The 1916 Uprising - An Important Role in the Life of the Kyrgyz People
Speech by the residents of Uzgen
On July 25, the residents of Uzgen spoke out. The protest lasted until July 29. Participants, armed with sickles, pitchforks, sticks, and other tools, threatened to kill the village elders and demanded the issuance of household lists.
Fifteen police officers and a punitive detachment who arrived at the scene did not dare to use weapons and engage in battle with the rebels, and were forced to lock themselves in the office of the volost administration. The wealthier part of the local population, fearing reprisals from the rebels, hurriedly sent their representatives to the city of Osh to the district chief, requesting the dispatch of military units.
Uprisings occurred in the Ajar, Yasin, Gulchin, Alai, Naukat, and Kurshab volosts of the Osh district.
In short, the entire Fergana region, including the southern part of Kyrgyzstan, was engulfed in the flames of rebellion, which took on particularly large proportions in the second and third decades of July. The broadest layers of the indigenous population participated in it. It is difficult to name a kystak or ail that was not touched by the waves of rebellion. Even the remote mountainous and isolated areas of this region were not left out. However, this disjointed and spontaneous uprising ended in defeat. Its participants were brutally punished by the tsarist government.
The uprising was a nationwide movement. It involved the broadest layers of the working population. Its driving force consisted of ordinary herders, farmers, and laborers, who were exhausted under the yoke of tsarist colonizers and local feudal nobility, pushed to the limits of their patience and acutely experiencing the arbitrariness and violence of tsarist officials, manaps, and bai.
The soul of the uprising was the impoverished, destitute, and drained poor. The mobilizable youth actively participated in the protest.
The 1916 uprising constitutes one of the bright heroic and tragic pages in the centuries-old history of the Kyrgyz people. Without any exaggeration, it can be said that the history of the Kyrgyz people does not know such a massive, widespread, prolonged, and broad popular liberation movement as the 1916 uprising. Despite the spontaneity and lack of organization during the protest, the rebels showed heroism and courage. They charged with bare hands against armed and trained tsarist punitive forces and died by the thousands for freedom. This uprising left a deep and indelible mark in the hearts of the masses, finding vivid reflection in folk folklore, literature, applied and visual arts, and cinema.
The uprising, having significant political and educational importance, plays an important role in the life of the Kyrgyz people.
The rebels dealt a serious blow to the colonial authorities and thereby contributed to undermining the foundations of tsarist autocracy. The uprising somewhat undermined the prestige of the tsarist government on the international stage. Essentially, the recruitment of workers for the rear army was disrupted. This could not fail to affect the course of military operations on the fronts. The uprising somewhat accelerated the defeat of the tsarist army on the fronts of the First World War and significantly worsened the situation of the colonial authorities in the deep rear.
The 1916 Uprising in the Osh District
