DarleneSeamon8 at 17:45, 1 April 2026

2026-04-01T17:45:22Z

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{{Short description|Soviet plan to attack British India (1919–1920)}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Kalmyk Project
| partof = Soviet anti-imperialist strategy in Asia
| image = Cherbatskoy.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = [[Fyodor Shcherbatskoy]], under whom the [[People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs]] proposed to send a "scientific expedition" to [[Tibet]]
| date = 1919–1920
| place = Central Asia, Tibet, North-West Frontier Province (British India)
| result = Abandoned due to logistical challenges and the Czechoslovak uprising
| combatant1 = [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]]
| combatant2 = [[British Empire]]
| commander1 = N. Z. Bravin, [[Leon Trotsky]], [[Fyodor Shcherbatskoy]], [[Raja Mahendra Pratap]]
| commander2 = [[Frederick Marshman Bailey|F. M. Bailey]] (British intelligence)
| strength1 = Proposed: ~40,000 cavalry (unrealized)
| strength2 = Unknown
| notes = Included plans to foment unrest via Himalayan buffer states and Buddhist Kalmyks
}}
The '''Kalmyk Project''' was the name given to Soviet plans to launch a surprise attack on the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–2010)|North-West Frontier Province]] of [[British India]] via [[Tibet]] and other Himalayan [[buffer state]]s in 1919–1920. It was a part of Soviet plans to destabilise the [[British Empire]] and other Western European imperial powers by unrest in [[South Asia]]. British Indian intelligence sent agents, such as [[Frederick Marshman Bailey|F. M. Bailey]], to [[Soviet Central Asia|Central Asia]] to trace the early [[Bolshevik]] designs on India.

[[Soviet Russia]] intended to nurture political upheaval in British India in its strategy against British imperialism. In 1919, it sent a diplomatic mission headed by the [[Oriental studies|orientalist]] N. Z. Bravin. That was while Afghanistan had seen a ''coup d'état'', which placed the young Prince [[Amanullah Khan]] in power and precipitated the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]]. Bravin proposed to Amanullah a military alliance against British India and a campaign for which [[Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Turkestan]] would bear the costs.<ref name=Andreyev83/> The negotiations, however, failed to reach concrete conclusions, and the Soviet advances were also detected by British Indian intelligence. Among other works, the Bravin expedition established links at [[Herat Province|Herat]] with the Austrian and German remnants of the [[Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition]] and liaised with the Indian revolutionaries of the [[Provisional Government of India]] in [[Kabul]].<ref name=Andreyev83>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=83}}</ref><ref name=Andreyev86>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=86}}</ref>

A later plan considered by the Soviets had the raising a force of nearly 40,000 cavalry troops from Turkestan or the Urals and advance to India through Afghanistan, with help from Afghan tribes that rallied against Amanullah.<ref name=Andreyev87>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=87}}</ref> [[Leon Trotsky]], then head of the [[Revolutionary Military Council|RMC]] of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]], was a proponent of this version of the plan.<ref name="Andreyev87" /> However, the plans presented their own problems. Other routes to India that were explored included plans to foment unrest in Tibet and the Himalayan buffer states of [[Bhutan]], [[Sikkim]], [[Nepal]], [[Thailand]] and [[British rule in Burma|Burma]] through the Buddhist [[Kalmyk people|Kalmyks]] and to use the places as a staging ground for revolution in India and the shortest route to Bengal, which was the centre of the revolutionary movement in India.<ref name=Andreyev88>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=88}}</ref> That was to proceed under the cover of a scientific expedition under the Indologist [[Fyodor Shcherbatskoy]], and it would arm the indigenous people in the North-East Frontier with modern weaponry before a regular supply could be arranged.<ref name=Andreyev91>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=91}}</ref> The Kalmyk project may have been the brainchild of [[Raja Mahendra Pratap]], who had led the [[Niedermayer-Hentig Expedition]] into Afghanistan in 1915 and later established the nationalist [[Provisional Government of India]] at Kabul in December that year. Pratap liaised with the Nascent Bolshevik Government and the Kaiser after 1917 to explore the scopes of a joint Soviet-German invasion of India through Afghanistan. The most notable meeting was Pratap's audience with [[Lenin]], which was arranged by the [[People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs]] in 1919, when he met him with a group of Indian revolutionaries from the [[Berlin Committee]].<ref name=Andreyev96/> The project had the approval of Lenin.<ref name=Andreyev92>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=92}}</ref> Pratap had a strong obsession with Tibet and had made efforts as early as 1916 to penetrate into the Himalayan Kingdom to cultivate [[anti-British]] propaganda. His efforts were resumed after his return from Moscow in 1919. He was close to [[Fyodor Shcherbatskoy]] and [[Sergey Oldenburg]], intended to participate in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs planned expeditions to Tibet in summer 1919, and was privy to its designs for the region.<ref name=Andreyev96>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=96}}</ref>

However, the project was ultimately curtailed after the [[Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion|Czechoslovak uprising]] in the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]]. Pratap himself set out alone unsuccessfully to pursue his goal in Tibet.<ref name=Andreyev97>{{Harvnb|Andreyev|2003|p=97}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Literature ==
*{{Citation
| last = Andreyev
| first = Alexandre
| year = 2003
| title = Soviet Russia and Tibet: The Debacle of Secret Diplomacy, 1918–1930s
| publisher = Brill
| ISBN = 90-04-12952-9
}}.

[[Category:1919 in British India]]
[[Category:Foreign policy doctrines]]
[[Category:1919 in international relations]]
[[Category:1920 in international relations]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:India–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Cancelled or proposed Russian and Soviet invasions of British India]]
[[Category:1920 in British India]]
[[Category:Indian independence movement]]

Kalmyk Project - Revision history

DarleneSeamon8 at 17:45, 1 April 2026