Chronology of major events PDF

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1889 – The Resettlement Act permitted Slavic peasants to legally migrate and settle on nomadic lands deemed excessive by the Ministry of the Interior. In subsequent years, land shortages fuel conflicts between the Russian administration, the settlers, and nomadic pastoralists. This provokes major social changes in the steppe and encourages gradual settlement of the nomadic pastoralists. 1905 – The revolution of 1905 leads to the polarisation of political moods in the Kazakh steppe. The whole Russian Empire is rocked by violence in towns and the countryside. The first Duma, or a parliament, is formed. In these circumstances, a Kazakh political party called ‘Alash Orda’ is formed – most of its members belong to the intelligentsia. 1905-1914 – In short, the imperial administration has to deal with a more self-assertive peasantry, as well as increasingly sharp demands for change among the nomadic population. But the Tsar also limits and eventually reverses many political reforms introduced in 1905. The Duma loses all effective power. The Alash Orda is weakened by financial difficulties, internal divisions, and Tsarist censorship. 1914 – Outbreak of World War I. 1916 – The Russian military draft affects the Kazakhs. This is the trigger for brutal unrest among Kazakhs in the steppe. As Kazakhs resist Tsarist policies, the imperial government responds with violent repression. The Alash Orda stay out of the unrest, trying to mediate the conflict. According to some historians, the unrest acquires the characteristics of ethnic conflict in the mountains to the south of the steppe. February 1917 – The Tsarist government is overthrown and a Provisional Government is formed. This government is a coalition of different political parties, but it does not involve the Bolsheviks. The Provisional Government promises major reforms in the Russian Empire. The Alash Orda leadership supports the Provisional Government in the hope that it will invest more in the steppe’s education and economy and grant cultural autonomy to the Turkicspeaking peoples of Russia. October 1917 – The Provisional Government is overthrown in a Bolshevik coup. The Bolsheviks advocate a radical programme of economic, social, and cultural reform that alienates the leaders of Alash Orda who favour more limited and gradual reform. 1918-1919 – The Alash Orda oppose the Bolsheviks during a violent civil war that follows the October Revolution.

1919 – An alliance is formed between the leaders of Alash Orda and the Bolsheviks. Alash Orda leaders join the Bolshevik Party and become members of the Bolshevik Kirrevkom. The Bolsheviks hope that the Alash Orda will provide them with the necessary cadres to govern Kazakhstan. The Alash Orda hope that the Bolsheviks will grant political and cultural autonomy to Kazakhstan. 1921-27 – After winning the civil war, the Bolsheviks pursue policies of korenizatsiia in the non-Russian parts of the former Russian Empire. In 1922, they create the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics. Kazakhstan becomes an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, with its own communist party. The Soviet government draw a clear boundary between what they now call ‘Kazakhs’ and ‘Kyrgyz’. Russian migration to the steppe is halted. Korenizatsiia entails the use of Kazakh in education and administration and positive discrimination for ethnic Kazakhs in access to jobs. The policy has very limited success in the 1920s. 1928-33: Stalin announces a radical programme of collectivisation and industrialisation. Korenizatsiia continues and acquires a more radical dimension (including brutal assaults on religious officials). At the same time, ethnic Russians are once again encouraged to settle in the steppe. All Kazakhs are now required to settle in collective farms. ‘Class enemies’ are identified and persecuted. Grain requisitioning leads to a massive famine that kills between 35% and 38% of all ethnic Kazakhs. 1936 – Kazakhstan becomes a Soviet Socialist Republic (i.e. it is not just an autonomous republic within Russia, but a full-blown republic in its own right). On the one hand, korenizatsiia becomes more successful, as social and economic changes in the countryside release numerous Kazakhs to work in Soviet government, educational institutions, and administration. On the other hand, Stalinist government begins to promote ideas of Soviet patriotism and Russian language as a means of interethnic communication....