History of the district. Kalmyk Cossacks: Khuruls of the Don Army Region

Kalmyks first appeared on the Don in 1648. The reasons for the migration of some Kalmyks to the Don were internal strife in the Kalmyk Khanate. The Kalmyk nobility more than once turned to the Russian authorities with complaints about the Don Cossacks and the administration of the cities neighboring Kalmykia in order to prevent them from accepting and returning fugitive Kalmyks. In 1673, 1677 and 1683, the Russian government issued decrees that prohibited the Don Cossacks and border cities from accepting fugitive Kalmyks, and if they came to the Don, immediately sending them to their former places.

On March 9 of the year, in connection with the forced deportation of the Kalmyk people, the Kalmyk region was abolished and its territory was transferred to the Zimovnikovsky and Salsky districts of the Rostov region.

Thus, during the years of Soviet power, Astrakhan, Stavropol, Don, Terek and other Kalmyks, named after their place of residence, became simply Kalmyks, united into a single nationality.

Life and way of life

For a long time, the steppe people led a nomadic lifestyle. The main dwelling was a kibitka, a Mongolian-type yurt. At first, stationary buildings were dugouts and semi-dugouts made of mud bricks or cut from turf; from the second half of the 19th century, Russian-type buildings, log and brick, began to spread. In total, there were Kalmyks in the Kalmyk (Salsk) district by year: in 1822 - 6,772 souls; in 1882 - 28,695 souls; in 1917 - 30,200 people. In 1859, in the Kalmyk district there were up to 100 thousand horses, 50 thousand cattle and up to 200 thousand sheep. At the beginning of the 20th century, the average sowing of winter and spring crops per year reached 75 thousand quarters, harvest - 350 thousand. Grapes were grown only by amateurs; village residents were engaged in gardening (up to 700 dessiatines). Agriculture appeared in the 30s of the 19th century. At first, arable farming played an auxiliary role, accompanying the main occupation - cattle breeding. Haymaking became widespread, and the preparation of fodder for the winter kept many Kalmyk families from nomadic life. The second half of the 19th century was the time of transition to settled life and agricultural activity. Thanks to hard work, the people's welfare of Kalmyks on the Don has achieved good results. Suffice it to say that 50% of the Kalmyk population, owners who had up to 30-40 heads of cattle, 4-6 horses, 2-3 pairs of bulls and sowed up to 20-40 acres of grain, were considered average, and those who had less than this norm were considered poor, but there were few of them. There were also large owners who had 1000 heads of horses, from 2 to 5 thousand sheep, many hundreds of heads of cattle, who sowed up to 200-400 acres of grain, whose estates seemed like entire farms with tens and hundreds of workers. In addition to cattle breeding, Kalmyks were engaged in waste farming, hiring themselves out as herdsmen and in fishing in the lower reaches of the Don.

The main craft was felting cloaks, they were engaged in weaving felts, making sheepskin coats, producing household utensils, national icon painting, embroidery, making riding accessories and national musical instruments.

The Russian population adopted original national dishes from the Kalmyks - shulyun (shulyum), dotur, Kalmyk jomba tea - with milk, butter and salt. The main intoxicating drink was araka, vodka made from milk.

At the beginning of the 20th century, financial capital began to gain momentum. Credit partnerships were formed in the villages. For example, the Potapovsky Credit Society had 248 members, with a capital of 18,000 rubles.

The spiritual life of the Don Kalmyk Cossacks was regulated by the Establishment of the Civil Administration of the Cossacks and the Temporary Regulations on the Service of the Bakshi (Lama) of the Don Kalmyks. The Tsarist government of Russia, in order to interrupt the ties between the Kalmyks and Tibet, established the prerogative of St. Petersburg in approving the Supreme Lama (Shajin Lama). It is worth noting that until 1902, the Don Kalmyks were deprived of the right to have their own spiritual and religious head. Only thanks to the campaign raised by captain Naran Erentsenovich Ulanov (a prominent figure of the Don Kalmyks) and his articles published in St. Petersburg newspapers, as well as the published brochure “The Kalmyk clergy and the current situation of the Kalmyk people on the Don”, played a big role in the sense of resolving the issue of having their own “ Lamu." The religious hierarchy of the Kalmyks consisted of 4 levels: the lowest level was occupied by ordinary monks - “manzhi”, above them stood mentors - “bakshi”, even higher were the priests - “gelungs”, the highest level was occupied by the high priest - “Lama”. The post of “Lama” gave not only certain religious rights, but also great secular influence. , Dumbo-Dashi Ulyanov , Shurguchi Nimgirov (English) Russian, Ivan Kitanov (English) Russian, Lubsan-Sharap Tepkin. Mönke Bormanzhinov played a significant role in the life of the Don Kalmyks, waging a stubborn struggle against Russification. Thanks to him, the teaching of Kalmyk literacy, writing and Buddhist doctrine was introduced in schools where Kalmyks studied. Public schools appear in the villages of the Salsky district, and in the village. Grand Ducal: higher primary school (city), four-year women's school. As a result of the activities of Lama Bormanzhinov, the number of Kalmyks graduating from the only city school in the Salsk district increased every year. Thanks to material support from village societies, in 1912 in Art. The Grand Duchy opened a secondary educational institution, where up to a hundred Kalmyk children studied. In 1906, the first students of higher educational institutions appeared from among the Don Kalmyks. In Novocherkassk one could see Kalmyk children in the uniform of high school students, realists, and Kalmyk youth as students and cadets of the Novocherkassk Cossack School, after which they joined the Don regiments.

