However, the emir could not shut out all outside influences, and gradually some of the disaffected youth of Bukhara gravitated to Pan-Turkism, inspired by the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire, ideas taken from the Islamic Jadid reform movement, and the new Bolshevik-inspired communism.

The Red Army marched to the gates of Bukhara and demanded that the emir surrender the city to the Young Bukharans.

On 16 August 1920 the 4th Congress of Bukharan Communist Party held in Bolshevik-controlled Chardjui decided to overthrow the emir.

On 25 August 1920 the Politburo of the Russian Communist Party of Bolesheviks confirmed orders for the Revolutionary Military Council of Turkestan concerning the "Bukhara question".

On 2 September 1920, after four days of fighting, the emir's citadel (the Ark) was destroyed, the red flag was raised from the top of Kalyan Minaret.

In 1922, most of the territory of the republic (East Bukhara, roughly from Hisor to West Pamir) was controlled by Basmachi, and it took the Red Army until 1926 to fully suppress the revolt.

Just two weeks after the proclamation of the People's Republic, Communist Party membership in Bukhara soared to 14,000 as many local inhabitants were eager to prove their loyalty to the new regime.

Conversely, the flags of the Soviet Republics among which the Bukharan territory was divided in 1924 featured the Hammer and Sickle alone, omitting the Crescent.

The northern border of the People's Republic reached close to Khiva in the west and touched on what is today Karakalpakstan and Navoiy Region in Uzbekistan.