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China and the Silk Road - Modern History of the Silk Road
A Chronology of the Silk Road
Estimated 500 BC - 14Th Century Emergence Maritime Trading Routes
This page was last updated on: January 30, 2019
This page was last updated on: January 30, 2019
-----> History of the Silk Road :
See Also - The
Han Dynasty
and the
Tang Dynasty
history.
Silk Road (9) Modern History of the Silk Road II : 1900 A.D. to 1925 Re-discovery of the Silk Road
1908 AD - 1909 AD: Russian explorer Colonel Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov and his expedition travel in the Tarim River Basin, Inner-Mongolia and the Hexi Corridor, discovering valuable scriptures hidden inside a stupa at Kharakoto (Today: Heicheng in the extreme north-west of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region ), the abandoned former Capital of the 13Th Century Tangut Empire (982 AD - 1227 AD). The find constitutes as unique and amazing historic find which will end up restoring the Tangut Kingdom to its rightful place in the history of the Silk Road in China. Since more finds have revealed more of this interesting civilization.
At the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang further Chinese and Tibetan scriptures are "gained". The scrolls and scriptures later provide a unique understanding of Tangut Civilization, language and culture.
1908 AD: William Edgar Geil travels along the Great Wall of China from Shanhai Pass in the East to Jiayu Pass and Jiayuguan Fortress in the West. It is the first full length trip along the mysterious Great Wall by a Westerner. Geil 'discovered' the 'Eastern Fork' - where the two layers of the Great Wall in North Shanxi Province are connected, the Loop of the Great Wall of China through Eastern Tibet and many other smaller facts about the Great Wall unknown outside of China. Through Geil's Book and Photographs the truth about the State and Lenght of China's mysterious Great Wall is 'finally revealed'. Not entirely, as later discoveries proved there was even more to the Wall then Geil discovered, the Han Dynasty Great Wall leading from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang and even beyond to Lop Nor.
March 21, 1909 AD: The remains of the Báb (birth name: Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shírází ; Persian: سيد علی محمد شیرازی)(Life: October 20, 1819 - July 9, 1850),prophet and the founder of Bábism (Bahá'í Faith ; Persian: بهائی Bahā'i), are placed in the Bahá'í Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa, at this time within the Ottoman Empire. In 1863, after being banished from his native Iran, Bahá'u'lláh announced that he was this prophet. He was further exiled, spending over a decade in the prison city of Akka in Ottoman Palestine. Bahá'u'lláh's died in 1892.
February 18, 1911: The 1911 Sarez Earthquake struck the ancient pathways of the Silk Road in the central Pamir Mountains in the Rushon District of what was then Russian Turkestan (current day eastern Tajikistan). It had an estimated magnitude of 7.4 on the surface wave magnitude scale and a maximum felt intensity of about IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake lasted for two minutes and was followed by an aftershock an hour later. The main event and following aftershocks triggered massive landslides, one of which collapsed a whole mountain which then fell into the
After its independence in 1912 Mongolia initially reappears as a Buddhist Theocratic state much resembling the befriended brother Nation of Tibet (which had also declared Independence) however officially still recognized as a Russian Protectorate. Regardless its official status as Buddhist Theocratic Kingdom, the period 1911 to 1923 is regarded a turbulent and violent chapter in Mongolian history today popularly but largely incorrectly thrown together under the title of Mongolian Revolution. The Mongolian revolution initially played out as a striving for National independence, mutual cooperation and freedom from outside threats and interference such as from neighboring China. Eventually however through foreign influence it was turned into a flimsy communist coup D'Etat which eventually lead to Russian overlordship, as was planned by its executors.
1900 AD: Aurel Stein launches his first expedition in Central Asia during which he travels along what today is identified as the Karakoram Highway. He passes through the Swat Valley and over the Karakoram Range to Tashkorghan (currently in Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region of China (P.R.C.). From there Stein moves eastward to Khotan for two weeks of excavations.
1901: Evangeline (Eva) French meets Mildred Cable while working for the China inland Mission in China. From then on the two would be inseperable in life, among things working together along the Silk Road in Gansu and Xinjiang, and there after co-authoring a book which makes them legendary silk road travelers in modern times.
1903: British Invasion of Tibet . British Forces on what today is widely known as the (Sir)(Francis) Younghusband Expedition invade Tibet from India advancing on Lhasa. After a massacre of a Tibetan Army (March 31, 1904) on passes leading to Lhasa the British Army reaches the city. The purpose of the expedition is to force Tibet to seed disputed border regions to British India, which also occurs. After some time the British retreat back down the mountains and into India but the matter of cross-border relations with the British will continue to play up. Friendly contacts with British Officers in India continue afterwards.
July 21, 1904: Russia completes construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway between Moscow and Vladivostok after some 12 years of hard work. This opens the first railway spanning the Eurasian continent. Official opening was on January 1, 1905.
1904: Protestant Missionary George Hunter of the China inland Mission opens a Church and Mission in Chinese Turkestan (Xinjiang). The first in the enormous region with an overwhelmingly Muslim population.
1905 AD: Birth of Mohammed Abdullah also known as "The Lion of Kashmir" (Life: 1905 - 1982), who later in life would go on to lead the Kashmiri Independence Movement (1947 - 1982 officially).
1906 AD - 1908 AD: Sven Hedin travels to the source of the Indus River and the source of the Brahmaputra Rivers in eastern Tibet and follows the Sutlej (Satadree) River, and in so doing "discovers" the Trans-Himalayan Mountain Range.
Asia Report - Map Roads & highways in Central Asian Nations
A geographical and topographical overview Map of the Central Asian Nations of (South) Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Parts of North Iran, North Afghanistan, North Pakistan, North India (Jammu & Kashmir), and the region of Kashgar (Kashi) in West China's
Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
Map includes International Borders, national provinces and regions (where possible), main cities and roads, main lakes and waters, as well as the locations of Historic Sites, wildlife reserves, officially designated ethnic autonomous communities, main mountain peaks with heights and more coming soon !
Browse the Map, click and follow the links to additional information on each site and location. Click on selected highlighted Map sections for a more detailed map of that Region. Explore the connections in central Asia as never before !
1906 / 1907 AD: After entering Chinese Turkestan (Today's Xinjiang ) overland from India via the Pamir mountains, Hungarian-British archeologist Marc Aurel Stein found the Library of Documents sealed in a previously sandblown cave at the Mogao Caves outside of Dunhuang in current day Gansu Province. March 1907; From the Library Cave in which at around the year 1015 AD massive numbers of books and also other antiques had been stored, he managed to secure a multitude of documents. Among the most famous documents collected by Stein as they are known today are the now famous Diamond Sutra, better known as the worlds first printed book dated at or around 868 AD, thereby precluding the Guttenberg Bible by many centuries. The other books were found to contain great historic books of Buddhist art, treaties on Buddhism and the like. Stein takes away 24 cartloads of ancient scriptures, including ancient Star Maps and the now Famous Diamond Sutra, which is a block-printed document.
The entire collection by Stein from the Mogao Caves and send abroad ultimately wound up in the collection of the British Museum in London. In the modern day all documents of what is known as the Stein Collection have been made available online for free for anyone around the world to see and study.
As visitors to the Mogao Caves may find, at Dunhuang in particular but across China Aurel Stein is loathed for what is often seen as cultural vandalism and moreover the theft of priceless cultural heritage.
In 1924 Mongolia officially becomes a protectorate of the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) and is formally organized as the Mongolian Peoples Republic. The event liberates the Mongolian Nation from century old infringements, infiltrations and claims to Sovereignty over Mongolia by neighboring China, but it is the beginning of an age of dire political repression. Soon the destruction of the famous Buddhist Monasteries spread along the roads in Mongolia starts. Monks are humiliated, made prisoner-slave and are executed en masse, their Monasteries robbed then burned to the ground.
In the same year, with Soviet style organization imposed within the main political party in China, the Kuomintang, and its army, Russian influence in Chinese affairs is growing. For the time being Nationalists and Communists cooperate in one Government under heavy soviet advisory.
1924: Forces of Ibn Saud take Mecca, the Holy City
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Photo of Russian explorer and geographer Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov as shown at the Xixia Wanling (Tangut King Tombs) Museum outside of Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China (P.R.C.).
Xinjiang-Uygur AR - Kasghar - Map Path Karakoram Highway
A Schematic overview Map of the Entire Length of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), known as the highest paved road in the World. Map Area depicted: Karakoram Highway in the Region between Kashgar in China and Islamabad and Peshawar in Pakistan.
Clearly depicted is the Path of the Karakoram Road through Taxkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Khunjerab Pass, Kunjerab River Valley, Bara Kun Lake, Hunza River Valley, Indus Valley, Khagan River Valley to its destination at Islamabad.
Main Items of interest - Main Mountain Peaks of the Area with Height, small towns, Tourist and Historic Locations and Landmarks, Main Rivers, current WAR ZONE of the Swat Valley and other dangers on this road, the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, Ethnic Regions and language Area's, Kashmir, FATA Federally administered Tribal Area's on the Pakistan-Aghanistan Border and more.
China Report - Map of the Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty
Satellite image of China and North-East Asia, with a super-imposed schematic Map of the location and Path of the Great Wall as constructed during the Reign of the Ming Dynasty. Included for reference are City names, geographical features of landscape, Names and locations of Passes on the Great Wall of China.
of China. After 8 months of traveling, most of it on foot, they reach the historic silk road town of Zhangye along the Great Wall of China in Gansu. Eventually they make their way to the famous town of Suzhou (Jiuquan), just within the gates of the Great Wall of China of the Ming Dynasty, where they rent housing and a building to se as church. Jiuquan is their base until 1936, although many months will be spent traveling. In the following years they will follow the foot trails of the ancient silk road, which at the time is still operating but on a more localized level. In their multiple journeys they learn the ins and outs of the management and goings on of camel caravans, the various ethnic peoples of the silk road Oasis, and leave invaluable eye-withess accounts of the smallest and seemingly insignificant locations along the entire Silk Road in Gansu Province and large parts of what today is the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region . Between 1923 and 1926, the three missionary women traveled extensively in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province eventually extending their reach and religious work to Tibetan Tribes and villages living in what today is part of Qinghai Province of the Peoples Republic of China.
After having taken two years leave between 1926 and 1928, the second journey starting in 1928, brought the three women westward into Xinjiang, roaming the territory from the south to north and on their way, being detained or held hostage by a notorious local Hui Chinese Warlord, Ma Zhongying (Life: 1910 - ?/ Not heard of after 1936 and missing), in order to tend to his wounds. A third journey starting in 1932 led northward into territories of Inner Mongolia where they reached as far north as Edzin Gol Lake , the terminal lake of the Hei (Edzin or Black) River.
In 1936 the take their journey home-bound on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In the aftermath, after their retirement home to England, Mildred Cable and Francesca French co-author the book; "The Gobi Desert" with the subtitle "The adventures of three women traveling across the Gobi Desert in the 1920s". It leaves a completely unique account of the lands and regions traveled, not available from other more renowned authors (nearly all of them Male).
June, 1923: Mildred Cable, Evangelina and Francesca French, "the trio" who work in (S)Huozhou in Shanxi Province as Missionaries for the Protestant China Inland Mission, embark on a new adventure, aiming to spread the faith in the far west
October 1920 AD - With all Russian Forces occupied in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Chinese Forces reoccupy outer Mongolia (which today is referred to as Inner Mongolia )(Due to a peculiar perhaps naieve acceptance of faulty Chinese name giving by westerners in the 20th century).
1921: Working together Mongolian Armed Forces and Soviet Russian Forces mop up remaining "White Russian" Forces in (Outer Mongolia), Mongolia minus the Tyvan (Republic) and large territory of Buryat Mongols in Siberia was effectively split off becoming separate parts of the Soviet East Asian Empire, while the rest of Mongolian Territory (Today: Mongolia) was declared a Russian (Soviet) Protectorate State. This was largely in response to Chinese moves in "Inner Mongolia".
Map of China and Bordering Nations of Asia - Detailed Topographical View
A Geographical overview Map of China and neighboring Nations of Central, East and South-East Asia with National Borders and Capitals. Nations are Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, India, parts of Pakistan, parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, parts of Kyrgystan, parts of Kazakhstan, Eastern parts of Russia (Russian Federation), Republic of Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, a small part of Japan, and further the South-East Asian Nations of the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, MyanMar (Burma) and Bangladesh.
1921: Swedish Archeologist John Gunar Andersson began excavations at the first site identified as being part of the early Chinese Yangshao Cultures (5000 BC - 3000 BC) in the north-west of Henan Province . The culture is named after the location of this first find: Yangshao. Later in history it would be proven that the culture extended further westward in Shanxi and Shaanxi Provinces. Today, the earliest remains of this culture may be found at the renowned Banpo Neolithic Culture site (of the Yangshao Culture) on the outskirts of Xi'An (Ancient Chang'An), the old western Chinese Capital and starting point of the silk road (from a Chinese perspective).
1921: In the year following the defeat of Syria in the war against the French, a French military base was built near the village at the ruined historic site of Palmyra.
1921: Find of the object today known as Plimpton 322 at Senkereh (suspected to be Larsa (possibly Biblical Ellasar, Genesis 14:1)), in southern Iraq. The object, a Sumerian Era (4500 BC - 1900 BC) clay tablet, passes into western hands in 1922 to make its way to Museums and collectors. Later, after years of careful studies it is dated to 1850 BC - 1600 BC and shown to be a trigonometric tablet, inscribed not in decimal but hexasigimal system. This makes it the oldest known trigonometric table and calculations known human history as previously the Greek Philosopher Hipparchus (Grieks: Ίππαρχος ο Ρόδιος of Ίππαρχος ο Νικαεύς)(Life: 190 BC - 120 BC) was held to have been the "father of Trigonometry" (one of the first proponents of).
1922: Turkish Armed Forces led by Mustapha Kemal (Later: Kemal Ataturk) routed the Greek Army in Anatolia subsequently pursuing the beaten Greek Forces to Smyrna (Today: Izmir in Turkey ; historically Smyrna: refounded in 4th century BC after take over by armies of Alexander the Great). Turkish Forces take Smyrna and massacre tens of thousands of Greeks among them a sizeable portion of the civilan population.
1922: Kurdish Liberation movement eyeing promised ideas as autonomy and freedom which never materialize start an uprising against British occupation forces in Iraq. The unrest will last through into 1924.
1923: Mongolian women in the Mongolian Peoples Republic win the right to vote and also to be elected.
1923 AD - 1925 AD: In the spring of 1923 twenty-eight camels, 6 horses, 4 Mongolian guides forming the backbone of the Wulsin expedition (under Aegis of the National Geographic Society in the United States of America) set off from Paotow (Baotou) on the Yellow River (in Inner Mongolia AR) on an unprecedented exploration mission through Inner-Mongolia and along Chinese parts of the Silk Road. During the two year long journey husband Frederick Wulsin records flora and fauna, wildlife and other natural features of the regions while Janett Elliot Wulsin documents it in around 1200 photos leaving unique data and images. The route followed leads through Inner-Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and finally East Tibet ( Qinghai Province).
December 1923: Mustapha Kemal becomes the first ever President of the free and independent Turkish Republic, which is a non-religious state. Westernization and secularization of Turkish society began soon after.
Youtube Video: The (Communist) Holocaust in Mongolia. Testimony of a horrific era in recent Mongolian history.
of Islam forcing the Hashimite King Hussein Ibn Ali to abdicate. This marks the end of the long Arabian Civil War (1902-1925).
June 10 - August 10, 1907 AD: In the spring of 1907 AD French Newspaper "Le Matin" (The morning) grabs the worlds attention and imagination by issuing an extra-ordinary challenge : Who will travel from Peking (Beijing) to Paris by motor-car this Summer? What is still hailed as the maddest motor-car race in human history was on. Eventually the challenge is accepted by a team of 3 Italians, Prince Scipione Borghese, his chauffeur Ettore and one Luigi Barzini, the latter an experienced international journalist responsible for telegraphing back reports on the race and its progress. The route leads from the (now former) Foreign Legations Quarter in Beijing through Inner-Mongolia, Mongolia and Russia is known as the trans-eurasian trade route, the northernmost part of the larger Silk Road pathways.
1907 AD: Russia completes the Tashkent ( Uzbekistan ) to Orenburg (Оренбург ; Today: Orenburg Oblast, Russian Federation, very near the Kazakhstan border) Railway, major piece of transport infrastructure needed to consolidate its recently gained grip on the Khanates of Central Asia (Khiva, Bokhara, Kokand).
October 21, 1907: The 1907 Qaratog earthquake occurred at 04:23 UTC on 21 October near Qaratog (Karatag) in the border area between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan . The shock had an estimated surface wave magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum felt intensity of IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Estimates of the death toll range between 12,000 and 15,000.
1908 AD: A year after the magnificent "discovery" of the Library of scriptures at the the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang , French archeologist Paul Pelliot visited what was then identified as the Caves of the Ten Thousand Buddha's (a common referral to holy caves), today the Mogao Caves , again taking away thousands of ancient Buddhist scriptures (a multitude of scrolls, manuscripts and also scraps).
In the same period European archeologists were taking thousands of artifacts out of Central Asia, sometimes - as was the case in Dunhuang - sawing entire statues and murals off the wall and shipping them out to overseas or overland destinations.
November 15, 1908: Death of Empress Dowager Cixi (Life: 1861 AD - 1908 AD), by many historians today recognised as the last great Monastic ruler of the Manchu-Chinese Qing Dynasty (1644 AD - 1911 AD) . She had ruled over the Manchu Empire for 47 years during which the Dynasty saw only problems, revolts, foreign invasions and in general a steep decline. The death of the Empress-Dowager left the already dying Dynasty headless, the rule in the hands of a figurehead Emperor (Pu Yi), a severely under aged child.
The winning car in the Peking to Paris Race.
Tibet-Tibetan Plateaux-Satellite Image Overview 1A
A Satellite Image overview Map of the entireTibetanPlateaux including parts of bordering regions of Xinjiang-Uyghur AR, Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui AR, Inner-Mongolia AR, Sichuan Province and Yunnan Province. Surrounding nations and Territories are: Myanmar (Burma), Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Kashmir and Pakistan.
This Map clearly defines Provinces and Regions, main mountain ranges, main rivers & lakes of the region, locations of main cities and landmarks.
