The Russo-Kokand War was an 18-year long military conflict fought between the Russian Empire and the Kokand Khanate, ending in a Russian victory. In the following peace treaty, Russia annexed vast territories along the coast of the Aral Sea and along the banks of the Syrdarya River. This war permanently crippled the Kokand Khanate, with it becoming a Russian protectorate.
The first contacts of the Russian Empire with the Central Asian states date back to the 16th century: in 1589, the Khan of Bukhara, wanting to establish trade relations, established friendly relations with Russia.[2] With the help of rolling lines of fortifications in the hunt for tranquility and peace on its borders, Russia moved deep into the steppe. Nevertheless, for a whole century, raids and robberies by the Kyrgyzs and Turkmens did not stop. Up to 200 Russian residents of the border suburbs were taken prisoner and sold in the markets of Khiva, Bukhara, Kokand in a year, and even the military were sold into slavery along with civilians, an example of which was the story of the kidnapping in 1774 and the subsequent rescue and return to the Motherland in 1782 of Sergeant Philip Efremov.[2].
In the 19th century, Central Asia became one of the arenas of geopolitical rivalry between the British and Russian Empires, which is known as "the Great Game". To protect their southern borders and create a bridgehead for political influence in the Middle East and Central Asia, Russian line (border) battalions were sent to Turkestan.[2]
In 1850, two such Russian detachments entered the territory of the Kokand Khanate. One detachment (50 infantrymen and 175 Siberian Cossacks with 2 guns) under the command of Captain Karl Gutkovsky on April 4 began moving from Kapalskaya station to Ili River in the direction of the Kokandi fortress of Toychubek (near the modern city of Kaskelen, Semirechye), which reached on April 19. However, due to the betrayal of the leaders from among the steppes, the detachment was attacked by the superior Kokand forces under the command of Ak-Kulla and was forced to retreat[3]. Failing to complete the task, the Russians lost one killed and 9 wounded in this expedition. Another detachment of Major Engman (one company, 100 Cossacks. and one gun), having stepped out of the Raim fortification (the mouth of the Syr-Darya), dispersed the concentrations of Kokandites, taking the fortress of Kash-Kurgan with battle.
In 1851, Colonel Ivan Karbashev's detachment (five companies, five hundred, six horse guns and one rocket launcher) with the support of the allied Kazakhs again crossed the Ili River and approached the Tauchubek fortress. The Kokand garrison, without entering the battle, retreated to Bishkek. The desolated fortress of Tauchubek was completely destroyed. The capture of the Toychubek fortification undermined the influence of Kokand in Semirechye, made a great impression on the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz and contributed to the signing of the advantageous Kuldzhi Treaty with China on July 25.
Russia continued the usual border war, sending detachment after detachment to the steppe from Orenburg and from Siberia, pursuing gangs of wild robbers and advancing after them step by step deep into Central Asia[4].
In 1853, Perovsky personally moved with the expeditionary detachment to Ak-Mechet, where there were 300 Kokands with 3 guns. In total, about 2,350 soldiers and officers and 500 Kazakhs who served as scouts and transported cargo on horseback went on a campaign. To the Ak-Mechet, the detachment moved with four echelons: the first one was under the command of Colonel Mikhail Mark (200 Cossacks, 3 guns, rocket and galvanic command); the second - Major GeneralIvan Podurov (infantry company, 150 Cossacks); the third - Lieutenant Colonel Ioney (the same composition as the 2nd); the fourth - military foreman Filatov (200 Cossacks, 2 guns and convoy).
Having passed with a detachment of about 900 versts in 24 days during the great heat, repelling several attacks of the Khivans, the head echelons arrived at the walls of the Ak Mosque, which was considered impregnable, on July 3, 1853. The last echelons tightened two days later. At the same time, on July 5, Sir-Darya came armed with cannons steamer "Perovsky", under the command of Captain LieutenantAlexey Butakov. The leadership of the siege work was entrusted to Major General Stepan Khrulev who was specially sent by the Emperor from St. Petersburg, while the general command was carried out by V. L. Perovsky. He sent an offer to the commander to surrender the fortress, but the Kokands met the parliamentarians with shots, and therefore had to refuse negotiations and take it with a fight. The high walls and garrison of the Ak-Mosquet represented such an impressive force that neither the caliber of the detachment artillery nor the number of available shells allowed to break through the 8-meter-thick wall, and it was decided to first blow up part of the walls[4]. Siege work was carried out, and then, after the explosion on July 27, which caused great destruction, the assault was launched at 3 a.m. and by 4:30 a.m., the fortress was taken. During the assault, the commander of the Ak-Mosque, Muhammad-Valibek, was killed, and the Kokands, after a desperate defense of the collapse and then the walls and towers, were forced to surrender. Ak-Mosquet was renamed to Fort-Perovsky.[5] In the same year 1853, the Kokands tried to retake the Ak-Mosque twice, but on August 24, the military sergeant Borodin, with a detachment of 275 men and 3 guns, dispersed 7,000 Kokands at Kum-suat. On December 14, Major Shkup, with a detachment of 550 men with 4 guns, went out to meet the army of 13,000 Kokand under the command of "mingbashi" Kassym-bek and, taking advantage of surprise, attacked the camp. Soon the Kokands restored their combat order and began to surround the Russian detachment. Then two more detachments under the command of Staff Captain Pogursky and Ensign Alekseev advanced from Fort Perovsky to unblock it. The Kokands retreated in disorder, losing up to 2,000 killed in this battle. The losses of the Russians amounted to 18 killed and 44 wounded. The trophies were four bunchuks, 7 banners, 17 guns and 130 pounds of gunpowder. In 1854, the Russian Verny outpost was established in Semirechye.
