Involvement of the Kalmyk military formations in the suppression of the Bashkir uprising in 1755 

Stepan V. Dzhundzhuzov, Doctor of historical sciences, associate professor, professor of the sub-department of Russian history, Orenburg State Pedagogical University (19 Sovetskaya street, Orenburg, Russia), E-mail: Djund@yandex.ru 

94(47):323:[356.15(=512.37)-026.12"1755" 

DOI

10.21685/2072-3024-2021-3-1 

Background. Up to the present time, the Bashkir uprising of 1755–1756 continues to be considered in line with the colonial approach of “oppression – resistance”. As a result, the military forces sent by the tsarist government to the Bashkir volosts to restore order remain outside the framework of the research field. They consisted of one thousand Kalmyks conscripted from the Kalmyk Khanate, and five hundred baptized Kalmyks from the Stavropol Kalmyk Army. Materials and methods. The sources for the study were archival documents from the fund of the Orenburg Provincial Chancellery of the State Archive of Orenburg region. The completeness of the information presented in them allows us to single out the involvement of the Kalmyk military contingents in the suppression of the Bashkir uprising as a problem that requires a separate study. Results. In the course of the study, the orders of Orenburg governor I.I. Neplyuev on mobilization of the Kalmyk teams, cash payments and food supplies to their rank and file and command staff were studied. Special attention is paid to the places of deployment and the utilization of detachments of Stavropol baptized Kalmyks to patrol and protect the Verkhneyaitskaya border line. Conclusions. The Bashkir uprising of 1755–1756 is the most famous and significant civil commotion of the period of Elizabeth’s reign. Its scale, the courage of the rebels and
their desire to attract representatives of neighboring Turkic peoples to their ranks, forced the Orenburg military administration to pull in excess military contingents to Bashkiria. The team of one thousand people called up from the Kalmyk Khanate turned out to be unclaimed. In contrast, the five-hundred-men regiment of Stavropol baptized Kalmyks was used to strengthen the protection of the border line in places of possible contacts between Bashkirs and Kazakhs. The involvement of the Stavropol Kalmyks in the police and security service made it possible to test their military potential in field conditions. A year later, the regiment, staffed by the same Stavropol Kalmyks, was sent to the Baltic States and took part in the Russian-Prussian War. 

Key words

Bashkir uprising, governor, Kalmyks, Kalmyk army, rebels, border line 

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