Don Kalmyk Cossacks Cossack Kalmyks of the Salsky District of the Don Army Region in the 1st World War. As is known, Kalmyks appeared within Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. They migrated from the Dzungar Khanate and formed the Kalmyk Khanate in the lower reaches of the Volga River, which strengthened under Ayuk Khan. Archival documents indicate that Kalmyks were called to the Don by local Cossacks to jointly fight the Crimean Tatars. Thus, in 1642, the Don Cossacks turned to their new neighbors with a proposal to jointly fight the Crimeans for the capture of Azov. And in 1648, Kalmyks first appeared near the Cherkasy town. A defensive and offensive alliance was concluded between the Kalmyks and the Cossacks, according to which 1000 Kalmyks opposed the Crimeans. From that time on, agreements were concluded between them and oaths were taken about faithful service to Russia. In 1696, Ayuka Khan sent up to three thousand tents (about ten thousand people) to the Don near Azov to guard the border line and fight the Azov people. These Kalmyks did not return back to the Kalmyk Khanate; they remained on the Don, near Cherkassk. Some of them accepted the Orthodox faith. In 1710, Ayuka Khan sent an additional ten thousand Kalmyks to the Don, led by the Torgout owner Chimet and the Derbet owner Four, to guard the southern borders from Kuban raids. Cornet of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment Ochir-Garya Sharapov, 1861. In 1723, Peter I ordered all Kalmyks wandering along the Don to remain in the Cossack class and no more representatives of this nation to be accepted into these lands. Thus, in 1731, the Kalmyks who crossed to the Don became part of the population of the Don Army and were subordinated to the Directorate of Military Cossacks. In 1745, the entire populated Western steppe was given over to the Kalmyks, who were assigned to the Don Army, as nomads. On these lands, three Kalmyk uluses with farmsteads and population were formed: Upper, Middle and Lower. Cornet Toki Dakuginov. 1912 Platovskaya village In 1856, there were 13 villages in the Kalmyk district, in which 20,635 people lived (10,098 men, 10,537 women). There were 31,455 horses, 63,766 cattle and 62,297 sheep. Cornet Toki Dakuginov. Platovskaya village In 1862, stanitsa administration was introduced for the Don Kalmyks, subordinate to the Don Army. According to the administrative structure, the Kalmyk nomad community was divided into three uluses, and 13 hundreds were transformed into villages. In 1891, according to the regulations, the land share per man was 15 dessiatines, the rest of the lands belonged to the village society, which, when a Kalmyk Cossack was called up for military service, provided him with a horse, weapons and clothing. From September 1, 1891, the Don Kalmyks were legally equated with the Don Cossacks and began to build civil relations following the model of the Don Cossacks. At the same time, the previous hundreds were renamed into the villages: Batlaevskaya, Burulskaya, Vlasovskaya, Denisovskaya, Grabbevskaya, Kuteynikovskaya, Novo-Alekseevskaya, Potapovskaya, Platovskaya, Erketinskaya, Chonusovskaya and the farms: Baldyrsky, Atamansky, Kamensky, Potapovsky and Elmutyansky. Astrakhan Governor I.N. Sokolovsky with the Kalmyk nobility. 1909 In 1898, the Don Kalmyks had a district school and seven stanitsa elementary schools. According to data for 1913, 30,178 people lived in the territory of the Salsky district, excluding those working in other districts and stud farms. There were 13 villages and 19 Kalmyk farms in the district. After the end of the Civil War in 1920, only 10,750 Kalmyks lived here, i.e. the population decreased three times. Such a sharp reduction in the number of Kalmyks living on the Don for the period from 1897 to 1920 (over 23 years) is explained by the losses of Kalmyk Cossacks on the battlefields of the Russian-Japanese (1904-1905), World War I (1914-1920) gg.) and Civil (1918-1920) wars. Podesaul Tseren Dzhivinov is a full Knight of St. George. The Cossack hundred under his command captured 800 Austrians during the First World War. Cossack of the Potapovskaya village of the All-Great Don Army Badma Martushkin Colonel Bator Mangatov, commander of the 19th Don Cossack Regiment. Colonel, Prince Danzan Tundutov-Dondukov, ataman of the Astrakhan Cossack army. Officers of the White Volunteer Army: Colonel Gabriel Tepkin, Ulanov, Prince Tundutov. Cossacks of the 80th Dzungarian Regiment near Rostov. 1918 Naran Ulanov. Novo-Alekseevskaya village. Region of the Don Army Imkens?? Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky inspects the Kalmyk khurul on the Don destroyed by the Bolsheviks. 1918 Cossack Mushka Kutinov Don Kalmyks. 1922 Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky at an audience with the Lama of the Don Kalmyks. 1918 Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky, on the threshold of the Kalmyk khurul. 1918 Don Cossacks and Kalmyks go ashore. The beginning of emigration. Lemnos Island. Greece In Turkey with the British Army. 1921 D. Ulanov Camp Kabakja. Türkiye. 1921 In exile. Sanzha Baldanov (left), Sanzha Targirov (right) In exile. Constantinople. Türkiye. Russian white emigrants. Don Kalmyks in exile. Türkiye. The photo was presumably taken in 1921-1923. White Army officers in Gallipoli. Turkey Evacuated Don Kalmyks and their descendants 35 years later, in DP Dom, New Jersey, USA After the end of the Civil War, in connection with the formation of the Kalmyk Autonomous Region within the RSFSR, work began on the resettlement of the remaining Kalmyks from the Don Region to the territory of the Kalmyk Autonomous Okrug. It was planned to resettle 13 thousand people to Bolshe-Derbetovsky ulus (now Gorodovikovsky district). As of January 1, 1925, 8,451 people resettled from 13 villages of the Don region. The chairman of the Bolshe-Derbetovsky ulus executive committee, Harti Badievich Kanukov, in his report “On the resettlement of the Don Kalmyks as of January 1, 1926,” noted that in three years 15,171 people resettled from all 13 villages of the Salsky district. On April 29, 1929, the presidium of the North Caucasus Regional Committee adopted a decision “On the creation of an independent Kalmyk region as part of the Salsky district.” According to information as of April 1, 1932, in the Kalmyk region there were 11 village councils and 23 collective farms with a population of 12 thousand people, including 5 thousand Kalmyks. The district administrative center was located in the village of Kuteynikovskaya, which existed from November 6, 1929 until the date of deportation of the Kalmyk people to Siberia. After returning from exile, natives of the Kalmyk district of the Rostov region in Kuteynikovskaya built a monument to fellow countrymen who died during the Great Patriotic War. The embedded capsule contains the names of more than 800 Kalmyk soldiers, natives of the Rostov region, who died for the honor and independence of our Motherland.

