republic · Central Asia and the Steppe

Khorezm People's Soviet Republic

1920 CE – 1924 CE · capital Khiva

The short-lived Soviet-backed republic that replaced the Khanate of Khiva in 1920 before being divided among the new national republics.

Origins

In early 1920 the Red Army and the reformist Young Khivans overthrew the Khanate of Khiva, then dominated by the Turkmen warlord Junaid Khan. In April 1920 the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was proclaimed, with Khiva as capital.

Rule and society

Officially independent and allied with Soviet Russia, it was governed by Young Khivans and later communists, under strong influence from Moscow. It nationalised the khan's estates, opened schools and fought Junaid Khan's Turkmen forces. Purges in 1921 and 1922 removed many of the original leaders, and it became the Khorezm Soviet Socialist Republic in 1923.

Decline and legacy

In the national delimitation of 1924 the republic was divided among the Uzbek SSR, the Turkmen SSR and the new Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast, later Karakalpakstan. Khiva's walled inner town, Itchan Kala, survived and is now a World Heritage Site.

Lineage

Khanate of Khiva 1511 CE – 1920 CEKhorezm People's Soviet RepublicTurkmen SSR 1924 CE – 1991 CEUzbek SSR 1924 CE – 1991 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Khorezm People's Soviet Republic. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/khorezm-peoples-soviet-republic
MLA
“Khorezm People's Soviet Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/khorezm-peoples-soviet-republic. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Khorezm People's Soviet Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/khorezm-peoples-soviet-republic.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Khorezm People's Soviet Republic’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/khorezm-peoples-soviet-republic (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