Andijan Revolt

(1898)

   A major revolt of Islamic peoples against Russian rule in 1898 in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan on the upper Syr Darya River. The rebellion was planned and led by the Naqshbandi Sufileader Madali Ishan. It was unsuccessful. Madali Ishan led approximately 2,000 followers in an attack on the Russian barracks, an action he envisioned as part of a ghazawat or jihad against the Russian imperial administration in Turkestan. His followers were not well armed, carrying only cudgels and knives against Russian firearms. The attack resulted in the deaths of 22 Russians and 11 rebels before being defeated. In all, 24 rebels were later hanged and over 300 were sent to Siberia. The revolt caused serious concerns for the Russians and forced them to reexamine their administration in the Ferghana Valley. Andijan had been annexed by the Khokand khanate state in the middle of the eighteenth century and was taken by the Russians in 1876.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Manz, Beatrice Forbes. “Central Asian Uprisings in the Nineteenth Century: Ferghana Under the Russians.” The Russian Review 46 (1987): 267–81.

   SCOTT C. BAILEY