Operation Samarkand (April-June, 1868).

Central Asia: Fall of Bukhara]

In April General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann and associates would launch their campaign on the city of Samarkand, at that time part of the Emirate of Bukhara. The operation arises out of a retaliation against Bukhara due to its attacks on Russian conquered territories and personnel.

Not much diplomacy was attempted with the Bukhara troops, in the opinion of Tsar Alexander III and other Russian generals, the Bukharans would not respect attempts at parley. For the moment that had been true.

As a result of which fire was fired at the Bukharans without a word, the Russians soon took possession of the Zaryavshan river and valley.

In the battle the Emir of Bukhara would die in the nearby river trying to escape from the Russians, Samarkand surrendered and Kaufmann temporarily settled in the city (until May).

The death of Emir Muzaffar was good and bad at the same time, on the one hand it eliminated an enemy that had proven to be unreliable in negotiations. On the other hand there were rebels in the southeastern parts of Bukhara that Kaufmann and associates had to attend to.

Seyid Abdumalik in the south attempted to claim the throne of his fallen father from him, as the first and oldest son.

But there were other sons who fell into Russian possession: Seyid Nuraddin (the most intelligent and talented), Seyid Abdulmumin, Seyid Akram, Seyid Abdulahad, Seyid Abdulfattah (most beloved son), Seyid Nazhmeddin, Seyid Mir Siddiq and Nasir ad-din ibn amir Muzaffar. There was also Seyid Mir Mansur, but the records did not indicate whether he was the eighth son or another position (many sons of the Emir Muzaffar died young).

Seyid Abdulahad was made the Emir supported by the Russian Empire. General von Kaufmann would crush the 9-10 year old emir's older brother in late June of 1868, reestablishing order of the Bukhara Emirate over southern territories around mid-May and early June.

The older brother, Seyid Abdumalik, would escape to the Khanate of Khiva.

The younger and some older brothers of the new Emir would be "dispersed" in a sense, Nuraddin (aged 16-17 at the time) and Akram were placed under the tutelage of Mikhail Grigorievich Chernyayev to become administrator and civil servant.

Seyid Mir Mansur (4-5 at the time of the fall of his father) in the second half of the 1870s became a personal guard of Emperor Alexander III.

Seyid Abdulfattah, Abdulmumin (aged 15-16), Nazhmeddin, Mir Siddiq and Mir Nasir were essentially put under house arrest between Saint Petersburg and Bukhara (6 months in the heart of Imperial Russia and another six in Russian Turkestan) .

Mir Siddiq would be a poet, artist and historian. Mir Nasir was just a historian.

The Emir was essentially a prisoner in his own homeland, in June with the rebellions crushed, the Russian Empire of Alexander III, represented by General von Kaufmann, established the future of Bukhara.

Various territories such as Samarkand were ceded to Russia proper, causing Bukhara to lose its most fertile lands and the best for settlement, agriculture, etc.

Bukhara promised to pay 500,000 rubles in war reparations.

The Russians would get the right to trade freely in the Bukhara territories, with their life and property protected by the Bukhara and Russian authorities. The Russians would also get the right to establish commercial agencies anywhere in Bukhara.

Taxes on Russian imports to the region were greatly limited (ensuring a value for Russian commercial interests).

Emir Seyid Abdulahad complied without questioning the leadership of the Russian Empire, cooperating closely with Tsar Alexander III. For example the following year, the Emir, a fan of horsemanship from young age, would support Russia with horses and camels for future Russian campaigns.

[Central Asia: Diplomacy]

With the fall of the Emirate of Bukhara, the two remaining free Khanates were Khiva and Kokand.

Kokand was already the target of Russian conquests under its leader Sayid Muhammad Khudayar Khan (who curiously was removed from power by relatives on numerous occasions, but always came back), to the point that Kokand found herself cut off from Bukhara by Russian conquests.

Now the Khanate was practically alone and isolated, General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann sent Kokand's leader Sayid Muhammad Khudayar Khan a diplomatic offer, which would essentially make Kokand a new Russian protectorate and territory based on economic and political domination.

According to the treaty the Russians and natives who will take Russian citizenship could travel freely between the two territories (which were functionally one country), establishing caravanserai (a kind of building as a caravan inn) and caravan-bashi (a kind of commercial agencies).

Russian products also could not receive too high a tax.

