Central Asia Continued

I'll take it from where I left off last post.

1468 AD: Uzbek khanate, having come south and filled the vacuum left by the declining Timurid empire, splits into two factions, the Uzbeks, more sedentary, in the south, and the Kazaks, more nomadic, in the north grasslands.

15th and 16th centuries: The Kazaks establish the last great nomadic empire, commanding as many horseback warriors as Jenghis Khan.

1635-1738: A tribe from western Mongolia, the Oyrats, conquers the Kazakh steppe and rules until, surprise surprise, a struggle for succession leaves them open to invasion and the Chinese wipe them out. The steppe dissolves into chaos and uncertainty, until the Kazaks eventually accept Russian protection from the Uzbeks and Chinese.

1747-1800: After the fall of the Iranian regime under Nadir Shaw, the Uzbeks dissolve into three Khanates.

1848-1885: Russia, inspired by Britain and other European powers, begins it's eastward expansion and conquest. It reaches the Afghan border in 1885.

1863-c.1900: The Great Game. Britain had India and Pakistan. Russia had Central Asia. Thus began the first Cold War between East and West, as both scrambled for control of what lay between them. Spies, diplomacy, puppet states, demilitarized zones. All that was missing was the bomb.

1917: Russia overthrew the Tsar, and Central Asia hoped, for a while, that it could remake itself, progress with social reforms and westernization. They had Turkey, which reformed itself into a modern Democracy, as their model and inspiration.
The Soviets made sure that didn't happen. They smashed the newly formed Kokand government, a self proclaimed pan-Turkic polity, and slaughtered 5000 people after the city was captured.

1928-1932: The first Soviet 5 year plan puts an end to the Kazak nomad lifestyle. People killed their cattle rather than give them up to collectivization. Famine began, and Stalin made it worse by deliberately holding back food. His aim was to subjugate the people to his will and depopulate the steppe for Russian expansion.

1924-1936: Stalin orders the creation of national boundaries where none had existed before. In order to prevent pan-nationalism among the Turkic peoples, the boundaries overlapped tribes so that each country contained pockets of other peoples. Stalin enforces individual languages and histories for each nation, and Islam is suppressed.

1939-1944: WWII brought an opportunity for some to desert the army and flee the USSR. Many Ukrainians and Baltic peoples were evacuated into Central Asia, changing the cultural makeup of northern Kazakhstan.

1945-1984: Agricultural practices of the Soviets depleted the resources of the region. Over production of cotton caused the Aral sea to all but evaporate into oblivion.
Despite this and the massive industrialization in some parts of Central Asia, there were some positive benefits to being a part of the USSR. Modern medical advancements were common, and education was at an all time high. It is said that there was 100% literacy during this time.

1984-1990: Perestroika. Openness actually became chaos. Ethnic violence spread like wildfire. Hindsight reveals that Moscow didn't try to stop it, and actually encouraged it in order to give the appearance of the need for strong central control, and a relevance for Moscow to remain at the helm in the region.
Amazingly (not) the violence ended when the Soviet Union did.

1991: Russia creates the Commonwealth of Independent States. As each former Soviet republic gains membership, they feel increasing pressure from Russia as the mother country attempts to reassert its interests in Central Asia.

For a look at what's going on now, just aim the browser over at Google News and type in Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan or something like that. These countries were not prepared to roam out on their own when the Soviet Union fell. They are experiencing the growing pains of independence, and will probably continue to do so.
What's most interesting to me is when they will start to get the same bug for westernization and reform that was occurring when the Bolsheviks took over and shut them down.

I hope you liked this little look into the history of this remote and little understood part of the world. I know I enjoyed bringing it to the pages of this Blog.