E. A. GLUSHCHENKO. RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. CONQUESTS AND TRANSFORMATIONS, Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf Publ., 2010, 576 p.

The reviewed monograph is a comprehensive study of the complex and multifaceted processes of Central Asia's annexation to the Russian Empire, colonization and development of the conquered regions and the establishment of a peaceful life in them. In modern conditions, the book becomes particularly important, as it is a response to the challenge of historians of independent states, primarily Uzbekistan, whose "works" are unprofessional, often contain falsified information and are distinguished by their rejection of obvious facts. Such "revelations", which are also burdened with aggressive Russophobia, go into history textbooks for secondary schools and poison the consciousness of modern generations of the population of these countries.

Modern Uzbek historians accuse the Russians of "blocking the natural evolution of Central Asian statehood", ignoring the vital interests of the indigenous population, depriving them of political rights and freedoms. The author writes in this regard: "The accusation of "deprivation of political rights of the indigenous population", which did not have any, sounds ridiculous. The subjects of the khans and emirs had neither property rights nor any other civil rights, except the right to lose their heads without trial " (p. 7).

The paper consists of an introduction, two parts, conclusion, appendices, bibliography, and a personal index.

The first part of the book - "Conquests of the Region" - begins with a brief excursion into the history of Central Asia and its three khanates. The author analyzes the reasons why the region was extremely backward in both socio-political and economic relations. One of the main factors that caused the stagnation of Central Asia was its isolation from the world market.

In Russia, the Central Asian region was first seriously interested under Peter the Great. In 1717, a detachment of Prince A. Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent here, which "did not advance further than Khiva and did not explore anything, since it was destroyed by the Khiva people. After this tragic event, St. Petersburg forgot about Central Asia" (pp. 57-58). However, 15 years later, Russia is once again

It is involved in the problems of Central Asia. The author traces in detail the milestones and stages of this process in the section "Preparing for the annexation of Central Asia", which took more than 130 years and ended in 1863.: "By the end of 1863, the period of exploration expeditions, diplomatic negotiations, random military campaigns against a particular city, a particular Central Asian fortress was actually completed. In 1864, the systematic penetration of Russian troops into the heart of Central Asia began" (p. 69).

In 1865, a detachment of Russian troops numbering about 2 thousand people under the command of M. G. Chernyaev stormed Tashkent - the largest city in Central Asia, which became the capital of Russian Turkestan. This served as a prerequisite for further large-scale operations to annex the Central Asian regions to the Russian Empire. The author analyzes in detail the balance of power within the Russian ruling elite regarding this annexation, which has changed throughout its course: "One gets the impression," he writes, " that there was a kind of tacit agreement between the Emperor and the Minister of War against the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Apparently, the views of Alexander II and D. A. Milyutin on colonial expansion coincided, but contradicted the views of A.M. Gorchakov on the same subject. The emperor undoubtedly took Russia's defeat in the Crimean War very hard and was looking for opportunities to raise the prestige of his country, to prove to the world that Russia remains among the great powers" (p.93).

The most important stage in the process of annexation of Central Asia to Russia was the rule of Governor-General K. P. Kaufman in the Turkestan region, who was granted unlimited powers by the tsarist manifesto of July 17, 1867 "to resolve all political, border and trade affairs, to send proxies to neighboring possessions for negotiations and to sign treatises, terms and conditions". or decisions concerning Russia's relations with these countries" (p. 134). The Central Asian khanates gradually, step by step, passed under Russian control, which was preceded by numerous expeditions, reconnaissance, combat reconnaissance, skirmishes, negotiations.

An important milestone on this path was the pacification of the Bukhara Khanate. In 1873, the previously concluded Russian-Bukhara treaty was detailed and expanded. It included clauses on the free access of Russian merchants and their caravans to any part of the Bukhara Khanate; on the responsibility of local authorities for their safety and for compliance with the terms of trade transactions; on duty-free transit of Russian goods; on mutual ownership of real estate (for Bukharians in Russia, for Russians in Bukhara); on exchange between the Russian Empire and The Bukhara Khanate by trade and political representatives. A special point in the Bukhara Khanate prohibited the slave trade, which was of great moral, political and historical significance.

The next important stage in the process of joining Central Asia to Russia was the Khiva campaign. In the 18th century, relations with Khiva were sporadic, including high-risk trade relations, because, as E. A. Glushenko writes, " Khiva continued to challenge the Russian Empire. Especially painful was the problem of kidnapping people from the Russian border regions as a result of robber raids by Kazakhs and Turkmens, followed by the sale of prisoners in the slave markets of Khiva and Bukhara" (p.166). In 1869, secret preparations for a military expedition began, and in 1872, Alexander II approved its plan, entrusting Kaufman with the main command. On May 29, 1873, Khiva surrendered virtually without a fight.