Kalmyks on the Don Land from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century.

The formation of official vassal-service relations with the Russian state and the military service of the Kalmyks is quite clearly recorded in the charters and agreements of the Kalmyk taishas with Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov in 1618, 1623, 1630-1632ᴦ.ᴦ. In the 40s and 50s of the 17th century, tribes of Oirats (Mongols who did not convert to Islam, but professed a type of Buddhism - Lamaism), who were called Kalmyks, migrated from the Mongolian steppes to the Volga region and the left bank of the Transdon region. Initially, they often clashed with the Nogais and Don Cossacks over territory and livestock, then they began to establish connections and diplomatic contacts. In 1648, a defensive and offensive alliance was concluded between the Kalmyks and the Cossacks against the Crimean Tatars.
Posted on ref.rf
Already in 1651ᴦ. a detachment of Kalmyks crossed the Don, moving on a raid on the possessions of the Crimean Khan, forestalling the campaign against the Don people being prepared by the Tatars. In February 1661, Ambassador Baatyr Yangildeev arrived in the Don capital of Cherkassk with a diplomatic mission from the Kalmyk leader Daichin-Taishi. After exchanging gifts with military ataman Kornila Yakovlev, the ambassadors held negotiations regarding joint actions against the Crimean Tatars and Nogais. In the spring of the same year, the Don embassy headed by Fyodor Budan and Stepan Razin went on a return visit to the nomads of Daichin-Taishi. The agreement they concluded was beneficial not only to the Don Cossacks, but to the Russian state, because from now on the Kalmyks turned from a hostile force into allies of Russia. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1663 approved the alliance of the Donets with the Kalmyks, allowing the latter to roam in the southeastern borders of the Cossack land: along the rivers Manych, Sal, Ilovlya, Buzuluk and Khoper.
Posted on ref.rf
For diplomatic receptions of the Kalmyks, the government, along with the Cossack salaries, began to send two hundred buckets of vodka annually.

In the winter of 1663, a united detachment of Don Cossacks and Kalmyks made a campaign against the Tatars, to the Crimean Isthmus. The Don Cossacks were led by the young Stepan Razin, and the Kalmyks were led by Shogasha Mergen and Sherbet Bakshi. In the battle of Molochnye Vody they defeated a strong Tatar detachment led by Safar Kazy-aga.

Despite the fact that the Kalmyks (unlike the Cossacks) were not Orthodox, but professed Lamaism, a type of Buddhism (this teaching preached tolerance of other religions), they quickly fit into the cultural Don environment, becoming allies of the Don Cossacks in the fight against the Sublime Porte and the Crimean Khanate.

