from the 1860s to the 1880s were still living memories in the region as Russia moved toward the revolution. Tsarist policies enforced cotton cultivation at the expense of food crops, permitted Russians to settle on nomadic grazing land, and encouraged the building of railroads and textile mills. All this contributed to dissatisfaction and fueled several major revolts, most notably at Andijan in 1898.
Some scholars date the Basmachi revolt to 1916, when rebellion broke out in Tashkent and elsewhere in Central Asia in opposition to the first nonvoluntary conscription of Central Asians into the Russian army. Despite the imposition of martial law, summary executions, and arming of Russian settlers, this revolt still simmered when the Bolshevik revolution broke out in 1917. Russian settlers completely dominated the Tashkent Soviet and other local soviets, so that Soviet power was largely identified as Russian power and fueled continued intercommunal violence. The Soviet destruction of the Muslim-led autonomous government in Kokand (February 1918) and of the Emirate of Bukhara (September 1920) also encouraged recruitment for the Basmachi movement. At their height in 1920 through 1922, some sources claim that the rebels had twenty to thirty thousand men under arms, controlled the Ferghana valley and most of Tajikistan, and enjoyed widespread popularity among the indigenous non-Russian population.
The Basmachi rebellion was never a unified movement. Lack of organization, conflicting agendas, and internal divisions complicated efforts to coordinate military operations against Soviet forces. Some secular intellectuals joined the movement (Jadid reformers, Young Bukharans, populist socialists), though Mustafa Chokay and other prominent figures kept their distance. Islamic ulama and traditional rulers such as the Emir of Bukhara played significant roles. However, the backbone of the movement seems to have been local village and clan leaders and in many cases actual brigands who terrorized Russians and Muslims alike. The most famous participant was the mercurial Enver Pasha, former Ottoman minister of war, who joined the Basmachis in October 1921 and tried to direct it toward a pan-Turkic and panIslamic vision before his death in a skirmish with Russian forces in July 1922.
The Soviet campaign against the Basmachi was largely successful by 1924, although some groups remained active in mountainous border regions near Afghanistan until the early 1930s. The Soviets benefited from a better armed and more disciplined military force; they also learned to deploy Tatar and Central Asian soldiers so the army would not appear solely Russian. Concessions encouraged defections from Basmachi ranks: The Soviets co-opted Central Asians into state institutions, reopened closed markets, promised land reform, granted food and tax relief, relaxed anti-Islamic measures, and generally promoted the return of stability and prosperity under the New Economic Policy reforms. Eventually, Russian cultivation of good relations with Afghanistan denied the Bas-machis a cross-border refuge. See also: AFGHANSTAN, RELATIONS WITH; CENTRAL ASIA; FERGHANA VALLEY; ISLAM; NATIONALISM IN THE SOVIET UNION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fraser, Glenda. (1987). “Basmachi.” Central Asian Survey 6(1):1-73 and 6(2):7-42. Lorenz, Richard. (1994). “Economic Bases of the Bas-machi Movement in the Farghana Valley.” In Muslim Communities Reemerge: Historical Perspectives on Nationality, Politics, and Opposition in the Former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, ed. Edward Allworth. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Marwat, Fazal-ur-Rahim Khan. (1985). The Basmachi Movement in Soviet Central Asia: A Study in Political Development. Peshawar: Emjay Books International. Olcott, Martha. (1981). “The Basmachi or Freeman’s Revolt in Turkestan, 1918-24.” Soviet Studies 33: 352-369. Paksoy, H. B. (1991). “‘Basmachi’: Turkistan National Liberation Movement, 1916-1930s.” In Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union 4: 5-20. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press.
(c. 1206-1255), Mongol prince, the second son of Genghis Khan’s eldest son Jochi.
