Enver Pasha's Campaign In Bukhara (1922)

Enver Pasha's campaign in Bukhara or Enver Pasha's Bukhara campaign was a series of military engagements between the Basmachi movement, led by Enver Pasha and Molla Abduk Kakhar, and Soviet forces led by Mikhail Frunze in former Emirate of Bukhara and Soviet Turkestan during April and May 1922. The campaign resulted in the Basmachi forces temporarily gaining control over much of Eastern and parts of Western Bukhara, challenging Soviet authority in the area. Despite initial successes, Soviet counteroffensives later that year continued to contest the region. The campaign formed part of the broader Basmachi Revolt against Soviet rule in Central Asia following the Russian Civil War.

Background

After Enver Pasha's successful siege in Dushanbe, Under Enver's leadership, the Basmachis regained control over much of Bukhara. Koyenikov, the official Soviet Russian representative in Bukhara, reported to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs that "the Basmachi were growing stronger and becoming organized in Eastern Bukhara, were also active in Western Bukhara, and that even the capital, Bukhara itself, was in danger." During this period, the movement also became more centralized; regular meetings were held among the leaders of Khiva, Bukhara, and Fergana. Enver Pasha's successful gains in Bukhara were on the verge of spreading to Dagestan, where signs of unrest had already begun to emerge. He established a unified army in Bukhara, implemented a Western-style chain of command, and incorporated Turkish officers into the ranks. Bukharan Army could no longer contain the movement and, fearing the collapse of their own government, the Bukharan Council of Nazir, Fayzulla Xo'jayev approved yet another increase in Soviet troop commitment in the area.

Campaign

After Enver Pasha's successes in Turkestan, Russian forces deployed approximately 100,000 troops to the region to combat his forces. In May 1922, after receiving military aid from Afghanistan—including 800 soldiers, weapons, and 80 camel-loads of ammunition Enver Pasha mobilized from his headquarters in the Kafirun region with approximately 20,000 Basmachi fighters under his command. He launched a broad offensive, clearing Soviet forces from Dushanbe, Hisar, Beljivan, Kulab, Darvaz, Karategin, Saraykamar, Kurgantepe, Kabaduyan, and most of the city of Baysun,(The detailed report submitted to Galip Pasha, who had been appointed as the representative to Bukhara, confirms this information. More than half of the territory of the Emirate of Bukhara was under the military control of Enver Pasha's forces, not the Soviets.) In accordance with the decisions made at the 15 April 1922 congress, he established local and civil administrations in these areas and stationed a portion of his troops in the mentioned locations to maintain control and security. when Enver's forces controlled the whole of the eastern part of Bukhara, the Soviets were quite worried and perceived this situation to be more complicated than some military victories won by Enver:

"What will be the outcome of this enterprise? From a military point of view, there can be only one opinion, that the large Soviet Federation which knew how to contain the English and the French attack when fighting Denikin, Kolchak and Wrangel, is strong enough to destroy the enterprise of Enver Paşa.... It is not the military aspect of this affair which makes us worry, it is more the political aspect... In effect, the past glory of Enver as man of the Muslim state, can still attract crowds of ignorant dehgans in some remote regions today."

During the campaign, Kuşcubaşızâde Hacı Sâmi sent a letter to İli Hacı Beg:

''From Hacı Sâmi Bey (Kabul) To İli Hacı Bek (Kashgar)

June 3, 1922

To your esteemed presence,

Honorable brother İli Hacı,

On Tuesday, October 28th, Enver Pasha rose up from Bukhara, calling upon all the Muslims of Turkestan to revolt against the Russian Government, and we proceeded into Eastern Bukhara. As of now, the regions of Samarkand, Bukhara, Ashkabad, Qarshi, and even as far as Ferghana are under siege. The Russians have proven by their actions that, beyond being enemies of Islamic civilization, they are now enemies of both the material wealth and the moral values of Islam.

The service you and your comrades have rendered in spreading education in Kashgar is worthy of deep gratitude. The Chinese have never been enemies of Islam like the Westerners. When I was in Shanghai, I had contact with Chinese notables. It is always possible for the Islamic world and the Turks to come to an understanding with the Chinese. The Chinese are a civilization worthy of respect. Even today, they continue to prove this in practice.

I heard in Kabul that you have been granted permission to open schools, exercise your social rights, and form communal organizations. This news brought me great joy.

With this occasion, I offer my respect to all my dear comrades.

Kuşcubaşızâde Hacı Sâmi

Aftermath

Enver Pasha, who managed to largely unify the Basmachi in a short period of time, succeeded in forming a general front in March 1922 by including the Fergana, Samarkand region units, and the Eastern Bukhara units. Following this development, on March 28, 1922, Enver Pasha was declared the commander of all forces in Eastern Bukhara by a decree sent by Alim Khan.

In response to Enver's challenge, Red Army Commander S. S. Kamenev created the Bukharan Forces Group (under the control of the Turkestan Front), which included 2 cavalry brigades, 2 cavalry squadrons, and 1 rifle division-7,530 men in all. The Reds pursued Enver in two columns, one to seal the Afghan frontier and the other to envelop him from the from the north and expel him from the fertile Gissar Valley. In the same year and the following year Bukhara People's Soviet Republic government fired all Ottoman prisoners of war working in Bukhara as teachers, ostensibly for provoking factionalism in the country and supporting Enver’s misdeeds.Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (in Russian: Российский государственный архив социально-политической истории, also known as RGASPI), fond. 62, opis (inventory). 1, delo. 7, list. 71 (19.03.1923)

References

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Battles in 1922
Basmachi movement
Battles involving the Soviet Union
Enver Pasha's Rebellion
Wars involving Uzbekistan
Peasant revolts
Rebellions against the Russian Empire
Rebellions by ethnic group
Uprisings of the Russian Civil War
Wars involving Soviet Russia (1917–1922)
Rebellions against the Soviet Union
Uprisings during World War I
Soviet Central Asia
1920s in the Soviet Union