“The Roof of the World” at the Crossroads of Anglo-Soviet Geopolitical Interests (1917–1922)

The Anglo-Bolshevik confrontation in the Pamirs, as well as the problem of establishing Soviet authority in the region, is poorly studied problem. The revolutionary events and the events of the Civil War in the Pamirs are still not well considered and not completely clear. This is primarily attributable to a lack of examination of archival material. The documents, which are being analysed in academic literature for the first time, provide a better understanding of the events that took place in the region. The article focuses on the intelligence and anti-Bolshevik efforts in the Pamirs and neighbouring regions of the British Consul General in Kashgar, Percy Etherton. From the reports and messages of Etherton himself, it becomes clear that he actively attracted both the local population and anti-Bolshevik-minded Russians for intelligence purposes. Separately, we can emphasise the widespread engagements of the Ismailis of the Pamirs and Ismaili peers, some of whom sought to prevent the establishment of Soviet power in the region and were ready to rely even on the Afghan Sunnis and Bukharans, as well as enlist the support of the British. The article reviews the struggle of the Bolsheviks to establish their power in the Pamirs and their counterintelligence measures against the actions of the British in the region. The subject of the study is the methods used by the opposing sides, the matter of maintaining support and why the anti-Bolshevik efforts of the British were generally unsuccessful. Drawing on archival documents and a number of studies, the course of the struggle against ant-Soviet forces and insurgents is reconstructed. The Bolsheviks were interested in the Pamirs themselves as a route by which to “export” the revolution to British India, as part of their policy of spreading their ideology in Asia. These are all little-known pieces of the region's history New archival materials have given a different perspective on the events that took place in the Pamirs between 1917 and 1922.

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