October 4, 1914: The 1914 7.0 magnitude Burdur earthquake (maximum intensity of IX (Violent)) occurs near Lake Burdur (Turkish: Burdur Gölü) in south western Turkey. The mainshock and subsequent fire destroyed more than 17,000 homes, nearly 100% of all buildings in Burdur town and likewise, Kilinc was completely destroyed and in Keciborlu around 85 percent of the houses were lost. In the city of Isparta the great Mosque was destroyed along with more than half of the homes. The quake caused 2,344 casualties.
1914: Birth of Mohammed Zahir Shah (Life: 1914 - 2007)(Pashto: محمد ظاهرشاه ; Persian: محمد ظاهر شاه) who would rise to the throne in 1933, to be the last King and Ruler of Afghanistan until a coup d'etat in 1973.
1915: Marcus Aurel Stein returns to the Mogao 10 Thousand Buddha Caves near Dunhuang (today in Gansu Province, China (P.R.C.)) in order to take some 600 more documents from its ancient library of Buddhist scriptures, scrolls and manuscripts. Today he remains a despised historic persona due to what is seen by the general Chinese public as theft of cultural heritage.
1914-1915: S.F. Oldenburg expedition brings Mongolian and Chinese scriptures and documents from Dunhuang in Western Gansu Province .
In October of 1917, as part of a general British effort to undermine the falling Turkish-Ottoman Empire, at Petra in Jordan (at the time Trans-Jordania), a Revolt of Arabs was led by British Army Officer T.E. Lawrence a.ka. Lawrence of Arabia. Beduin Women of Petra Oasis led by the Sheikh Khallil's wife train and take up arms. With the hidden silk road city a perfectly well defendable position, Petra holds as a bastion of the anti-Ottoman revolt. No damage to the historic ruins of Petra is reported.
The Arab riots in Jordan eventually crush the Ottoman-Turkish authority in large parts of the Middle East.
1920-1921: While the Franco-Syrian War for control over Syrian territories rages and the territories of Palestine are shortly to be handed over to United Nations control and administration, Jewish settlers in Palestine organize their very own elections. The situation comes to boiling point in Palestine and the "Arab Riots" of 1920 and Jaffa Riots of 1922 mark a step up in tensions and violence between bands of unwanted Jewish immigrants and Arab populations in various cities and territories. In the aftermath Jewish organizations and communities establish the Haganah, an official army, as a tool for Jewish settlers to defend themselves against aggression from Arabs and Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers continue to claim and buy more land. The Haganah soon becomes the spearpoint of Jewish military operations in Palestine before the advent of the Jewish Zionist State of Israel, cut by force from the land of Palestine.
1924: Freed from the Library of Saint Petersburgh and given to the Muslims of Ufa, in Bashkortostan (Today: Autonomous Republic of the Russian Federation), by Vladimir Lenin after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the Uthman Koran (also known as Samarkand Kufic Koran, Samarkand Codex, Samarkand Manuscript and Tashkent Koran; also spelled Osman Koran) an islamic codex, in Kufic script, dated back to the 8th century which belonged to Uthman ibn Affan, the third Caliph (of the four Righteous Caliphs who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad) and is believed to be the world’s oldest Koran copy is returned to Uzbekistan , where it has been kept in Tashkent ever since.
1917: Seeking to expand their territory westward, the Chinese Muslim Ma clique with their power base in Ningxia and Gansu Province, under command of Generals Ma Qi (simplified Chinese: 马麒; traditional Chinese: 馬麒; pinyin: Mǎ Qí; Wade–Giles: Ma Ch'i, Xiao'erjing: ﻣَﺎ چِ)(Life: 23 September 1869 - 5 August 1931) and his son Ma Bufang (traditional Chinese: 馬步芳; simplified Chinese: 马步芳; pinyin: Mǎ Bùfāng; Wade–Giles: Ma Pu-fang, Xiao'erjing: ما بوفنگ)(Life: 1903 – 31 July 1975) launched several attacks against Labrang Monastery in the Tibetan Amdo Province (in the current day Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, China (P.R.C.)) as part of a general anti-Golok Tibetan campaign. Ma Qi occupied Labrang Monastery in 1917, the first time non-Tibetans had seized it. Ma Qi defeated the Tibetan forces with his Hui troops. It was brutal affair involving wholesale slaughter of rebellious Tibetans and bystanders but even so his forces were praised by foreigners who traveled through Qinghai for their fighting abilities. The campaign was the beginning of a struggle between invading Hui Muslims and native Tibetans named as the Ngolok rebellions (1917 AD - 49 AD).
1922-1923: (Golok) Tibetans once more attacked the Ninghai Muslim army of the Hui Muslim Ma Clique of warlords in 1922 and 1923. Having been defeated regardless of their ruthlessness and possession of modern fire arms, the Ninghai army regrouped and returned in 1924 and crushed the Tibetans, killing numerous Tibetans.
1921: (Golok) Tibetans are once more attacked by the Ninghai Army of the Hui Muslim Ma Clique of warlords. Ma Qi and his Muslim army decisively crushed the Tibetan monks of Labrang Monastery when they tried to oppose him. Golok Tibetans, fighting men, women and children are massacred wholesale. Hui Muslims decorate their camp with heads of decapitated Tibetans.
1918: After ethnic rioting between Hui and Tibetans emerged in 1918 and Golok Tibetans continued their struggle against the Hui invaders by ambushing caravans, Ma Qi defeated the Tibetans. He heavily taxed the town of Labrang, Sangqu (today renamed Xiahe by the Chinese) for 8 years. In 1921, Ma Qi and his Muslim army decisively crushed the Tibetan monks of Labrang Monastery when they tried to oppose him.
1917: In 1917 Ma Anliang ordered his younger brother Ma Guoliang to suppress a rebellion of Tibetans in Xunhua (Today: Xunhua, Xunhua Salar Autonomous County (Chinese: 循化撒拉族自治县; pinyin: Xúnhuà Sǎlázú Zìzhìxiàn; Salar: Göxdeñiz Velayat Yisır Salır Özbaşdak Yurt)) who rebelled because of taxes Ma Anliang imposed on them. Ma Anliang did not report it to the central government in Beijing and was reprimanded for it, and Ma Qi was sent by the government to investigate the case and suppress the rebellion.
1923: The Kayue culture (Chinese: 卡约文化; pinyin: Kǎyuē wénhuà), a Bronze Age culture dated to between 900 BC and 600 BC in Northwest China in the area of the upper reaches of the Yellow River and its tributary Huang Shui (Tib. Tsong Chu) is discovered for the first time Johan Gunnar Andersson (Chinese: 安特生; pinyin: Ān Tèshēng)(Life: 3 July 1874 AD - 29 October 1960 AD). It was discovered in 1923 in the villages Kayue (卡约) and Xiaxihe (下西河) of Yunguchuan Huangzhong in north western Amdo Province of Tibet (since renamed to Qinghai Province) and is named after the village of Kayue. Since the first discovery (when it was thought to be a part of the earlier dated Qijia Culture (2200 BC - 1600 BC)) it has been determined that the Kayue culture was a separate culture which developed from the Qijia Culture (Traditional Chinese: 齊家文化, Simplified Chinese: 齐家文化) and was mainly distributed in the territory of the contemporary Minhe, Ledu, Ping'an, Xining (City), Huzhu, Datong, Haiyan, Gangca (Gangcha), Tongren and Huangzhong counties, where more than 200 sites and over 1,000 graves have been found since 1923. Among the cultural relics discovered that have been found were gold artifacts considered particularly valuable because they reveal facts about gold smelting, production, and use at an early time. They reflect the cultural uniqueness of the ancient Qiang (羌) people, who lived in the northeastern region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
1902 AD: As result of an earthquake in 1902 part of the Masud III minaret built during the Rule of Ghaznavid Ruler Masud III (Reign: 1099 - 1115 AD))(The excavated palace of Mas'ud III lies nearby to the towers), one of the world renowned Minartets of Ghazni in Ghazni City, Ghazni Province of Afghanistan was destroyed with its top levels collapsing and falling to the ground. The second minaret, the so called Baghram Shah Minaret built during the rule of Bahram Shah (Reign: Officially 1117 AD / Factually 1118 - 1157 AD) is said to have survived unscathed although today its top levels have also crumpled and fallen.
August 29, 1904: Death of Ottoman Sultan Murad V (Ottoman Turkish: مراد خامس)(Life: September 21, 1840 - August 29, 1904) was the 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who reigned from 30 May to 31 August 1876 and was deposed for being mentally ill..
1905 AD - March 1907: German Indologist, tibetologist, archaeologist, and explorer Albert Grünwedel (Life: July 31, 1856 - October 28, 1935) leads a third German expedition to Turpan, Xinjiang (the far west of China), the results of which were published in the book "Ancient Buddhist Religion in Chinese Turkistan (1912)".
1913 - 1914 AD: Albert von Le Coq (Life: September 8, 1860 - April 21, 1930) leads the fourth German archeological mission in Xinjiang, again visiting among things Turpan. His account of the second and third German Turpan expeditions was published in English in 1928 as the book entitled "Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan".
September 24, 1904: Swedish missionary serving with the Swedish Missionary Society (Svenska Missionskyrkan) John Törnquist arrives in "Xinjiang" (Eastern Turkestan). From that moment he would go on to be the longest serving missionary of the Swedish Missionary Society in Chinese Turkestan. John Törnquist served there from 1904 to his death in 1937. Today Törnquist remains relatively famous among things as a result of his writings, photograps, observations of cultural aspects, the mention of his presence by other silk road explorers and travellers and a series of films he made between 1931 and 1934 in Kashgar, East Turkistan (Xinjiang), China. The films show Kashgar and in particular Hancheng, the Han Chinese settlement in Kashgar where he worked.
Youtube Video: The Törnquist films made in Kashgar in East Turkestan (Today: Xinjiang, China (P.R.C.)) in black and white (no audio).
August 28-September 2, 1920: Bukhara was the last capital of the Emirate of Bukhara and was besieged by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. During the Bukhara operation of 1920, an army of well-disciplined and well equipped Red Army troops under the command of Bolshevik general Mikhail Frunze attacked the city of Bukhara. On 31 August 1920, the Emir Alim Khan fled to Dushanbe in Eastern Bukhara Emirate (Today: Tajikistan) (later he escaped from Dushanbe to Kabul in Afghanistan). On 2 September 1920, after four days of fighting, the emir's citadel (the Ark) was destroyed, the red flag was raised from the top of Kalyan Minaret. On 14 September 1920, the All-Bukharan Revolutionary Committee was set up, headed by A. Mukhitdinov. The government—the Council of People's Nazirs (Commissars)—was presided over by Faizullah Khojaev.
Spring 1918: Alledgedly , according to Soviet Authorities, a group of British and American intelligence agents visited Tashkent (Today: Capital of Uzbekistan ) in an effort to train and supply anti-communist guerrillas in the region. The mission was headed by American diplomat Roger Tredwell (Life: July 1885 - July 12, 1961), who participated in the creation of the Turkestan Anti-Bolshevik Union which acted as an intermediary between the Western Allies and the Fergana Valley Basmachi rebels. The alternative western narrative of the events is remarkably different and holds that in 1918 Roger Tredwell was sent to Tashkent in Russian Central Asia to investigate the political and cotton situation there. At this time, World War I was still raging across Europe. Munitions of the day used cotton (see nitrocellulose), however a successful blockade by the British had limited Germany's cotton supply. The Entente powers were concerned that the Germans might try to procure local supplies throughout the former Russian Empire, especially in the Turkestan region, as well as rally political and military support in the area to launch an attack against British India. Tredwell prepared two reports during that summer after traveling extensively around the region and speaking to many people about the current political and economic situation. What is known is that Tredwell was arrested by the Bolsheviks in on October 15, 1918. He was soon able to secure his release, and quickly set about to free other foreigners arrested that same day. Shortly after, however, he was placed once again under house arrest. At one point he was taken to a prison where it seemed
1902: With a wooden road bridge already built across the Oxus River (Amu Darya) between Termez (Today in in Uzbekistan) and the town of Hairatan (Today in the northern Balkh Province) of Afghanistan already in place in 1888, Russian troops start the construction of a railway bridge across the same river. The Amu Darya railroad bridge running nearly three kilometers was strengthened with wooden piles. It was announced the largest feat of engineering of that time. The railway bridge was in operation only 14 years. Due to the river rapid flow and the sandy bottom, the bridge began to collapse and very soon became unserviceable.
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he was about to be executed, but the local police chief stopped the process at the last minute. In March 1919, the British offered to release Bolshevik prisoners they were holding in Persia in exchange for Tredwell's freedom. This exchange, however, never took place. He was taken from Tashkent to Moscow, then onward to Finland, where he was released in May 1919. Upon his return, he denounced Bolshevik rule and predicted that the Russian people would soon rise up against it.
1900 AD: In the year 1900, the so called Boxer Uprising (Yihetuan Movement (義和團運動)) which has started in earnest in 1899 comes to a boiling point. The Capital of Beijing is occupied by the anti-foreign forces of the Boxer's, and with silent support of Empress-Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty (1644 AD - 1911 AD), foreigners are attacked across northern China while their diplomatic quarter, the "Legations" fall under siege. On january 27, Foreign diplomats in Peking, the Capital of Qing Dynasty China, demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined. Relief forces are dispatched by sea by 8 allied foreign nations to deal with the rebellion, save the foreign diplomats and force the Qing Dynasty Court into resignation. On may 27, Boxers destroy three villages near Peking, and kill 60 Chinese Christians. On May 28, The Boxers attack Belgians, who are fleeing to Beijing through the Fengtai railway station. On may 31, Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China, where they join with Japanese forces. On June 17, The Battle of Dagu Forts at the port of Tianjin takes place: Naval forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture the Taku Forts, on the Hai River estuary. In response, on June 20, Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking, and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador. On August 14, Boxer Rebellion: An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the European hostages. They go on to loot Beijing and the Forbidden City, while in retaliation they burn down the Yuanmingyuan Summer Palace.
March 31, 1901: Black Sea earthquake (also known in Bulgaria as Balchik earthquake); a heavy earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale occurs off the northwest coast of Bulgaria in the Black Sea, with a maximum intensity of X (Extreme). A destructive 4 to 5 meter high tsunami affects the province of Dobrich (Bulgarian: Област Добрич, Oblast Dobrich, former name Dobrich okrug). The shock was felt throughout Bulgaria, southeast Romania, Moldova, eastern Serbia and northwest Anatolia, causing great panic in Istanbul and on the Asiatic coast of the Bosphorus and the Marmara. Longperiod effects lasting about a minute were reported from the Danube valley, from Szeged in Hungary, and from Odessa. The shock was perceptible in Thessaloniki, in Macedonia, in Dorohoi in Romania, and throughout the province of Sivas. Slumping of the coast destroyed many landing-places and coastal settlements including the lighthouse at Kaliakra. Largescale landslides along the coast continued to develop for almost two weeks after the earthquake, disrupting communications and causing additional damage.
May 28, 1901: Having funded a search for oil in the country the previous year, Persia grants William Knox D'Arcy (Life: October 11, 1849 - May 1, 1917) a concession, giving him the right to prospect for oil. The so-called "the D'Arcy concession" thus secured covered an area of 480,000 square miles (1,200,000 km2). The concession stipulated that William D'Arcy would have the oil rights to the entire country except for five provinces in Northern Iran. In exchange the Iranian government was given 16% of the oil company's annual profits, an agreement that would haunt the Iranians up until the late 20th century. After the D'Arcy concession the British became much more concerned with the stability of Persia (Iran) because of their reliance on the country's vast oil reserves.
September 7, 1901: The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends, with the signing of the Boxer Protocol by the Qing Dynasty Court and the 8 Nation alliance (Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) plus Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
October 1, 1901: Death of Abdur Rahman Khan (Pashto: عبد رحمان خان)(Life: between 1840 and 1844 - October 1, 1901), Emir of Afghanistan (Reign: 1880 - 1901) also nicknamed the "Iron Emir". Abdur Rahman was the third son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of infamous Dost Mohammad Khan. He is remembered as responsible for restoring the (relative) unity of Afghanistan as nation and buffer zone between Russia and British controlled India after the two British-Afghan wars.
March 5, 1903: The Ottoman Empire and the German Empire sign an agreement to build the Constantinople to Baghdad Railway (Turkish: Bağdat Demiryolu, German: Bagdadbahn, Arabic: سكة حديد بغداد, French: Chemin de Fer Impérial Ottoman de Bagdad). The 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) long railway line would pass from Baghdad northward to Syria, then through modern-day Turkey and be, linked to Europe by a bridge crossing the Bosphorous at Istanbul. Completion of the project took several decades and by the outbreak of World War I, the railway was still 960 km (600 miles) away from its intended objective. The last stretch to Baghdad was built in the late 1930s and the first train to travel from Istanbul to Baghdad departed in 1940.
April 29, 1903: The 7.0 Ms Manzikert earthquake affects eastern Turkey, leaving 3,500 people, and 20,000 animals dead, while destroying some 12,000 homes. To date it ranks top among the deadliest earthquakes ever to be recorded in Turkey.
May 18, 1903: The port of Burgas (Bulgarian: Бургас) on the Black Sea in Bulgaria opens.
August 3, 1903: During the anti-Ottoman Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising the Kruševo Republic (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Крушевска Република, translit. Kruševska Republika) is proclaimed in Ottoman Macedonia; it is crushed 10 days later.
1904 - 1907: German Brewer and wine merchant turned archeologist Albert von Le Coq (Life: 8 September 1860 - 21 April 1930) leads the second German archeological mission in Xinjiang.
August 3, 1904: British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa, Tibet. On September 7, The 13th Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty, with Colonel Francis Younghusband.
October 6, 1905 AD: Death of Ferdinand von Richthofen (Life: May 5, 1833 - October 6, 1905), German explorer, geographer. He is noted for coining the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" = "Silk Road(s)" or "Silk Route(s)" in 1877.
January 12, 1906 AD: Persian Constitutional Revolution (Persian: مشروطیت Mashrūtiyyat, or انقلاب مشروطه): A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah of the Qayar Dynasty (Persian: سلسله قاجار Selsele-ye Qājār; also Romanised as Ghajar, Kadjar, Qachar etc.; Azerbaijani: قاجارلر Qacarlar)(1794 - 1925) to grant a constitution, and establish a national assembly, the Majlis (or Mejlis; Arabic: مجلس, pl. مجالس Majālis). On October 6 the Majlis of Iran convenes for the first time.
