Battles for Dushanbe (1922)

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Battles for Dushanbe
Part of the Russian Civil War, Basmachi Movement and Enver Pasha's Rebellion
Picture of Bolshevik officers in Turkestan in 1922
Date December 1921 – 4 August 1922 Location Turkestan Result Bolshevik victory Suppression of most of the Basmachi Movement Territorial changes Dushanbe and multiple villages around the city captured by the Red Army
Belligerents
Russian SFSR Soviet Bukhara	Basmachi Movement
Commanders and leaders
Yakov Melkumov	Enver Pasha †

The Battles for Dushanbe (1921–1922) were a series of battles around the Capital city of Tajikistan from late 1921 (when it was besieged by Enver Pasha)^[1] until August 4, 1922 (when Enver was killed in combat)^[2]

Former Ottoman General Enver Pasha had fled to Moscow in August 1920, where he offered his services to the Bolsheviks. In November 1921, he was sent to Central Asia to help suppress the Basmachi Revolt, but after his arrival, he defected to the Basmachi side.

His aim was to unite the various Basmachi groups and create a great Pan-Turkic Empire at the expense of the Bolsheviks. After a number of successful military operations he managed to establish himself as the rebels' supreme commander, and turned their disorganized forces into a small but well-drilled army.

One of his first and biggest actions was besieging Dushanbe. After 3 months, it resulted in a Basmachi victory despite heavy casualties on both sides.

Capture of Dushanbe (1922)
Date June 1922 Location Dushanbe Result Bolshevik victory
Belligerents
Basmachi Movement	Soviet Bukhara RSFSR
Commanders and leaders
Enver Pasha	Nikolai Kakurin

The Soviets were shocked by the capture of Dushanbe. Due to this, the Bolshevik leadership decided to allocate over 1.5 million rubles for the transportation of thousands of Soviet soldiers to Bukhara. The resistance movement was already widespread in Turkestan, posing a real threat to Soviet power, which had initially been maintained through severe repressive measures. This was when the Soviets ended the repression of Islam.

General Nikolai Kakurin was appointed as commander to recapture Dushanbe. Enver's militia was outnumbered and faced a well-equipped army. His attempts to centralize the guerillas to a fuctioning army angred some other functions, particularly Ibrahim Bek, who was an unreliable ally and did not want to obey him which soon would cause a split between Basmachi Movement.^[3]

In May 1922, units of the Turkestan Front under the command of Vasily Shorin, with the support of the Amu Darya military flotilla and OGPU troops, began an offensive against the troops of Enver Pasha. Under powerful attacks, Enver Pasha was forced to leave Dushanbe in May 1922.
After the first defeats, a significant part of the Basmachi broke away from Enver Pasha. To make things worst, Ibrahim Bek attacked Enver Pasha's troops from two sides in the Lokai Valley, in June 1922, inflicting significant damage on them. Seeing his defeat, Enver Pasha tried to flee to Afghanistan.

On 4 August 1922, the remnants of Enver Pasha’s forces were discovered near the village of Chagan, 25 km from the city of Baljuvon. The 8th Cavalry Brigade of the Red Army under the command of Yakov Melkumov immediately moved there. In the ensuing battle, the Basmachi detachment was completely destroyed, and Enver Pasha himself was killed when he tried a last ditch effort of cavalry charge against enemy lines. After this, the uprising was quickly suppressed, although other Basmachi units remained active in Tajikistan until 1931.^[4]