With the coming to power of the authoritative steppe politician Ayuki Khan, the number of Don Kalmyks increased significantly. This ruler pursued a dual policy towards the Don and Russia. “Without dwelling here on the subtle politics of Ayuki Khan,” wrote the pre-revolutionary Don historian I.I. Popov, - one can only note that this khan, ...despite the fact that he was considered a Russian subject, was the most powerful and independent of all the Kalmyk rulers, since in all his affairs he always acted only of your own free will. Through clever intrigues and resourcefulness, Ayuka Khan managed to be courteous to the Russian sovereigns, despite the fact that he plundered Russian cities and villages, to the Crimean Khan, to Constantinople, and to all the other rulers around him, even to the Bogd Khan of China and the Dalai Lama Tibetan, from whom he, the first of all Kalmyk rulers, received the high title of khan. In all his relations with various sovereigns, Ayuka Khan observed only his own benefits.

The authoritarian method of rule of this khan led to the fact that many Kalmyk tribal leaders left him for the Don, to the Cossacks. So, in 1686, 200 Kalmyk families asked for asylum from the Donets and were accepted by them “into the Cossack class.” Four years later, 600 Kalmyk warriors led by Batur Cherkess arrived in Cherkassk, having received permission from the Cossack Circle to roam between the Don and Donets.

After the death of Ayuki Khan in 1722, a struggle for power began among the Kalmyk leaders, with Tseren-Donduk and then Donduk-Ombo at the top. Military ataman Danila Efremov conducted successful diplomatic negotiations with the latter. This was the time when the Russian Empire was preparing for decisive battles with Turkey and Crimea, when Field Marshal Minich concentrated an army on the Don for a campaign near Azov, and then to Crimea.

The Russian government needed to know whose side the Kalmyk ruler Donduk-Ombo would take in the upcoming war, whose several tens of thousands of cavalry were a formidable force at that time. Showing extraordinary diplomatic skills, Danila Efremov managed to persuade the Kalmyk ruler to an alliance with Russia. For a successfully completed mission, Danila Efremov was appointed Don Troop Ataman by decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna on March 17, 1738. And in subsequent times, the far-sighted Efremov maintained good relations with the Kalmyks, receiving their Taish leaders in his Cherkassy town and in a country dacha on the Krasny farm.

After the death of Donduk-Ombo, his grandson, Tsebek-Dorji, “migrated from 33,000 smoke holes (yurt-wagons) of the people from Russia to China.” . The Kalmyks who remained in Russia, due to their small numbers and weakness, who were subjected to attacks by warlike neighbors (Kyrgyz, mountain and other peoples), turned to the imperial government and the Don Cossacks with a request to be included in the Cossack class. In 1794, the highest permission was received for this, and the Kalmyks settled between the Don, Donets and near Cherkassk. Having all the Cossack rights, they had the right to freely practice Buddhism - the traditional religion of their ancestors. Hundreds of strong Kalmyks fit for military service were formed and included in the Don regiments. Kalmyks received grain and cash salaries for their service. Kalmyks, who were physically fit for military service, but who wanted to work as cattle breeders and herdsmen, could pay off their military service by contributing a certain amount to the Military Board to equip Cossacks for the service instead of them.

Kalmyks physically incapable of military service formed teams of rammers - workers at military fish hatcheries, where large quantities of ram fish were processed.

Representatives of the Don Kalmyks (as well as the Tatars) served as orderlies for the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul the First. So, at the end of April 1777, “according to His Grace Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, to be in the “ordinaryship” under His Highness Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, send with Colonel Pyotr Yanov... two Tatars and two Kalmyks , each with a pair of horses; Kalmyks of the Tatars with sagaidaks and darts, and the foreman Ivan Platov, who was in Moscow, was ordered by letter to send to the military kosht the Kalmyks' blues and labashkas and two pairs of boots each.

In 1798, the Kalmyks were subordinated to the Military Civil Government, and since 1803 they were controlled by special “bailiffs over the Kalmyks,” who necessarily had officer ranks. For greater control over the restless Kalmyk army, at the beginning of the reign of Ataman M. Platov, they were resettled on the left bank of the Don, ordered to “migrate in the spring from the Kagalnik River to Sal, in the summer along both Kuberla and Gashun, in the fall in the vicinity of the Manych salt lakes, and in the winter along Manychi itself.” .

Finally, in 1806, all Kalmyk nomadic camps were finally divided into three basic uluses: Upper, Middle and Lower, ruled by the chief - zaisang , often combining secular and spiritual power. The Kalmyks of the Upper Ulus roamed along the Sal River and its left tributaries, the borders of the Middle Ulus lay on both sides of the Manych, and the Lower Ulus along the Elbuzd (Elbuzd), Eya, and Kugey Eya rivers. The Don Kalmyks themselves defined the rights and obligations of the Cossacks and the conditions of service with the name - “buzaav”, in the sense of handing over a gun (weapon)”

The uluses, in turn, were divided into 13 hundred-aimags: Kharkov, Belyaevskaya, Baldyrskaya, Erketinskaya, Chunusovskaya, Bembekinskaya, Gelingyakinskaya, Kyuvyutskaya, Burulskaya, Baksha, Bultukovskaya, Batlayevskaya and Namvrovskaya. Hundreds were divided into khotons .