June 26, 1907: Tiflis bank robbery (also known as the Yerevan Square expropriation): In an attack organised by Vladimir Lenin, Maxim Litvinov, Leonid Krasin, Alexander Bogdanov and Joseph Stalin, Bolsheviks attack a cash-filled bank coach in the centre of Tiflis (Today: Tbilisi ; Georgian: თბილისი), Georgia, killing 40 people.
August 31, 1907: Count Alexander Izvolsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Изво́льский)(Life: March 18 [O.S. 6 March 6] 1856, Moscow - August 16, 1919, Paris) and Sir Arthur Nicolson (Life: September 19, 1849 - November 5, 1928) sign the Anglo-Russian Entente in Saint Petersburg, bringing a pause in The Great Game in Central Asia, and establishing the Triple Entente.
January 3, 1907 AD: Death of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar (Persian: مظفرالدین شاه قاجار, Mozaffar Ŝāh-e Qājār or also Muẓaffari’d-Dīn Shāh Qājār)(Life: March 23, 1853 - January 3, 1907), the fifth Qajar king of Persia (Iran)(Reign: 1896 - 1907). At Mozaffar ad-Din's accession Persia faced a financial crisis. He reformed the central treasury and in addition n order to manage the costs of the state and his extravagant personal lifestyle Mozzafar ad-din Shah decided to sign many concessions, providing foreigners with monopolistic control of various Persian industries and markets. One example being the D'Arcy Oil Concession. His greatest achievement was the creation of the Persian constitution, and often somewhat incorrectly credited with the rise of the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1905 - 1911) most of which took place immediately after his death.
March, 1907 AD: The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt (21 February and 5 April 1907) results in possibly as many as 11,000 deaths. (other estimates say 3,000-18,000 or 10,000-20,000) On March 11 The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Dimitar Petkov, is assassinated by an anarchist in the Romanian Capital of Sofia. The next day, March 12, the Conservative Party Government of Romania falls.
May 26, 1908: At Masjed Soleyman (Persian: Irsoleymān, Lurish: مسسلیموو Mas-seleymoo (Irsoleymān); also Romanized as Masjed Soleymān, Masjed-e Soleymān, Masjed Soleiman, and Masjid-i-Sulaiman) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
June 30, 1908: The Tunguska event or "Russian explosion" takes place near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River (Russian: Подкаменная Тунгуска, literally Tunguska under the stones, also Middle Tunguska or Stony Tunguska) in Yeniseysk Governorate (current day Krasnoyarsk Krai), Siberia, in the Russian Empire. The event, of which the light effects were seen across the Eurasian continent and noted as far away as London (UK) is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment, exploding at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3–6 mi) above the Earth's surface. Tremors were measured as far away as Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington DC in the USA.
July 3, 1908: The so called "Young Turk Revolution" occurs in the Ottoman Empire: Major Ahmed Niyazi, with 200 followers (Ottoman troops and civilians), begins an open revolution by defecting from the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia, decamping into the hill country. On July 23, The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) issues a formal ultimatum to Sultan Abdul Hamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی, `Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî; Turkish: İkinci Abdülhamit)(Life: September 21, 1842 - February 10, 1918), to restore the constitution of 1876 within the Ottoman Empire (it is restored the following day).
October 5, 1908: Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar. Suddenly the collapse of the Ottoman Empire takes several more steps. The next day "The Bosnian crisis" (1908-09) begins, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire unilaterally annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
December 28, 1908: The 7.1 Mw Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.
1910 AD: A Uighur hunter named Ördek makes the First Discovery of the so called Xiaohe Tombs at Lop Nor in south-east Xinjiang of China (P.R.C.). The discovery of the Xiaohe (Little River) cemetery, a bronze-age burial site, although not made public for another 24 years would open a brandnew chapter in Silk Road history and archeology. Although the site was discovered in 1910, it would not be named until 1934 when, with Ördek's help, Swedish explorer and archeologist Folke Bergman located the site which he named Ördek’s Necropolis. At the time, The tomb complex appeared as a small oval mound, and the top of the burial mound was covered with a forest of erect wooden posts whose tops had been splintered by strong winds. Oar-shaped wooden monuments and wooden human figures were found at the site. The coffins were assembled over the bodies which had become mummified. Bergman excavated 12 burials and recovered approximately 200 artifacts that were transported back to Stockholm. Bergman noted the surprising resemblance in the
March 31, 1909 AD: Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
April 11, 1909 AD: The city of Tel Aviv (Hebrew: תֵּל אָבִיב ; Arabic: تل أَبيب))(known in its first year as Ahuzat Bayit) is founded by the Jewish community, on the outskirts of Jaffa (in current day Israel).
April 11, 1909 AD: (March 31 by Eastern reckoning) The Ottoman countercoup of 1909 begins in the Ottoman Empire. On April 14 Ottoman Turks kill 15,000–30,000 Armenian Christians, in the Adana Vilayet. Nearly 4,437 Armenian dwellings were torched which meant nearly half the town was razed, which led in turn to descriptions of the incidents as a "holocaust". The event would go down in history as the Adana massacre (Armenian: Ադանայի կոտորած, Turkish: Adana İğtişaşı). In addition a series of anti-Armenian pogroms takes place throughout the province. In hindsight it was a prelude to the Armenian Genocide (Armenian: Հայոց ցեղասպանություն,[note Hayots tseghaspanutyun), also known as the Armenian Holocaust (1914 - 1923). While The Countercoup was put down in the 31 March Incident, on 24 April 1909 by the Army of Action (Hareket Ordusu), the Ottoman Empire crumbles on April 27, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی, `Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî; Turkish: İkinci Abdülhamit)(Life: September 21, 1842 - February 10, 1918) is overthrown and succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V (Ottoman Turkish: محمد خامس Meḥmed-i ẖâmis, Turkish: Beşinci Mehmet Reşat or Reşat Mehmet) (Life: November 2, 1844 - July 3, 1918). Abdul Hamid II is sent to the Ottoman port city of Thessaloniki (Selanik) the next day. The subsequent 9 year rule of Mehmed V sees the further fragmenting of the Ottoman Empire.
July 16, 1909 AD:In Persia (Iran) revolution forces Mohammad Ali Shah of the Qajar Dynasty to abdicate in favor of his son Ahmad Shah Qajar (Persian: احمد شاه قاجار)(Life: January 21, 1898 - February 21, 1930), who becomes the last ruling King of the Qajar Dynasty. Ali Shah proceeds to leave Persia for Imperial Russia, reportedly seeking the assistance of Nicholas II of Russia in regaining the throne.
October 8, 1909 AD: An earthquake in the Zagreb (Croatia) area leads Andrija Mohorovičić to identify the Mohorovičić discontinuity.
March, 1910 AD: An uprising against Ottoman rule breaks out in Albania.
March 10, 1910 AD: Slavery in China, which has existed since the Shang Dynasty (Chinese: 商朝; pinyin: Shāngcháo)(also known as Yin dynasty (殷代; Yīndài), is made illegal. Nevertheless, the practice continues at least until 1949.
April, 1910 AD: The Comet of Halley reappears and is visible from Earth (its next visit will be in 1986). On May 18 the Earth passes through the tail of Halley's Comet.
July 24, 1910 AD: Ottoman forces capture the city of Shkodër (Scutari or Scodra) to put down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.
August 28, 1910 AD: Montenegro is proclaimed an independent kingdom, under Nicholas I (Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš ; Serbian Cyrillic: Никола I Петровић-Његош)(Life: October 7 [O.S. 25 September] 1841 - March 1, 1921).
December, 1910 AD: A form of pneumonic plague spreads through northeastern China, killing more than 40,000.
January 3, 1911 AD: Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 moment magnitude strikes near Almaty (Kazakh: Алматы, translit. Almaty ; Russian: Алматы, formerly known as Alma-Ata) in Russian Turkestan (Today: Almaty Province, southernmost Kazakhstan ) killing 450 or more people and destroying 770 buildings while resulting in 125 miles (201 km) of surface faulting in the valleys of Chon–Kemin, Chilik and Chon-Aksu (north shore of Lake Issyk Kul (also Ysyk Köl, Issyk-Kol: Kyrgyz: Ысык-Көл, Isıq-Köl, ىسىق-كۅل ; Russian: Иссык-Куль, Issyk-Kulj)), in current day Kyrgyzstan) in the Trans-Ili Alatau (or Zailiysky Alatau) Mountains (part of the Tian Shan Range). Due to the fact that at the time most of the population in the countryside lives in nomadic tents (ger or yurt), most victims are killed by massive landslides.
/asiareport/images/SatMap-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan%2C_Uzbekistan01-Th-ID-8b7aa681-1360-4a91-ae45-cdefaba95733-ID-b9ee2f60-0f1c-454a-9a69-af4b5060efd8.jpg)
A google satellite image based map of the 3 Stans; Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Map features regional delineations, International Borders, National Capitals, main geographical features: main cities and towns, mountains, rivers and lakes, railroads, historic landmarks, scenic sights and tourist hotspots.
Use this map to find locations and navigate via pins to additional information, backgrounds and maps.
September 29, 1911: Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
Youtube Video: The Silk Road Documentary 1 - Part 5 of 12. In search of the Kingdom of Loulan (First aired in 1980 NHK Japan).
clothing, especially the fringed loin-cloths, to Bronze Age grave finds in Denmark, but dismissed any direct connection. After the initial excavations by Folke Berhman the site lay forgotten for some 70 years, except for a 1979 visit by the team of the famous NHK Silk Road Documentary, until in 2003 when a full and complete excavation organized by the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute commenced. In the process of the excavations a near perfectly preserved mummy was uncovered. It has become known as the Xiaohe (or Loulan) Beauty.
January 3, 1910 AD: Death of 'Abd al-Ahad Khan ('Said Abd al-Ahad Khan)(Life: March 26, 1859 - January 3, 1911)), Emir of Bukhara (by that time a protectorate of Russia). He is succeeded by his only son, Mohammed Alim Khan (Emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan)(Uzbek: Said Mir Muhammad Olimxon)(Reign: January 3, 1880 - August 30, 1920), who becomes the last ruling Emir of the Buchara Emirate.
March, 1918: activists of the Young Bukharan Movement (Yosh Buxoroliklar) informed the Bolsheviks that the Bukharians were ready for the revolution and that the people were awaiting liberation. The Red Army marched to the gates of Bukhara and demanded that the emir surrender the city to the Young Bukharans. As Russian sources report, the emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan (Uzbek: Said Mir Muhammad Olimxon)(Reign: January 3, 1880 - August 30, 1920) responded by killing the Bolshevik delegation, along with several hundred Russian supporters of the Bolsheviks in Bukhara and the surrounding territories. The majority of Bukharans did not support an invasion and the ill-equipped and ill-disciplined Bolshevik army fled back to the Soviet stronghold at Tashkent.
January 1, 1912 AD: The Republic of China (中華民國 ; Chunghwa Minkuo) was established. On February 12, The Manchu Qing Dynasty of China comes to an end after 268 years, with the abdication of Emperor Puyi in favour of the Republic of China. The Republic's first president, Sun Yat-sen, served only briefly before handing over the position to Yuan Shikai, former leader of the Beiyang Army. His party, then led by Song Jiaoren, won the parliamentary election held in December 1912. Song was assassinated shortly after, and the Beiyang Army led by Yuan Shikai maintained full control of the government in Beijing. Between late 1915 and early 1916, Yuan tried to reinstate the monarchy, before abdicating after popular unrest. Yuan Shikai died in disgrace in 1916.
February 24, 1912 AD: Battle of Beirut: Italy makes a surprise attack on the Ottoman port of Beirut (Today: Lebanon), when the cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and the gunboat Volturno bombard the harbour, killing 97 sailors and civilians.
February 29, 1912 AD: Serbia and Bulgaria secretly sign a treaty of alliance for a term of eight years, with each pledging to come to the defense of the other during war.
October 8, 1912 AD: The First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire. While on October 18, Italy and the Ottoman Empire sign a treaty in Ouchy near Lausanne, ending the Italo-Turkish War, war between Bulgaria and Turkey continues. On October 23 and 24, the Battle of Kumanovo (Serbian: Кумановска битка/Kumanovska bitka, Turkish: Kumanova Muharebesi), the first major battle of the (1st) Balkan War, takes place in which Serbian forces defeat the Ottoman army in Vardar Macedonia. After this defeat, the Ottoman army abandoned the major part of the region, suffering heavy losses in manpower (mostly due to desertions) and in war materiel. Subsequently on October 28, Albania declares independence from the Ottoman Empire. With much of the Balkans freed from Ottoman influence, on December 3 Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. (The armistice will expire on February 3, 1913, and hostilities will resume.). On December 30, the First Balkan War ends temporarily: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League countries) sign an armistice with Turkey, ending the two-month-long war.
On January 5, 1913: in the Battle of Lemnos (Greek: Ναυμαχία της Λήμνου, Turkish: Mondros Deniz Muharebesi), Greece deals another major blow to the dying Ottoman Empire: Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the war.
January 23, 1913: 1913 Ottoman coup d'état (also known as the Raid on the Sublime Porte (Turkish: Bâb-ı Âlî Baskını)): Ismail Enver (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa)(Life: November 22, 1881 - August 4, 1922), military officer and leader of the Young Turk Revolution, now part of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) comes to power.
February 13, 1913: Following the end of the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD) , the overlords of Manchuria, China, Mongolia and Tibet, in the previous year and the declaration of the Republic of China, Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, declares the independence of Tibet from Qing Dynasty China and in effect from the new Republic of China which lays claim to all Qing Territories.
March 4 through 6, 1913: With the first Balkan War having resumed on February 5 after the armistice expired, in the Battle of Bizani: Forces of the Kingdom of Greece capture the forts of Bizani (covering the approaches to Ioannina) in the Ionia region of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.
March 26, 1913: As the First Balkan War continues The Siege of Adrianople (Bulgarian: Обсада на Одрин, Serbian: Опсада Једрена, Turkish: Edirne Kuşatması) which began in November 1912, ends when Bulgarian forces take Adrianople (Today: Edirne, Marmara Region, Turkey) from the Ottomans. (Eventually, it was retaken from the Bulgarians soon after the Second Balkan War began).
May 30, 1913: The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War. Greece is granted those parts of southern Epirus which it does not already control, and the independence of Albania is recognised.
June 1, 1913: The Greek–Serbian Treaty of Alliance is signed, paving the way for the Second Balkan War (June 29 - August 10, 1913). The Second Balkan War begins on June 29. On July 10 Romania declares war on Bulgaria but a month later, on August 10, The Treaty of Bucharest is signed, ending the war. Macedonia is divided, and Northern Epirus is assigned to Albania (Greek: Βόρειος Ήπειρος, Vorios Ipiros, Albanian: Epiri i Veriut). War continues between the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria until September 29, when The Treaty of Constantinople is signed in Istanbul, between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
February 28, 1914: The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus is proclaimed by ethnic Greeks, in Northern Epirus. Subsequently, on May 17, the Protocol of Corfu provides for the provinces of Korçë and Gjirokastër, constituting Northern Epirus, to be granted autonomy under the nominal sovereignty of Albania.
June 12, 1914: Greek genocide: Ottoman Greeks in Phocaea (current day Foça, İzmir Province, Aegean Region, Turkey) are massacred by Turkish irregular troops known as Mucahirs. A large portion of the historic city was destroyed, and all the old churches were destroyed and mosques were built on top of them. The majority of the surviving Greek population fled the city.
June 28, 1914: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria: Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, 19, assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Duchess Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering the July Crisis and World War I. Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and Zagreb break out.
1914: British Armed Forces take de facto control of Central and Eastern Tibet, subsequently attempting set up a British Protectorate in Tibet.
October 27, 1914: As part of World War I, The Greek army occupies Northern Epirus with the approval of the Allies.
October 29, 1914: World War I: Ottoman warships shell Russian Black Sea ports; Russia, France, and Britain declare war on the Ottoman Empire on November 1-November 5. On November 5, Britain and France declare war on Turkey. The United Kingdom annexes Cyprus, which it controls until Cyprus' declaration of independence in 1960.
November 6, 1914: World War I: Opening of the Mesopotamian Campaign (November 6, 1914 - November 14, 1918(4 years, 1 week and 1 day). The operational area of the Mesopotamian campaign was limited to the lands watered by the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The main goal for the Allied Forces invading Iraq was the esscuring of oil resources of the region, a strategic resource needed for use in World War I. With Mesopotamia (Iraq) only lightly defended by Ottoman Turkish Forces (initially stationed at Mosul and Baghdad) the Allied troops challenge was moving troops and supplies through the swamps and deserts which surrounded the area of conflict. On 6 November 1914, British offensive action began with the naval bombardment of the old fort at Fao, located at the point where the Shatt-al-Arab meets the Persian Gulf. Subsequently Indian Expeditionary Forces landed. By November 22 British troops took Basra and in short time secured control over the oil
1914: Following the November 7 Siege of Qingdao and the seizure of Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong, China, the base of the German East Asia Squadron by the British and Japanese, China declares neutrality in World War I.
April 7, 1914: Death of Mohammad Ayyub Khan (Pashto: غازي محمد ايوب خان ; Urdu: غازی محمد ایوب خان)(Life: (1857 - April 7, 1914), Emir of Afghanistan. Ayyub Khan also known as The Victor of Maiwand or The Afghan Prince Charlie and was, for a while, the governor of Herat Province in Afghanistan. He was Emir of Afghanistan from October 12, 1879 to May 31, 1880. He was also the leader of Afghans in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. He is today remembered as National Hero of Afghanistan and is buried in Peshawar (Pashto: پېښور Pēkhawar ; Hindko: پشور; Urdu: پشاور), capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (abbreviated as KP or KPK; Urdu: خیبر پختونخوا; Pashto: خیبر پښتونخوا), Pakistan.
January 13, 1915: The 6.7 Mw Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L'Aquila in Italy, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). Avezzano is destroyed. Various agencies estimate the number of people killed to be 29,978 - 32,610.
January 17, 1915: WWI: Caucasus Campaign – Battle of Sarikamish (Armenian: Սարիղամիշի ճակատամարտ (Sarighamishi chakatamart), Russian: Сражение при Сарыкамыше; Turkish: Sarıkamış Harekatı)(December 22, 1914 - January 17, 1915) ends: Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey. Afterward, Ottoman leader Enver Pasha publicly blamed his defeat on Armenians and the battle served as a prelude to the Armenian Genocide.
January 26, 1915: The Ottoman Army begins the Raid on the Suez Canal (January 26 - February 4) before the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. The attack ends in failure.
