Kazakh–Russian War

West Siberian conflict
	Part of Kazakh–Russian conflicts
Date	1690—1703
Location	West Siberia, Tsardom of Russia and Kazakh Khanate
Result	Kazakh victory
Territorial; changes	The crisis of Russian colonization of the Southern Trans-Urals; Russian settlement of new lands in Siberia was suspended; Many Russian villages were liquidated; Kazakh attacks also caused food shortages in the Tobolsk region; A ban on the construction of new Russian settlements on lands disputed with the Kazakhs;
Belligerents
Kazakh Khanate	Tsardom of Russia
Commanders and leaders
Tauke Khan; Kazy Sultan; Ablai Sultan	Peter the Great; Fedor Tutolmin; Alexei Golovin; Andrew Nepripasov (POW) †; Vasily Kobyakov (POW); Vasily Shulgin †; Yakov Shulgin †; Ivan Shulgin †; Ivan Molchanov
Casualties and losses
Unknown	~522+ killed and captured
	3,000+ Russian civilians captured

The West Siberian conflict or Kazakh–Russian war was a large military conflict between the Kazakh Khanate and the Tsardom of Russia, caused by the Kazakh-Russian contradictions in 1670–1680. The conflict was accompanied by raids and attacks on settlements and battles in the south of Western Siberia.

Background

In 1687, for the first time after a long hiatus, attempts were made to renew diplomatic relations between the Kazakh Khanate and the Tsardom of Russia. Tauke Khan sent an embassy to Tobolsk, led by the Tashim Batyr, bearing gifts and a letter to Moscow. The embassy aimed to restore previous political and trade ties. The next embassy was sent at the end of 1689 or early 1690, led by Tumanchi Batyr. However, no agreements were signed. Despite Tauke Khan’s efforts to establish relations with the Russian Tsardom, Kazakh raids on Russian subjects began. For instance, during the winter of 1689/1690, a raid was carried out on a Russian merchant caravan led by Kashka. Tauke denied his involvement and promised to capture and punish the raiders.^[1]

According to V. Y. Basin, the causes of the conflict were frequent raids by Cossack communities on the Kazakh Steppe, capturing a significant number of prisoners, cattle, and horses, as well as the advance of tsarist forces deep into Kazakh lands. “Therefore, Kazakh raids were not ‘banditry’ but rather part of an offensive-defensive strategy, stemming from the specific nature of their resistance to tsarism.”^[2] R. D. Temirgaliyev believes that Kazakh khans sought control over groups of Siberian Tatars, whom Russian authorities, in turn, considered their subjects.^[3] Historian E. A. Abil suggests that the descendants of the nomadic subjects of the Siberian Khanate, who later became subjects of Tauke Khan, viewed the pastures in southern Western Siberia as their ancestral territory and frequently raided Siberian settlements, merchants, and salt producers against the khan’s wishes.^[4]

Timeline

1690

According to the Yesipov Chronicle, the Kazakhs approached the ostrog undetected. On the night of August 2, 1690, they stormed and ravaged the fort, capturing two Russian servicemen from Tyumen and about 30 local men and women, killing around 20 Tarkhan Tatars, and seizing horses and livestock. On August 4, a large detachment of over 700 men set out in pursuit from Tobolsk and Tyumen, led by A. V. Klepikov, consisting of boyar sons, mounted Cossacks, and Siberian Tatars. The detachment tracked the Kazakh forces for 38 days but was unable to locate them.^[5]

In November 1690, another embassy was sent to Tobolsk, led by Kabai, to resolve issues that had arisen due to mutual raids. At the same time, negotiations were held at Lake Yamyshev between representatives of the Tobolsk administration, headed by stolnik Pavel Sharygin, and prominent Kazakh myrzas Sary and Keldei, who were sent by the khan to sign a trade agreement on the terms of Central Asian merchant mediation. However, due to an attack on Russian hunters on the banks of the Irtysh, Sary and Keldei were captured and taken to Tobolsk, where Sary soon died. Keldei remained imprisoned.^[6]

1691

In July 1691, according to the same Yesipov Chronicle, “the military forces of the Cossack (Kazakh) Horde, besermen, attacked two settlements under the jurisdiction of Tobolsk, Utyatskaya and Kamyshevskaya, on the Tobol River. In these settlements, they burned the Tobolsk official Spiridon Rachkovsky, a boyar’s son, along with his wife, children, and many local Cossacks and peasants with their families within the yard; others were killed, and about two hundred people were taken captive.”^[5] According to N. A. Abramov, the Tsarevo fort, which later became the town of Kurgan, was also ravaged at that time^[7] In the autumn, another embassy was sent to Tobolsk, again led by Tumanchi and Kabai, who conveyed the khan’s disapproval of the raids.^[8]

