Kazakh-Tashkent War (1534)

Kazakh-Tashkent War
Date	1534
Location	Tashkent
Result	Kazakhs defeated Tashkent twice
Belligerents
Kazakh Khanate	Bukhara Khanate Tashkent;
Commanders and leaders
Ahmet Khan	Ubaidullah Khan

The Kazakh-Tashkent War was a conflict in the first half of the XVI century between the Kazakh Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate, where the Kazakhs fought with Tashkent in 1534.

Background

Since the 1520s, the first internecine war for the throne has been going on in the Kazakh khanate. Long before that, Kasym Khan annexed the lands of the Noag horde during the Kazakh-Nogai War (1515-1521), but after his death, the Nogais, as Trepavlov writes, began the Nogai "reconquista" by reconquering their lands and the capital, driving the Kazakhs beyond the Irtysh.^[2] But already in 1530, the Kazakhs knocked out the Nogais across the Emba River.

War

The struggle between the Kazakh rulers and the Shaybanids continued even after Tahir Khan left the historical scene. In fact, until 1537 the Kazakhs posed a real threat to the northern territories of the Uzbek state. Archive documents show that during these years they attempted to take Tashkent from the Shaybanids.

In September 1536, a letter from the Russian ambassador D. Gubin was delivered to Moscow, stating:

"And the Stekhani (of Tashkent), Sovereign, the ambassador came to the prince and the Murzas, so that the prince and the Myrzas would go against the Kaki (Kazakhs - author), and Tashkeni, Sovereign, from the Cossacks, they say good, good is necessary. They expect it to be raised this summer or in winter. And that’s why, Sir, the Cossacks say they won’t go to Nagai, because they’re fighting in Tashken.”^[3]

It is also known that the Kazakhs defeated the Uzbeks twice.^[4]

The campaigns of the Kazakh army and the threat of losing Tashkent forced Ubaydallah Khan to seek allies. He found it in the person of a Chagatai (more specifically - Timurid) Abd ar-Rashid Khan, the ruler of the Mughal state. As a result of negotiations, an Uzbek-Mughal military alliance emerged. It was concluded at the mountain pass of "Ak-Boguz" in opposition to the Kazakh-Kyrgyz alliance, which had formed during the reign of Kazakh Khan Tahir. The alliance between Uzbeks and Mughals was cemented by a dynastic marriage. Ubaydallah married one of the sisters of Abd ar-Rashid Khan.

Consequences

In 1537, Uzbeks, Moguls and Nogais defeated the Kazakhs in the battle of San Tash, killing 37 Kazakh sultans.^[5]

Notes

^ Basin, V. Ya. (1971). Russia and the Kazakh Khanates in the XVI—XVIII centuries (in Russian). Almaty: «Science». p. 79.
^ Trepavlov, V. V. (2016). History of Nogai Horde (in Russian). Kazan: Publishing house "Kazan real estate". pp. 141–144. ISBN 978-5-9907552-5-3.
^ Atygaev, Nurlan (2023). The Kazakh Khanate: essays on the foreign policy history of the XV-XVII centuries [not in English] (in Russian). Almaty: Eurasian Scientific Research Institute of the Yasavi Moscow State Technical University. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-601-7805-24-1.
^ Abuseitova, M. H. (1985). the Kazakh Khanate in the second half of the XVI century (in Russian). Almaty: «Science». p. 45.
^ Atygaev, Nurlan (2023). The Kazakh Khanate: essays on the foreign policy history of the XV-XVII centuries [not in English] (in Russian). Almaty: Eurasian Scientific Research Institute of the Yasavi Moscow State Technical University. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-601-7805-24-1.

[1] Basin, V. Ya. (1971). Russia and the Kazakh Khanates in the XVI—XVIII centuries (in Russian). Almaty: «Science». p. 79.

[2] Trepavlov, V. V. (2016). History of Nogai Horde (in Russian). Kazan: Publishing house "Kazan real estate". pp. 141–144. ISBN 978-5-9907552-5-3.

[3] Atygaev, Nurlan (2023). The Kazakh Khanate: essays on the foreign policy history of the XV-XVII centuries [not in English] (in Russian). Almaty: Eurasian Scientific Research Institute of the Yasavi Moscow State Technical University. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-601-7805-24-1.

[4] Abuseitova, M. H. (1985). the Kazakh Khanate in the second half of the XVI century (in Russian). Almaty: «Science». p. 45.

[5] Atygaev, Nurlan (2023). The Kazakh Khanate: essays on the foreign policy history of the XV-XVII centuries [not in English] (in Russian). Almaty: Eurasian Scientific Research Institute of the Yasavi Moscow State Technical University. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-601-7805-24-1.

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