Enlightenment · Central Asia · War
1705
Tungus Meteorite Legends Form
September 1705
An Oirat Dzungar army raided deep into Kazakh territory near the Syr Darya, forcing the Kazakh khanate into a desperate westward migration. The steppe convulsed as nomadic alliances shattered and reformed. Central Asia's balance of power, invisible to European maps, was being rewritten by cavalry and drought. The Kazakhs appealed to Russia for protection, beginning a slow absorption into the tsarist empire.