Amangeldy Imanov

Amangel’dy Imanov 

Born in 1873, in the Turgai District; died May 18, 1919, in Turgai. One of the leaders of the national liberation uprising in Kazakhstan in 1916 and an active participant in the struggle for Soviet power from 1917 to 1919. Member of the Communist Party from 1918.

Born to a poor Kazakh family, Amangel’dy Imanov became a farmhand and later a smith. In 1905–07 he took part in the armed struggle of the peasants against the beys (rich landowners). In 1916 he led an uprising against tsarism in the Turgai and other districts of Kazakhstan and united a considerable part of the vanguards of the Turgai, Kustanai, Aktiubinsk, and Irgiz Districts. In October 1916 the insurrectionist troops of Amangel’dy Imanov besieged the town of Turgai. After the arrival of strong tsarist forces, he lifted the siege November 17 and retreated. In January 1917 he again attempted to take the town, then withdrew to the steppes. He was engaged in battles with punitive detachments right up to the October Revolution. From October 1917 to January 1918 he actively participated in the establishment of Soviet power in Turgai and in Turgai Oblast and was military commissar of the Turgai District. He took part in the work of the oblast congress of the soviets (Orenburg, 1918). In July 1918, at the head of a group of Soviet workers, he conducted elections of the aul (village) and volost (small rural district) soviets. During the Civil War, together with A. Dzhangil’din, he formed the first national Red Army units in Kazakhstan and helped the partisans at the rear of Kolchak’s army. In November 1918 a detachment led by Amangel’dy Imanov and Dzhangil’din freed the town of Turgai from the White Guards. During the offensive of Kolchak’s army on the eastern front (spring 1919), the Alash horde rose against the Soviets. Amangel’dy Imanov was arrested and killed.

REFERENCE

Nurkanov. A. Narodnyi batyr. Moscow, 1962.