Jamil Hasanli is former professor of history at Baku State University and visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Between 1931 and 1949, the USSR intervened in the politics of Xinjiang, China’s northwest territory, first supporting an independent-minded Chinese strongman, then the Chinese Nationalist government, and later anti-Chinese Muslim forces.... Hasanli draws on Russian and American archives to illuminate the twists and turns of Soviet policy, arguing that Stalin was guided above all by his determination to secure the USSR’s long southern border. In this, Xinjiang policy resembled Stalin’s approach to Iranian Azerbaijan and Turkey in reference to Armenia, topics of Hasanli’s previous books. He makes effective use of recent studies of Xinjiang history by scholars with East Asian expertise, including scholars writing in Russian, so the perspectives of Chinese, Uyghur, Kazakh, and Mongol political actors are represented. Recommended.

• Chapter 1: National Movement in Eastern Turkistan and Moscow’s Growing Influence in Xinjiang (1930–1934) Chapter 2: Strengthening of Soviet Control over Eastern Turkistan (1934–1939) Chapter 3: Deepening of Crisis in Soviet-Xinjiang Relations and Downfall of the Sheng Government Chapter 4: Activation of Moscow’s Policy in Xinjiang and Creation of the Eastern Turkistan Republic (1944–1945) Chapter 5: The Urumqi Agreement and Establishment of a Coalition Government in Xinjiang (1946–1947) Chapter 6: New Wave of Soviet Activities in Xinjiang and Communist Victory in China (1947–1949)