1692

In June 1692, Kazakhs and Karakalpaks again attacked villages and settlements around Tsarevo Fort on the Tobol River, pillaging twenty households in the Utyatskaya settlement, killing peasants, and capturing their families. The Kazakh forces were intercepted near Tsarevo Fort by a centurion and a hundred local Cossacks. In the ensuing battle, the centurion and 40 Cossacks were killed. A detachment of 600 men led by Tobolsk resident Fyodor Tutolmin, consisting of boyar sons, mounted Cossacks, Tyumen Tatars, and local Cossacks, was sent in pursuit but failed to catch the Kazakhs.^[5] The ambassador Izbrandt Ides wrote that in June, Kazakh forces were within 15 miles of Tyumen.^[9]

To resolve the situation, in July 1692, the Russian authorities sent an embassy to Turkestan, led by boyar’s son Andrei Nepripaskov, accompanied by his fellow Cossack Vasily Kobyakov. The embassy was received in the presence of representatives from most clans. The khan no longer promised to punish the raiders and accused Russian authorities of illegally detaining Sary and Keldei. The embassy did not secure Keldei’s release and demanded the unconditional release of captives, threatening war. In response, Kazakh leaders demanded a severance of all relations. The embassy was taken captive, and the raids continued.^[10]

1693

Battle of Semiskul

View of Lake Semiskul from the Ubienny Tract

On July 15, 1693, Kazakhs and Karakalpaks attacked the villages of the Yalutorovsk settlement, killing 42 local Cossacks and peasants and capturing 69. Vasily Shulgin, gathering Tobolsk boyar sons, mounted Cossacks, Tatars, local Cossacks, and peasant hunters from various settlements, set out into the steppe on July 25, not waiting for Ivan Molchanov’s reinforcements. Previously, the Kazakhs had always avoided confrontation with the main forces, so an early departure was necessary. According to the Yesipov Chronicle, Shulgin managed to assemble a force of 318 men, not counting hunters and residents from other settlements. The Naryshkin List of the Siberian Chronicle adds that Shulgin’s group included 50 Tobolsk boyar sons, 60 mounted Cossacks from Lithuanian and newly converted groups, 45 Tatars, along with an additional 172 local Cossacks and “willing peasants” from the Yalutorovsk and Suer settlements, not counting hunters from other settlements.^[5]^[11]

On July 27, V. P. Shulgin encountered the Kazakh Khanate’s forces near Lake Semiskul. The Russians’ cart with gunpowder broke down, forcing them to take a defensive position in the open steppe. A heavy rain started, soaking their guns. The Kazakhs and Karakalpaks launched a lance attack, and nearly all the Russian forces were killed. Vasily Shulgin and his brothers Yakov and Ivan perished. According to survivors who escaped captivity, they faced around three thousand opponents. The Yesipov Chronicle records Shulgin’s force’s losses at 357 killed and 14 captured. They reported the events to Molchanov, who was on his way to assist but arrived too late and returned to Yalutorovsk, where he remained until autumn.^[5]^[12]

Following the defeat of the main Russian forces, the settlements and towns along the Iset and Tobol Rivers, including the Siberian capital of Tobolsk, faced new threats. Fortifications and guard posts in towns and forts were strengthened.

Irtysh River raid

Simultaneously with battle on the Tobol River, another Kazakh detachment led by Sultans Ablay and Kazy burned down the recently established Shipitsyna (Takmyk) settlement on the Irtysh River above Tara in July 1693 and took captives. Sultan Kazy himself told the envoy Skibin that he had led 1,200 men to raid Shipitsyna. The Kazakhs failed to capture the fort, but they caused significant destruction in the settlement with a large fire.^[13]

1693—1700

Tauke Khan continued to send envoys to Tobolsk with letters to the Russian tsar, denying his involvement in the raids and demanding the release of Kelday. In October 1693, he wrote: “From Adam’s time until now, such a matter has not been heard of, that an envoy should be detained for bandits.” The Khan promised to release the embassy of Andrei Nepripasov and Vasily Kobyakov in exchange for the release of Murza Kelday, also expressing a desire to resume trade and diplomatic relations after the exchange. In his letter, Tauke condemned the raids conducted by his subjects Sultan Kazy and the Karakalpaks on Siberian settlements, adding, “I strongly rebuked them for such an evil deed and shamed them, telling them to dwell in their lands, while we remain here. We do not favor nor need such evil banditry and misdeeds, nor do we approve of such follies occurring between realms.”^[14]

In 1694, the Tobolsk authorities released Kelday, rewarding him with valuable gifts, and sent another embassy to Khan Tauke led by Fyodor Skibin and Matvey Troshin. The primary mission of this embassy was to secure the release of the previous envoys, Andrei Nepripasov and Vasily Kobyakov. However, these envoys faced harsh treatment and were held for an extended period. Andrei Nepripasov died in captivity, while his companions had to escape through a roundabout route via Bukhara. Kazakh raids became less intense; in 1694, they were limited to attacks on the Chumlyatskaya settlement along the Miass River on May 14 and August 9. Over 200 attackers besieged the fort and captured 34 residents. From 1695 to 1699, there were a series of minor raids on Utyatskaya settlement.^[12]

In the Map Book of Siberia (1699–1701), on the map of Tara’s surroundings, S. U. Remezov noted repeated Kazakh attacks on the Tukules volost, and their incursions into Tara, Baraba, and Tyumen districts.^[15]

