"The Russian Conquest of Khiva" Topic

"By now the British were well aware of Russian ambitions in Central Asia and of the possible risk to India. The Great Game was well under way with British and Russian spies criss-crossing Central Asia to gather intelligence for their respective governments. The British sent Connolly to spy on Khiva but his mission had to be aborted after robbers attacked him in the desert. "Bukhara" Burnes successfully reached Bukhara and Pottinger became a hero after assisting Herat to overcome a siege by the Shah of Persia. The British were not quite so concerned about Persia gaining a foothold in Afghanistan – gunboat diplomacy was enough to warn the Persians off. Their real concern was Russia and in 1839 they decided to take control of Afghanistan themselves, conquering Ghazni (ancient Ghazna) and establishing a garrison in Kabul. India was now protected by a formidable defensive buttress.

Britain's increasingly aggressive stance had alarmed the Russians, who in any event had decided that the time was right to take Khiva. With the approach of winter General Perovsky set out from Orenburg with a force of 5,000 men, 2,000 horses and 10,000 camels, under the guise of freeing the Russian slaves. He was armed with 22 guns and a rocket battery. He had chosen this time of year to make sure that there would be sufficient water for his men and animals, hoping to arrive in Khiva before the weather deteriorated badly. However 1839 turned out to have one of the earliest and most severe winters in living memory. By January Perovsky was only half-way there, bogged down in snow and ice, losing men from frostbite and with his camels dying at the alarming rate of 100 a day. On 1 February he gave the order to retreat but did not get back to Orenburg until May, his progress and supplies being disrupted by the constant snowstorms and whirlwinds. He had lost 1,000 men and 8,500 camels and had not even fired a shot in anger.

The British spy network had long ago passed news of the intended Russian mission back to London, and at the end of 1839 Captain Abbott had been sent on a reconnaissance mission from Herat to Khiva, travelling via Merv. Abbott arrived in mid-winter with a message of friendship from the British Envoy at Herat, along with modest gifts of firearms. He found Allah Quli Khan to be an amiable man, aged about 45, with a rather timid manner and a lack of vigour. The Khan, fully aware of the Russian advance, was disappointed that Abbott had come without any offer of British military assistance. The Khan was totally ignorant of Britain or its Empire, finding it hard to take a country with a female head of state seriously. It soon became clear to Abbott that the Khivans had little concept of either Russian or British military power, or even of the general geography of Eurasia – Abbott was amazed to see the Khan refer to a local map on which Italy was located to the north of Britain and China was located to the north of Russia! After much questioning and evasion Abbott discovered that the Russians had advanced from Orenburg to Emba and had then sent a detachment of troops forward to entrench themselves to the north-west of the Aral Sea. Meanwhile the Khan had dispatched an army on horseback, ridiculously claimed to be 40,000 strong, up the west coast of the Aral Sea, where they had encountered heavy snow. An advance party of Turkmen had attempted to seize the cattle from the advance post of the Russians, only to have been spotted and picked off like flies by the Russian fusiliers. Meanwhile many members of the main Khivan army had been mutilated by the intense cold and its commander had sought the Khan's permission to retreat to Qon'ýrat…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Great site thank you for sharing.

WOW!

I've been to Khiva. The Uzbeks have completely renovated the gorgeous old walls all around the city and cleaned and scoured the interior streets and alleys while leaving the population intact. It is sort of like a Disneyland fortress inhabited by lots of people living their normal lives.

Google Khiva Walls for images. Do it now.

Chick

Glad you enjoyed it my friends!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Nice site.Very interesting.
Mark

Glad you enjoyed it too my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

We did a series of articles back between 2000 and 2010 on the Russian drive to the east. the series was called the Russian Eastern Manifest Destiny. the first article covered the Crimea. later articles covered the Central Asia campaigns.

Sounds real interesting Rudy.
Mark