Gokdepe

You will have an amazing opportunity to have a tour in the attraction, which is located 45 kilometers from Turkmenistan the Turkmen fortress - Gokdepe. It was built by the inhabitants of the oasis of Akhal-Tekke before the attack of the Russian army in 1879.

While travel there you will be able to see the fortress of Turkmenistan which height is 4 meters, its thickness was up to 10 meters at the base and about 5 meters at the top. Its entire perimeter was 4.4 km. The walls were made of edged clay.

The territory on which the fortress is located consists of the foundations of a plain, and only in the north-western corner did one hill rise, and there was a surrounded courtyard and several wells to the south. More information about this sight you will learn in a tour. After an unsuccessful attack by the Russian army, no one lived here. In 1880, the entire population gathered here in the amount of 45 thousand people. The whole area was densely built up with yurts.

For the European armies of the late 19th century, this fortress became a serious problem but because of a long siege it fell. Due to the refusal to agree, the Turkmen Tekk tribes settled on the eastern shore of the Caspian at the end of the 1860s.

Since the raids of the Turkmens became a problem for the forces and interests of the tsar. In 1879 by his decree the local Russian commander General Lomakin was sent to the key camp of Turkmen people in Gokdepe, in the center of the oasis.

The defeat took a pretty hard blow to the pride of Russians, which is why the disgraced commander of the Trans-Caspian military Lomakin was replaced by the more brave and merciless General Mikhail Skobelev. The mood of this person fluttered between euphoria and depression. Skobelev had a prominent place in this campaign since in the battle he was replete with medals and rode on a white charger. It is completely natural that his nickname "White General" does not surprise anyone. At some point, Skobelev developed a plan for the invasion of India, and his destination worried the British, concerned about possible Russian plans for their empire. Skobelev wanted to avenge the defeat of 1879. Using 7,000 troops and 60 artillery pieces, he reached Geokdepe in 1880. Using the experience gained from the plan of Lomakin, he decided to besiege the fortress. But there was possibility that Tekke would be reinforced by their compatriots from Mary, causing excitement as they were at great distances from sources of supply. Skobelev artillery operated inside the fortress, but left few traces on the walls. Due to it he decided to make a tunnel under the wall to conquer it. To do this, in the morning of January 12, they blew up the mine, which was located on the southeast side of the fortress, as a result of which a gap of 50 meters formed in the walls. Starting the assault, the Russian army conquered the fortress by noon and on the top of the Dengil Depe hill in the very center of the Turkmen camp a flag of double-headed eagle waved. As a consequence, it is estimated that about 6,500 Turkmen were buried in the fortress itself, and another 8,000 were killed outside its borders, this number also includes women and children. As Skobeev admitted, only 268 people died from the Sotoron of Russian soldiers. But because of his successes, Skobelev was exiled to retaining work in Minsk. Later, at the age of 38, his body was found at the Dyuzo Hotel in Moscow under several compromise circumstances. After this incident, the Turkmens lost all the military spirit and ceased to be a problem for the Russians. During the opening of the Trans-Caspian Railway, the Turkmens, having heard the sounds of a military okestr, fell to their knees, having mixed up the sounds of military music from that bloody massacre that took place on January 12, 1881. You will have a great time while travel to this place full of the interesting facts.