> the peasants hoped to settle on free lands not owned by the nobles. rumors spread persistently that all migrants were promised freedom. excited by this news, thousands of peasants left their native places and arbitrarily went to the caucasus or across the volga. unable to delay the peasants, the nobles turned to the tsarist administration for help. cordons of regular troops were placed on the roads, mass arrests of peasants were carried out, and those captured were forcibly taken back to their former places of residence. the revolution of 1905 forced the tsarist government to switch from restricting migration to forcing migration. the main reason for such a rapidly growing movement was the defeat of the peasants in the revolution of 1905-1907, when the peasants' hopes of obtaining land from the nobles were temporarily dashed. > tsarist officials believed that, for example, in the semirechensk region, the russian population was less than 50%, and therefore russian colonization there should be strengthened at all costs in order to improve the ethnographic "physiognomy" of central asia, to strengthen the russian ethnic dominance. the russian government supported several studies to find out how best to send the "russian element" there. in 1905, semirechye was chosen as the main place for the settlement of russian settlers. one imperial inspector called the local officials - colonizers "fanatics" who often did not meet with local authorities and who "had the intention of settling emigrants in this region." in a military-statistical description of the semirechye district published in 1910, it was recommended that in the event of an uprising of the local population, hostages be taken from the families of the rebels, and that the "moderates" be separated from the "irredeemables." the remaining "gangs" of restless elements were to be either destroyed or driven across the border.
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