16) Aqtaban Shubirindi – the Great Retreat. The struggle of a Kazakh people with Zhonghar invasion in XVII-XVIII centuries.

Aqtaban Shubirindi – the Great Retreat. The great threat to the Kazakhs was the rise of the Kalmyk state in the east, which by 1630 contained western Mongolia, the Ile River region, and part of eastern and southeastern Kazakhstan (the eastern portion of Semirech’e). In the early part of the seventeen century the Kalmyks, pastoral nomads of Mongol stock, began migrating in seazable numbers into the lands just east of the Kazakhs. Attracted by the goods traded in the Syr Darya cities, they began periodically to attack the cities as well as the Kazakh population whose herds grazed on the periphery. The economic balance of the steppe was quickly upset; the number of caravans crossing the Kazakh steppe was sharply reduced. The decline of trade in Syr Darya cities led the Kazakhs to the cities of Mawarannahr for their goods, which they raided when their attempts at conquest failed. The major east-west trade routs had moved; the relative isolation of Central Asia forced all the constituent states and peoples to vie for the limited economic resources available.

The Kalmyks, fattened by the Kazakh animals they had seized, continued to grow on strength until, by the last quarter of the sixteenth century, they were the dominant military force in Central Asia. By the late 1620s the Kalmyks were established along the Omi, Tobol, Ishim and Irtysh rivers, which placed them in direct contact with Russian settlements in Siberia. The Russians were determined to maintain peaceful relations with the Kalmyks, since the Russian forces were thinly strung from the Baltic Sea to Siberia and the Kalmyks were not considered a serious or direct threat to Russian plans. In fact, a group of Kalmyks in Nogai territory actually came under Russian rule during this period. Russia’s primary interest was to have a pacified steppe, so the Russian watched, anxiously but quietly, as the Kalmyks began a systematic conquest of the Russian steppe in the last quarter of the seventeenth century.

The Great Retreat started in 1723 when the Kalmyks crossed the Karatau to take control of the Talas valley. The Kazakhs were caught by surprise as they prepared to leave their winter campsites and fled, leaving most of their possessions and livestock. During their subsequent campaign, 1723-1725, the Kalmyks quickly captured the Syr Darya River basin from Yasi to Tashkent, forcing the Kazakhs to flee from their ancestral pasturelands. The Kalmyks continued to absorbed the territory; in 1728 they took over the land around Lake Tengiz, so posing a direct threat to Chimkent in the south. They also took control over Lake Balkhash and the lands of the Small and Middle Hordes in central Kazakhstan. By that time it was evident that without Russian assistance the Kazakhs couldn’t resist to the aggressive Kalmyks. In 1731 Abu’l Khayr, with his sons and deputies, swore their loyalty to the Russian empress. This action marked the end of an independent Kazakh state.

Anyrakay battle. The struggle against the invaders led Batyr warlords, such as Bogenbai, Kabanbay, Malaysary, Zhanibek and others, have played an important role Enduring will Ablai. One of the biggest battles occurred in 1726g. on the river bank Bulanty in the area of Kara-Syyyr. Kazakh war launched here Jungar hordes sensitive defeat. Place the battle became known as «Kalmak-kyrylgan» (place of death Kalmakov). In 1729g. been bloody battles with the Kazakh sarbazov dzhungarami in the south-east of Lake Balkhash in Anyrakay area, where a combined force of three zhuzov won a brilliant victory. Dzhungarov Army began to retreat along the river or to the east. But this time, leaders of the Kazakh militia in connection with the death of Khan Bolat rassorilis because of the power that facilitated the actions Oyrat and negated the many sacrifices and efforts of the people in the fight against dzhungarami.