Dzungar campaign against Kazakhs (1723)

The Dzungar campaign against the Kazakhs took place in early 1723 as part of the Fifth Kazakh–Dzungar War. The Dzungar Khanate attacked the Senior and Middle jüz of the Kazakh Khanate, concentrating their main forces along a wide front from the upper reaches of the Irtysh river to the Chu and Talas rivers.

Background

The death of Tauke Khan in 1718 left the Kazakhs without a recognized leader and plunged them into a succession crisis. Following this, the Kazakhs faced internal rivalries and disputes, while the Dzungar ruler Tsewang Rabtan mobilized his forces for an invasion. The Kazakhs, divided and unaware of the Dzungar assault, were unprepared for what was to come. Their geopolitical at the end of the 17th and early 18th centuries was difficult. The Siberian Cossacks and Bashkirs militarily threatened them at the north, the khanates of Bukhara and the Khiva people at the south, and the Volga Kalmyks and Yaik Cossacks, who constantly raided them, at the west. However, the east proved especially precarious. There, the Dzungar Khanate conducted severe military incursions into the Kazakh lands in the early 1720s.

Later with the death of the Kangxi Emperor in 1722, which he was in war against the Dzungar Khanate allowed Tsewang to focus on Turkestan (Kazakhstan).

Invasion

The invasion commenced in February. Tsewang Rabtan invaded the upper reach of the Irtysh river, attacking the nomadic camps of the Jüz, specifically, the Middle and the Senior jüz. Another major Dzungar army attacked to the Chu and Talas rivers.

The occupation and the heavy blow to the Kazakhs led to the Years of the Great Disasters, or the Barefooted Flight, so called because of their destructive consequences; they are often compared to the Mongol invasions of the early 13th century. The Dzungar invasion significantly influenced the international situation in Central Asia. The thousands of approaching families to the boundaries of Central Asia and the relations with the Volga Kalmyks have severed relations in the region. Kazahks, Karakalpaks, Uzbeks, attacking the weakened Kazakhs, worsened their already critical situation which particularly affected the Zhetysu in those years.

The uluses were in their wintering areas and scattered, and therefore were unable to organize resistance. The Kazakhs of the Senior and part of the Middle Jüz crossed the Syr Darya river above the mouth of the Chirchik and retreated toward Samarkand and Bukhara. The Junior Jüz crossed the Syr Darya in its middle reaches and fled to Khiva, as well as north and northwest toward the borders of the Russian Empire, which the mass movement of Kazakhs to the west caused a great concern among the Yaik Cossacks and the Volga Kalmyks. The new wave of Kazakhs who came to Zhayik was so large that the very fate of the Kalmyk Khanate was in question. This is evidenced by the request of the Kalmyk rulers to the Russian Tsarist government for military assistance to protect their summer nomads along the left bank of the Volga River. Because of it, in the middle of the 18th century, the Zhaiyk (Ural) river became the border between Kazakhs and Kalmyks. The tremendous turmoil caused by the Dzungar invasions and a massive loss of basic wealth which was livestock led to an economic crisis that intensified political disputes among the ruling Kazakh elite.

Dzungar campaign in southern Kazakhstan

With the Kazakhs greatly weakened, the Dzungar army swiftly occupied the Kazakh steppe, entering the regions of Semirechiye and southern Kazakhstan and sacking their territory. Afterwards, a Kazakh militia fought the Dzungars. Despite probably lacking supplies and the Kazakhs fleeing, a Kazakh militia led by an unknown batyr battled the Dzungar army at the Tashkent. They lost, and Tashkent was subsequently captured and sacked by the Dzungars. The Kazakhs retreated to Sayram, where they, again, suffered defeat; the Dzungars sacked the city. The Dzungars then swept through the Ferghana Valley, capturing Khudjand and Andijand and reaching Samarkand. Following this, they went deep on the Syr Darya, defeating the Kazakhs at Turkistan. They later captured more cities throughout the river, consolidating their occupation.