Khivan campaign of 1839

Russo–Khivan War of 1839–1840
Part of Russian conquest of Turkestan
Date 10 October 1839 – June 1840 Location Khiva (present-day western Uzbekistan, southwestern Kazakhstan and much of Turkmenistan) Result Khivan victory Russian invasion of Khiva repelled
Belligerents
Khiva	Russia
Commanders and leaders
Allah Quli Bahadur	Nicholas I Vasily Perovsky
Strength
unknown	5,000 troops
Casualties and losses
unknown	1,054 killed or died of diseases

Khivan victory

The Russo–Khivan War of 1839–1840 was a failed Russian attempt to conquer the Khanate of Khiva. Vasily Perovsky set out from Orenburg with 5,000 men, met an unusually cold winter, lost most of his camels, and was forced to turn back after going halfway.

Russians attacked Khiva four times. Around 1602, some free Cossacks made three raids on Khiva. In 1717, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky attacked Khiva and was soundly defeated, only a few men escaping to tell the tale. After the Russian defeat in 1839–1840, Khiva was finally conquered by the Russians during the Khivan campaign of 1873.

The Khanate of Khiva was located south of the Aral Sea in the delta of the Oxus River. Here irrigation supported a population of about half a million. The problem was that Khiva was an oasis surrounded by several hundred miles of steppe and desert. The Russians could easily defeat the Khivan army but they first had to move enough troops across the steppe.

By about 1743 Russia had established itself on the Orenburg Line about 750 miles north of Khiva. Orenburg was long the base from which Russia watched and tried to control the steppes to the east and south. Over the next century they gained increasing control over the Kazakh nomads. There were the usual border disputes on a lawless frontier. The Russians complained that the Khan did not do enough to stop raiders although his ability to control them was limited. A second problem was slavery. Khiva kept a large number of Persian slaves which they bought from the Turkomans. A small number of Russians were also taken from the Orenburg Line. From the early nineteenth century an increasing number of Russian fishermen were captured on the Caspian Sea. After other attempts to pressure the Khan had failed, in August 1836 Russia ordered the arrest of all Khivan merchants in Russian territory – about 572 people and 1,400,000 silver rubles in goods. The Khan was told that his subjects would be released when all Russian slaves were released. In late September the Khan said he would release his Russians, but when the caravan arrived there were only 25, almost all old men who had been in slavery for 30 or 40 years. Five more were released in 1838 and 80 more in August 1839. On 24 March 1839 the czar approved an attack on Khiva. The goal was not annexation but, if possible, to replace the current Khan with a Kazakh loyal to Russia. The final plan was approved on 10 October.

...
Wikipedia