Book excerpt: After almost four centuries of expansion the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century covered vast territories on the Eurasian continent and included an immensely diverse population. How was the new Russian regime to deal with the complexity of its population? This book examines the role of nation and nationality in the Soviet Union and analyzes the establishment of national republics in Soviet Central Asia. It argues that the originally nationally minded Soviet communists with their anti-nationalist attitudes came to view nation and national identity as valuable tools in state building.