March, 1915: The 1915 Palestine locust infestation breaks out in Palestine; it continues until October. Swarms of locusts stripped areas in and around Palestine, Mount Lebanon and Syria of almost all vegetation. This infestation seriously compromised the already-depleted food supply of the region and sharpened the misery of all Jerusalemites. Among the consequences of the event was the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon, which led to the deaths of nearly one half of Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate inhabitants from hunger and disease between 1915 and 1918.
March 4-April 10, 1915: the secret pact known as the Constantinople Agreement (March 18, 1915) is made: Britain, France and the Russian Empire agree to give Constantinople and the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (land on either coast in Thrace and Asia Minor) to Russia, in case of victory (the treaty is later nullified by the Bolshevik Revolution).
March 18, 1915: A British naval attack on the Dardanelles, an attempt to force open the Dardanelles straight and the Bosphorus, fails. Three British battle ships are lost to Turkish mines in the straights.
Youtube Video: The Battle of Gallipoli (Dardanelles)(1915 - 1916), Discovery Documentary.
April 24, 1915: The Armenian Genocide begins, with the deportation of Armenian notables (known as Red Sunday (Western Armenian: Կարմիր կիրակի Garmir giragi) from Istanbul. Eventually, the total number of arrests and deportations amounted to 2,345. With the adoption of the Tehcir Law on 29 May 1915, these detainees were later relocated within the Ottoman Empire; most of them were ultimately killed.
April 25, 1915: as part of WWI – Start of the Gallipoli Campaign (lasting until January 1916): A landing at Anzac Cove is conducted by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and a landing at Cape Helles by British and French troops, to begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire. On
there first day of the landings and campaign the attacks stalls, leading to a bitter stint of trench- and tunnel warfare. Scores of Allied troops are killed encountering a well defended coastline and unforeseen natural obstacles. The failure of Allied troops to gain headway leads to a prolonged ground war in which ultimately the Turks are victorious. Both sides, especially the Allies, take heavy casualties from enemy fire, disease and lack of water.
May 24, 1915: WWI: Italy joins the Allies, after declaring war on Austria-Hungary.
July 14, 1915: WWI: The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali (Arabic: الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī al-Hāshimī)(Life: 1853/1854 - June 4, 1931), Sharif of Mecca and the British official Henry McMahon (Life: November 28, 1862 - December 29, 1949) concerning the Arab revolt (Arabic: الثورة العربية, al-Thawra al-‘Arabiyya; Turkish: Arap İsyanı)(also Great Arab Revolt (Arabic: الثورة العربية الكبرى, al-Thawra al-‘Arabiyya al-Kubrā)) against the Ottoman Empire begins; in exchange for assistance against the Ottomans, the British offer bin Ali their recognition of an independent Arab kingdom, although clear terms are never agreed to. (The Arab Revolt was officially initiated by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, at Mecca on June 10, 1916 (9 Sha'ban of the Islamic calendar for that year) although his sons ‘Ali and Faisal had already initiated operations at Medina starting on June 5, with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state stretching from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen). (The correspondence ends January 30, 1916)
September 12, 1915: French soldiers rescue over 4,000 Armenian Genocide survivors stranded on Musa Dagh (Turkish: Musa Dağı; Armenian: Մուսա լեռ, Musa leṛ ; Arabic: جبل موسى Jebel Musa; meaning "Moses Mountain"), a mountain in the Hatay Province, Mediterranean Region, of Turkey. On that mountain, Armenians refusing Ottoman deportation orders had ben thwarting assaults for fifty-three days, from July to September 1915. Allied warships, most notably the French 3rd squadron in the Mediterranean under command of Louis Dartige du Fournet, sighted the survivors, just as their ammunition and food provisions were running out. French and British ships, beginning with the Guichen, evacuated 4,200 men, women and children from Musa Dagh to safety in Port Said. An account of the terrible ordeal of the Armenians has been left by Franz Werfel in his novel "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh" (1933).
October 15, 1915: In WWI - Serbian Campaign: Austria-Hungary invades the Kingdom of Serbia. Bulgaria enters the war, also invading Serbia. The Serbian First Army retreats towards Greece. The next day, on October 16, France declares war on Bulgaria. On October 19, Russia and Italy also declare war on Bulgaria.
December 12, 1915: President of the Republic of China Yuan Shikai declares himself Emperor. The attempt to restore the Monarchy in China however fails dismally, as various Provinces declare independence igniting a lengthy civil war between them. Having already betrayed the Qing Dynasty (1644 AD - 1911 AD), former Qing Dynasty General and President of the 1st Republic Yuan Shikai once more acquires the nickname "Traitor General" for betraying the (1st) Republic of China.
January 9, 1916: In WWI: The Gallipoli Campaign: The last British troops are evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture the Dardanelles, threaten Istanbul and break through the Bosphorus strait into the Black Sea.
January 10, 1916: In WWI - Following the Ottoman Turkish defeat at the Battle of Sarikamish (December 22, 1914 - January 17, 1915), the Ottomans tried to reorganize while expecting a further Russian push southwards. However, the ongoing Armenian genocide compounds problems for the defending Ottoman Turkish Army. Due to a lack of Armenian traders resupplying the troops in the field is difficult. Furthermore, the deportation and internment of Armenian soldiers into labor camps leads to a shortage of defending troops. Having been informed of the intended British and French withdrawal from the failed Gallipoli Campaign, in January, the Russian Army opens the Erzurum Offensive (Russian: Эрзурумское сражение Erzurumskoe srazhenie ;Turkish: Erzurum Taarruzu; or Battle of Erzurum (Turkish: Erzurum Muharebesi)) as part of the Caucasus Campaign: Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire and captures the strategic city of Erzurum (Armenian: Կարին, Karin)(Historically: In the Roman Era Theodosiopolis (Latin: Theodosiopolis, Greek: Θεοδοσιούπολις), later known in Armenian as Karno K'aghak' (Armenian: Կարնո քաղաք), meaning city of Karin, After the Arab conquest of Armenia, the city was known to the Arabs as Kālīkalā ; Today: Erzurum, Erzurum Province (Turkish: Erzurum ili), Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey) on February 16. As a further result of the Erzurum Campaign, Trabzon (Trebizond) fell to the Russian advance in April.
December 2, 1914: World War I: In the "Serbian Campaign" Austro-Hungarian forces occupy Belgrade, Serbia. On December 19, The Battle of Kolubara (Serbian Cyrillic: Колубарска битка, German: Schlacht an der Kolubara)(November-December 1914) ends, resulting in a decisive Serbian victory over Austria-Hungary.
resources in the area. While British troops were fighting the Ottomans, the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, contributed to the Allied war effort by sending forces to attack Ottoman troops at Umm Qasr, Safwan, Bubiyan, and Basra. In exchange the British government recognized Kuwait as an "independent government under British protection." Intermittent fighting continued for 4 years, 1 week and 1 day ending with the partitioning of Ottoman power in the region and the creation of various new independent states.
March 11, 1917: WWI - Mesopotamian Campaign: The British entered Baghdad where they were greeted as liberators. Subsequently, Baghdad was to serve at the main base, command station and logistics node for further British advances in Mesopotamia. After taking Bagdad British commanders hold their northward advance due to overextension of supply lines. Ottoman troops withdraw to Mosul in Northern Mesopotamia.
February, 1918: The British resumed their offensive in late February 1918 capturing Hīt and Khan al Baghdadi in March, and Kifri in April. For the rest of the 1918, the British had to move troops to the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in support of the Battle of Megiddo. General Marshall moved some of the forces east in support of General Lionel Dunsterville's operations in Persia during the summer of 1918. His very powerful army was "astonishingly inactive, not only in the hot season but through most of the cold". As some observed; "The fight in Mesopotamia was not wanted anymore".
October 30, 1918: After negotiations had started at the beginning of the month, the Armistice of Mudros (Turkish: Mondros Mütarekesi) was signed and both parties (British and Ottoman Turks) accepted their current positions formally bringing and end to Ottoman participation in World War I. General Marshall accepted the surrender of Khalil Pasha and the Ottoman 6th Army on the same day, but Cobbe did not hold his current position as the armistice required, and continued to advance on Mosul in the face of Turkish protests. British troops marched unopposed into the city on the 14 November 1918. The ownership of Mosul Province and its rich oil fields became an international issue. The war in Mesopotamia was over on 14 November 1918. It was 15 days after the Armistice and one day after the occupation of Constantinople. According to the treaty of Mudros, independence is granted to the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.
November 13, 1918: Occupation of Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul'un İşgali)(November 13, 1918 - October 4, 1923). The occupation of the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by British, French and Italian forces, took place in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros, which ended Ottoman participation in the First World War. The first French troops entered the city on November 12, 1918, followed by British troops the next day. The Italian troops landed in Galata on February 7, 1919. 1918 saw the first time the city had changed hands since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Along with the Occupation of Smyrna it mobilized the establishment of the Turkish National Movement and the Turkish War of Independence.
January 28, 1915: WWI - Opening of the Sinai and Palestinian Campaign (January 28, 1915 - October 30, 1918) in the Middle Eastern Theatre. The Campaign was fought by the Arab Revolt and the British Empire, against the Ottoman Empire and its Imperial German allies. It started with an Ottoman attempt at raiding the Suez Canal in 1915, and ended with the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, leading to the cession of Ottoman Syria and Palestine. Fighting began in January 1915, when a German-led Ottoman force invaded the Sinai Peninsula, then part of the British Protectorate of Egypt, to unsuccessfully raid the Suez Canal. From 26 January to 4 February 1915 the Suez Canal was attacked by a large force of the Ottoman Army.
June 10, 1916: WWI - Arab Revolt: In early June 1916, the Sharifian Army of Sherif Hussein, Amir of Mecca, launched attacks on the Ottoman garrisons in Mecca and Jeddah in the south western Arabian Peninsula. Jedda fell quickly allowing the Royal Navy to use the port. Fighting in Mecca lasted three weeks. A large Ottoman garrison held out at Taif until late September when they capitulated, while Sherif Hussein's third son Feisal attacked the Ottoman garrison at Medina. The British were keen to extend the Arab Revolt by destabilizing sections of the Ottoman Empire through which the Hejaz Railway ran north – south, from Istanbul to Damascus and on to Amman, Maan, Medina and to Mecca. The railway, built with German assistance to carry pilgrims, was not only important for Ottoman communications but contained solidly-built stone station buildings which could form defensive positions. With the balance of power in northern Sinai moving in favour of the British, the Sherif was encouraged to seek support for his revolt from as far north as Baalbek, north of Damascus. In London, the War Office, hoping to foment unrest throughout the Ottoman Arab territories, encouraged Murray's plan to advance to El Arish. Although the declared intention of the Arabs in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire is to create a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo to Aden, and this is formally declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, the Arabs have factually already been betrayed in the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement which clearly excludes any such options.
January 13, 1916: WWI – Battle of Wadi: Ottoman Empire forces defeat the Allied British, during the Mesopotamian campaign in modern-day Iraq.
January 13, 1916: The temporary Emperor of China (Hongxian Emperor (Chinese: 洪憲皇帝)), Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne, and the Republic of China is restored once again. On june 6, Yuan Shikai dies a disappointed and generally loathed man.
April 29, 1916: WWI - Mesopotamian campaign: The 4 month long Siege of Kut (December 7, 1915 - April 29, 1916) ends with the surrender of British forces to the Ottoman Empire, at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris in Basra Vilayet. Although the British experience the defeat as a major military humiliation, the Ottoman Victory does not stall the general British advance northward.
May 16, 1916: Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of WWI and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, into French and British spheres of influence. The British and French partitioned the eastern part of the Middle East, also called Greater Syria, between them in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Other secret agreements were concluded with Italy and Russia.
November 2, 1917: Balfour Declaration. In a public statement issued by the British government during World War I announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. It read: "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country". The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917. The opening words of the declaration represented the first public expression of support for Zionism by a major political power. The term "national home" had no precedent in international law, and was intentionally vague as to whether a Jewish state was contemplated.
April 11, 1916: WWI: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.
July 2, 1916: WWI: Battle of Erzincan (Russian: Эрзинджанское сражение, Turkish: Erzincan Muharebesi) - Russian forces defeat troops of the Ottoman Empire in Armenia. In February 1916, Nikolai Yudenich had taken the cities of Erzurum and Trabzon. Trabzon had provided the Russians with a port to receive reinforcements in the Caucasus. Enver Pasha ordered the Third Army, now under Vehip Pasha, to retake Trabzon. Vehip's attack failed and General Yudenich counterattacked on July 2. The Russian attack hit the Turkish communications center of Erzincan forcing Vehip's troops to retreat as well as losing 34,000 men, half taken as POWs. As a result, the Ottoman Third Army was rendered ineffective for the rest of the year. Despite the strategic advantages gained from this victory, Yudenich made no more significant advances and his forces were reduced due to Russian reverses further north.
August 3-5, 1916: WWI: Sinai and Palestine Campaign - Battle of Romani (on the Sinai Peninsula): British Imperial troops secure victory over a joint Ottoman-German force.
August 17, 1916: WWI: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed secretly between Romania and the Entente Powers, stipulating the conditions under which Romania agrees to join the war on their side, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary. On August 27, Romania declares war on Germany, Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria (Central Powers). A day later Germany declares war on Romania and Italy on Germany.
November 21, 1916: WWI: Hospital ship HMHS Britannic, designed as the third Olympic-class ocean liner for White Star Line, sinks in the Kea Channel of the Aegean Sea after hitting a mine; 30 lives are lost. At 48,158 gross register tons, she is the largest ship lost during the war.
December 21, 1916: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: El Arish occupied by the British Empire Desert Column during advance across the Sinai Peninsula. Two days later, on December 23, The Desert Column captures the Ottoman garrison during the Battle of Magdhaba.
December, 1914: Start of the Persian Campaign or Invasion of Persia also known as Invasion of Iran (Persian: اشغال ایران در جنگ جهانی اول).(December 1914 - October 30, 1918). Although Persia was formally neutral in World War I it nevertheless became embroiled in the rivalries between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. With Persia already divided into spheres of influence due to the 1907 Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907 (which put a hold on the so called Great Game in Asia), competition once more flared during WWI. Along the lines specified in the 1907 Anglo-Russian Treaty, even before the "Great War" Russia had established military forces in northern Persia, specifically at Tabriz (Azerbaijani: Təbriz ; Persian: تبریز ) in Persian Azerbaijan. Russian forces included the 100 thousand strong Russian Caucasus Army (Russian: Кавказскaя армия) formed in 1914 and the Persian Cossack Brigade (Persian: بریگاد قزاق, translit. Berīgād-e qazzāq)(Or Iranian Cossack Brigade) formed in 1879 and led by Russian Officers employed by the Russian Army (until 1917). In opposition to the Russian Forces and the British the Ottoman Empire had its strategic interest in preventing its opponents from drawing upon the strategic (oil) resources of Persia, notably around the Caspian Sea. In addition British interests in the southern sphere of influence were contested. In 1914, Enver Pasha ordered Lt. Col. Kâzım Bey, commander of the 1st Expeditionary Force (11 December) and Lt. Col. Halil Bey, commander of the 5th Expeditionary Force (25 December): "Your duty is to move with your division towards Persia and proceed through Tabriz to Dagestan, where you will ignite a general rebellion and repulse the Russians from the shores of the Caspian Sea. "The German operations were carried out by Wilhelm Wassmuss and Count Kaunitz. Wassmuss, known as the German Lawrence, was a German consular official in Persia who loved the desert, and wore the flowing robes of a desert tribesman. He persuaded his superiors in Constantinople that he could lead Persian tribes in a revolt against Britain. The military engagements of the Persian Campaign took place in 1915 and 1916 in northern Persian Azerbaijan, comprising the current day provinces of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, and Ardabil. Following World War I Persia found itself devastated and divided as various regions of the country had broken away.
January 9, 1916: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's Desert Column. On February 13, WWI - Raid on Nekhl: Units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force completely reoccupy the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
March 26, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: First Battle of Gaza: British Egyptian Expeditionary Force troops virtually encircle the Gaza garrison, but are then ordered to withdraw sighting the strong resistance and approaching Ottoman reinforcements from the North and East, leaving the city to the Ottoman defenders.
April 17, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) begins the Second Battle of Gaza. This unsuccessful frontal attack on strong Ottoman defences along with the first battle, results in 10,000 casualties, the dismissal of force commander General Archibald Murray, and the beginning of the Stalemate in Southern Palestine. In the aftermath of the 2nd Battle of Gaza the two hostile forces faced each other along the Gaza to Beersheba line during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, with neither side able to force its opponent to withdraw. The stalemate began in April 1917 with the defeat of the EEF by the Ottoman Army at the Second Battle of Gaza and lasted until the EEF offensive began with the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917 .
April 26, 1917: WWI: The Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, between France, Italy and the United Kingdom, to settle interests in the Middle East, is signed (endorsed August 18 - September 26, 1917). The agreement stated that if the Ottoman Empire was partitioned, Italy should receive a "just share" in the Antalya district. The borders of this occupation were to be decided at a later time. Russia was not represented in this agreement as the Tsarist regime was in a state of collapse (Russian Revolution of 1917).
May 23, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: During the Stalemate in Southern Palestine the Raid on the Beersheba to Hafir el Auja railway, by the British Desert Column, large sections of the railway line linking Beersheba to the main Ottoman desert base are destroyed.
July 6, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: In the Battle of Aqaba: Arabian troops, led by T. E. Lawrence and Arab forces of Auda abu Tayi and Sherif Nasir, capture Aqaba (Arabic: العقبة), a coastal city on the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea)(in current day Jordan) from the Ottoman Empire. This puts Arab Rebels in control of part of the Hejaz railway (Built in 1908), connecting Aqaba to Damascus (current day Capital of Syria) and Medina (in current day Al-Madinah Region of Saudi Arabia).
July 8-13, 1917: WWI - Mesopotamian Campaign: Have driven the Ottoman armies out of Fallujah in March, First Battle of Ramadi (current day Iraq) occurs: British troops fail to take Ramadi from the Ottoman Empire; a majority of British casualties are due to extreme heat.
September 28-29, 1917: WWI - Second Battle of Ramadi: British troops battle a reinforced 3500 men strong ottoman Turkish garrison and take Ramadi from the Ottoman Empire. Within days the British continue their advance to assault Hīt, the next major Turkish-held town on the Euphrates.
