Siege of Samarkand (1868)

Siege of Samarkand
	Part of the Russian conquest of Bukhara
	; Painting, titled "Let them enter!", of Russian soldiers defending a breach in the walls at the Siege of Samarkand. Vasily Vereshchagin—who was commended for his heroism during the siege—painted the work in 1871 and went on to become a famous War artist.
Date	14–20 June 1868
Location	Samarkand, Uzbekistan (then Russia)
Result	Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Emirate of Bukhara ; Kokand Khanate ; Uzbek tribes ; Turkmen Tribes
Commanders and leaders
Baron of Stempel; Nikolai Nazarov	Jurabek
Strength
650-660; 2 cannons; 2 mortars; 4 Bukharan cannons	25,000–65,000
Casualties and losses
49 killed; 172 wounded	Heavy

The siege of Samarkand, or siege of the Samarkand Citadel, was a military engagement fought in the city of Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan) in June 1868. In the engagement, a small garrison of Russian Imperial soldiers was besieged by a combined army of Bukhara soldiers and its allies - including the Kokand Khanate and tributary Turkmen-Uzbek tribes. The siege played an important role in the 1868 campaign of Russian conquest of Bukhara.

The Russian army commanded by Konstantin Kaufmann took Samarkand on May 2, 1868 after a brief battle on the heights of Chupan-Ata - a height on the outskirts of the city. The city itself surrendered without a fight.

The Russian army made the city's citadel as their headquarters while the campaign against the Emir of Bukhara was ongoing. In late May, as Kaufmann left the city to fight against the Emir, he left a small garrison consisting of infantry and sappers to repair the citadel and to guard the city.

While the main Russian army was away from the city, the small garrison would be unexpectedly besieged by a large army of combined tribes. In addition to the great besieging army, the city's inhabitants rose up against the Russians.

Instead of defending the entire city, the outnumbered Russian garrison resorted to defending in the citadel.

Over the course of six days, the Russian garrison repelled multiple attempts by the besieging allied army to storm the citadel. In some instances, the garrison was close to being annihilated. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the garrison held out until the main army returned to lift the siege.

The successful defence of the citadel had effectively prevented Bukhara from retaking the city of Samarkand.

The successful defence of the city, combined with the Russian victory at Zerabulak, had effectively defeated the armies of the Emir. The Emir no longer had any means to fight the Russian army and sued for peace.

As a result of the 1868 campaign, the Emirate of Bukhara became a dependent protectorate of the Russian Empire.

The Russian victory solidified imperial control over the new state of Russian Turkestan, and caused the partial collapse of the Bukharan Emirate.