RUSSIAN SOURCES OF THE XVIII–XIX CENTURIES ABOUT THE CONFLICTS IN THE KAZAKH STEPPE AND THE INVOLVEMENT AND PARTICIPATION OF THE URAL COSSACKS

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to show the complexity and ambiguity of relations between Kazakhs and Russian military (primarily Cossacks) during the advance of Russia in the Kazakh steppe and Central Asia, as well as a reflection of this problem in different sources. Methodology. In the course of the work, we have used diverse sources that shed light on this issue. Among them, documents of XVIII–XIX centuries, mainly from the State archive of Orenburg region (GAOO), as well as from the military historical archive (RGVIA). Used the documents collected by the Lieutenant of the General staff, A.D. Ryabinin, the importance of which is associated with the fact that the archive of the Ural Cossack troops lost during the civil war. Not less important are two major works of officers, military historians and theorists M.I. Iva­nin and M.A. Terentyev directly involved in the campaigns through the Kazakh steppe and the annexation of Central Asia. To a lesser extent the materials used other “sources” of the XIX century the Ural Cossack officers I.I. Zheleznov, N.G. Makushin, and also serving at the Orenburg military Governor V. I. Dahl. An important source is and “Uralskiye voiskoviye vedomostie” – the only newspaper published in the Ural Cossack army in the last third of the XIX century. Results. All these sources allow us to draw some important conclusions. They clearly indicate that the South-Eastern outskirts of Russia was long subjected to raids “nomads”, and it has developed most of the border of the Cossack population sustained hostility to the nomadic neighbors. The hostility persisted for a long time, but during the nineteenth century it was gradually decreasing due to the socio-political and economic changes in parallel decreased and the number of conflicts. The Russian military sometimes showed excessive cruelty, and their commanders, carrying out orders from above, was not always true in the Kazakh population. But it was not the main trend. Tthe Kazakh society was not monolithic. Not all members of the nobility enjoyed respect and authority among the common people; many khans and sultans needed a personal guard from their own wards, which was carried out by Cossacks. The mores of various Kazakh tribes and clans often had significant differences, caused by different factors, including geographical. Most often, conflicts, unrest and rebellion occurred in Western Kazakhstan (the Kazakh Small Zhuz) and the rebellious and warlike, there was a kind of “Adai”. Difficult was the attitude of the Kazakhs not only with the Cossacks (or in General with the Russians), but also with other neighbors – Uzbeks, Turkmen and other, sometimes leading to bloody clashes. At the same time, sources reveal that took place and positive cooperation with the Kazakhs and their elites in different fields – political, military, economic, cultural. Practical implications. The information in this article can be used by historians, ethnographers, other scientific and scientific-pedagogical employees, as well as all those interested in the history of Russian-Kazakh relations