October 27, 1917: WWI - Battle of Buqqar Ridge: Ottoman forces attack British Desert Mounted Corps units garrisoning El-Buqqar Ridge, in southern Palestine (Negev Desert) during the last days of the Stalemate in Southern Palestine.
October 31, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Beersheba: The British XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps (Egyptian Expeditionary Force) consisting of Australian, New Zealand and British soldiers attack and capture Beersheba (Hebrew: בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע Be'er Sheva ; Arabic: بئر السبع Bir Seb'a), the settlement established by Ottoman Turks in the Negev Desert, from Ottoman forces. The British victory breaks the Turkish defensive line from Gaza to Beersheba ending the stalemate in Southern Palestine. The battle includes a rare (by this date) mounted charge, by Australian mounted infantry. Immediately after the battle, the British repaired the Ottoman military railway (inaugurated October 30, 1915) between Rafah and Beersheba. The new British (public) railway then opened to the public in May 1918, serving the Negev and settlements south of Mount Hebron.
October 30, 1915: In WWI - As a means of upgrading the defences of the Palestine (Region) against British advances northward out of the Sinai desert, the Ottomans built a military railroad from the Hejaz line to Beersheba, inaugurating the station on October 30, 1915 . After his assault on the British garrison along the canal in January–February, 1915, Jamal Pasha enlisted the help of the German engineer Heinrich August Meissner, who also planned the Hejaz Railway, to help him find a more efficient method of logistics. Meissner started constructing a railway to the south of the Palestine region, with the Wadi Surar (Nahal Sorek) station serving as the starting point. Two railways were originally built: one to Beit Hanoun, and the other to Beersheba. The two lines were collectively called the 'Egyptian Branch'. Although Meissner managed to continue the line from Beersheba further south to Kusseima in the Sinai Peninsula, the rest of the Egyptian Branch line was never completed due to the British advance in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
November, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The British XXI Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the Third Battle of Gaza. Meanwhile The British Desert Mounted Corps begins the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, in the direction of Hebron and Jerusalem.
November 2, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestina Campaign: Following the outflanking manoeuvre which captured Beersheba and the subsequent British victory in the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, the Battle of Hareira and Sheria at the center of the Gaza to Beersheba defensive line is launched by the British XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps, against the central Ottoman defences protecting the Gaza to Beersheba Road.
November 7, 1917: WWI - The October Revolution erupts in Russia: The workers of the Petrograd Soviet in Russia, led by the Bolshevik Party and leader Vladimir Lenin, storm the Winter Palace and successfully destroy the Kerensky Provisional Government after less than eight months of rule. This immediately triggers the Russian Civil War. Iran (which has provided weapons for Russia) refuses to support the Allied Forces after the October Revolution.
November 7, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Third Battle of Gaza: The British Army XXI Corps occupies Gaza, after the Ottoman garrison withdraws. On the same day The Battle of Hareira and Sheria ends, when the XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps capture Hareira and Sheria, marking the end of the Ottoman Gaza to Beersheba line. Having broken through Ottoman lines, the British troops pursue the Ottomans northward towards Jerusalem.
November 13, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Mughar Ridge: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) attacks retreating Yildirim Army Group forces, resulting in the capture of 10,000 Ottoman prisoners, 100 guns and 50 miles (80 km) of Palestine territory. The ANZAC Mounted Division (Desert Mounted Corps) successfully fights the Battle of Ayun Kara, in the aftermath of the Battle of Mughar Ridge against strong German rearguards.
November 14-16, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Ayun Kara: The ANZAC Mounted Division does battle with an Ottoman rearguard unit of comparable size and achieves victory. They then occupy Jaffa (Hebrew: יפו, Yāfō ; Arabic: يَافَا Yaffa, also called Japho or Joppa)(in current day Israel).
November 17, 1917: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Start of the Battle for Jerusalem. Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) launch attacks against Ottoman forces in the Judean Hills (Hebrew: הרי יהודה Harei Yehuda, Arabic: جبال الخليل Jibal Al Khalil). On December 9, the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force accepts the surrender of Jerusalem by the mayor, Hussein al-Husayni, following the effective defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Yildirim Army GroupThe military operations last until 30 December 1917, when the final objective of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign is secured.
November 20, 1917: Ukraine is declared a Republic.
November 23, 1917: In Russia, the Bolsheviks release the full text of the previously secret Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916 in Izvestia and Pravda; it is printed in the Manchester Guardian on November 26.
January 22, 1918: The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
February 19, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Capture of Jericho by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the British occupation of the Jordan Valley, extending the British Lines eastward and opening up positions in order to advance on Amman (current day Capital of Jordan) and Damascus (current day Capital of Syria). The Battles raged until September at which time gains further territories had been consolidated by the British troops. The occupation ended in September with the Battle of Megiddo (in Turkish known as the Nablus Hezimeti ("Rout of Nablus"), or the Nablus Yarması ("Breakthrough at Nablus")) which consisted of the Battle of Sharon and the Battle of Nablus. The Third Transjordan attack and Second Battle of Amman were fought as part of the Battle of Nablus.
March 3, 1918: WWI: The Central Powers and Bolshevist Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war.
March 8-12, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Following the opening of the Jordan Valley offensive (battle), the Battle of Tell 'Asur (also known as the Battle of Turmus 'Aya) is launched by units of the British Army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force against Ottoman defences from the Mediterranean Sea, across the Judaean Mountains to the edge of the Jordan Valley; it ends on March 12, with the move of much of the front line north into Ottoman territory.
March 8-12, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Successes in the Jordan Valley offensive (battle) allow for the First Transjordan attack on Amman by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF). It begins with the passage of the Jordan River.
March 27, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The First Battle of Amman is launched by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, during the First Transjordan attack on Amman ( 27 to 31 March ); The British forces are successfully counterattacked by Ottoman forces and the Transjordan attack ends with their withdrawal on 31 March, back to the Jordan Valley.
March 30, 1918: March Days (30 March - 2 April 1918): Bolshevik and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (classical Armenian: Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ)(also Dashnak, from Dashnaktsutyun) forces suppress a Muslim revolt in the strategic oil city of Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı) on the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, resulting in up to 30,000 deaths (Azerbaijan officially refers to the March Days as soyqırım ('genocide'). In the aftermath of the March Days, the Bolsheviks and confederates declared the Baku Commune, a
Youtube Video: The hush hush army - the adventures od "Dunster Force" Part 2 (The Great War Special).
short-lived political entity which lasted from 13 April to 25 July, 1918. Although hard pressed and among things short of food, the Baku Commune achieved the Nationalisation of the local oil Industry and -under threat from the Ottoman Army of Islam (headquartered at Ganja Harbor) also invited the British forces in Persia to help defend the city of Baku against an expected Ottoman attack (although the Bolshevik faction was strongly opposed to this idea). Some 2 month after the massacre, on 28 May 1918, (with support of the Ottoman Army of Islam) the Azerbaijani faction of the Transcaucasian Sejm proclaimed the independence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) in Ganja, thereby becoming the first Muslim-majority democratic and secular republic. The newly independent Azerbaijani republic, being unable to defend the independence of the country on their own, asked the Ottoman Empire for military support in accordance with clause 4 of the treaty between the two countries. Meanwhile, on July 26, the Bolshevik led Baku
Commune was forced out of power and replaced by the anti-Soviet Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, also called Central-Caspian Dictatorship (Russian: Диктатура Центрокаспия, Diktatura Tsentrokaspiya)(Azerbaijani: Sentrokaspi Diktaturası). Shortly after, Azerbaijani forces, with support of the Ottoman Army of Islam led by Nuru Pasha, started their advance onto Baku, eventually capturing the city from the loose coalition of Bolsheviks, Esers, Dashnaks, Mensheviks and British forces under the command of General Lionel Dunsterville on 15 September 1918. In turn, after the fall of Baku to Ottoman and Azeri forces, the Azerbaijani irregular troops, with the tacit support of the Turkish command, conducted four days of pillaging and killing of 10 to 30,000 of the Armenian residents of Baku. This pogrom was known as the September Days. Shortly after this Baku was proclaimed the new capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
April 22, 1918: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia declare their independence from Russia as the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.
April 30, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt, launched by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, ends on 4 May, with their withdrawal back to the Jordan Valley.
April 30, 1918: WWI - Mesopotamia Campaign: The British capture Kirkuk (in current day Iraq).
May 11, 1918: The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC; also known as the Mountain Republic or the Republic of the Mountaineers; Russian: Республика Союза Горцев Северного Кавказа, tr. Respublika Soyuza Gortsev Severnogo Kavkaza)(1917 - 1920) is officially established. (MRNC included most of the territory of the former Terek Oblast and Dagestan Oblast of the Russian Empire, which now form the republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia–Alania, Abkhazia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan and part of Stavropol Krai of the Russian Federation. The total land area was about 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi), with a population of about 6.5 million.)
May 28, 1918: Armenia and Azerbaijan declare their independence as the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic respectively.
1908 AD: After the initial start of construction in the year 1900 and the 1913 opening of the Hejaz Railway Station in central Damascus as the starting point of the line, the Ottoman developed Hejaz (or Hedjaz or Hijaz) railway (Turkish: Hicaz Demiryol) was opened for service, completing a railway connection between Haydarpaşa Terminal in Kadikoy District of Istanbul (Today: Turkey) and Medina in the Hejaz Region of current day Saudi Arabia. The complete length of the new railway connection from Damascus through Southern Syria, Transjordania (Today: Jordan), and northern Arabia (Today: Saudi Arabia) was 1,320 km (820 miles). However, subsequent construction of the railway was hampered by Arab Raids (Emir Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca viewed the railway as a threat to Arab suzerainty, since it provided the Ottomans with easy access to their garrisons in Hejaz, Asir, and Yemen) and the outbreak of World War I, leading to the railway falling short of its original intentions to reach Mecca. The Hejaz railway had a branch line, the Haifa–Dera'a Line, which connected to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea and was inaugurated on October 15, 1905. The entire Hejaz railway, including the Haifa branch line, was a 1,050 mm (3 ft 5 11⁄32 in) narrow gauge line. Although the railway line was unofficially closed in 1920, parts of it survive as the Amman to Damascus railway line (Hedjaz Jordan Railway and the Chemin de Fer de Hedjaz Syrie (English: Syrian Hedjaz Railway)), and another was rebuilt in standard gauge as part of the railway grid in Israel (current Jezreel Valley railway, or the Valley Train (Hebrew: רַכֶּבֶת הָעֵמֶק, Rakevet HaEmek ; Arabic: خط سكك حديد مرج بن عامر)).
May 29, 1918: WWI: The week-long Battle of Sardarabad (Armenian: Սարդարապատի ճակատամարտ, Sardarapati č̣akatamart; Turkish: Serdarabad Muharebesi)(May 22-29) concludes. With much of western Armenia already fallen under their occupation after the Russian retreat from the Caucasus and following Ottoman offensives in the early months of 1918, Ottoman forces had invaded Eastern Armenia on May 22. The battle of Sardarabad ensued at only 40 kilometers from the Armenian Capital of Yerevan, with as ultimate result a victory of defending Armenian regular forces and militia over the Ottomans. With their victory over the Ottomans the Armenian Nation is saved from complete destruction.
May 29-30, 1918: WWI: Battle of Skra di Legen - The Greek National Defence Army Corps defeats the Bulgarians, taking control of the heavily fortified Skra position north-west of Thessaloniki and driving out the Bulgarian Army. The battle was the first large-scale employment of Greek troops of the newly established Army of National Defence on the front.
June through August, 1918: While WWI is still raging in Europe the pandemic of the "Spanish Flu" is starting to spread. Over 30 million people die in the following 6 months. The pandemic will become known as the 1918 influenza pandemic (January 1918 - 1920) or First influenza pandemic. In total some 500 million people around the world, including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic are infected, and in 2 years the global pandemic resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million people (three to five percent of the world's population), making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.
June 10, 1918: WWI: The Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship SMS Szent István is sunk by two Italian MAS motor torpedo boats, off the Dalmatian coast.
June 16, 1918: The Declaration to the Seven, a British government response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven Syrian notables who were members of the newly formed Party of Syrian Unity ( established in Cairo) , is published . In response to the Syrian memorandums request for a "guarantee of the ultimate independence of Arabia". The British Government Declaration stated the British policy that the future government of the regions of the Ottoman Empire occupied by Allies of World War I "should be based upon the principle of the consent of the governed". The Declaration to the Seven is notable as the first British pronouncement to the Arabs advancing the principle of national self-determination.
July 4, 1918: Mehmed VI (Ottoman Turkish: محمد السادس Meḥmed-i sâdis, وحيد الدين Vahideddin, Turkish: Vahideddin or Altıncı Mehmet) succeeds as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire on the death of his half-brother Mehmed V (Reşâd, who has reigned since 1909). He reigned from 1918 to November 1, 1922 when the Sultanate was abolished and the Ottoman Empire ended.
April 23, 1920: A new government, the Turkish Grand National Assembly, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) was formed in Ankara (then known as Angora). The new government denounced the rule of Sultan Mehmed VI and the command of Süleyman Şefik Pasha, who was in charge of the army commissioned to fight for the empire against the Turkish National Movement (the Kuvâ-i İnzibâtiyye); as a result, a temporary constitution was drafted.
November 1, 1922: The Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolished the Ottoman Sultanate (Ottoman Empire) after 600 years of existence, and Sultan Mehmed VI was expelled from Constantinople (Istanbul). Leaving aboard the British warship Malaya on 17 November, he went into exile in Malta; Mehmed later lived on the Italian Riviera. On 19 November 1922, Mehmed's first cousin and heir Abdulmejid Efendi was elected Caliph, becoming the new head of the Imperial House of Osman as Abdulmejid II (before the Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1924).
September, 1918: WWI: British armies and their Arab allies enter into Syria.
September 14, 1918: WWI: The Balkan front offensive by the Serbian Army begins.
September 15-18, 1918: WWI: Battle of Dobro Pole ((Serbian: Битка код Доброг Поља, Bitka Kod Dobrog Polja, Greek: Μάχη του Ντόμπρο Πόλε, Máchi tou Dómbro Póle), also known as the Breakthrough at Dobro Pole (Bulgarian: Пробив при Добро Поле, Probiv Pri Dobro Pole)) as the initial stage of the Vardar Offensive (Bulgarian: Офанзива при Вардар)(September 15 to 29, 1918) of the Balkans Campaign: The Allied Army of the Orient consisting of Serbian, French and Greek troops defeats Bulgarian defenders.
September 19, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The British Army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force launches the Battle of Megiddo ((Turkish: Megiddo Muharebesi) also known in Turkish as the Nablus Hezimeti ("Rout of Nablus"), or the Nablus Yarması ("Breakthrough at Nablus")), incorporating the Battle of Sharon, and the Battle of Nablus, an attack in the Judaean Mountains. This day are fought the Battle of Tulkarm, and the Battle of Arara, which break the Ottoman front line stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the Judaean Mountains, while the Battle of Tabsor extends into September 20. On the same day, the Third Transjordan attack in the Jordan Valley begins.
September 20, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The British Army's Desert Mounted Corps launches the Battle of Nazareth by 5th Cavalry Division (British Indian Army); leading to the capture of Afulah and Beisan by the 4th Cavalry Division (British Indian Army); the capture of Jenin by the Australian Mounted Division, almost encircling the Yildirim Army Group still in the Judaean Mountains.
September 25, 1918: WWI - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Battle of Megiddo ends with the Battle of Haifa, Battle of Samakh, and Capture of Tiberias. The Third Transjordan attack ends with ANZAC Mounted Division victory at the Second Battle of Amman, with the subsequent capture at Ziza of the Ottoman II Corps, and more than 10,000 Ottoman and German prisoners.
September 26, 1918: WWI: Following the success of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, British and Allied Forces attack into Syria starting the Capture of Damascus with the Charge at Irbid by the 4th Cavalry Division. On the second day, September 27, the Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub is launched by the Australian Mounted Division, which continues the advance towards Damascus . On September 30, t he Charge at Kaukab is begun by units of the Australian Mounted Division.while the Charge at Kiswe is begun by 4th Cavalry Division, continuing the Desert Mounted Corps' advance to Damascus. The Capture of Damascus occurred on 1 October 1918.
September 29, 1918: WWI: Bulgaria requests an armistice.
October 2, 1918: WWI - Syrian Campaign: Encountering numerous Ottoman army rearguards on the road to Homs ((Arabic: حمص), previously known as Emesa or Emisa (Greek: Ἔμεσα Emesa)), the Charge at Khan Ayash is begun north of Damascus, by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade.
October 3, 1918: King (Tsar) Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Фердинанд I)(Reign: October 5, 1908 - October 3, 1918) abdicates in the wake of the Bulgarian military collapse in WWI. He is succeeded by his son Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier), who will rule as Tsar Boris III (Bulgarian: Борѝс III)(Reign: October 3, 1918 - August 28, 1943).
October 3, 1918: The Pursuit to Haritan by the Desert Mounted Corps begins (October 3 - 27). The XXI Corps and Desert Mounted Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) pursued the retreating remnants of the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group advanced north from Damascus after that city was captured on 1 October, opening the final stages of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. On October 25 Prince Feisal's (Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi)(Arabic: فيصل بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, Fayṣal al-Awwal ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī al-Hāshimī)(who had been King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria or Greater Syria in 1920, and was King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 to 1933) Sheifial Forces supported by the British forces capture Aleppo. On October 26, Units of the Desert Mounted Corps battle with Ottoman forces for the last time in WWI. On 27 October the Australian Mounted Division was ordered to advance to Aleppo. They had reached Homs, when the Armistice of Mudros (Turkish: Mondros Mütarekesi) was announced, ending the war in the Sinai and Palestine theatre of the First World War.
November 1, 1918: Serbian forces recapture Belgrade.
November 11, 1918: End of WWI - Armistice with Germany (Compiègne): Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies, between 5:12 AM and 5:20 AM, in Marshal Foch's railroad car in Compiègne Forest in France. It becomes official on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
November 23, 1918: British military government of Palestine begins (The British were formally awarded the mandate to govern the region in 1922 creating "Mandatory Palestine").
November 26, 1918: The Podgorica Assembly (current day Montenegro) votes for a "union of the people", declaring its union with the Kingdom of Serbia. On November 29, Serbia annexes Montenegro.