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The situation in Afghanistan was a tripartite war, now bilateral, between brothers, sons of the former Emir of Afghanistan. At the time of his Afzul Khan led the way thanks to the military leadership of his son Abdur-Rahman, but Afzul's early death in Kabul and subsequent defeats forced Abdur-Rahman to retreat.

This gave the leadership to Sher Ali Khan, but his other brother, Azam, still remained.

Now it turns out that Abdur-Rahman Khan after his defeats was seeking asylum in the Russian possessions north of Afghanistan, nominally in the Emirate of Bukhara but that was already de-facto the Russian Empire.

Tsar Alexander III accepted Abdur-Rahman into Russian territory.

The Russians around this time feared that Sher Ali Khan would form an alliance of Muslim leaders against Russian possessions (an alliance that according to Russian opinion would be secretly founded by British interests).

The truth is that the supposed alliance was never manifested, but in the face of Russian diplomatic movements in the region and the early conquest of Samarkand, between September and December the Khan of Khiva would mobilize armies towards the Russian border.

The Russians understood that they could not (too) influence Abdur-Rahman (23-24 years old at the time), as he knew that his country was too underdeveloped to resist the influence of foreigners.

But in turn Abdur-Rahman was quite energetic and talented as an administrator and a military man. Consequently Emperor Alexander III decided to support Abdur-Rahman's ideas of a more neutral and independent Afghanistan between Russia and the British Raj.

After all, Russia did not have the offensive capabilities at that time to ensure full control of Afghanistan.

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[Dynasty]

May came, and on the 6th the Romanov family marveled at the birth of a son to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna.

The son was named Nicholas, in honor of Tsar Alexander III's older brother. Instantly the boy became the Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, displacing Vladimir Alexandrovich to third place in the line of succession (again to Grand Duke).

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Although the joy did not last for everyone, Tsar Alexander III soon decreed a reform in the royal family. Only those who are the children and grandchildren of a Tsar of Russia can receive the title of Grand Duke / Duchess.

The rest of the descendants (great-grandchildren and cousins furthest from the direct line) would receive princely titles such as Knyaz or Velikiy Knyaz (Prince and Grand Prince).

This which might have angered some unimportant more distant cousins in Alexander III's court currently had a purpose, it was not an attack on the autocracy, the nobility or the nationalist movements of Russia, it was an economic movement.

Alexander III's actions in this regard drastically reduced the number of Grand Dukes and Duchesses, reducing the money the state spent on these nobles, or the money these nobles spent (usually on palaces and luxuries).

So a generous amount of rubles was saved by this action.

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[International]

Tewodros II of Abyssinia commits suicide in April in the first stage of the battle of Magdala, capital of the Ethiopian Empire, at first it seemed that Robert Napier's British expedition would win (inciting the monarch to suicide).

However after this the defense of the city manages to rebuild, hundreds of Ethiopians die in comparison but they managed to defeat and capture the British.

Great material damage resulted in the city of Magdala (with a fortress, two churches and some other buildings burned), now there were some disputes for the throne.

The Empress Dowager Tiruwork however liberated the British and with her son Prince Alemayehu Tewodros went to the United Kingdom, under the auspices of Queen Victoria.

Some say that the expedition was an success for British liberation, others that it was not because an African army defeated a European army.

The city of Edo and other castles such as Utsunomiya of the Shogunate surrender to Emperor Meiji.

In the United States, the Bosque Redondo Treaty is signed, which would allow the Navajos to return to their territories in Arizona and New Mexico.

Prince Mihailo (Michael) Obrenović of Serbia, an enlightened absolutist, is assassinated at the hands of a conspiracy by the relatives of Ljubomir Radovanović. Ljubomir is nobody important, it's just that he's locked up, so his brothers and some of his cousins wanted revenge.

Among those involved are the merchant Kosta Radovanović, his brother Pavle Radovanović and the other brother Đorđe Radovanović.

*******

Regarding the Franco-Prussian war, the German advance towards northern France and Alsace met with local resistance, and the difficulties of the German high command did not exactly help the advance.

Resistance from northern France fell faster, while some armies stayed in Luxembourg to defend local supply lines and fortifications, others advanced into northern France.

The French generals were north-northeast of the defense line, with Emperor Napoleon III Bonaparte in the south of the line.

The French defensive line was incredibly long, hindering the communication of both main forces of the French army and the coordination of their commanders.

The Prussians focused on the middle of this defensive line for an early offensive. The Franco-Germanic confrontation resulted in a slight Germanic victory.

However the two main French armies were now seeking to outflank the bulk of the Germanic army on two fronts.