Battle of Geok Tepe

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Siege of Geok Tepe
Part of Russian conquest of Turkestan
Date December 1880 – January 1881 Location Geok Tepe, Turkmenistan 38°09′28″N 57°57′59″E / 38.15778°N 57.96639°E / 38.15778; 57.96639 Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Turkmens
Commanders and leaders
Mikhail Skobelev Aleksey Kuropatkin	Ovezmurat Dykma-Serdar et al.
Strength
7,200[1] 72 artillery pieces	20–25,000 people in the fortress (around 8,000 with firearms)[1] no artillery
Casualties and losses
268 killed 669 wounded[2]: 402 [3] or: 59 killed, 254 wounded[1][4] 645 died of disease.[1]	15,000 defenders and civilians killed[5] or up to 20,000 killed[6]

The Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881 was the main event in the 1880/81 Russian campaign to conquer the Teke tribe of Turkmens. Its effect was to give the Russian Empire control over most of what is now Turkmenistan, thereby nearly completing the Russian conquest of Central Asia.

The battle is also called Denghil-Tepe or Dangil Teppe. Sources are inconsistent, but Denghil-Tepe seems to have been the name of the fort and also the name of a small hill or tumulus in the northwest corner of the fort. Geok Tepe ('Blue Hill') seems to refer to the general area, the modern town, a nearby village and a mountain to the south. Skrine says that fort enclosed 2.6 square kilometres (1 sq mi) or more, with mud walls 5.5 m (18 ft) thick and 3 m (10 ft) high on the inside and a 1.2 m (4 ft) dry ditch on the outside, although other dimensions are given. The area was part of the Akhal Oasis where streams coming down from the Kopet Dagh support irrigation agriculture.

The Russians killed all Turkmen males who had not succeeded in escaping from the fort, but spared about 5,000 women and children. They freed about 600 Persian slaves.^[1]