anting herself at the mouth of
the Syr, had gained the most available position from which to begin a
career of conquest in Central Asia.

War necessarily followed these steps of invasion. In 1853 the Russians
besieged and captured the fort of Ak Mechet, on the Syr, thought by its
holders to be impregnable. Up the river, bordered on each side by a
narrow band of vegetation from which a desert spread away, the Russians
gradually advanced, finally planting a military post within thirty-two
miles of Tashkend, the military key of Central Asia.

Such was the state of affairs in 1862, when war arose between the
khanates themselves, and the Emir of Bokhara invaded and conquered
Khokand. Russia looked on, awaiting its opportunity. It came at length
in an appeal from the merchants of Tashkend for protection. The
protection came in true Russian style, a Cossack force marching into and
occupying the town, which has since then remained in Russian hands. The
movement of invasion went on until a large portion of Khokand was
seized.

This audacious procedure of the Muscovites, as the Emir of Bokhara
regarded it, roused that ruler to a high pitch of fury and fanaticism.
He imprisoned Colonel Struve, an eminent Russian astronomer who was on a
mission to his capital, and declared a holy war against the invading
infidels.

The emir had little fear of his foes, having what he considered two
impassable lines of defence. Of these the first was the desert, which
enclosed his land as within a wall of sand. The second, and in his view
the more impregnable, was the large number of saints that lay buried in
Bokharan soil, before whose graves the infidel host would surely be
stayed.

He probably soon lost faith in the saints, for the Russians quickly
drove his troops out of Khokand and then invaded Bokhara itself,
defeating his troops near the venerable and famous city of Samarcand, of
which they immediately afterwards took possession. These infidel
assaults soon brought the holy war to an end, the emir being forced to
cede Samarcand and three other places to Russia, the four being so
chosen as to give the invaders full military control of the country.

This disaster, which fell upon Bokhara in 1868, was repeated in Khiva in
1873. Bokharan troops aided the Russians, and Bokhara was rewarded with
a generous slice of the conquered territory. Khiva was overthrown as
quickly as the other oases had been, and the whole of Central Asia
became Russ