At the beginning of the 19th century, most of the Derbent Kalmyks migrated to the Astrakhan steppes. Only the Kalmyks of the Lower Ulus remained in the Don Army. In 1801 there were 2,262 male souls. In 1803, they were joined by about 400 Chuguev and Dolomanovo Kalmyks, who moved to the region of the Don Army.

In 1806, the Kalmyk district was formed from Kalmyks who roamed the Trans-Don steppes. The land area designated for their villages was surrounded from the north and west by Cossack and peasant lands of the 1st and 2nd Don districts; from the south – land allocated for private horse breeding; from the east - the lands of the Kalmyks of the Astrakhan province. In the same year they were granted all the rights and privileges of the Cossack military class. The Kalmyks themselves defined these acts as the acquisition of a new honorary status of the Cossacks - ʼʼbuzaavʼʼ (handed a gun, assigned to state military service)

Don Kalmyks-Buzaavs took an active part in the hundreds of aimaks and Cossack regiments in the War of 1812. In the vanguard of the Cossack regiments under the command of M.I. Platov in March 1814, they entered Paris, striking the French with their exotic appearance.

While serving a difficult service outside the Don region along with the Cossacks, the Don Kalmyks composed a cycle of folk songs about this. Here is one of them, recorded by the Don pre-revolutionary historian I. I. Popov:

ʼʼHow do you cross Gashun?

One remembers one’s own land and its waters.

As we ride on horseback in rows,

The wooden camp ahead is blackening,

Three camps lined up in rows

They turn black in a bluish haze.

How will we move to Kuberle,

Let's give ourselves and the horses a rest.

When we cross the Manych,

Sweat will stream from your forehead.

The fathers and mothers who gave birth to us!

Live happily according to the laws of faith.

Novocherkassk city

Although beautiful, it is very difficult.

Speaking from Novocherkassk,

We sit on the fire machine.

On the shores of the Black Sea

I stood on guard;

On the shore of the White Sea.

I stood guard.

The winter night lasts long

And the gray tire is cool.

The Kalmyks also have several songs preserved about the epoch-making events of the fight against Napoleon.

ʼʼOn three Manych mounds

General Matvey was gathering an army,

And those collected by General Matvey

Inspected by Andrey Mitrich,

Centurion Alya sent him to work.

How the centurion Alya sent us to serve,

We rode, sad about our family.

We crossed the water of the Old Don with the help of our faithful horses,

And we crossed the water of the Young Don

we are by the power of prayer.

Can the water of the deepest river

Run out of steam entering quicksand?

The glow of the rising sun

Is it possible to eclipse the palm of your hands?

In the same way, having heard that wonderful order (about the campaign),

Our hearts were filled with satisfaction .

According to the “Regulations on the Administration of the Don Army” of 1835, it was officially confirmed that Kalmyks, along with the Cossacks, were now subject to military service. In 1859, there were already 21,090 Kalmyks of both sexes.

In 1882, the total number of Kalmyks, according to the report of the internal affairs bodies of the Department of Internal Affairs, reached 28,659 people. Kalmyks, after the creation of the Salsky district in 1884ᴦ. and the transition to a sedentary way of farming and living, they lived compactly in 13 villages on the territory of the Salsky district, the 1st and 2nd Don. They served well as part of Cossack regiments throughout the 19th century and until the beginning of the 20th century. The Don Kalmyks also distinguished themselves in other wars waged by the Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries (until 1917).

Before the revolution of 1917, 30,200 Kalmyks lived on the territory of the Don Army Region. Kalmyk Cossacks took an active part in the events of the revolution and civil war of 1917 -1920ᴦ.ᴦ. Basically, Kalmyk hundreds served as part of the counter-revolutionary Don Army and in separate punitive units; therefore, most of them emigrated from Crimea along with the Cossacks in 1920.

Kalmyks on the Don Land from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Kalmyks on the Don Land from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century." 2017, 2018.

By the beginning of the 18th century, Kalmyk settlements appeared outside the Kalmyk Khanate. These are Donskoye, Chuguevskoye, Stavropolskoye, Orenburgskoye, Yaitskoye. In the second half of the 18th century, they also arose on the Terek and Dnieper. The Cossacks, knowing the Kalmyks as “...good horsemen, excellent in courage, always ready and zealous for service,” tried to attract them to their class.

Don Kalmyks. Kalmyk settlements on the Don arose in the second half of the 17th century. and grew throughout the 18th century. due to the influx of Kalmyk groups. The Kalmyk nobility constantly turned to the Russian government with requests to prohibit Kalmyks from settling on the Don, but this did not stop the influx of Kalmyks to the Don.

Don Kalmyks, included in the Cossack Don Army, continued to engage in their traditional activity - cattle breeding.

From the second half of the 18th century. a small part of the Don Kalmyks began to engage in agriculture. Life of the Don Kalmyks until the 19th century. was built traditionally according to national laws.

