On 25 June 1916 (8 July 1916, ), shortly before the start of the rebellion, Tsar Nicholas II adopted a draft of conscripting Central Asian men from the age of 19 to 43 into labor battalions for the service in the ongoing in support of the ongoing Brusilov Offensive. Some regional Russian officers were bribed to exempt certain people from conscription. The cause of the uprising was also due to the transfer of lands by the Tsarist Government to Russian settlers, Cossacks, and poor settlers. Political and religious extremism played a role too, as well as the fear of being used as human shields during the Russo-German trench warfare.
