On October 10, 1731, with the signing of a charter on the voluntary entry of Western Kazakhstan (the Younger Zhuz) into the Russian state for many centuries, up to the notorious Belovezhskaya meeting, the unity and commonality of the fate of the Kazakhs with the Russian and other peoples of Russia were determined.
This event contributed to the rise of the economy and culture of Kazakhstan, the end of feudal civil strife there. It also ensured the external security of the Kazakh lands and saved the Kazakhs from enslavement by the Dzungarian military-feudal state and the Manchu-Chinese Qing empire. The Kazakh Khanate was formed at the end of the 15th century. It was divided into three zhuzes (regions): Senior (Semirechye), Middle (Central, Northern and partly Eastern Kazakhstan) and Junior (Western Kazakhstan). In 1726, in an atmosphere of internecine strife and intensified aggression against Kazakhstan by Dzungaria, one of the Kazakh rulers, Khan Abdulkhair, on behalf of the Younger Zhuz, turned to the Russian government with a request for citizenship. In 1731 this request was granted. In the 30-40s of the 18th century, a large part of the Middle Zhuz and some lands of the Elder joined Russia. In the sixties of the XIX century. voluntary entry of Kazakhstan into the Russian state is over.
An important role in the protection of the Kazakh cattle-breeding tribes and their possessions was played in the 40-60s of the 18th century by Russian military defensive posts, especially the fortresses of Yamyshevskaya (founded in 1716), Zhelezinskaya (in 1717), Semipalatinskaya (in 1718)..), Ust-Kamenogorskaya (in 1720), Bukhtarminskaya (in 1761) and others. One of the main tasks of the border fortifications was to prevent the conquest of Russian and Kazakh lands by the Dzungar Khanate, and subsequently by Qing China. Kazakhs were provided with all kinds of support in the fight against foreign invasions. Fortresses were at the same time the support bases of the Russian state for expanding trade relations with nomads and spreading the influence of Russia among them. Further construction of military defensive posts in the southwestern part of Siberia, at the junction of Russia and Kazakhstan, was largely determined by the state of Russian-Dzhungar and Kazakh-Dzhungar relations, as well as by the situation in the areas bordering China. It should be noted that the Chinese authorities tried to exacerbate the situation in this region of Central Asia with the help of all sorts of intrigues, to prevent rapprochement between Russia and Dzungaria.
The most devastating raids on the Kazakh lands were made by the troops of the Dzungar huntai-ji (khan) Galdan-Tseren in 1738-1741. Having invaded the boundaries of the Middle Zhuz and perpetrated a terrible pogrom in its consequences in the Kazakh auls, they pursued the fleeing residents to the Orsk fortress. The decisive actions of the Russian military administration in defense of the Kazakhs who had taken Russian citizenship forced the Dzungars to retreat. After that, the requirements for the border service in matters of more operational information and notification of all aggressive actions of the Dzungarian troops increased noticeably. So, in the order of the head of the Siberian provincial chancellery P. Buturlin, the commandants of the border fortified points were instructed: "… if from them, the Zemgorian Kalmyks (Dzungars), what dishonorable actions will be, then detailed news should be reported to the provincial chancellery at the very speed."
In the 1840s, the Siberian border authorities took steps to further strengthen the defensive lines. For example, on the western bank of the Irtysh, the construction of the outposts of Bolsheretsky, Inberisky, Beterinsky, somewhat later Vorovsky, Verblyuzhsky and others began. In the fall of 1741, Cossack patrols were moved from Tara to the west, and then the garrison in the city itself was strengthened.
