Kazakh–Kalmyk War (1723–1726)

See also: Kazakh–Dzungar War (1723–1730)

Kazakh–Kalmyk War
Part of the Kazakh–Dzungar War (1723–1730) of Kazakh–Dzungar Wars
DateAugust 1723 – October 1725/1726[1]
Location
Volga–Yaik interfluve, Northern Caspian region
Result

Peaceful agreement:

  • Peace Treaty of 1726
Territorial
changes
  • Kalmyks initially driven back from the Emba river beyond the Yaik river[2]
  • Kalmyks later counterattack and recover lost territories.[3][4]
    • Belligerents
    		 Kalmyk Khanate
    Supported by:
    Russian Empire
    Commanders and leaders
    Strength
    1723:
    20,000
    1724:
    10,000–13,000 (March)
    757 (August)
    1725/1726:
    10,000–17,000    		 1723:
    5,000
    1724:
    18,000–20,000
    1725:
    30,000 (June)
    20,000 (August)
    1725/1726:
    20,000

    Kazakh–Kalmyk war of 1723–1726,[7] or Northern Campaigns,[8] was a military conflict between the Kazakh Khanate and Kalmyk khanate, and one of the main theatres of the Kazakh–Dzungar War.[8]

    Background

    Main article: Barefooted Flight

    On February of 1723, Dzungar commanders[9] suddenly attacked the Kazakh nomadic camps of the Senior and Middle Jüzes on Irtysh river,[10] Whilst they also attacked the Chu and Talas rivers and more.[11] Which soon caused the Barefooted flight or also known as "Aqtaban shuburundy".[12]

    War

    First campaign (1723)

    In September 1723, Abul khair started his advance with combined forces of the Kazakhs and Karakalpaks, against the Kalmyks — crossing the Yaik — in order to disrupt a Kalmyk–Dzungar coalition against the Kazakhs.[13]

    Abulkhair's forces defeated the uluses of Lekbei tayiji, numbering about 2,000 families — capturing a large number of prisoners and livestock, which were sold to Dorji Nazarov, after which the Kazakhs continued their advance deep into Kalmyk territory.[6] Afterwards, the Kazakhs captured 5,000 Kalmyk kibitkas in the uluses of Ayuka khan and Lubji Nazarov.[14]

    Alarmed by the Kazakh attacks on the Kalmyk Khanate, the Russian imperial government in December 1723 sent a decree to Ayuka demanding assistance in repelling the Kazakh–Karakalpak offensive:[6]

    "The Kirghiz-Kaisaks and the Karakalpaks, having gathered in forty thousand men, are marching against our imperial cities and your uluses, our subject, for the purpose of ravaging towns and villages… You, our subject, must hinder them, so that they may not reach the destruction of our cities and districts."

    Following this, Ayuka Khan requested military assistance from Astrakhan governor A.P. Volynsky, who ordered an artillery unit and six squadrons of Russian soldiers to be sent to aid the Kalmyks — in which the Kalmyks managed to repel the Kazakhs on the Yaik river.[15]

    Second campaign

    Main article: Battle of Uzeni

    On March of 1724, a Kazakh–Karakalpak force numbering 13,000 men invaded the Left bank of the Volga river and, some 60 km from Saratov, attacked the uluses of Dorzhi Nazarov — 50 Kalmyks were taken prisoner, and 8,500 head of livestock were driven off.[7] In nearby Kalmyk encampments, 400 people and 13,600 head of livestock were captured, with Astrakhan official S. P. Shakhmatov reporting a clashes on the meadow side of the Volga and a battle near the Elton area, where the Kalmyks lost 60 killed and 60 captured, while the Kazakhs suffered 55 killed and captured.[7]

    In April, the Karakalpaks again attacked Kalmyk encampments near Guryev, breaking into the Kalmyk camp but being repelled by Russian artillery.[7] Soon Kalmyk armies arrived at the Kunchuluk River, which is on this side of the Yaik River, attacking a small detachment of Kazakhs which they defeated it.[7]

    Third campaign

    After Abulkhair's defeat on Struggle of Turkistan in 1725, about 10,000 Kazakh kibitkas once again moved northwest toward the Kalmyk pastures, assuming that the Kalmyks had retreated to the right bank of the Volga. However, upon learning that the Kalmyks had remained in place, they turned back and stopped along the Emba River. On July 1725, Dorji Nazarov led an army of 20,000-strong men, destroying a thousand yurts and another Kazakh ulus of 10,000 yurts, drove off livestock and horse herds.[16]

    In September 1725, the Kazakhs launched a new offensive with about forces of 17,000 men against the Kalmyks to settle their uluses along the Yaik River. On October 6, Saratov authorities reported that 400 Karakalpaks had attacked Kalmyk uluses near the Ryn Sands, capturing prisoners and livestock. On October 30, a 17,000-strong Kazakh–Karakalpak army attempted to seize a Cossack town and devastate the Kalmyk uluses, then cross the Volga and flee to the Kuban.

