Involvement of Yaik Cossacks in persecution of Kalmyks who had migrated from Russia in January — March 1771
Stepan V. Dzhundzhuzov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor
Orenburg State Pedagogical University, Orenburg, Russia, djund@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8937-5690
Abstract
The article examines the participation of the Yaik Cossacks in military operations against the rebellious Kalmyks, the intelligence activities assigned to them and the reception of the Kalmyks and other Russian subjects returning to their homeland who had escaped from Kalmyk captivity. Information about the preparations for the migration of the Kalmyks to Dzungaria was met with disbelief in Russian government circles. In January 1771, the Yaik Cossack army turned out to be the only military force on the way of the retreating rebellious Kalmyk Horde. The Cossack team of military sergeant A. Mitryasov managed to defeat one Kalmyk party on the Lower Yaik line and bring the ulus of Noyon Asarhi, numbering up to two thousand caravans, into submission and keep them from escaping. The readiness of the Cossacks to resist forced the governor of the Kalmyk Khanate Ubashi to abandon the raid on Yaik town and other Cossack villages. However, due to objective and subjective reasons, the Yaik army was unable to stop the fleeing Kalmyk Horde. Most of the Yaik Cossacks refused to participate in the further persecution of the Kalmyks who had gone beyond the Yaik.
Dzhundzhuzov S. V. Involvement of Yaik Cossacks in persecution of Kalmyks who had migrated from Russia in January — March 1771. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2025, no. 1 (53), pp. 107—122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2025.53.7.
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