On May 20, 1742, the Senate adopted a special decision on measures to protect the Kazakh population and the defense of the border areas from the Dzungars. It was envisaged, in particular, to increase the number of troops in all border points, which should have been "subjects of the khans and sultans with their people, as much as possible to guard." In the same year, a special embassy was sent to Dzungaria with the task of explaining to the khan authorities the current situation in Kazakhstan in connection with its entry into the Russian state. It was also ordered to declare to Galdan-Tseren, "that he, being aware of the Kazakh citizenship, would not cause them any more ruin and would not send his troops against them." The result was the release from captivity of the Russian subject Sultan A6lai, captured before this by the Dzungars during their invasion of the Middle Zhuz at the beginning of 1742. An agreement was reached on some limitation of the Dzungar claims to the Kazakhs of this zhuz (the Kazakh population was exempted from paying tribute to the Dzungar Khan).
However, the situation in the areas bordering with Dzungaria continued to remain unsettled. The Western Mongols, the Oirats, who came there in 1744, reported Galdan-Tseren's intentions to send troops to the Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk fortresses and to the Kolyvan factories. And indeed, soon there was a devastating raid by the Oirat detachments on the Altai mines. The warlike neighbors were well aware of the small number of Russian troops in the border areas, which explains their daring attacks.
Taking into account the current situation, the Russian government ordered the head of the Orenburg commission I. I. Neplyuev, send three dragoon regiments to Siberia "at the most extreme speed." They were transferred to border areas and other military units, and measures were taken to strengthen the fortresses on the Upper Irtysh. The general command of the border troops was entrusted to Major General I. V. Kinderman. The measures taken helped to ensure the security of Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, opened up new opportunities for the development of economic ties and trade between Kazakhs and Russians. This was well understood by the Kazakh population. One of the sultans of the Middle Zhuz, Barak, during negotiations with the Dzungarian ambassadors who tried to turn him against Russia, said that from the construction of Russian fortresses and from the Russian people, there were no offenses and hindrances, but only benefit.
It is known that the protection of the Kazakhs from the Dzungarian aggression was carried out by the Russian government without the use of military force. Both sides, Russia and Dzungaria, avoided open armed conflicts, preferring to settle the often arising disputes through peaceful negotiations. The Dzungar rulers themselves sometimes even sought the support of the Russian authorities and their help in connection with the growing threat from Qing China.
An important role in strengthening Russia's position on the Central Asian borders was played by the successful economic development of southern Siberia by the Russian people, including Altai and the Irtysh region.
The importance of Russian fortresses in the development of Russian-Kazakh relations and in protecting the Kazakhs from external invasions especially increased after the defeat and destruction of the Dzungar state by the Qing troops, who at the beginning of 1755, by order of the Qianlong emperor, as part of two Chinese armies, invaded the khanate. The Chinese have mercilessly dealt with the Dzungars, "giving them over to fire and sword." Many prisoners were sold into slavery. Several thousand Dzungarian families fled to the Volga to their fellow tribesmen - the Volga Kalmyks.
The Russian government took measures to prevent the Chinese from entering the border areas where Kazakh and other tribes roamed. At this critical moment, the defense of Siberian mining enterprises and the protection of Russian citizens, including Kazakhs, was entrusted to the Siberian governor V. A. Myatlev. Under his leadership, additional fortified points were built, new officer cadres were attracted to carry out the military guard border service. In order to replenish the garrisons of the South Siberian fortresses in 1763-1764, several horse and foot detachments of Old Believers were formed. They were sent to the commandant of the Ust-Kamenogorsk fortress to serve. A significant number of Don Cossacks and up to 150 exiled Cossacks were transferred to the Siberian defensive line.
Part of the Dzungars pressed by the Chinese were forced to flee to the Russian border fortifications. Quite a few of them, having come to Yamyshevskaya, Semipalatinskaya, Ust-Kamenogorsk and other fortresses and redoubts, strove to obtain Russian citizenship and, thereby, avoid bloody massacres of the Qing troops and clashes with the Kazakh militia. At that time, many Kazakhs felt a completely justified desire to take revenge on the Dzungars because of the robbery in previous years.
Voluntary acceptance of Russian citizenship by a part of the Oirat tribes took place even before the defeat of Dzungaria, back in the 1840s. Now they were flocking in masses to the border fortifications. In July and September 1756, the Siberian governor V. A. Myatlev informed the Foreign Affairs Board that a large number of the Dzungars persecuted by the Chinese sought refuge in the Russian steppe fortifications.
Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk, Yamysheiskaya and other fortresses became points where, as a rule, the Dzungars swore an oath of Russian citizenship. On August 7, 1758, the Siberian Governor-General F. I. Soymonov informed the State Collegium that he had accepted the hand of Kalmyk refugees, numbering 5187 people, and with them about twenty thousand different livestock, under the high sovereign. Some of these people were settled in the border fortresses. At the same time, 6 Tomut (Kalmyk) khans came to the Semipalatinsk fortress to ask for Russian citizenship: Zaman, Manut, Sheereng, Uryankhai, Norbo-Chirik and Lousant.
Even Amursana, who dreamed of being the sole ruler of the Dzungar Khanate, having suffered a series of defeats, fled with his people to the Semipalatinsk fortress on June 27, 1757 and asked for asylum, fearing the reprisals of the Chinese. His request was granted.
The Qing repeatedly attempted to punish the Kalmyks who voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship. For example, in July 1758, a detachment of Chinese suddenly appeared under the walls of the Ust-Kamenogorsk fortress, which, rattling weapons, sought the return of the Dzungarian refugees. The commandants of the fortresses answered such demands of the Zins with a decisive refusal. Thus, the Dzungars, who not so long ago demanded the destruction of fortresses on the Eastern border of Russia and Kazakhstan, after the aggression of the Qing Empire were forced to seek salvation outside their walls. The desire of many peoples of Central Asia, in particular the Dzungars, to accept Russian citizenship provoked opposition from the Chinese government, which organized pressure and tried to intimidate those who intended to go under the patronage of Russia.
In the middle of 1758, the once strongest state in Central Asia, Dzungaria, ceased to exist. It was forcibly turned into the Chinese imperial governorship - Xinjiang (new border), aimed primarily against Kazakhstan. Noteworthy is the fact that the Oirat (Dzungar) state, which blocked the path of Manchu-Chinese expansion in the north-west of Central Asia, was literally wiped out by the conquerors. This kind of cruelty was not often met in the history of mankind, although the Qing government stubbornly tried to present the defeat of the Dzungar Khanate as a pacifying action against the rebels.
The Kazakhs at that time did not have sufficient strength to organize a rebuff to the Manchu-Chinese armies, although there were cases when the Kazakh militias tried to organize resistance to the aggressors, but were defeated. Meanwhile, the Qing authorities, having seized Dzungaria and East Turkestan, sought not only to keep these lands under their rule, but also to push the Kazakhs away from Xinjiang. There was also a real threat to Russian possessions in Altai. All this was the reason for the Russian government to take a number of measures to further strengthen the defense of the vast region.
In 1760, the commandants of the Upper Irtysh and other fortifications were ordered to occupy the lands from the Ust-Kamenogorsk fortress to Lake Teletskoye by Russian troops. In 1763, Lieutenant-General I. I. Springer. He had to solve on the spot the issues of protecting the eastern possessions of Russia from possible invasions of the Chinese. In the same year, the Bukhtarma fortress was founded at the mouth of the Bukh-tarma river, completing the creation of the Irtysh defensive line. It, like other defensive lines in the south of Siberia, also included Russian agricultural settlements, which created favorable conditions for economic activity, both Russians and Kazakhs.
In conclusion, it should be noted that Yamyshevskaya, Ust-Kamenogorskaya, Semipalatinskaya, Bukhtarminskaya and other Russian military-defensive posts, built during the development of the southwestern regions of Siberia in the 18th century, played an important role in protecting the Kazakhs from capture by Dzungaria, and then by Qing China. … The profitability of their location, the presence of artillery and regular military units forced their aggressive neighbors to refrain from direct military operations in the border areas.
And the defensive points contributed to the acceleration of the voluntary entry of Kazakhstan into Russia - a historical process that was important for the calm life and development of the Kazakh people.