December 1, 1918: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later becomes the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
December 31, 1918: A British-brokered ceasefire ends the two weeks of fighting in the Georgian-Armenian War in the Caucasus Region. The border was was fought between the newly-independent Democratic Republic of Georgia and the First Republic of Armenia, largely over the control of former districts of Tiflis Governorate, in Borchaly (Lori) and Akhalkalaki.
February 10, 1918: Death of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی, `Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî; Turkish: İkinci Abdülhamit)(Life: September 21, 1842 - February 10, 1918) of the Ottoman Empire. Outside his own realm Abdul Hamid was nicknamed the Red Sultan or Abdul the Damned due to the massacres committed against minorities during his rule and use of secret police to silence dissent and republicanism. He was married no less than 13th times. He was succeeded by Sultan Mehmed V (Ottoman Turkish: محمد خامس Meḥmed-i ẖâmis, Turkish: Beşinci Mehmet Reşat or Reşat Mehmet)(Life: November 2, 1844 - July 3, 1918), the son of Sultan Abdulmejid I (Reign: July 2, 1839 - June 25, 1861).
June 26, 1918: Kyrion II of Georgia (Georgian: კირიონ II)(Life: November 10, 1855 - June 26, 1918 ) , first Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the foremost Georgian Orthodox religious leader, and later declared saint (2002) is assassinated. Kyrion's death remains a mystery to this day. He was found murdered at his residence at Martqopi Monastery early on June 27, 1918. He was buried at the Sioni Cathedral of the Dormition (Georgian: სიონის ღვთისმშობლის მიძინების ტაძარი) in Tbilisi. The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church canonized him on October 17, 2002.
January 2-22, 1919: Russian Civil War: In the Caucasus: Following the capture of the entire Northern Caucasus Region by the white Russian armies, the Red Army's Caspian-Caucasian Front begins the Northern Caucasus Operation against the White Army, but fails to make progress. The 11th Red Army was defeated forcing the 12th Red Army to retreat to Astrakhan. On February 4, 1919, the Stavropol Front was created to defend Astrakhan. In February 1919, the troops of the Front managed to secure Astrakhan and the mouth of the Volga and to prevent the union of Denikin's troops with the Ural white Cossacks. In March, the Caucasian-Caspian Front of the Red Army was disbanded, and the 11th and 12th Armies were consolidated into one, the 11th Army (second formation).
January 3, 1919: The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal (representing the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz) and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann (Hebrew: חיים עזריאל ויצמן Hayyim Azri'el Vaytsman, Russian: Хаим Вейцман Khaim Veytsman)(Life: 27 November 27, 1874 - November 9, 1952), for Arab-Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
January 11, 1919: Romania annexes Transylvania. On the same day the Georgian genocide occurs in Alagir (Russian: Алаги́р; Ossetian: Алагир)(Today the administrative center of Alagirsky District in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia) in the Northern Caucasus. Survivors flee through the mountainous passes southward into Georgia..
February 3, 1919: Red Army troops occupy all of the Ukraine except the Capital Kiev (or Kyiv (Ukrainian: Київ, translit. Kyiv ; Russian: Киев, translit. Kiyev ; Old East Slavic: Кыѥвъ, translit. Kyjev)). Soviet troops occupy the city of Kiev after the Battle of Kiev (January 18 - February 5, 1919).
February 28, 1919: Amānullāh Khān (Pashto: امان الله خان) becomes ruler of Afghanistan. He ruled as Emir from 1919 to 1929, then there after as Malik (King)(June 9, 1926 - January 14, 1929). His rule was marked by dramatic political and social change. He was the first Afghan ruler who attempted to modernize Afghanistan on Western designs. Amanullah created new cosmopolitan schools for both boys and girls in the region and overturned centuries-old traditions such as strict dress codes for women. He increased trade with Europe and Asia. He also advanced a modernist constitution that incorporated equal rights and individual freedoms with the guidance of his father-in-law and Foreign Minister Mahmud Beg Tarzi (Pashto: محمود طرزۍ, Dari: محمود بیگ طرزی)(Life: August 23, 1865 - November 22, 1933). His wife, Syrian born Queen Soraya Tarzi (Pashto/Dari: ملکه ثريا)(Life: (November 24, 1899 - April 20, 1968) played a huge role in regard to his policy towards women. This rapid modernisation created a backlash and a reactionary uprising known as the Khost rebellion which was suppressed in 1925. The modern policies devised by Amānullāh Khān did not succeed in this because of a popular uprising by Habibullah Kalakani and his followers.
March 4, 1919: The Communist International (Comintern) is founded.
May 4, 1919: The May Fourth Movement, which opposes foreign colonizers in China, erupts. Students march in protest in Beijing, and are dispersed by police. The movement quickly spreads across the Chinese Nation becoming known as "New Cultural Movement".
May 6, 1919: Following strong criticism with which Amānullāh Khān the Emir of Afghanistan attacks the British government in India, the Third Anglo-Afghan War (Pashto: د افغان-انګرېز درېمه جګړه)(May 6 - August 8, 1919) begins. The Emirate of Afghanistan invaded British India on March 3 when Afghan troops crossed the frontier at the western end of the Khyber Pass and captured the town of Bagh , War was declared by the British on May 6 and the ensuing war ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. The war resulted in the Afghans winning back control of foreign affairs from Britain, and the British recognising Afghanistan as independent. In return the Afghans recognised the Durand Line as the political boundary between Afghanistan and the British Raj.
May 16, 1919: Greco-Turkish War (May 1919 - October 1922): The Hellenic Army (Greek: Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ)(Greek Armed Forces land army) lands at Smyrna (Today: Izmir, Izmir Province, Aegean Region, Turkey), on ships of the British Royal Navy, opening the the Asia Minor Campaign (Greek: Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe (Greek: Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή) as it is called in Greece. From Izmir Greek troops advanced inland and (in time) took control of the western and northwestern part of Anatolia, including the cities of Manisa, Balıkesir, Aydın, Kütahya, Bursa and Eskişehir.
May 19, 1919: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Life: May 19, 1881 (conventional) - November 10, 1938) lands at Samsun (Pontic Greek: Σαμψούντα, Ottoman Turkish: صامسون)(Today: Samsun, Samsun Province, Black Sea Coast Region, Turkey) on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence (Turkish: Kurtuluş Savaşı "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as İstiklâl Harbi "Independence War" or Millî Mücadele "National Campaign")(May 19, 1919 - July 24, 1923).
May 19, 1919: Third Anglo-Afghan War (Pashto: د افغان-انګرېز درېمه جګړه) - Siege of Spin Boldak (Pashtun / Persian: سپین بولدک ; English: White desert)(Today: Spin Boldak, Spin Boldak District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan): This is the last time the British Army uses an escalade.
June 7, 1919: Sette Giugno (from Italian for "Seventh of June") on Malta: Following earlier riots and unrest on the island, and the set date of a June 7 National Assembly meeting, British troops fire on a mob protesting against the colonial government, killing four. To Date the 7th of June is a National Holiday on Malta island, commemorating the riots and deadly events of that day in 1919.
June 28, 1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed, formally ending World War I. John Maynard Keynes, who had been present at the conference and was unhappy with the terms of the treaty, brings out his own analysis later in the year, entitled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
July 2, 1919: The Syrian National Congress (also called the Pan-Syrian Congress ) in Damascus: The mission of the Congress headed by headed by Syrian Nationalist Hashim al-Atassi (Arabic: هاشم الأتاسي, Turkish: Haşim el Atasi)(Life: January 11, 1875 - December 5, 1960) was to consider the future of "Syria", by which was meant Greater Syria: present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Arab nationalists the Congress take the opportunity to announce the independence of Great Syria as the independent Arab Kingdom of Syria (which is officially established by the Congress less than a year later on March 8, 1920. The new state however ended July 17, 1920 ) with the inclusion of current day Lebanon, Israel and Palestine and King Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi (Arabic: فيصل بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, Fayṣal al-Awwal ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī al-Hāshimī) as head of State .
July 19, 1919: The Foreign Ministry of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic ((ADR; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Demokratik Respublikası), also known as Azerbaijan People's Republic (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti) or Caucasus Azerbaijan)(1918 - 1920) is established, by decree of the chancellory for foreign affairs. ADR government remained neutral on the issue of the Russian Civil War and never sided with the Red or White Army and, during its brief existence, had friendly relations with various world nations such as the Ottoman Empire (until its final demise in 1924), Persia, Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine.
August 8, 1919: The Treaty of Rawalpindi ends the Third Anglo-Afghan War. On August 19, Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom (British Empire). Further the parties agreed agreed that British India would not extend past the Khyber Pass and stopped British subsidies to Afghanistan.
November 30, 1919: Health officials declare the global "Spanish" flu pandemic has ceased. Infections would however remain, occurring around the world well into the year 1920.
December 5, 1919: The Turkish Ministry of War releases Greeks, Armenians and Jews from military service .
February 3, 1919: Death of Habibullah Khan (Life: (June 3, 1872 - February 20, 1919)(Reign: October 1, 1901 – February 20, 1919), Emir of Afghanistan. During his rule Habibullah was a relatively reform-minded ruler who attempted to modernize his country. Throughout his reign he worked to bring modern medicine and other technology to Afghanistan. In 1903, Habibullah founded the Habibia school as well as a military academy. He also worked to put in place progressive reforms in his country. He instituted various legal reforms and repealed many of the harshest criminal penalties. Other reforms included the dismantling of the repressive internal intelligence organization that had been put in place by his father. His last great achievement was the de facto independence of Afghanistan from British overlordship won through the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Habibullah was assassinated by means of a pistol shot through the head while camping out on a hunting trip at Laghman Province (at Kollagosh near Jalalabad). Although officially no perpetrator was ever identified many were accused. (Bolshewik Soviet Russian military intelligence (GRU) attributed his assassination to Mustafa Seghir (or Saghir), an Indian spy, employed by Britain who was hanged in Turkey later ( May 24th 1921) for an alleged plot against the life of Mustafa Attaturk. This is the version later accepted by the Afghan State, although little or no proof has ever appeared) Habibullah's brother Nasrullah Khan briefly succeeded him as Emir and held power for a week between February 21 and February 28, 1919, before being ousted and imprisoned by Amanullah Khan, Habibullah's third son.
January 11, 1920: The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is recognised de facto by European powers in Versailles.
February 2, 1920: Sayyid Muhammad, Khan of Khiva, abdicates.
February 20, 1920: 1920 Gori earthquake: An earthquake hits Gori in the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; Georgian: საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა sak’art’velos demokratiuli respublika)(May 1918 to February 1921), killing 114. to 130 persons The shock had a surface wave magnitude of 6.2 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of IX (Violent). Heavy damage affected the town of Gori and its medieval fortress.
March 7, 1920: The Syrian National Congress proclaims (Greater) Syria (including current day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine) independent, with Faisal I of Iraq as king.
March 15-16, 1920: Constantinople is occupied by British Empire forces, acting for the Allied Powers against the Turkish National Movement. Retrospectively, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey regards this as the dissolution of the Ottoman regime in Istanbul. In the following period Istanbul becomes a hotbed for international spying and plotting.
April 4, 1920: 1920 Palestine riots (also 1920 Nebi Musa riots or 1920 Jerusalem riots)(between Sunday, 4 and Wednesday, 7 April 1920): Violence erupts between Arab and Jewish residents in the in British-controlled part of Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (which would shortly become Mandatory Palestine) including Jerusalem; 9 are killed, 216 injured. The riots coincided with and are named after the Nebi Musa festival, which took place every year on Easter Sunday, and followed rising tensions in Arab-Jewish relations. As a result of the riots, trust between the British, Jews, and Arabs eroded. One consequence was that the Jewish community increased moves towards an autonomous infrastructure and security apparatus parallel to that of the British administration. Notwithstanding the riots, the Palestinian Jewish community held elections for the Assembly of Representatives on 19 April 1920 among Jews everywhere in Palestine except Jerusalem, where they were delayed to 3 May. The riots also preceded the San Remo conference which was held from 19 to 26 April 1920 at which the fate of the Middle East was to be decided.
April 19-26, 1920: San Remo conference: Representatives of Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Japan meet to determine the League of Nations mandates for administration of territories, following the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. Among things the British decided to pursue a policy of associating Transjordan with the mandated area of Palestine without adding it to the area of the Jewish National Home - and the French proclaimed Greater Lebanon and other component states of its Syrian mandate on 31 August 1920. Factual borders were established many years later.
April 28, 1920: After the surrender of the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to local Bolsheviks led by Mirza Davud and Nariman Narimanov and the invasion of the Bolshevik 11th Red Army, the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic ((Azerbaijan SSR; Azerbaijani: Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы / Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist Respublikası, Russian: Азербайджанская Советская Социалистическая Республика [АзССР], translit. Azerbaydzhanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika [AzSSR]), also referred to as Soviet Azerbaijan) is officially created. The first two years of the Azerbaijani SSR were as an (nominally) independent country until incorporation into the Transcausasian SFSR, along with the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR. In December 1922, the Transcaucasian SFSR became part of the newly established Soviet Union.
May 3, 1920: A Bolshevik coup fails, in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. On May 7, in the Treaty of Moscow, Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, only to invade the country six months later.
May 26, 1920: Ganja revolt: Anti-Soviet opposition in the Azerbaijan SSR (Azerbaijan SSR; Azerbaijani: Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы / Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist Respublikası, Russian: Азербайджанская Советская Социалистическая Республика [АзССР], translit. Azerbaydzhanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika [AzSSR]) launches an abortive revolt in Ganja (Azerbaijani: Gəncə)(Previously under the Russian Empire: Elisabethpol).
May 26, 1920: Greco-Turkish War: Greek Summer Offensive: Greece attacks Turkish troops in an attempt to capture the southern region of the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Region from the Kuva-yi Milliye (National Forces) of the provisional Turkish national movement government in Ankara. Resistance by the Turks was limited, as they had few and ill-equipped troops in western Anatolia. They were also busy on the eastern and southern fronts.
July 20, 1920: The United Kingdom cedes its brief control of the key Black Sea port of Batum (Georgian: ბათუმი), to the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
July 24, 1920: Battle of Maysalun (Arabic: معركة ميسلون), also called the Battle of Maysalun Pass or the Battle of Khan Maysalun): The French Army of the Levant defeat the Syrian army, whose leader Yusuf al-'Azma (Arabic: يوسف العظمة, ALA-LC: Yūsuf al-ʿAẓma)(Life: 1883 - July 24, 1920) is killed. French troops occupy Damascus, and depose Faisal I of Syria as king. Subsequently, as the French began to occupy Syria in 1920, an Alawite State (Alawites (Arabic: علوية Alawīyah), are a sect of the Ghulat branch of Shia Islam) was created in the coastal and mountain country comprising most Alawite villages; the French justified this by citing differences between the "backwards" mountain people and the mainstream Sunnis. The division also intended to protect the Alawite people from more-powerful majorities, such as the Sunnis. Furthermore, the French also created microstates, such as Greater Lebanon for the Maronite Christian minority and Jabal al-Druze for the Druze. The cities of Aleppo and Damascus were also created as separate states. Under the Mandate many Alawite chieftains supported a separate Alawite nation, and tried to convert their autonomy into independence.
August 10, 1920: Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres with the Allied Powers, confirming arrangements for the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.
September 12, 1920: The position of Patriarch of the Serbs is re-established as the authority over the Serbian Orthodox Church, almost 156 years to the day after it was abolished by the Ottoman Empire in 1766.
November 20, 1920 AD: The White Army's last units and civilian refugees are evacuated from the Crimea on board 126 ships, the remnants of the Russian Imperial Navy, to Turkey, Tunisia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, accompanied by wide-scale civilian massacres. The total number of evacuees amounts to approximately 150,000 people, of which 20% are civilians.
December 3, 1920 AD: Following more than a month of the Turkish-Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.
December 16, 1920: The 8.6 Richter scale (foreign sources report 7.8) Haiyuan earthquake (Chinese: 海原大地震; pinyin: Hǎiyuán dà dìzhèn) strikes Haiyuan County in the south of (current day) Zhongwei City Prefecture, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China (P.R.C.)(Then part of Gansu Province, China (R.O.C.)). Among things it causes a landslide buried the village of Sujiahe in Xiji County. Nearly all mud built houses were destroyed in Huining and Longde. Damage (VI–X) occurred in seven provinces and regions, including the major cities of Lanzhou, Taiyuan, Xi'an, Xining and Yinchuan. It was felt from the Yellow Sea to Qinghai (Tsinghai) Province and from Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) south to central Sichuan Province. An estimated 180,000 people (P.R.C. historic documents say well over 200 thousand) were killed by the earthquake event. A severe winter killed many who had lived through the original earthquake. The great earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks for three years.
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North China - Beijing-Tianjin, Hebei Province, Shanxi Province, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Mongolia + wider Area Maps (A & B)
See North China with Beijing and Tianjin Cities, Hebei Province, Shanxi Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Ningxia Autonomous Region and the Republic of Mongolia at a glance and navigate the various chinese provinces and regions, capital cities of Mongolian Aimag (Provinces), rivers, lakes, landmarks and locations.
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February 12, 1921: The Bolshevik Red Army invasion of Georgia (also Soviet Invasion of Georgia): The Democratic Republic of Georgia is invaded by forces of Bolshevist Russia (February 15 - 17 March 17, 1921). The Soviet Russian (RSFSR) Red Army aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic (Menshevik) government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) and installing a Bolshevik regime in the country. It was largely engineered by two influential Georgian-born Soviet Russian officials, Joseph Stalin and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who on 14 February 1921 got the consent of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin to advance into Georgia, on the pretext of supporting "peasants and workers rebellion" in the country. Soviet forces took the Georgian capital Tbilisi (then known as Tiflis to most non-Georgian speakers) after heavy fighting and declared the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic on 25 February 1921. The rest of the country was overrun within three weeks, but it was not until September 1924 that Soviet rule was firmly established. Almost simultaneous occupation of a large portion of southwest Georgia by Turkey (February to March 1921) threatened to develop into a crisis between Moscow and Ankara, and led to significant territorial concessions by the Soviets to the Turkish National Government in the Treaty of Kars.
