ABSTRACT
Various nationalist movements were unprepared politically to take advantage of the collapse of the tsarist empire. In February 1917, nobody believed as yet that eight months later, in October of the same year, the Russian State would dissolve into anarchy and that the minorities would be offered a unique but brief opportunity to achieve full independence. In 1918, the Czechoslovak Legion, composed of prisoners who had belonged to the Austrian army, reorganized and rearmed by the Allies, was evacuating through the port of Vladivostok. On 25 May, the Czechs marched against the Bolsheviks and easily occupied the main towns along the Trans-Siberian railway. Although the Muslim leaders were dedicated Marxists and atheists, they were also nationalists and did not under-estimate the importance of the religious factor. Most of them spoke Arabic. The Basmachi movement began immediately after the destruction of Kokand in February 1918.