Nikolai Karazin. Alarm in the fortress redoubt (Attack of the Kokands on the Cossack settlement of Uzynagash)
In 1854, the Verny fortification was founded on the Siberian line at the foot of the Zailiyskiy Alatau mountain range. In 1860, the detachment of Colonel Gerasim Kolpakovsky (3 companies, 400 Cossacks, and 4 guns) together with 1,000 soldiers of the Kazakh militia defeated in the Battle of Uzynagash the 16,000-strong Kokandi army who were going to destroy the new Russian fortress. West Siberian the authorities equipped the Kyrgyz who rebelled against Kokand and asked the Russians for help, a small detachment under the command of Colonel Apollo Zimmerman, who destroyed the Kokandi fortifications of Pishpek and Tokmok[6]. With these measures, the Siberian Line protected itself from enemy raids. On the southern section of the Siberian line beyond the Ili River, a new Semirechen Cossack army was created, the core of which was two regimental districts of the Siberian Cossack troops[7].
In the summer of 1864, Colonel N. Verevkin attacked Turkestan from the side of Fort Perovsky with the forces of a detachment of 2,000 men (5 infantry companies and 200 Cossacks) and took it. Commander Mirza-Devlet fled to Tashkent. Another Russian detachment under the command of Chernyaev took Chimkent in September of the same year. A surprise for Chernyaev during the siege of Chimkent was the presence of rifled artillery among the Kokandites, superior to the Russian one in firing range[8]. An attempt by a detachment of 1,550 men to immediately take Tashkent failed. Russian artillery destroyed the city gate, but the defenders of the city put up fierce resistance inside the city. 18 Russian soldiers and officers were killed in the battle. Seeing the futility of further onslaught, the Russian detachment retreated to Chimkent. In December, the Battle of Ican took place: the regent of the Kokand Khanate Alimkul decided to strike back, gathered an army and, bypassing Shymkent, moved to the rear of Chernyaev, to the fortress of Turkestan. On the way to which, near the village of Ikan, his army of many thousands was stopped by a hundred esaul Serov. After the battle, Alimkul retreated to Tashkent[8].
Without waiting for the approval of the superiors and the arrival of the reserves, Chernyaev organized the second Tashkent campaign. On April 29, he stormed a small Forty fortressNiyazbek, who defended the hydraulic structures of Tashkent water pipes. On May 9, 7 kilometers from Tashkent, on the Kara-su tract, he defeated the army of Alimkul, who died of his wounds shortly after the end of the battle[8].
In 1865Chernyaev after a three-day assault (June 15-17) took Tashkent, losing 25 people killed and 117 wounded; the losses of the Kokands were very significant.
The conquest of Tashkent strengthened Russia's position in Asia and naturally led to a clash of interests with Bukhara, whose emir Muzaffar invaded Kokand and restored Khudoyar, overthrown by Alimkul, on his throne, and began to prepare for war against Russia[9].
The attempt of the Bukhara emir to help the Kokand Khanate was stopped during the Battle of Irjar in 1866. On May 24, 1866, the Russians were Khojent and Khojent. During the defense of Khojent, the Kokands lost up to 3,500 people killed, whose corpses were then buried for a whole week, while the Russian troops - 137 killed and wounded. From Khojent, Russian troops moved to Ura-Tuba, which was taken in July by General Kryzhanovsky. In October, Jizak fell, the strongest fortress in Turkestan, covering the Tamerlan Gate - the only convenient way from Tashkent to the Zeravshan Valley. At the same time, Yakub Beg, the former ruler of Tashkent, flees to Kashgar, which has become temporarily independent from China, and founds the state of Yettishar there. The Bukharans fled to Samarkand. In 1867, the Turkestan region was transformed into the Turkestan General Government with two regions: Semirechenskaya (c. Verny) and Syrdarya (c. Tashkent). This is how Russian Turkestan[10].
123Plentsov, A. K. The case is under Ican. St. Petersburg. Publishing house "Historical and Cultural Center of the Karelian Isthmus", 2014. 320 p. With illustrations. ISBN 978-5-9905826-9-9. P. 12-14
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Russian Empire 
Qing Dynasty 
Kokand Khanate 
Khanate of Khiva 
Emirate of Bukhara 