From the middle of the 18th century. The Don administration divided its wards into three uluses and several hundreds, while the ulus leader was called an ataman, and the hundred leader was called a centurion. Don Kalmyks, depending on combined arms mobilization, were required to recruit individual hundreds led by their owners (atamans) and replenish the composition of Cossack regiments and teams.

Chuguev Kalmyks.

In the 60s of the 17th century. A small group of Volga Kalmyks, led by zaisang Alexei Kobinov, entered service in the Belgorod regiment. In 1679, this group, having adopted the Orthodox faith, at the direction of the Russian government, settled in the suburban settlement of Osipovka in the city of Chuguev. The Kalmyks settled in Chuguev, together with the Ukrainian Cossacks, were the founders of the Chuguev Cossack team, designed to defend the left bank of Ukraine from attacks by the Crimean Tatars. In the mid-30s. XVIII century The team was transformed into the Chuguev Cossack Regiment.

In 1803, the residents of the city of Chuguev were expelled from the regiment, and the Ukrainian Cossacks were turned into a tax-paying estate, and the bulk of the Kalmyks were transferred to the Don Army to continue their Cossack service.

Stavropol Kalmyk army, Orenburg and Yaik Kalmyks. The Stavropol (on the Volga) settlement of Kalmyks arose in 1737 and was one of the largest among Kalmyk groups outside the Kalmyk steppe.

In 1737, a special settlement was created for baptized Kalmyks in the Kunya Volozhka tract, located at the confluence of the Volozhka River with the Volga, which in 1739 was renamed the city of Stavropol-on-Volga (modern Tolyatti). Baptized Kalmyks were given land, houses and a church were built. In 1744, the Stavropol fortress was subordinated to the Orenburg province.

The Senate, by its decision of November 19, 1745, legalized the Cossack governance system here. From that time on, the settlement of baptized Kalmyks received the official name - the Stavropol Kalmyk army, which included 8 companies (in civil terms - uluses). A significant reorganization in the army was carried out in May 1760. In connection with this, 3 more companies were created from among the Kalmyks who arrived here from Dzungaria. Thus, there were 11 companies in total, and the army was renamed the Stavropol Kalmyk Corps of a thousand personnel, subordinate to the Orenburg Cossack Army. Later, the Stavropol Kalmyk Regiment was formed on its base.

Orenburg Kalmyk settlement arose from the late 40s. XVIII century, when the government of the Russian Empire decided to organize a separate Cossack corps. Kalmyks were accepted into the Orenburg Cossack Army in 1755. In the 60s of the 18th century. commanded the corps Kalmyk Andrey Anchukov, received the Cossack rank of colonel, and later the army rank of second major. Subsequently, the number of serving Kalmyks in the corps increased due to the influx of immigrants from Dzungaria and compatriots from the Kalmyk Khanate. Mostly Kalmyks performed cordon service.

Kalmyks settled on Yaik in the 20s. XVIII century Kalmyks, along with the Yaik Cossacks, carried out cordon service here.

In 1727, a team of three hundred people was formed from baptized Kalmyks who roamed near Astrakhan to guard the Astrakhan-Tsaritsyn border line. In 1787, the team was transformed into a five-hundred-strong Cossack regiment, in which, along with Kalmyks, Astrakhan and Chernoyarsk Cossacks and Tatars served. Gradually, the Volga coast from Astrakhan to Black Yar began to be built up with villages in which Kalmyks settled together with the Cossacks. By the 70s of the 18th century. the number of Kalmyks in the regiment increased to 600 people.

Sal Cossacks-Kalmyks. Early 20th century

After the Azov campaign of 1698 In the Azov region, the Nikolaev Cossack Regiment was formed to guard the newly built border towns here. At the end of the 20s, 1000 Kalmyks were transferred from the Don Army to Azov to serve in this regiment. In 1777 the regiment was abolished. The Kalmyks who served in it, given their high military training, were transferred to the New Dnieper Line to continue their service.

At the end of the 70s of the XVIII century. The question arose about the creation of the New Dnieper Line, in the area of ​​which there was a road connecting Central Russia with Kuban, Crimea and the Northern Caucasus. Of the Kalmyks (855 people) transferred here from the Nikolaev Cossack Regiment, In the town of Tokmak-Mogila, an outpost was created “in a very unneeded and completely uninhabited place.”

In 1777, another Kalmyk settlement arose on the lands of the Terek Cossacks. The resettlement of Kalmyks to this area was caused by the need to strengthen the southern borders of the state in the North Caucasus with fortresses and to provide them with an additional contingent of Cossacks. Since the Kalmyks were born warriors, the Russian administration tried to attract them to the Cossack class with further use in border and military service.

Cossack of the Stavropol regiment

Photo: Kalmyk in military service.

