Nineteenth-century Tsarist Russia sought to head off the expanding British Empire and gain access to warm water ports on the Black Sea.
The Russians expanded south through Central Asia, but they ran up against one very tough foe - the nomadic Teke tribe of Turcomen.
In 1879, the Teke Turkmen soundly defeated the Russians at Geoktepe, shaming the Empire.
The Russians launched a retaliatory strike in 1881, leveling the Teke fortress at Geoktepe, slaughtering the defenders, and scattering the Teke across the desert.
This was the beginning of Russian dominance of Central Asia, which lasted through the Soviet Era.
Even today, many of the Central Asian republics are reluctantly bound to the economy and culture of their northern neighbor.