Batu commanded the army that conquered the northeastern Rus principalities (1237-1238) and
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subsequently that conquered the southern Rus principalities and invaded eastern Europe (1240-1241). Batu was the first khan to rule in the Khanate of Qipchaq (Ulus of Jochi; desht-i-Qipchaq), which he is credited with having founded. His father, Jochi, to whom the lands had been granted “as far as Mongol hooves trod” in the western part of the Mongol Empire (i.e., west of the Irtysh River), died before ruling there. Batu is also credited with building the city of Sarai (Old Sarai, Sarai-Batu) on the Akhtuba channel of the lower Volga River.
Batu was present at the quriltai (assembly) that chose ?g?dei as qaghan (grand khan) in 1229 and most likely also at the quriltai of 1234, which planned the campaign against the Qipchaqs, as well as the quriltai of 1237, which planned the campaign against the Rus principalities and eastern Europe. Disagreements over Batu’s leadership developed during the campaigns in Rus and eastern Europe (1237-1241). G?y?g, a son of ?g?dei, and B? ri, a grandson of Chaghadai, challenged Batu’s authority, possibly on the basis of the questionable legitimacy of Batu’s father. When Qaghan ?g?dei died in 1241, Batu opposed and apparently managed to delay the elevation of G?y?g to become qaghan until 1246. Claiming ill health, Batu refused to attend any quriltais. His presence at the quriltai was needed to give legitimacy to ?g?dei’s successor because, after Chaghadai’s death in 1242, Batu was considered a senior-ranking member of the Chinghissids. When G?y?g was declared qaghan by a quriltai despite Batu’s absence (although Batu was ostensibly represented by his five brothers), he mounted a campaign against Batu but died on the way to Batu’s ulus in 1248.
This time Batu succeeded in getting a quriltai of 1251 to select his own candidate, M?ngke, who was the son of Tolui (Chinghis Khan’s youngest son). Batu had apparently reached agreement with Sorghaqtani, the widow of Tolui, thus forming an alliance of Jochids and Toluids against the ?g?deids. M?ngke and Batu then launched a joint attack on the ?g?deids and their supporters, the Chaghadaids. As a result of Batu’s role in elevating M?ngke to qaghan and in helping him to consolidate his hold on that position, Batu had a relatively free hand in ruling his own khanate.
A sky worshiper, Batu followed a policy of religious toleration, but seems not to have been pleased by the conversion of his brother Berke to Islam, for, according to William of Rubruck, Batu changed Berke’s yurt to the eastern part of the Khanate beyond the Volga River to reduce his contacts with Muslims, which he thought harmful. The Mongol and Turkic sources refer to Batu as sain, which means “good” or “wise,” and in the Rus sources before c. 1448, Batu is depicted as a powerful tsar to whom the Rus princes had to pay obeisance. After 1448, the Russian sources increasingly depict Batu as a cruel plunderer and enslaver of the Rus land. See also: GOLDEN HORDE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Halperin, Charles J. (1983). “The Defeat and Death of Batu.” Russian History 10:50-65. Juvaini,‘Ata-Malik. (1958). The History of the World-Conqueror, tr. J. A. Boyle; 2 vols. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. Juzjani. (1881). Tabakat-I Nasiri, tr. H. G. Raverty. London: Printed by Gilbert and Rivington. Rashid al-Din. (1998- 1999). Jami'u’t-Tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles, a History of the Mongols, tr. W. M. Thackston. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages. Vernadsky, George. (1951). The Mongols and Russia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. William of Rubruck. (1990). The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Great Khan M?ngke, 1253-1255, tr. Peter J. Jackson. London: Hakluyt Society.
(1865-1917), film director.
Yevgeny Bauer was the most original and important film director in prerevolutionary Russian cinema. In addition to directing, he frequently wrote, designed, and shot his films.
Bauer was born into an artistic family and graduated from the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. He worked as a theater artist and set designer before making films. Soon after going to work for the Khanzhonkov studio, he became their best-paid director with an alleged salary of 40,000 rubles. His life came to an early end in 1917: While preparing for an acting
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role near Yalta, he broke his leg in a fall, caught pneumonia, and died.
