A state in Central Asia, since 1873, a protectorate of the Russian Empire.

 

Since 1905, a social and political movement of Young Khivans began to form in Khiva. As followers of Jadidism (Islamic reformism), they advocated democratic transformations. Under the influence of the February Revolution of 1917 and under influence of the Young Khivans, the ruler of the Khanate of Khiva, Asfandiyar Khan, issued a manifesto on the introduction of a constitutional monarchy in the country. New authorities were established: the Council of Nazirs (Ministers) and the Mejlis (Parliament), which was chaired by the leader of the Young Khivans, Boboahun Salimov. Already in early May, Asfandiyar Khan committed a coup, dispersed the Council of Nazirs, and changed the deputies of the Mejlis (eliminated in November). In May, by decision of the Russian Provisional Government, a Russian military detachment under the command of Colonel Ivan Zaitsev was stationed in Khiva to maintain order.

 

After the October coup of 1917, Russian forces left the Khanate. Asfandiyar Khan, fearing the establishment of Soviet power, allied with the tribal leader of the Turkmen Yomuds, Junaid Khan, in January 1918, appointing him commander of the state forces. Junaid Khan with a detachment of 1,500 people occupied Khiva, carried out a military coup, during which Asfandiyar Khan was murdered and his brother Sayyid Abdullah Khan was put on the throne. Junaid Khan became the actual ruler of the Khanate of Khiva and began military operations against the Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic. On April 4, 1919, the parties signed a peace treaty, according to which military activities were stopped, and the leadership of the Turkestan SFR recognized the independence of the Khanate of Khiva.

 

After the establishment of the dictatorship of Junaid Khan in Khiva, the Young Khivans led the resistance to his power. In May 1918, the Central Revolutionary Committee of the Young Khivans (Chaired by Palvanniyaz Khodja Yusupov) was established in Tashkent, in the capital of the Turkestan SFR. In March 1919, Yusupov turned to the Council of People’s Commissars of the Russian SFSR with a request to recognize it as a revolutionary party and to provide support in the fight against Junaid Khan. The Communist Party of Turkestan and the Bukhara Communist Party also assisted the Young Khivans.

 

At the beginning of December 1919, radical Young Khivans organized an uprising in Khiva, which Junaid Khan suppressed. On December 25, 1919, units of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army assisted the rebels. Together with the detachments of Young Khivans and Turkmen volunteers, they defeated the Khiva troops under the command of Junaid Khan and took Khiva on February 2, 1920. Khan Sayyid Abdullah Khan abdicated and handed power over to the Provisional Revolutionary Government chaired by Young Khivan Jumaniyoz Sultanmuradov. In April 1920, the Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic was proclaimed in the territory of the former Khanate of Khiva.