As is known, Kalmyks appeared within Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. They migrated from the Dzungar Khanate and formed the Kalmyk Khanate in the lower reaches of the Volga River, which strengthened under Ayuk Khan. Archival documents indicate that Kalmyks were called to the Don by local Cossacks to jointly fight the Crimean Tatars. Thus, in 1642, the Don Cossacks turned to their new neighbors with a proposal to jointly fight the Crimeans for the capture of Azov. And in 1648, Kalmyks first appeared near the Cherkasy town. A defensive and offensive alliance was concluded between the Kalmyks and the Cossacks, according to which 1000 Kalmyks opposed the Crimeans. From that time on, agreements were concluded between them and oaths were taken about faithful service to Russia.

In 1696, Ayuka Khan sent up to three thousand tents (about ten thousand people) to the Don near Azov to guard the border line and fight the Azov people. These Kalmyks did not return back to the Kalmyk Khanate; they remained on the Don, near Cherkassk. Some of them accepted the Orthodox faith.

In 1710, Ayuka Khan sent an additional ten thousand Kalmyks to the Don, led by the Torgout owner Chimet and the Derbet owner Four, to guard the southern borders from Kuban raids.

In 1723, Peter I ordered all Kalmyks wandering along the Don to remain in the Cossack class and no more representatives of this nation to be accepted into these lands.

Ataman of the VVD, General Lieutenant General A.P. Bogaevsky drinks chara with the leadership of the Kalmyk Cossack army. The one on the right (for us) is Colonel Tepkin, to the right of Ataman is Noyon (Prince) Tyumen, to the left of Ataman is Badma Ulanov - a representative of the Don Kalmyks in all military circles of the Don, an active public figure of the Kalmyk people at home and in exile, lawyer, graduate of St. .Petersburg University.

THE WEAK LINK

The most important geostrategic section of Eurasia - the lower Volga and the territory of the Northern Caspian Sea - has always been an object of concern for the tsarist government. With the arrival of the Kalmyks in the middle of the 17th century, raids by the Crimean Tatars on the southern borders of Russia sharply decreased. According to the calculations of Western researcher Alan Fisher, the number of people driven into slavery from the original Russian lands, including from the borders of the then Moscow, Tula, Ryazan and others, amounted to about 3 million people during the 14th – 17th centuries.

Considering that the population of Russia in the 17th century numbered about 10.5 million people, this is a colossal figure. Starting from the second quarter of the 18th century, the “southern problem” acquired new relevance. The army units located in Astrakhan were unable to cover the vast steppe spaces from the raids of the Kazakhs and “Trans-Kuban Tatars” who robbed Russian settlers and Russian subjects - Kalmyks and Nogais.

Although from the 30s of the 18th century Kazakhs were considered Russian subjects, however, given their "frivolous insolence", had to constantly “to have precautions and to always travel vigilantly and continuously”. They stole livestock, robbed salt mines and fishing gangs, and sold the people captured in the slave markets of Central Asia.

For example, in 1722, there were over 5,000 Russian captives at the slave market in Bukhara. Even in the middle of the 19th century, up to 500 Russians were sold annually at the market in Khiva, who got there with the help of the Kazakhs.

BY DECREE OF ELIZABETH

In connection with the completion of the construction of the Tsaritsyn fortified line in 1720, 1057 families from the Don were resettled to guard it, forming the Volga Army in 1737. Almost simultaneously, the organization of the Astrakhan Cossack Army began. In 1727, a team of three hundred was formed from Astrakhan city Cossacks and baptized Kalmyks to serve on the line from Astrakhan to Tsaritsyn.

In December 1736, Astrakhan vice-governor F. Soimonov reported the following to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs: “... it is known that there are a small number of regular (troops) here, and there are no irregular ones... Shouldn’t we make use of the available baptized Kalmyks here, buying them horses and military weapons from the treasury, up to 300 people...”.

At the very beginning of 1737, it was decided to organize the Cossack population of Astrakhan. By decree of the Military Collegium, it was ordered to form an Astrakhan Cossack team of 100 Cossacks and 200 newly baptized Kalmyks. January 4, 1737 The Senate issues a decree of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs: “...to protect the Kalmyk uluses from a deliberate Karakalpat attack, now use up to three hundred baptized Kalmyks available in Astrakhan for service. And for their better desire for this and so that they serve more zealously, for their poverty, give them as a reward at their discretion, without excess, also buy horses and guns from the treasury upon consideration and keep all the money from Astrakhan income for this purpose...”.

This Cossack team consisted, for the most part, of baptized Kalmyks of the Akha-Tsatanov clan “who, being burdened by the underwater chase, subsequently fled, of their number only one hundred and eleven people remained, to whom, in order to staff the required five hundred people, it was ordered to recruit Cossacks from commoners, former Streltsy and Cossack children in Astrakhan and Krasny Yar, as well as from the Don mounted Cossacks and newly baptized Tatars and Kalmyks".

By mid-1737, the composition of the Astrakhan five hundred Cossack regiment had stabilized. The functions of the regiment were extensive: part of it was sent as couriers to Tsaritsyn, Kizlyar, the Caucasus and Crimea. The rest maintained patrols and outposts along the Volga, which were heading to the Caspian Sea to prevent raids by the Kazakhs.