February 21, 1921: 1921 Persian coup d'état (known in Iran as 3 Esfand coup d'état (Persian: کودتای ۳ اسفند ۱۲۹۹)): The Persian Cossack Brigade led by Rezā Khan Mirpanj (Later known as
Reza Shah Pahlavi (Persian: رضا شاه پهلوی)) and Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee (Persian: سید ضیاءالدین طباطبایی) stage a coup d'état in Iran at the direction of the British. The coup was largely bloodless and faced little resistance. On February 18, 1921, the Cossacks reached Tehran meeting little resistance. On early morning of February 21, they entered the city. Only several policemen, taken by surprise, are said to had been killed or wounded in the center of Tehran. Backed by his troops, Reza Khan forced the government to dissolve and oversaw his own appointment as minister of war. Reza Khan also ensured that Ahmad, still ruling as shah, appointed as prime minister Sayyed Ziaoddin Tabatabaee. With his expanded forces and the Cossack Brigade, Reza Khan then launched successful military actions to eliminate separatist and dissident movements in Tabriz, Mashhad and the Janglis in Gilan. The campaign against Simko and the Kurds was less successful and lasted well into 1922, though eventually concluding with Persian success.
March 13, 1921: Occupation of Mongolia: The Russian White Army captures Mongolia from China; Roman Fyodorovich von Ungern-Sternberg (Born Robert Nikolaus Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg; Russian: Рома́н Фёдорович У́нгерн-Ште́рнберг, tr. Román Fyodorovich Úngern-Shtérnberg)(Life: January 10, 1886 NS - September 15, 1921) declares himself (military) ruler. With this deed Mongolia is freed from Chinese overlordship and the modern day Independence of Mongolia as a Nation is founded. Ungern, Mongolian lamas and princes brought the Bogd Khan from Manjusri Monastery to Urga (Ulaanbataar) on February 21, 1921. On 22 February a solemn ceremony took place, restoring the Bogd Khan to the throne. As a reward for ousting the Chinese from Urga, the Bogd Khan granted Ungern the high hereditary title darkhan khoshoi chin wang in the degree of khan, and other privileges. Other officers, lamas and princes who had participated in these events also received high titles and awards. For seizing Urga, Ungern received from the Supreme Commander of the Baikal Cossacks, Semyonov, the rank of Lieutenant-General. On February 22, 1921, Mongolia was proclaimed an independent monarchy. Supreme power over Mongolia belonged to the Bogd Khan, or the 8th Bogd Gegen Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. On March 13, all of current day Mongolia was under control of the army led by Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. During his five-month occupation of Outer Mongolia, Ungern imposed order on the capital city, Ikh Khüree (now Ulaanbaatar), through fear, intimidation, and brutal violence against his opponents, particularly Bolshevik supporters.
March 31, 1921: Abkhazia in the north-west of the Caucasus Region becomes a republic Abkhazian SSR (Existed: 31 March 1921 to 19 February 1931).
April 11, 1921: The Emirate of Transjordan is created, with Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein (Arabic: عبد الله الأول بن الحسين, Abd Allāh Al-Awal ibn Al-Husayn)(Life: February 1882 - July 20, 1951) as emir under a British mandate. The Emirate of Transjordan was established by Abdullah I on his own initiative with support of the British.
May 1 to 7, 1921: Jaffa riots (commonly known in Hebrew: מאורעות תרפ"א, translit. Me'oraot Tarpa): Riots at Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine result in 47 Jewish and 48 Arab deaths. The riots began as a fight between two Jewish groups who had been calling for the downfall of British rule in Palestine and the establishment off a Palestine Soviet, but developed into an attack by Arabs on Jews during which many were killed. The rioting began in Jaffa and spread to other parts of the country.
May 14 - 15, 1921: A major geomagnetic storm occurs.
July 1, 1921: With due financial support from Soviet Russia (ComIntern) The Communist Party of China (CPC) is founded. The CPC was modeled on Vladimir Lenin's theory of a vanguard party. The founding National Congress of the CPC was held in Shanghai (except for its last day) on 23 - 31 July 1921. In the beginning there only some 50 members, of which 12 attended the founding Congress, among them Mao Zedong (毛泽东)(December 26, 1893 - September 9, 1976) and Zhang Guotao (Traditional Chinese: 張國燾 ; Simplified Chinese: 张国焘)(Life: (November 26, 1897 - December 3, 1979)). The resolutions of the congress called for the establishment of a communist party (as a branch of the Communist International) and elected Chen Duxiu (Professor at (BeiDa) Beijing University and mentor of Mao Zedong) as its leader.
July 11, 1921: Mongolian "People's Revolution of 1921" or simply "People's Revolution" (Mongolian: Ардын хувьсгал) - Following the White Armies entry into Mongolian Territories in Siberia (current day Republic of Buryatia (Buryat Mongol)), Bolschevik Red Armies invade indecent Mongolia as ruled by the 8th Bogd Gegeni (Bogd Khan) and Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army, and establishes the rule of the "Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party" which is an entity fully supported by Russia and the ComIntern. The Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party once more declares its Independence from the Republic of China (R.O.C.). Although for the time being the Bogd Khan remains nominally the ruler, Mongolia becomes a close ally of (Communist) Russia. It is the beginning of a dark chapter in Mongolian history. Following his defeat Baron von Ungern-Sternberg is captured and not much later executed by firing squad. The Mongolian "People's Revolution" was not a popular uprising, on the contrary it was a planned and staged coup fully enabled by the Bolshevik Russians wishing to gain control over Mongolia as a satellite state and keeping its territory out of Chinese hands. The main Mongolian puppet used in the coup d'erat was Khorloogiin Choibalsan (Mongolian: Хорлоогийн Чойбалсан, spelled Koroloogiin Çoibalsan)(Life: 1895 - 1953), later to be known as the "Stalin of Mongolia" and throughout his reign the staunchest ally of the Soviet Union. The Mongolian People's Republic (Mongolian: Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс (БНМАУ), or Bügd Nairamdakh Mongol Ard Uls (BNMAU)) is officially established years later in 1924 with was Choibalsan as its first autocratic leader and General Chief of the Mongolian Army.
July 17, 1921: The Republic of Mirdita is proclaimed near the Albanian-Serbian border, with Yugoslav support.
October 13, 1921: The Treaty of Kars(Turkish: Kars Antlaşması, Russian: Карсский договор, tr. Karskii dogovor, Georgian: ყარსის ხელშეკრულება, Armenian: Կարսի պայմանագիր, Azerbaijani: Qars müqaviləsi) is signed between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Soviet Socialist Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, establishing the boundaries between Turkey and the states of the south Caucasus.
1921: Jewish immigration to Palestine grows rapidly, after the United States drastically limits immigration from Eastern Europe.
March 15, 1921: Assassination of Mehmed Talaat (Ottoman Turkish: محمد طلعت; Turkish: Mehmet Talât)(Life: April 10, 1874 - March 15, 1921)(Popularly: Talaat Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: طلعت پاشا; Turkish: Talât Paşa)) by Armenian Revolutionaries in Charlottenburg, Germany. The murder plot was sanctioned and instigated by British intelligence with strong support from the Soviet Russians. Talaat Pasha's plans made the Russian officials as anxious as the British. The two intelligence services collaborated and signed between them the 'death warrant' of Talaat. He was one of the triumvirate known as the Three Pashas that de facto ruled the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was one of the leaders of the Young Turks and ruled the empire during the Armenian Genocide, which he initiated as Minister of Interior Affairs in 1915.
June 11, 1921: Death of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Leonid (Leonidas)(Georgian: ლეონიდე, Leonide)(Life: 1860 - June 11, 1921). Leonid died on June 11, 1921, during the cholera epidemics in the Georgian SSR and under circumstances of severe repression of his faith by the Bolshevik regime established by the invading Russian army in February 1921.
October 15, 1921: Death of Iranian Revolutionary and Communist Haydar Khan Amo-oghli (or Haydar Khan Amu ogly Tariverdiev ; Persian: حیدرخان عمواوغلی تاریوردی; Azerbaijani: حیدرخان عمواوغلی تاریوردی — Heydər Xan Əmioğlu Tarverdiyev)(Life: December 20, 1880 – October 15, 1921). Born in Urmia, Western Azerbaijan Province of Iran, he was a leftist revolutionary during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and among the founders of the Communist Party of Persia. The 1917 Russian Revolution provided an opportunity for Haydar Khan to go back to the Caucasus and participate in the Baku Congress in 1921, as one of the leaders of the Iranian delegation. Haydar Khan was sent back to Iran by the Bolsheviks to settle the conflict which raged between the Jangalis and the Communist Party of Persia in Gilan. Although accounts of this episode vary in their details, it is almost certain that he was killed by a group of Jangalis soon afterwards, with or without Mirza Kuchek's knowledge.
Mid-September, 1920: The Congress of the Peoples of the East was held by the Communist International in the oil city of Baku, Azerbaijan (then part of Soviet Russia). The congress was attended by nearly 1,900 delegates from across Asia and Europe and marked a commitment by the Comintern to support revolutionary nationalist movements in the colonial "East" in addition to the traditional radical labor movement of Europe, North America, and Australasia. Although attended by delegates representing more than two dozen ethnic entities of the Middle and Far East, the Baku Congress was dominated by the lengthy speeches of leaders from the Russian Communist Party (RCP), including: Grigory Zinoviev, Karl Radek, Mikhail Pavlovich, and Anatoly Skachko. Soviet decision makers recognized that revolutionary activity along the Soviet Union's southern border would draw the attention of capitalist powers and invite them to intervene. It was this understanding which prompted the Russian representation at the Baku Congress in September 1920 to reject the arguments of the national communists as impractical and counterproductive to the revolution in general, without elaborating their fear that the safety of Russia lay in the balance. And it was this understanding, coupled with the Russian Bolsheviks' displeasure at seeing another revolutionary center proposed in their own revolutionary empire, that galvanized them into action against the national communists (Source: Historian E. H. Carr, English historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist).
1923: The Sumela monastery (Greek: Μονή Παναγίας Σουμελά, Moní Panagías Soumelá; Turkish: Sümela Manastırı) at Melá Mountain (Turkish: Karadağ, which is a direct translation of the Greek name Sou Melá, "Black Mountain") within the Pontic Mountains (Turkish: Kuzey Anadolu Dağları) range, in the Maçka district of Trabzon Province of the East Black Sea Region in modern Turkey was abandoned in 1923, following the forced removal of the Greek population in this region. The Greek population was removed in response to events in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 - 1922, which ended with the Armistice of Mudanya and the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne. Separate from this treaty, Turkey and Greece came to an agreement covering an exchange of populations. Over one million Greek OrthodoxChristians were displaced; most of them were resettled in Attica and the newly incorporated Greek territories of Macedonia and Thrace and were exchanged with about 500,000 Muslims displaced from Greek territories. The departing monks were not allowed to take any property with them, so they buried Sumela's famous icon under the floor of the monastery's St. Barbara chapel. In 1930, a monk secretly returned to Sumela and retrieved the icon, transferring it to the new Panagia Soumela Monastery, on the slopes of Mount Vermion (Greek: Βέρμιο)(Vermion Mountain Range), near the town of Naousa, in Macedonia, Greece.
1903: An illegal printing house starts its operations on Kaspi Street, number 7 in Tbilisi, Georgia. In a room built fifteen meters underground by Mikhail Zakharevich Bochoridze, a blacksmith member of the Tiflis Committee of the RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; Russian: Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия (РСДРП), Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party), Bolsheviks printed thousands of pamphlets illegally in Russian, Georgian and Armenian, distributed all over the Caucasus to attract citizens toward revolutionary ideas. In 1904, after his return from Exile in Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia (where he was supposed to serve a 3 year sentence for revolutionary trouble making), Joseph Stalin joined the ranks of the revolutionaries working in the printing house until its chance discovery in 1906. The printing machine was destroyed and Joseph Stalin found himself once again
Youtube Video: Borders on Budgets visits the Stalin Underground Printing House in Tbilisi, Georgia.
a wanted man. In 1937, 31 years after the closing of the printing house, the site was converted on orders of Stalin to serve as a museum commemorating the early years of the 1917 Revolution and as hommage to Stalin himself. To this day the museum is one of the less conspicuous tourist sites of the Georgian Capital Tbilisi. The museum is operated by the Communist Party of Georgia, but it receives no money from the state. In fact, it is continuously threatened with destruction as in the post-Soviet Era Georgia is not fond of memories of the vicious Dictator Stalin.
1921-1922: In early spring of 1921 the Russian famine of 1921–22, also known as Povolzhye famine, starts. As a result of actions in World War I and following Russian Revolution infrastructure and logistics within the Empire are mired in problems. Severe flooding in the Volga region in 1921 and a severe period of drought in 1921 compounded the problems. The famine killed an estimated 5 million, primarily affecting the Volga and Ural River regions .
February 6, 1922: Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti)(Life: May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939) succeeds Pope Benedict XV (Life: November 21, 1854 - January 22, 1922)(Papacy: September 3, 1914 - January 22, 1922), to become the 259th pope. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929. With his mostly negative view on International Capitalism and its influence on individual freedoms, he warns that capitalist interests can become a danger for nations, which could be reduced to "chained slaves of individual interests".
February 8, 1922: In the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Cheka becomes the Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie (GPU), a section of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Народный комиссариат внутренних дел, Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del), abbreviated NKVD (НКВД)) which served as the Ministry of the Interior for the Russian State.
April 3, 1922: Joseph Stalin (Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili)(Life: December 18, 1878 - March 5, 1953) is appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.
June 1, 1922: Bolshevik forces defeat Basmachi troops (Russian: Басмачество, Basmachestvo), under leadership of Ismael Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa)(Life: November 22, 1881 - August 4, 1922).
February, 1918: Following the rising of the Basmachi movement (Russian: Басмачество, Basmachestvo) or Basmachi Revolt (Roots in 1916 and onwards) Turkestani Muslim political movements attempted to form an autonomous government in the city of Kokand (Uzbek: Qo‘qon, Қўқон, قوقان; Persian: خوقند, translit. Xuqand; Chagatai: خوقند, Xuqand; Tajik: Хӯқанд, translit. Xökand), in the Fergana Valley Today: Kokand, Fergana Region, eastern Uzbekistan). The Bolsheviks launched an assault on Kokand in February 1918 and carried out a general massacre of up to 25,000 people. The massacre rallied support to the Basmachi movements who waged a guerrilla and conventional war that seized control of large parts of the Fergana Valley and much of Turkestan. The movement would continue to exist in the early 1920's until losing most of its support around the year 1923, after many Soviet Concessions and military victories.
November, 1921: General İsmail Enver, former Turkish war minister and one of the architects of the Armenian genocide (along with other two members of the "Three Pashas" triumvirate - Talaat Pasha and Djemal Pasha), denounced and condemned to death in his own country after a court martial, arrived in Bukhara (in current day Uzbekistan) as personal envoy of Vladimir Lenin and agent of the Bolshevik cause. His assigned job was to assist the Soviet war effort. Instead of doing so, he defected and became the single most important Basmachi (Russian: Басмачество, Basmachestvo) leader, centralizing and revitalizing the movement. Enver Pasha intended to create a pan-Turkic confederation encompassing all of Central Asia, as well as Anatolia and Chinese lands (current day Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region). His call for jihad (Muslim Holy War) attracted much support, and he managed to transform the Basmachi guerillas into an army of 16,000 men. By early 1922, a considerable part of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic, including Samarkand and Dushanbe (Capital of current day Tajikistan), was under Basmachi control. Meanwhile, Dungan Muslim Magaza Masanchi formed the Dungan Cavalry Regiment to fight for the Soviets against the Basmachi.
January, 1920: The Bolshevik Red Army captured Khiva (Uzbek: Xiva/Хива, خىۋا; Persian: خیوه, Xīveh; alternative or historical names include Kheeva, Khorasam, Khoresm, Khwarezm, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Chorezm, and Persian: خوارزم)(current day Khiva, Xorazm Region, Uzbekistan) and set up a Young Khivan provisional revolutionary government. Basmachi leader Junaid Khan fled into the desert with his followers, and the Basmachi movement in the Khorezm Region was born. Before the end of the year, the Soviets deposed the Young Khivans government, and the Muslim nationalists fled to join Junaid, strengthening his forces considerably.
August, 1922: Greco-Turkish War: A Turkish large-scale attack ("The Great Offensive") opens against Greek forces in Afyon (Today: Afyonkarahisar (Turkish: afyon "poppy, opium", kara "black", hisar "fortress"), Afyon Province, Aegean Region, Turkey); Turkish victory is achieved on August 27. Today, in the city the so called Victory Museum (Zafer Müzesi), a national military and war museum, which was used as headquarters by then Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk), his chief general staff and army commanders before the Great Offensive in August 1922 survives as a permanent reminder of the Turkish fight against Greek Invaders.
September 9, 1922: Greco-Turkish War: Turkish forces pursuing withdrawing Greek troops enter the coastal city of İzmir (Today: İzmir, İzmir Province, Aegean Region, Turkey)(In English, the city was called Smyrna into the 20th century ; during the Greco-Turkish War the Ottoman ruling class of that era referred to the city as Infidel Smyrna (Gavur İzmir) due to its strong Greek presence). With Turks having decisively defeated the Greeks and having driven them back to the Aegean coast, the taking of Izmir effectively ends the Greco-Turkish War (1919 - 22). Guided by the Allied victors over the Ottoman Empire (Britain, France) and offered the western regions of Turkey under the Treaty of Sèvres, on 15 May 1919, the Greek Army had landed in Smyrna, a city with a near majority of Greek and Armenian citizens. However, after initial successes the Greek expedition towards central Anatolia was disastrous for both that country and for the local Greeks of Anatolia. By September 1922 the Greek army had been defeated and was in full retreat, the last Greek soldiers leaving Smyrna on 8 September 1922. On September 9, Turkish forces moved into the city. On 10 September (Julian style – 27 August) 1922, soon after the Turkish army had moved into Smyrna, a Turkish officer and two soldiers took the staunch Greek Nationalist Greek Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Smyrna Chrysostomos (Greek: Χρυσόστομος Καλαφάτης), known as Saint Chrysostomos of Smyrna, Chrysostomos of Smyrna and Metropolitan Chrysostom)(Life: January 8, 1867 - September 10, 1922) from the office of the cathedral and delivered him to the Turkish commander-in-chief, Nureddin Ibrahim Pasha (Turkish: Nurettin Paşa, Nureddin İbrahim Paşa)(Life: 1873 - February 18, 1932). The general decided to hand him over to a Turkish mob who murdered him after abundant physical abuse, stabbing and the cutting off of his nose and the gouging out of his eyes. Suspiciously, Four days later, on 13 September 1922, a great fire broke out in the city, lasting until 22 September. The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters, while the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage. Estimated Greek and Armenians deaths resulting from the fire range from 10,000 to 100,000. Approximately 50,000 to 400,000 Greek and Armenian refugees (originatin from Smyrna or surrounding territories) crammed the waterfront to escape from the fire and were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly two weeks. The systematic evacuation of Greeks on the quay started on 24 September when the first Greek ships entered the harbor under the supervision of Allied destroyers. Some 150,000 to 200,000 Greeks were evacuated in total. The remaining Greeks left for Greece in 1923, as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, a stipulation of the Treaty of Lausanne, which formally ended the Greco-Turkish War.
