The ‘fierce fight’ at Oshoba: a microhistory of the conquest of the Khoqand Khanate

For some time now the theme of the conquest of Central Asia by the Russian Empire has been a subject of historical generalization. In a long-term temporal and broad geographical perspective, researchers have interested themselves in certain general tendencies and patterns, around which it is possible to structure grand narratives of ‘conquest’. One of the consequences of this approach has been a predominant interest in a few ‘key’ events. Another has been a narrowing of the circle of those historical personages garnering attention to a few ‘key’ figures. Finally, the very analysis of events has been reduced in many cases to a study of the thoughts and projects of the colonizers with regard to Central Asia; other interpretations of the ordinary participants in military actions on both sides, their expectations and misgivings, have become immaterial, the disregarded dross of history. In this article, based on written and oral accounts of Russia's military campaign against the Khoqand Khanate in 1875–1876, I will attempt to write a microhistory of the conquest, reconstructing its local episodes, reconstructing and listening to the voices of various actors, and distinguishing different motivations, preferences and means of description.