A special place in Russian-Khiva relations during this period was occupied by the Iomud tribe of Turkmens, who submitted to the Khan of Khiva nominally, but in reality dictated their will to him. The author states that " the Yomudas lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, trading in plunder. They plundered the settled population, including the Uzbeks, who made up the agricultural population of the oasis. Unbeknownst to the Khan, the Iomudis captured Shiite Persians (they were also considered infidels) and Russians in the border areas, and then sold them at the Khiva slave market" (p. 200). In July 1873, the Yomud troops were defeated. The operation against them was met with approval in Russian military-colonial circles and was actually a prelude to war with other Turkmen tribes.

At Kaufman's insistence, the Khan of Khiva signed a manifesto for the liberation of 40 thousand Persian slaves, who, after leaving their masters, got together in gangs and began to take revenge on the Yomudas. The Russian command took most of the former slaves out of the khanate. However, those who stayed in Khiva for various reasons paid for it with their lives - the Yomudas did not forgive them for their defeat and the deprivation of forced labor. In this regard, the author formulates an important conclusion: "The abolition of slavery and the slave trade in Khiva was a strong propaganda move of Russia in its rivalry with European powers, which to some extent softened the negative consequences of the war.-

the consequences of the Iomud expedition " (pp. 209-210). Indeed, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the abolition of slavery was important for many regions of the world.

For Russia, the Khiva campaign, in addition to ensuring the interests of Russian merchants, had other positive results. In particular, there was a new waterway from Orenburg through the Aral Sea along the Amu Darya to Turkestan and beyond, and there was also the possibility of building a Transcaspian railway from Krasnovodsk to Tashkent. As a result, after the establishment of the Turkestan General Governorate in 1867, its territory was incremented every year, and by 1876 it had increased by 30%. The population of the region has almost doubled - in 1876, 1,171,514 people lived here. In fact, the territory of the region was larger than the official size, since its components could be considered formally independent, but actually managed from Tashkent by the Bukhara and Khiva principalities.

The most striking section not only of the first part of the book, but also of the entire monograph, in my opinion, can be considered the paragraph "Storm of Geok-Top" (pp. 231-272). Carefully prepared and brilliantly carried out on January 12 (according to the Old style), 1881, this assault turned the Russian commander M. D. Skobelev into a national hero of Russia, a favorite of all strata of Russian society.

The second part of the book is called "The Dispensation of the Land". It consists of sections on administrative structure, organization of economic life, in particular regulation of water and land use, and issues of cultural interaction. A certain place is reserved for the opposition of certain strata of the local population to the Russian colonial power.

As the author notes, if in the early 1860s the border of the Russian Empire ran along the northern edge of the Kazakh steppe, now it has moved more than 3 thousand km (versts) to the south. He emphasizes that throughout the entire period of development of Central Asian lands, communication with the settled population was not entirely easy and successful: the hostile agitation carried out by Muslim priests and Khan's officials affected. The subtle and astute administrator K. P. Kaufman from the very beginning of the development of the region made it clear to its population that the Russian administration "is not going to break the way of life that has developed over the centuries, but gives them the opportunity to organize self-government and eliminate the Khan's tyranny. A system of so-called indirect governance was proclaimed, that is, governance through existing traditional institutions of power" (p. 277).

By the summer of 1868, administrative control of the Russian Empire was established over the entire territory of the Turkestan General Government. In 1875, due to the blatantly lawless rule of Khan Khudoyar in the Kokand Khanate and incessant attacks on areas already included in the Russian Empire, it was liquidated, and the Ferghana Region was formed on its territory. In 1881, the Transcaspian region was created, and in 1895 Pamir became part of the empire. From then until 1917, Russia's Asian borders remained unchanged.

By this time, the Turkestan Region, thanks to the investments made, already had a developed industrial and social infrastructure and a contingent of personnel of various specialties and profiles. The system of government formed here was called "military-people's administration". The author thoroughly examines and analyzes the prerequisites and system of such governance, emphasizing that from the first years of the region's annexation to the empire, the Russian administration sought to weaken the power and influence of such traditional rulers as beks and bays, for which, in particular, volosts and auls were created not on a generic basis, but on a territorial basis.

An important aspect of the administrative structure of the region was the ongoing struggle between the State Control Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance with its first Governor-General, K. P. Kaufman, which began with his transformation in the traditional land use system. At the same time, the author rightly notes that many of his economic initiatives did not give the desired effect, although they were good by design.