    In a conversation between the Kalmyk high priest Shakur-Lama and V. P. Beklemishev on February 1726, it was reported that in the autumn of 1725,[a] 10,000 Kazakhs led by Abulkhair and Samake attacked the ulus of Lekbei and defeated it. However, the Kalmyk nobles managed to mobilize a 20,000-strong army and overtake the Kazakh detachmentl, later defeating smaller Kazakh and counterattacking to the Caspian Sea with support of Russian artillery, managing to repel the Kazakh invasion.[17][4]

    Aftermath

    Soon in 1726, the Kazakhs made peace with the Kalmyks and soon focused their forces on the west against the Dzungars, forming a meeting on Ordabasy — later defeating the Dzungars on Battle of Bulanty.[18]

    Notes

    1. ^ But according to other sources, the battle took place in the autumn of 1726[3][4]

    References

    1. ^ А.В. Цюрюмов, В.В. Батыров 2006, pp. 45.
    2. ^ "Вопросы генеалогии и хронологии правления ханов Казахского ханства 17-первой трети 18 века" (PDF). Қазақстан тарихы порталы.
    3. ^ a b c Р. Д. Темиргалиев (March 27, 2019). Эпоха последних батыров (in Russian). Litres. ISBN 978-5-04-161878-0. Retrieved October 11, 2025. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
    4. ^ a b c И.В. Ерофеева 2007, pp. 182.
    5. ^ о. н, Болдырева (2017). "Проблема взаимоотношений казахов и калмыков во II четверти XVIII в." Каспийский Регион: Политика, Экономика, Культура: 24–28.
    6. ^ a b c И.В. Ерофеева 2007, p. 171.
    7. ^ a b c d e "Узенинская битва (1724 г.): предпосылки, ход, результаты" (PDF). Татарская энциклопедия.
    8. ^ a b И.В. Ерофеева 2007, pp. 165.
    9. ^ Моисеев, В.А. Джунгарское ханство и казахи (XVII-XVIII вв.) [Dzungar Khanate and the Kazakhs (17th to the 18th centuries)] (in Russian). Моисеев В.А. p. 72.
    10. ^ Fuat, Dr. Vecihi Sefa. 18. VE 19. YÜZYILLARDA KAZAK TÜRKLERİ RUS İŞGALİ VE ULUSAL BAĞIMSIZLIK MÜCADELESİ [“18th and 19th Centuries Kazakh Turks” “Russian Occupation and the National Independence Struggle”] (in Turkish). Dr. Vecihi Sefa Fuat HEKİMOĞLU. p. 19. ISBN 978-605-2149-53-9.
    11. ^ Fuat, Dr. Vecihi Sefa. 18. VE 19. YÜZYILLARDA KAZAK TÜRKLERİ RUS İŞGALİ VE ULUSAL BAĞIMSIZLIK MÜCADELESİ [“18th and 19th Centuries Kazakh Turks” “Russian Occupation and the National Independence Struggle”] (in Turkish). Dr. Vecihi Sefa Fuat HEKİMOĞLU. p. 19. ISBN 978-605-2149-53-9.
    12. ^ Kushkumbaev, A. K. (2001). Kazakh military affairs in the XVI—XVII centuries (in Russian). Almaty: publishing house "Dyke Press". pp. 129–130. ISBN 9965-441-44-8.
    13. ^ Musabek Islamovich Akylbaev 2022, p. 166.
    14. ^ А.В. Цюрюмов 2005, pp. 82.
    15. ^ И.В. Ерофеева 2007, pp. 170.
    16. ^ Musabek Islamovich Akylbaev 2022.
    17. ^ "Политическая ситуация в Северном Прикаспии в 1725 г." Журнал «Oriental Studies».
    18. ^ Unknown, Unknown (2006). Ordabasy Kurultai. Almaty: Kazakh encyclopedias. pp. 221–222. ISBN 9965-9908-6-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

    Sources

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