September 11, 1922: Greco-Turkish War: The Mandate of Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn; Hebrew: פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א"י) Pālēśtīnā (EY), where "EY" indicates "Eretz Yisrael", Land of Israel) ie. the partition of Palestine from former Ottoman territories under a British held mandate is approved by the Council of the League of Nations.
March 31, 1921: Amidst a situation of ever growing political turmoil due to the continuos influx of Jewish migrant settlers into Palestine, the Sunni Muslim religious leader, Hanafi Mufti of Jerusalem from 1908 and "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem" Kamil al-Husayni (Arabic: كامل الحسيني, also Kamel al-Hussaini)(Life: February 23, 1867 - March 31, 1921) dies. unlike his predecessor and father, during the British Mandate for Palestine, Kamil al-Husayni sought compromise with the Jews and British authorities. He was succeeded by his brother Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (Arabic: محمد أمين الحسيني)(Life: c. 1897 - July 4, 1974), a staunch anti-Zionist and implicated as a leader of the 1920 Nebi Musa riots. In his position as Grand Mufti he promoted Islam while rallying a non-confessional Arab nationalism against Zionism. Yet, During the period 1921-36 he was considered an important ally by the British Mandatory authorities.
October 28, 1922: Shortly after the taking of the Far Eastern city and Pacific port of of Vladivostok, the Russian Civil War ends, with the colonies remaining part of Russia.
November 4, 1922: In Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb, in the Valley of the Kings near Cairo, Egypt. Less than a month later, on November 26, Howard Carter and the sponsor of his archeological field work Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, in over 3,000 years.
December 30, 1922: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Republic ( Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) come together to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R. ; Russian: Союз СоветскихСоциалистических Республик - Soyuz SovetskikhSotsialisticheskikh Respublik), dissolved in 1991.
1922: Kurd Istigdul Djemijetin, the Kurdish Independence Committee, is founded.
January 22, 1922: Death of Pope Benedict XV (Latin: Benedictus; Italian: Benedetto)(Birth name: Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa)(Life: November 21, 1854 - January 22, 1922)(Papacy: September 3, 1914 - January 22, 1922).
August 4, 1922: Death of (General) Ismael Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa)(Life: November 22, 1881 - August 4, 1922). There are several variations on the story of the death of Enver Pasha. The most commonly accepted version has it that on 4 August 1922, as he allowed his (Basmachi) troops to celebrate the Kurban Bayramı (Eid al-Adha, or abbreviated: Eid) religious holiday while retaining a guard of 30 men at his headquarters near the village of Ab-i-Derya near Dushanbe (Current day Capital of Tajikistan). Informants gave the location away to the Bolshevik Russian enemies. Subsequently, regardless of a cease fire agreed upon by the two parties for the religious occasion, the Red Army Bashkir cavalry brigade under the command of Yakov Melkumov (Hakob Melkumian) launched a surprise attack. According to some sources, Enver and some 25 of his men mounted their horses and charged the approaching troops, when Enver was killed by machine-gun fire. Other versions say that he survived for 4 days only to be tracked down by the Bolshevik Russians and subsequently killed. The version taken in Uzbekistan and Turkey says that the Red Army Bashkir cavalry brigade overran the Basmachi command camp in a surprise attack and Enver Pasha defended himself from capture using a machine gun. He was then killed by a snipers bullet. Enver's body was buried near Ab-i-Derya. In 1996, his remains were brought to Turkey and reburied at Abide-i Hürriyet (Monument of Liberty) cemetery in Şişli, Istanbul. Enver's image remains controversial in Turkey, since there are those who blame him for the Ottoman entrance into World War I and the subsequent collapse of the Empire.
February, 1922: Ismael Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa)(Life: November 22, 1881 - August 4, 1922) leads his Basmachi troops to attack the city of Dushanbe (current day Capital of Tajikistan), capturing the city in victory. Dushanbe was under Basmachi control for ouse five months until a counter attack by the Russian Red Army (Bolsheviks) successfully recaptured the city driving the Basmachi forces back to the countryside.
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Asia Report - Road Map to Tajikistan in Central Asia
A geographical and topographical overview Map of the Central Asian Nation Tajikistan, including area
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s of bordering nations of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (PRC).
Map includes International Borders, national provinces and regions (where possible), main cities and roads, main lakes and waters, as well as the locations of Historic Sites, wildlife reserves, officially designated ethnic autonomous communities, main mountain peaks with heights and more ! Browse the Map, click and follow the links to additional information on each site and location. Click on selected highlighted Map sections for a more detailed map of that Region. Explore the connections in central asia as never before !
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Ismal Enver Pasha as General of the Ottoman Turkish Forces in World War I.
March 1, 1923 AD: Greece adopts the Gregorian calendar.
March 9, 1923 AD: Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov a.k.a. Lenin (Life: (April 22, 1870 - January 21, 1924)) suffers his third stroke, which renders him bedridden and unable to speak and for a while unable to comprehend spoken and written language (sensory aphasia); consequently he retires from his position as Chairman of the Soviet government. By May, he appeared to be making a slow recovery, regaining some of his mobility, speech, and writing skills. In October, he made a final visit to the Moscow Kremlin.
July 13, 1923 AD: American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews (Life: (January 26, 1884 - March 11, 1960)) discovers the first dinosaur eggs near Flaming Cliffs (Bayanzag, sometimes Bain-Dzak (Mongolian: Баянзаг rich in saxaul) or alternatively Mongolian: Улаан Эрэг (red cliffs) ), in the Gobi Desert of (current day) Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia. Initially thought to be eggs of a ceratopsian, Protoceratops, they were determined in 1995 actually to belong to the theropod Oviraptor.
A Map of East Asia by Roy Chapman Andrews depicting the routes of his five expeditions into the Gobi Desert, clearly marking Kalgan as the ultimate last station of Civilization. Taken from the Roy Chapman Andrews Book: "The New Conquest of Asia".
July 24, 1923 AD: The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) (French: Traité de Lausanne), settling the boundaries of the modern Republic of Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the First World War, bringing a formal legal end to the Ottoman Empire after 624 years (although the Turks has already abolished the Ottoman Empire on November 1, 1922).
September 9, 1923 AD: Turkish head of state Field Marshall Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Life: May 19, 1881 (conventional) - November 10, 1938)) founds the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi ; CHP).
September 29, 1923: The British Mandate for Palestine (1922) comes into effect, officially creating the protectorates of Palestine, as a homeland for the Jewish people under British administration, and Transjordan as a separate emirate, under Abdullah I. The French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon also takes effect.
October 6, 1923: The Occupation of Constantinople (Turkish: İstanbul'un İşgali)(November 13, 1918 - October 4, 1923) ends, when the great powers of World War I withdraw.
October 13, 1923: Ankara (historically known as Ancyra and Angora) replaces Istanbul (Constantinople), as the capital of Turkey.
October 28, 1923: In Qajar Dynasty Persia, Reza Khan becomes Ahmad Shah Qajar's prime minister.
October 29, 1923: Turkey becomes a republic, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire; Field Marshall and Revolutionary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Life: May 19, 1881 (conventional) - November 10, 1938)) is elected as first president. The next day, General Mustafa İsmet İnönü (Life: September 24, 1884 - December 25, 1973) is appointed as the first prime minister of Turkey.
November 15, 1923: Death of Mohammad Yaqub Khan (Life: 1849 - November 15, 1923). He was was Emir of Afghanistan from February 21 to October 12, 1879 as ruler of the Barakzai dynasty, which (in two branches) held sway over Afghanistan from 1826 to 1973.
21 January, 1924: Death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov a.k.a. Vladimir Lenin (Владимир Ленин). Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin immediately begins to purge his rivals to clear the way for his leadership. On January 23, the Soviet State officially announces the death of Lenin. On January 26, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) is renamed Leningrad (it reverts to Saint Petersburg in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union). Following a period of mourning and official lying in state, on January 27 Lenin's funeral took place with the thousands in attendance. His body was carried to Moscow's Red Square, accompanied by martial music, where assembled crowds listened to a series of speeches before the corpse was placed into the vault of a specially erected mausoleum. The mausoleum of Lenin remains on Red Square to this very day although in the post-Soviet Era voices have been raised to clear it from Red Square. (In July 1929, the Politburo agreed to replace the temporary mausoleum with a permanent granite alternative, which was finished in 1933. The sarcophagus in which Lenin's corpse was contained was replaced in 1940 and again in 1970. From 1941 to 1945 the body was moved from Moscow and stored in Tyumen for safety amid the Second World War.).
February 1, 1924: The United Kingdom recognizes the Soviet Union.
March 3, 1924: Following the abolishment of the Ottoman State (Empire) in 1923, On March 3, 1924, the 407-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished, when Caliph Abdülmecid II ((Ottoman Turkish: عبد المجید الثانی, Abd al-Madjeed al-Thâni – Turkish: Halife İkinci Abdülmecit Efendi)(Life: May 29, 1868 - August 23, 1944)) of the Ottoman Caliphate is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of President Kemal Atatürk.
March 25, 1924: The Second Hellenic Republic is proclaimed in Greece. On April 13, a referendum in Greece favors the formation of the Second Hellenic Republic (also known as Hellenic Republic (Greek: Ἑλληνικὴ Δημοκρατία).
April 27, 1924: In Syria, a group of Alawites (Arabic: علوية Alawīyah)(Members of a sect of the Ghulat branch of Shia Islam) kill several Christian nuns; French troops march against them.
August 28, 1924: August Uprising (Georgian: აგვისტოს აჯანყება, agvistos adjanq’eba)(August 28 - September 5, 1924): The people of Georgia rises against rule by the Soviet Union in an abortive rebellion, in which several thousands die. Aimed at restoring the independence of Georgia from the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.), the uprising was led by the Committee for Independence of Georgia, a bloc of anti-Soviet political organisations chaired by the Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party. It represented the culmination of a three-year struggle against the Bolshevik regime that Soviet Russia's Red Army had established in Georgia during a military campaign against the Democratic Republic of Georgia in early 1921. The Red Army and Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (Russian: Всероссийская Чрезвычайная Комиссия), abbreviated as VChK (Russian: ВЧК, Ve-Che-Ka) - historically the first secret police force within the Soviet Union) troops, under orders of the Georgian Bolsheviks Joseph Stalin and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, suppressed the insurrection and instigated a wave of mass repressions that killed several thousand citizens of Georgia. The August uprising proved one of the last major rebellions against the early Soviet government, and its defeat marked a definitive establishment of Soviet rule in Georgia.
August 28, 1924: Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud)(Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Saud (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود, Abd al-'Azīz ibn 'Abd ar-Raḥman Āl Sa'ūd)(Life: January 15, 1875 - November 9, 1953) declares himself protector of Muslim holy places in Mecca, strengthening the foundations of his rule in parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
October 27, 1924: The Uzbek SSR (Uzbek: Ўзбекистон ССР, Oʻzbekiston SSR; Russian: Узбекская ССР, Uzbekskaya SSR)(current day Uzbekistan) consisting of the former Khvia Khanate and parts of the Buchara Emirate joins the Soviet Union.
November 21, 1924: Ali Fethi Okyar (Life: (April 29, 1880 - May 7, 1943) forms new government in Turkey. (3rd government).
November 26, 1924: Following the death of the Buddhist spiritual leader Boghd Khan, the Mongolian People's Republic (Mongolian: Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс (БНМАУ), Bügd Nairamdakh Mongol Ard Uls (BNMAU)) as ruled by the Marxist-Leninist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPP; Mongolian: Монгол Ардын Нам, MAH; Mongol Ardīn Nam, MAN) is founded. First head of the one-party state is Navaandorjiin Jadambaa (Mongolian: Наваандоржийн Жадамбаа). Only a day later he was replaced by Peljidiin Genden (Mongolian: Пэлжидийн Гэндэн)(Life: 1892 or 1895 - November 26, 1937) when Genden was elected chairman of the Presidium of the State Small Khural or Baga Khural, the small assembly that controlled day-to-day matters of state. This made Genden the effective head of state of Mongolia, a position he would hold from November 29, 1924 to November 15, 1927. Although Usually a regency would follow the death of the Bogd Khan (religious King) until his reincarnation had reached his majority; however, in this case the search for the reincarnation of the Bogd Khan was banned (his reincarnation was discovered in Tibet in 1936) and the country has maintained a republican constitution ever since.
May 10, 1924: Death of George Kennan (Life: February 16, 1845 - May 10, 1924). Kennan was an American explorer who between 1864 and 1866 explorer parts of the Russian Far East; Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula, at the time regions of which little was known to the outside world. In 1870, Kennan returned to St. Petersburg and travelled to Dagestan, in the northern Caucasus region, which had been annexed by the Russian Empire only ten years previously. There, he became the first American to explore its highlands, a remote Muslim region of herders, silversmiths, carpet-weavers and other craftsmen. He travelled onward through the northern Caucasus area, stopping in Samashki and Grozny, before returning once more to America in 1871. These travels earned him a reputation as an "expert" on all matters pertaining to Russia. In 1878 Kennan became war correspondent for the Associated Press traveling to many conflict area's in the world and reporting on various situations. In 1885, he once more travelled the Russian Empire making his way from Siberia to Europe. Following his return to the United States of America he became the world's most prolific lecturer, and a staunch critic of the Russian Tzarist autocratic regime. He strongly advocated for democracy in Russia. Around the turn into the 20th century, Kennan once more served as war correspondent covering the Spanish-American War, the Russo-japanese War (1904 - 1905) and delivered a book on issues in Manchuria. Following the Russian October Revolution he proved himself a strong opponent of the Boshevik movement, citing that the Bolsheviks' lack of expertise and knowledge necessary to solve the multitude of problems in Russia, as well as recognising that the Boshevik Constitution was entirely anti-democratic and left power in the hands of a small group of unelected people who would tolerate no opposition. Kennan would leave a lasting legacy in Russia-American relations.
November 1902 AD - March 1903: German Indologist, tibetologist, archaeologist, and explorer Albert Grünwedel (Life: July 31, 1856 - October 28, 1935) leads a first German expedition to Turpan, in Xinjiang (the far west of China). Among the sites visited are the ancient ruined city of Gaochang ((Chinese: 高昌; pinyin: Gāochāng; Old Uyghur: قۇچۇ, Qocho), also called Karakhoja, Qara-hoja, Kara-Khoja, or Karahoja (قاراغوجا in Uyghur)) and the so called Astana Cemetery (Chinese: 阿斯塔那古墓; pinyin: Āsītǎnà Gǔmù), an ancient cemetery 37 kilometres (23 miles) southeast of Turpan and some 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) from the ancient city of Gaochang.
After February 28, 1919: Founding of the Afghan National Museum under the rule of King Amānullāh Khān (Pashto: امان الله خان)(Life: June 1, 1892 - April 25, 1960)(Reign: February 28, 1919 - June 9, 1926) as a "Cabinet of Curiosity" or a show room of historic artifacts of National interest. At first the museum was housed inside the Bagh-e Bala Palace (باغ بالا, High Garden), which was the Royal Palace of Kabul at the time. The Bagh-e Bala, itself had been built in 1893 by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan (May 31, 1880 - October 1, 1901) as a place for him to spend summers in. The exhibition annex National Museum was moved to a new location in 1922.
1922: The Afghan National Museum (also Kabul Museum) which was founded in 1919 as a "Cabinet of Curiosities" housed inside Bagh-e Bala Palace is moved to a diffent location known as the Koti Baghcha of Arg of Kabul. The Koti Baghcha was a small Royal Palace built by the founder of Afghanistan's royal dynasty, Amir Abdur Rahman (1880-1891). At this location the exsisting collection of historical artifacts of National interest was inaugurated by King Amanullah in November 1924 and became the Afghan National Museum (Persian: موزیم ملی افغانستان, Mūzīyam-e mellī-ye Afghānestān; Pashto: د افغانستان ملی موزیم, Də Afghānistān Millī Mūzīyəm). The Museum would be housed at the Koti Baghcha until 1931 when it was moved to what is its current location in Darulaman.
October 1911: The Xinhai Revolution (Chinese: 辛亥革命; pinyin: Xīnhài Gémìng) finally put an end to the ailing Manchu-Chinese Qing Dynasty (1644 AD - 1911 AD) , with the Revolutionaries soon declaring the rising of the first (ever) Republic of China. While the Revolution swept the now politically insecure Chinese Provinces, Russian Forces took de facto control over Mongolia. In the combination of events (northern) Mongolia saw its chance and time fit, declaring independence (from China or Chinese claims after the fall of the multinational Qing Dynasty) in the following year.
Murghab River Valley with a result the blocking of one of the main thoroughfare's of traffic through the regions (and ancient main pathway of the silk road), while the forming the Usoi Dam, since that day the tallest natural dam in the world, stop entirely the flow of the Murghab River creating the Sarez fresh water Lake. The Usoi landslide had an estimated volume of about 2 km3 and its fall annihilated the Usoi kishlak traditional pasture used by Kyrgyz mountain nomads along the silk road thoroughfare. The dam is the highest in the world at about 600 meters, impounding a lake containing 17.5 km3 of water. The slide originated from a 4,500 m high mountain, falling 1,800 m to its present location and reportedly, as Aurel Stein observed during his expedition into the Pamir Mountains in 1915, years later rocks and debris were still on the move. In 1915 the main Murghab River and Valley route used in the past 2 millennia as conduit for trade on the silk road remained blocked while the Sarez Lake was still expanding up the valley. The earthquake and related landslides destroyed many buildings and killed about 100 to 300 people, even though the regions were at the time very sparsely populated and most inhabitants were Kyrgyz and other nomads. The earthquake event caused the waters of Lake Karakul to surge over its eastern rim, leaving behind a large sheet of ice as it withdrew and triggered numerous landslides along the slopes of the Bartang River Valley, the Tanimas River Valley and Murghab River Valley. The area of greatest damage extended along the Bartang River from Basid in the west continuing along the Murghab River to Sarez in the east, also involving the kishlaks of Barchidiv, Nisur, Sagnob, Rukhch and Oroshor.