
Xiongnu state dominates eastern Central Asia
202 BCE–220 CE
Han dynasty rules in China
CA. first century BCE to first century CE
Rise of the Kushan dynasty
CA. 230s to 270s
Fall of the Kushan Empire to the Sasanids
CA. 226–651 CE
Sasanid Empire
375
Huns cross the Volga River
Mid-fifth century
CA. 450
Emergence of Hephthalite state in Afghanistan and neighboring areas
453
Death of Attila
552
Rise of First Türk Qaghanate
557—CA. 567
Türks and Persians destroy Hephthalite state
630
Fall of First Türk Qaghanate in east
CA. 630–650
Khazar Qaghanate forms in western steppes
651
Arabs complete conquest of Persia, begin advance into Central Asia
659
Fall of First Türk Qaghanate in west
682–742
Reign of the Second Türk Qaghanate in the east
750
‘Abbâsids overthrow Umayyads
751
Battle of the Talas
744-840
Reign of the Uighur Qaghanate
766
Western Türk Qaghanate falls to Qarluqs
770s
Oghuz tribal union migrates from Mongolia to Syr Darya region, Kimek Qaghanate forms in western Siberia
819–1005
Sâmânid dynasty in Transoxiana and eastern Iran
916–1125
Qitan (Liao) Empire in Mongolia, Manchuria and northern China
920s
Volga Bulghars convert to Islam
960
Large-scale conversion of Turkic tribes in Central Asia to Islam
965–969
Fall of Khazaria
977–1186
Reign of the Ghaznavid state in eastern Iran, Afghanistan, and northwestern India
992–1212
Reign of the Qarakhanid state in western and eastern Turkistan
1124
Yelu Dashi founds the Qara Khitai Empire (1124-1213)
1200–1221
Reign of Muhammad Khwârazmshâh
1206
Temüjin elected as Chinggis Khan
1218–1220
Mongols conquer Central Asia
1227
Death of Chinggis Khan; Mongol realm subdivides into uluses (appanages) led by the four sons of Chinggis Khan—Jochi, Chaghadai, Ögödei and Tolui—and their descendants
1229–1241
Reign of Ögödei as Great Qaghan
1240
Mongols complete conquest of Rus,’ Qïpchaqs, and Volga Bulgharia
1241
Mongols invade Hungary and Poland, defeat Polish and German knights at Legnica
1243
Mongols defeat Seljuks of Rûm at Köse Dagh
1251–1259
Möngke, son of Tolui, reigns as Great Qaghan
1256–1353
Iran-Iraq and much of Anatolia ruled by the Il-khânate of the Hülegüids
1258
Mongols conquer Baghdad
1260
Mamlûks defeat Mongol forces at ‘Ayn Jalût in Palestine
1260–1294
Qubilai Khan, son of Möngke, reigns as Great Qaghan
1279
Mongols complete conquest of China
1313–1341
Özbek Khan of Jochid Ulus converts to Islam
1348
Outbreak of Bubonic plague
1368
End of Yuan (Mongol) rule in China
1370–1405
Dominance of Chinggisid world by Temür (Tamerlane)
1438–1455
Oirats under Esen dominate Mongols, extending their power from Manchuria to eastern Turkestan
1443–-1466
Chinggisid Khanates of Crimea, Kazan, and Astrakhan are established
1451
Chinggisid Abu’l-Khayr Khan emerges as leader of Uzbeks
1501
Safavids begin conquest of Iran
1502
Collapse of the Great Horde (Golden Horde); early to mid-sixteenth-century Kazakhs divide into Great Horde, Middle Horde, Little Horde; Khojas are established in eastern Turkistan
1526
Babur, having fled Uzbeks, founds Mughal Empire in South Asia
1552–1556
Moscow conquers Kazan and Astrakhan
1578
Altan Khan, Mongol leader, gives title Dalai Lama to Tibetan Gelugpa leader Sonam Gyatso; Buddhism spreads rapidly among Mongols
1616
Nurhaci, a Jurchen chieftain, proclaims himself khan
1620
Oirats convert to Buddhism
1635
Abahai, Nurhaci’s son, adopts name Manchu for his people
1644
Manchus conquer China, founding the Qing dynasty
1648
Lamasery founded at Urga (today Ulan Bator)
1650
For
mation of Kalmyk state on lower Volga
1676–1697
Reign of Galdan Khan of the Junghar Empire
1689
Treaty of Nerchinsk establishes borders between Russian and Qing Empires
1697–1727
Reign of Tsewang Rabtan of the Junghar Empire
1709
Foundation of Khoqand Khanate
1727
Treaty of Kiakhta stabilizes Russian and Qing borders and commercial relations
1731–1742
Kazakhs accept Russian protection
1753
Manghït Atalïqs become Amîrs of Bukhara
1757–1759
Qing end Junghar Empire, conquer Eastern Turkistan
1822–1848
Russia annexes the Kazakh hordes
1865–1884
Russian conquest of Central Asia
1883–1884
Qing restore authority in eastern Turkistan, rename it Xinjiang (New Frontier Province)
1890s
Russian colonization of Central Asia, in particular Kazakhstan
1905
Japan defeats Russia in Russo-Japanese War; Russian Revolution of 1905
1911
Overthrow of Qing dynasty; Outer Mongolia declares itself independent under Bogdo Khan
1917
February Revolution in Russia, followed by Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917
1918–1921
Russian Civil War
1919–1920
China retakes Outer Mongolia
1921
East Turkestani intellectuals meeting in Tashkent, revive “Uighur” as the national name for the Turkî-speaking Muslim population of East Turkistan; Sükhe Bator reestablishes independence of Outer Mongolia
1923
Bolshevik control of Russian Central Asia complete
1924
Bukhara and the Khwarazmian Republic brought into the Soviet Union; National Delimitation creates boundaries of the Soviet Central Asian republics; death of Bogdo Khan; establishment of Mongol People’s Republic
1927–1928
Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Türkmen, Kazakh, and Qara Qalpaq switch from Arabic to Latin script
1930s–1942
Türkic languages switch to Cyrillic script
1944–1949
Central Asia in World History Page 17