The history of Turkmenistan traditionally began with the arrival of Indo-European Iranian tribes around 2000 BC. Early tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic due to the arid conditions of the region, preventing widespread adoption of agriculture. The steppe culture in Central Asia was an extension of a larger Eurasian series of horse cultures which spanned the entire spectrum of language families, including the Indo-Europeans and Turko-Mongol groups. Some of the known early Iranian tribes included the Massagatae, the Scythians/Sakas, and early Soghdians, who were most likely precursors of the Khwarezmians. Turkmenistan was a passing point for numerous migrations and invasions by tribes, which gravitated towards the settled regions of the south, including ancient Mesopotamia, Elam, and the Indus Valley civilization.
The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.
The North Russia intervention, also known as the Northern Russian expedition, the Archangel campaign, and the Murman deployment, was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The intervention brought about the involvement of foreign troops in the Russian Civil War on the side of the White movement. The movement was ultimately defeated, while the British-led Allied forces withdrew from Northern Russia after fighting a number of defensive actions against the Bolsheviks, such as the Battle of Bolshie Ozerki. The campaign lasted from March 1918, during the final months of World War I, to October 1919.
The Transcaspian Oblast, or simply Transcaspia, was an oblast of the Russian Empire and early Soviet Russia to the east of the Caspian Sea during the second half of the 19th century until 1924.
The Trans-Caspian Railway is a railway that follows the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia. It was built by the Russian Empire during its expansion into Central Asia in the 19th century. The railway was started in 1879, following the Russian victory over Khokand. Originally it served a military purpose of facilitating the Imperial Russian Army in actions against the local resistance to their rule. However, when Lord Curzon visited the railway, he remarked that he considered its significance went beyond local military control and threatened British interests in Asia.
The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian forces and the Czechoslovak Legion against Soviet Russia and its allies during the Russian Civil War. The Imperial Japanese Army continued to occupy Siberia even after other Allied forces withdrew in 1920.
The 26 Baku Commissars were Bolshevik and Left Socialist Revolutionary (SR) members of the Baku Commune. The commune was established in the city of Baku, which was then the capital of the briefly independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and is now the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The commune, led by Stepan Shahumyan, existed until 26 July 1918 when the Bolsheviks were forced out of power by a coalition of Dashnaks, Right SRs and Mensheviks.
Reginald Teague-Jones MBE was a British political and intelligence officer. He was active in the Caucasus and Central Asia during the Russian Civil War. For the last 66 years of his life he was known as Ronald Sinclair. Under that assumed name, he authored two published accounts of his travels and adventures in Asia and the Middle East.
The British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was Operation Red Trek. The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia. It failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.
The Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (French: Corps expéditionnaire sibérien) (also referred to as the Canadian Expeditionary Force (Siberia) or simply the C.S.E.F.) was a Canadian military force sent to Vladivostok, Russia, during the Russian Revolution to bolster the allied presence, oppose the Bolshevik Revolution and attempt to keep Russia in the fight against Germany. Composed of 4,192 soldiers and authorized in August 1918, the force returned to Canada between April and June 1919. The force was commanded by Major General James H. Elmsley. During this time, the C.S.E.F. saw little fighting, with fewer than 100 troops proceeding "up country" to Omsk, to serve as administrative staff for 1,500 British troops aiding the anti-Bolshevik White Russian government of Admiral Alexander Kolchak. Most Canadians remained in Vladivostok, undertaking routine drill and policing duties in the volatile port city.
The Russian Civil War (1917–1921) began after the provisional government collapsed and the Bolshevik party assumed power in October 1917. The principal fighting occurred between the Bolshevik Red Army and the forces of the White Army, a group of loosely allied anti-Bolshevik forces. During the war several foreign armies took part, mostly fighting against the Red Army—including the Western allies—and many foreign volunteers fought for both sides. Other nationalist and regional political groups also participated in the war, including the Ukrainian nationalist Green Army, the Ukrainian anarchist Insurgent Army and Black Guards, and warlords such as Ungern von Sternberg. Despite some pressure from Britain, the Australian Prime Minister, William Hughes, had refused to commit forces to Russia following the end of World War I in 1918.
Major-General Sir Wilfrid Malleson was a major-general in the British Indian Army who led a mission to Turkestan during the Russian Civil War.
The Tashkent Soviet was a public organisation set up in Tashkent during the Russian Revolution. It was established on 2 March 1917 at an inaugural meeting that consisted of thirty five workers from the Central Asian Railway. It was headed by a technician named I. I. Bel'kov. The following day, there was a meeting in the local Duma which set up an Executive Committee of Public Organisations to manage the "sociopolitical and economic life of the city".
The Transcaspian Government was a "Menshevik-Socialist Revolutionary" coalition set up by the railway workers of the Trans-Caspian Railway in 1918. It was based at Ashgabat, Transcaspian Oblast.
Fyodor Adrianovich Funtikov was Chairman of Provisional Executive Committee of the Transcaspian Region Soviet during the period July 1918 – Jan 1919. He was a Socialist Revolutionary railway worker, who in his role as head of the Transcaspian Government was held responsible for the execution of the 26 Baku Commissars.
The Malleson mission or British intervention in Transcaspia was a military action by a small autonomous force of British Indian troops, led by General Wilfrid Malleson, operating against Bolshevik forces over large distances in Transcaspia between August 1918 and April 1919, in the context of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Colonel Charles Howard "Dick" Ellis (1895–1975) was an Australian-born British intelligence officer credited with writing the blueprint for United States wartime intelligence agencies Coordinator of Information and Office of Strategic Services, what would become the CIA. For his contribution to the United States in World War II, he received the Legion of Merit from President Harry S. Truman.
The British Caspian Flotilla was a naval force of the Royal Navy established in the Caspian Sea in 1918. It was part of the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The flotilla initially reported to the Rear-Admiral Commanding, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Sea of Marmora until 1919.
The Turkestan Army was a White army during the Russian Civil War, which operated from January 1919 to February 1920, in the Transcaspian Oblast area.
Captain Royce Coleman Dyer, was a Canadian soldier who fought during World War I and had led a Russian unit during the North Russia intervention which was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. He died of broncho-pneumonia on December 30, 1918, while serving in Russia.
India 
White movement 
Soviet Russia