Some of the Kalmyk Cossacks guarded fisheries and salt mines, and roads from Astrakhan to Kizlyar. Their service also included the responsibility of accompanying postal transport. Gradually, the coast from Astrakhan to Black Yar began to be built up with the villages of the Astrakhan Cossack Regiment. Together with the Cossacks, Kalmyks began to settle in these villages, gradually switching to a settled life.

SUCCESS IN AGRICULTURE

In the 50-60s of the 18th century, the villages of Lebyazhinskaya, Seroglazovskaya, Zamyanovskaya (named after the Kalmyk owner Zamyan) and others were built - a total of 10 villages. In all new settlements it was planned to settle Kalmyks, in addition to the Cossacks. Moreover, in 1763, Sergeant Major Zamyan expressed a desire to settle with the people under his control in a town on the Volga. He was given a place in the Crimean backwater tract. Russian Cossacks were also settled here so that they could teach the Kalmyks the skills of settled life.

With the transfer of the Cossacks of the Volga army in 1770-1774. on the Terek (there was a Russian-Turkish war), the functions of the Astrakhan regiment expanded. New parties of Kalmyks began to be more actively involved in it, and by the 70s their number reached 600 people. During their service in this regiment, some Kalmyks managed to move up the career ladder.

Thus, in his lists for 1764, Kalmyk Andrei Azhgil, who began serving in 1745, was listed as a cornet. Here, his fellow tribesmen Nikolai Mikhailov and Alexey Fedorov served in the positions of sergeant and corporal. In the lists of ranks of the regiment for 1765, another Kalmyk appeared - Nikolai Urzhin.

In the 60s of the 18th century, the regiment was located at the Bashmachagovskaya outpost. The Astrakhan army was subordinated to the civilian provincial authorities, since its service was mainly police functions. The first successes of the Astrakhan Kalmyk-Cossacks in agriculture led the Astrakhan governor A. Beketov to the idea of ​​​​transforming all Kalmyk nomads into a settled population.

But his proposal did not find support in the tsarist government. Only a century later this plan began to be implemented thanks to the decisive actions of Ataman Gulkevich. In 1872, courtyard places were allocated for Kalmyks in the villages, and the bulk of the newly minted Kalmyk-Cossacks were forced to take them.

In this regard, they were given benefits from service for one year, during which they had to arrange a new life. In the villages of Grachevskaya, Durnovskaya, Krasnoyarskaya, Kosikinskaya, Zamyanovskaya, Lebyazhinskaya, Mikhailovskaya and Seroglazinskaya, 738 souls of Kalmyks acquired wooden and turluzhny (the walls consist of a wooden frame with poles with a diameter of 6 cm horizontally nailed to its posts and filled with adobe straw) houses, and in warm weather they still continued to live in tents.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Kalmyk Cossacks of the Astrakhan Cossack Army finally began to engage in agricultural work and became accustomed to settling down.

IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE

Since the beginning of the 19th century, the recruitment of Kalmyks into the Astrakhan Cossacks has again intensified. The regulation of May 7, 1817 allowed to increase the formation of the Astrakhan Cossack army by adding baptized Kalmyks and Tatars to it. The transition to the Cossacks, both commoners and representatives of the secular aristocracy of the Kalmyk steppe, is intensifying.

In December 1843, Captain D. Tundutov turned to the Astrakhan military governor, Lieutenant General I. Timiryazev, with a request to be included in the Astrakhan Cossack army with the right to govern the ulus under his control. On March 25, 1844, Tundutov’s request was granted. According to the Regulations on the Administration of the Kalmyk People of 1847, Kalmyks who belonged to the owners could join the Cossack Army with their consent, state-owned Kalmyks - upon presentation of a receipt for the absence of debts. Kalmyk Cossacks received a five-year benefit for the correction of Cossack duties.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Kalmyk Cossacks lived in Krasnoyarsk, Durnovskaya, Lebyazhenskaya, Zamyanovskaya, Seroglazinskaya, Kosikinskaya, Mikhailovskaya, Grachevskaya villages. Before the revolution, the main headquarters of the Army was located in Astrakhan. Administratively, it was divided into two departments (the board of the 1st was in Enotaevsk, the 2nd - in Kamyshin), the post of Ataman was performed by the Astrakhan military governor.

Cossacks inhabited 18 villages, Kalmyk Cossacks lived in half of them. In total, by 1911, 738 Kalmyks lived in the villages of the Astrakhan Cossack Army. The main occupation of the Cossacks of the lower villages was cattle breeding, then fishing. The upper villages were engaged in agriculture. Before the revolution, there were about 50 thousand indigenous Cossacks. The combat uniform was the same as that of the Donets, with the only difference being that the shoulder straps and stripes were yellow.

Among our contemporaries, the most famous descendants of the Astrakhan Kalmyk-Cossacks can be called the Honored Trainer of Russia Tseren Balzanov (1937-2005) and the scientist-historian Professor Mikhail Ivanov (1926-1998).