The raids of the 1690s covered a stretch of land nearly a thousand kilometers long. The governors of Tobolsk, S. I. Saltykov and A. F. Naryshkin, reported: “In the years 198, 199, 200, 202, and 203, Kazakh hordes and Karakalpak warriors invaded Tobolsk district, attacking Tarkhansky fort, Yalutorovskaya, Tsarevo Gorodishche, Utyatskaya, Chumlyatskaya, Ishim’s Korkina settlements, the village of Voskresenskoye under the Metropolia, and the Yamyshevo Lake anchorage, killing many Russian servicemen, Tatars, peasants, and yasak people, taking them and their families into captivity and driving off livestock.” Based on surviving records, Kazakh forces captured over 432 people during the 1690s raids. Hundreds of cattle and horses were seized, and hundreds of servicemen and civilians from southern Western Siberia were killed.^[16]

The Kazakhs and Karakalpaks mainly sold captives to Central Asian states. According to the Russian envoys Fyodor Skibin and Matvey Troshin, by 1694, over a thousand Russian captives taken by nomads were held as slaves in Bukhara alone, with over two thousand more from the Russian Tsardom in Khiva.^[17]

1700—1703

In 1701, five raids took place. Kazakh detachments besieged the Chumlyatskaya and Utyatskaya settlements, burned the Ust-Uyskoye village of the Dalmat Monastery, and captured peasants near the villages of Smolina in Tsarevo Gorodishche and Slobodchikova in Ymurtskaya settlement. In 1703, the village of Arkhipova, located 13 versts from Ymurtskaya settlement, was ravaged. A detachment from the Tobolsk Regiment’s settlement dragoons managed to catch up with the Kazakh detachment in the steppe and rescue the captives.

Fearing further raids, residents abandoned the village of Arkhipova and moved to more protected areas. The settlement remained deserted even by the time G. F. Miller’s survey was conducted in 1741. At the request of residents threatened by raids, some villagers relocated to the Russian side of the Tobol River. Moving the most threatened settlements across the Tobol reduced the risk of raids in the northern part of the Middle Tobol region, but the colonization of this area was put on hold for several decades.^[18]

Aftermath

The border clashes between the Russian Tsardom and the Kazakh Khanate led to a crisis in the colonization of Southern Trans-Uralia. The settlement of new lands was halted and even reversed. Peasants were relocated from the right bank of the Tobol River. Villagers from settlements threatened by raids were resettled in large fortified outposts. Many small villages were eliminated, and peasants abandoned the Verkh-Suyerskaya settlement. Only the well-fortified Yemurtlinskaya settlement, which housed a dragoon detachment, remained on the right bank.^[19] The construction of new settlements on “disputed lands” was henceforth prohibited.^[20]

Kazakh raids also caused food shortages in the Tobolsk region. Thousands of captives from Siberia were sold into slavery in the cities of Central Asia. These campaigns brought significant profits to their organizers, the noble subjects of Tauke Khan. Raids continued despite exchanges of embassies and friendly letters from the Khan to Moscow. The intensity of conflicts decreased only during wars with the Dzungar Khanate. Strengthening the military forces of the Russian Tsardom in the Tobolsk region improved peasant security but did not completely stop the raids.

The Russo-Kazakh conflict also led to a sharp deterioration in Russo-Bashkir relations. According to various sources, Bashkirs joined Kazakh detachments. In 1704, the Bashkir uprising began, supported by the forces and government of the Kazakh Khanate.^[21]

References

^ В.Я. Басин 1971, pp. 105–106, 109.
^ В.Я. Басин 1971, pp. 104–105.
^ Р. Темиргалиев 2019, pp. 17.
^ Абиль Е. Территориальные споры на рубеже 17—18 веков Archived 2023-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Есиповская летопись 1987, pp. 104.
^ В.Я. Басин 1971, pp. 107–108.
^ Тобольские губернские ведомости. 1860, № 6 (13 февр.). Archived from the original on 2024-04-14.
^ В.Я. Басин 1971, pp. 108.
^ Записки о русском посольстве в Китай (1692—1695) — I. Ides, A. Brand
^ Путешествие тобольского казака Федора Скибина в Казачью орду в 1694—1696 гг.
^ Д.Н. Маслюженко 2015, pp. 99.
^ ^a ^b Д.Н. Маслюженко 2015, pp. 100.
^ Военные действия Русского царства на территории Среднего Прииртышья и Барабы в XVII в.: сб. науч. ст. Выпуск 3
^ ИКРИ 2005, pp. 400–402.
^ "НЭБ. Книжные памятники. Атлас Сибири Семена Ремезова". Archived from the original on 2022-10-09. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
^ Д.Н. Маслюженко 2015, pp. 98, 100.
^ ИКРИ 2005, pp. 420.
^ Д.Н. Маслюженко 2015, pp. 101.
^ РГАДА, Ф. 214, Кн. 1312, Л. 56
^ Д.Н. Маслюженко 2015, pp. 104–109.
^ ИКРИ 2005, pp. 431–432.