Karakorum Government
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The Karakorum Government or Confederated Republic of Altai was a republic created as an attempt to create a independent Altai. it lasted from 1918 to 1920. when it got annexed by the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
.


Bakground

The areas of southern Siberia (today's Altai, Tuva, Khakassia an neigboring areas) which were conquered by the
Russian Tsardom The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in ...
in the 18th century (except Tuva, which was part of Qing-ruled Mongolia until it became a protectorate of Russia in 1914), comprised diversed siberian-Turkic peoples, which, by the 1910s were approximately 50% of the population of the area. They rejected Russian rule and (in general but not fully) opposed Orthodox Christianity. By the 1900s, a new religious movement rose up,
Burkhanism Burkhanism or Ak Jang ( alt, Ак јаҥ "the White Faith") is a indigenist new religious movement that flourished among the Altai people of Russia's Altai Republic between 1904 and the 1930s. The Russian Empire was suspicious of the movement ...
, emerged in response to the needs of a new people—the Altai-kizhi or Altaians who sought to distinguish themselves from the neighboring and related tribes and for whom Burkhanism became a religious form of their ethnic identity. Thousands of Altaians gathered for prayer meetings, initially in the Tereng Valley. These were violently suppressed by mobs of Russians, instigated by the Altaian Spiritual Mission, who were afraid of the potential of the competing religion to decrease the Orthodox Christian flock in Altai. The prime motivating factor for the adoption of this new faith was Altaians' fear of displacement by Russian colonists, Russification, and subjection to
taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
and conscription on the same basis as Russian peasants.See Chapter 2 of Sherstova, Burhanism, Tomsk (1986, 2010) This movement and the opposition to Russification created a common sense of nationality and desire for self determination, which was to be fulfilled in the chaos of the
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
.


History

The second Congress of the high Altai was called in March 1918 and officially created the Confederated Republic of Altai. The pro- Burkhanist government was founded by Altai painter Grigoriy Gurkin and by Russian writer and publicist Vasily Anuchin. The republic was not a fully independent entity but rather an administrative entity with some autonomy, although it was relatively independent in reality due to the chaos of the
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
. This was intended to include not only Altai but also neighboring republics of Tuva and Khakassia, and declared as the first step to rebuilding Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire. The republic was eventually invaded by white forces in the civil war, then by the
Soviet 5th Army The 5th Combined Arms Red Banner Army (5-я общевойсковая армия) is a Russian Ground Forces formation in the Eastern Military District. It was formed in 1939, served during the Soviet invasion of Poland that year, and was deplo ...
and destroyed in April 1920, although resistance continued well into 1922.


References

Altai Republic Post–Russian Empire states Provisional governments of the Russian Civil War Subdivisions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic History of Siberia Altai people {{Russia-hist-stub