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How the Tajik SSR slid towards Civil War

The Cold War

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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on how the Tajik SSR slid towards Civil War

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#ColdWar #USSR #Tajikistan #civil #war

Sources:
Jesse Driscoll, “Consolidating a Weak State after Civil War: A Tajik Fable,” in John Heathershaw and Edward Schatz (eds.), Paradox of Power: The Logics of State Weakness in Eurasia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017)
Erika Fatland, Sovietistan: A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (Maclehose Press, 2014)
Kirill Nourzhanov and Christian Bleur, Tajikistan: A Political and Social History (Australian National University E-Press, 2013)
Doug Foster, “Cleansing violence in the Tajik Civil War: framing from the dark side of democracy,” National Identities, Vol.17 (No.4) (2015)
Lawrence P. Markowitz, “Tajikistan: authoritarian reaction in a postwar state,” Democratisation, Vol.19 (No.1) (2012)
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/...
https://www.rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovozi...
https://minorityrights.org/communitie...
https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96...
https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home...
https://www.rferl.org/a/emomali-rahmo...

20 Comments

@HamzaPKR 2 years ago (edited)

Not many big YouTube channels would make 2 full episodes on a rather small Central Asian nation. Thanks to this channel for going beyond the usual focus areas (big powers and major conflicts)

@cuber5003 2 years ago

Glad to see a video on this topic, the Tajik civil war is hardly covered in detail outside of a few books

@Sierra_Oscar_Golf_X-ray 2 years ago

As someone who would like to think im pretty well versed on the USSR and Eastern Bloc compared to most people in my country, i will admit this was a subject i knew close to nothing before this video. Thank you for pushing out consistently entertaining and educational content. You raise the bar on this platform for historical content.

@Barricade379 2 years ago

Very informative. I love videos about the separate Soviet republics. Please make some of those after the next Tajik episode

@AGINCY 10 months ago

Such a great channel. No typical propaganda and overall coverage, but the actual hard work research. As a tajik american this is now one of my all time most favorite videos and channels

@goldenfiberwheat238 2 years ago

Given that it had a border with Afghanistan, I’m assuming a lot of Soviet troops were stationed there in the 80s. Surely that had an effect on its stability

@VladVonGrigorian 1 year ago

Outstanding content, an even better mode of delivery. thank you

@Willpolita 2 years ago

Something I noticed is that most of what happened to this country is very similar to what happened to several African countries.

-A locality where people feel more represented by their tribes than by an invented country or nationality.
-A delicate balance, like a house of cards, between these tribes.
-A foreign country, with no connection to its citizens, trying at all costs to improve the country, "civilize," and move people out of rural areas.
-It disrupts the balance between the tribes and villages.
-Suddenly leaves the country and abandons them to their own fate.
-Quick elections where the opposition doesn’t accept the results well.
-Civil war.

@xolyngo 3 months ago

thanks !

@evanmurphy2473 2 years ago

Wherever Molotov shows up in a photo trajedy follows.

@100domathon 2 years ago

Soviet Collapse was violent including in the late 1980s. Many violent riots and ethnic violence 1986-1991 in the different Soviet Republics and uprisings the Soviet Army tried to crush

@florinivan6907 2 years ago (edited)

While conflicts did break out after its collapse overall it was far less brutal than the collapse of the Tsarist Empire. That was a full blown civil war fought from Warsaw to Vladivostock with an excess of 7 million dead. By contrast these conflicts would be a secondary front during the Russian civil war. Nevermind the elephant in the room. None of these conflicts involved nukes. If you use this metric the soviet collapse was mostly peaceful. Observers in the early 90s used the Russian civil war as a standard of bad.

@Avghistorian77 2 years ago

Awesome video! Would love to see more stuff on the USSR’s collapse!

@bendafyddgillard 2 years ago

"the road to hell is paved with good intentions". I believe Gorbachev had the best of intentions but clearly an inadequate understanding of the situation. Not sure what would have been the right thing to do, though. Maybe allow it to divide up along tribal lines but with free movement, allow each one to develop gently then they'll merge when they're ready.

@gate7clamp 2 years ago

I went to Tajikistan couple years ago very impressed by the capital I kept calling it stalinbad 😆 by mistake

@michealoflaherty1265 2 years ago

No mention of the Tajik highway patrol? Glaring omission 😂😂

@tonyyarbray 9 months ago

they had cotton because the soviets after ww2 wanting to grow more cotton removed whole villages in the mountains and moved them to a dry hot desolate area and had them start changing it into cotton farms which they did but conditions caused a lot of them to die

@estebancastellino3284 2 years ago

👍

@mangoisdelicious9078 2 years ago

I love that they made a democratic election, but it feels so sad watching this knowing that the next video is about the subsequent civil war just a year after the election.
I am glad I get to learn about this, thanks for making videos about central asia and other things that are not much covered in the west otherwise.
good video