Hello and thank you for downloading witness on the BBC World Service with me, Dina Neumann.

Today I'm taking you back to the summer of 1916, when at the height of World War I, Russia had to deal with a violent uprising in Central Asia.

It was in early July of 1916 that the people of Central Asia first heard that their young men

were about to be taken away. I'm sorry,

Samael, my Breshe, my breezy,

Samel Tower, my breezy mountains, my vast lake, my motherland. What fate awaits me as a soldier?

I will remember you always my native land.

We are not on horseback. We are walking slower than a pilgrim. In 15

days we might reach Omsk. I am leaving behind my mom and dad. They are getting old. This is all I can sing about in these sad days of 1916.

This was a Kazakh folk song sung by thousands of young men when they were unexpectedly

drafted into labor battalions and sent to help with Russia's war effort.

It produced real consternation, partly because a lot of people just didn't understand what was involved.

So the wildest rumors began to fly around.

Alexander Morrison teaches history at night. wildest rumors began to fly around.

Alexander Morrison teaches history at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan.

One very widespread one was that people were going to be conscripted to dig trenches in between the Russian and German front lines,

so that they would have both sides firing at them.

And there was a widespread belief that they were actually being sent to fight without weapons.

In fact, tens of thousands of Central Asian men were sent to serve as labourers,

digging trenches behind the front lines. In 1916 the Russian Empire was desperate for manpower and the Central Asian

draft was its last resort but it was called hastily without even consulting the local officials.

The attempt by the local administration to draw up a list of names of those who should be conscripted,

...