ABSTRACT
Examination of Soviet and Bukharan sources reveals substantially differing interpretations of the birth, existence, and eventual extinction of the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic (1920–1924). This chapter focusses on the alternate perceptions of statehood by the Bukharan elites on one side, and the Soviet regime on the other. With a focus on the internal development and external relations of this entity, this chapter demonstrates that, given Bukhara’s almost complete military and economic dependence on Russia, it was inevitable that the Soviet concept of patronage (it viewed the Bukharan state as a transitional phase between the dictatorship of the Emirate and the building of a genuine Soviet state) had ultimately gained the upper hand. The following text claims that Bukhara’s internal weakness, combined with the existence of a strong patron state, was the main factor that led to the demise of Bukharan statehood in the mid-1920s.
