2019 №1 (62) Article 9

A. Gornov, M. G. Malakhov

RUSSIAN STRONGHOLDS OF THE 19^th CENTURY IN CENTRAL ASIA (Assessing the Results of a Research Expedition)

UDC 711.559(57)(09)«18»

The article briefly assesses the results of an expedition aimed at the investigation of military operations and administrative activities performed by an outstanding Russian military officer and statesman M. D. Skobelev in Central Asia.  The research expedition was aimed at restoring the itinerary of the Russian military forces during the Khivan campaign of 1873 and the Alay military-scientific expedition of 1876. The expedition explored the ruins of fortresses of Khorezm and Russian strongholds of Novo-Aleksandrovsk and Aleksandrovsk (Fort-Shevchenko), Kendrili bay and the Ustyurt Plateau through which Russian military forces had marched on their way to the heart of the Khanate of Khiva. To commemorate M. D. Skobelev’s 175^th anniversary, the expedition ascended Skobelev peak, the highest mountain of the Kichik-Alay mountain range (Kyrgyzstan) to install a memorial nameplate and a capsule containing earth from the Skobelevs’ estate in the village of Zaborovo (Aleksndro-Nevsky district, Ryazan region). The participants of the expedition interviewed local people, collected and systematized the interviews, made photographs and videos, collected artifacts related to the investigated period.

Russian administration in Turkestan; Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev; the Khivan campaign of 1873; the Alay military-scientific expedition of 1876; Russian strongholds at the eastern coast of the Caspian sea

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