E. A. Glushchenko describes K. P. Kaufman's multifaceted activity in this way: "Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann held his post of Governor-General for 15 years, more than any other of the 11 regional chiefs who succeeded him. In fact, he and several of his closest associates made Turkestan part of the Russian Empire. They worked hard (including on the battlefield), made mistakes, corrected them, made mistakes again and tried to find the right solution again. By virtue of their understanding, they sought and found points of contact and understanding with the local population - the "conquered natives", they established the first contacts of indigenous and alien culture!" (p. 309).

The second part ends with a large section "Organization of the conquered space", in which the author comes to the conclusion that for half a century the Russian authorities did not abandon their efforts,

to find optimal forms of self-government of Turkestan ethnic groups and methods of their management by representatives of the imperial center.

In the section "Colonization of the region", the author, based on a rich factual and statistical material, tracks the process of raising the socio-economic level, the growth of modern cities in the understanding of that era, especially Tashkent and Samarkand, and gives characteristics of specific Russian people who made a real contribution to this process.

Especially for Russian immigrants, the city of New Margilan (Skobelev) was founded, which was renamed Ferghana in 1924. It was located at a distance of 12 versts from old Margilan. In 1911, it was home to more than 7,000 Russians. But very soon there were several thousand new indigenous residents. A noticeable influx of Russian immigrants to Central Asian cities was recorded after the construction of the first and second railways was completed.

E. A. Glushchenko presents a deep analysis of the process of colonization of rural areas in the Turkestan region. It was initiated in the 18th century by the Cossacks, whose advance to the south intensified in the 1840s.

In the early years of the Turkestan General Government, Russian settlers were tasked with providing soldiers with the usual food items. In the future, the process of colonization of Turkestan took place almost simultaneously with the annexation. The author not only provides convincing data on the dynamics of colonization, but also tracks all the main trends in this process, as well as its periodization. At the same time, he fairly criticizes the fabrications of both Soviet historians who held Marxist views on this issue, and modern post-Soviet authors (P. Galuzo, E. Zelkina, etc.), who are mainly on nationalist positions.

The section ends with measures taken by the Bolsheviks to eradicate Russian immigrants in the region in 1921-1922. The author notes: "... they were ruined by Lenin's direct order " (p. 374) and states: "...the migration process ended tragically in the Turkestan region, where, with a population of 7.6 million people, there was no place for hundreds of thousands of Russian peasants. Today, by the way, 50 million people live on the territory of former Turkestan" (p. 376).

The book thoroughly analyzes the development of the regional economy and its individual sectors. In particular, it is noted that the greatest achievement of the Russian authorities was the construction of two railways here - the Transcaspian military road with a length of 2,354 versts and the Orenburg-Tashkent railway with a length of 2,090 versts. They completed the economic integration of Central Asia to Russia, including the region in the all-Russian market, paved the way for the influx of large-scale capital to the region, which was directed primarily to cotton growing and cotton gin.

In the section" Meeting of Cultures", a significant place is given to interfaith relations in the region, the formation of the policy of the Russian authorities towards Muslims, Muslim clergy and cultural Muslim institutions. Based on this analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that "for half a century of Russian presence in the Turkestan region, relations between the Russian government and the Muslim clergy remained tense and suspicious on both sides, which is understandable, since the Russians undermined the prestige and privileged positions of the Muslim clergy" (p.448).

The second part of the monograph ends with the section "Protest against the Russian authorities", which analyzes the objective and subjective causes of this protest, its forms and driving forces. Its most serious manifestations were, for example, the cholera riot of 1892 in Tashkent and the Andijan rebellion of 1898, which the author describes as an attempt to turn back time. But the biggest protest movement was the uprising of 1916, which began in Khojent due to the involvement of indigenous people in the rear work. It was suppressed only by the beginning of 1917.

In conclusion, the author summarizes the results of various assessments of the annexation of Central Asia to Russia and the process of development of the conquered territories, which lasted until 1917, exactly half a century. He concludes that the most intensive development of Central Asia occurred in the 1890s and early XX century. In particular, he writes: "Almost every year, new enterprises for the primary processing of agricultural raw materials appeared in the region, new cities appeared, newly discovered mineral reserves were developed, railway construction developed rapidly, which stimulated other sectors of the economy" (p.556).

It can be assumed that the goals and objectives of the research stated by the author at the beginning of the monograph were fulfilled due to the use of a huge amount of factual material and a critical assessment of the fabrications of both ideologically biased scientists of the Soviet period and modern historians from the newly formed Central Asian states. His work is an important contribution to the study of real historical processes that took place in Central Asia in the relatively recent past.

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