Kokand Fortress in Pishpek
The natural and climatic conditions, along with the diverse riches of the Chui Valley, attracted the attention of foreign conquerors. After capturing the southern part of Kyrgyzstan in 1821, the Kokand Khanate sent 4,000 troops in 1825 to seize the Chui Valley, including Bishkek, where the Pishpek (Kuznechnaya) Fortress was built. The colonial administration also constructed the Ak-Suu (Belovodskoye), Kara-Balta, and Tokmok fortresses in the Chui Valley. These fortresses housed separate units of the Kokand garrison, as well as military-administrative, tax, and judicial authorities. Nearby, settlements of merchants arriving from Kokand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Margilan, and Namangan sprang up. They represented the support of the colonial administration for 37 years.
In the post-Soviet period, archaeological research established that the Kokand Fortress in Pishpek was built on the site of an old settlement, where multi-meter cultural layers had accumulated. (Kozhemyako P. N. Early Medieval Cities and Settlements of the Chui Valley. F. 1959, p. 153).
In the shops at the Bishkek market and within the fortress itself, trade and livestock exchange were conducted by Uzbek traders. Pishpek, which became a trading and transit point and the administrative center of the Chui Valley and the Suusamyr large pasture for the herders of the Tian Shan starting in 1825, essentially functioned as a city. Annual gatherings (top) of Kyrgyz nobles and judges convened here to address issues of land and water use, among others.
However, the dominance of the Kokand colonial administration was unstable and could not fully subjugate all the nomadic tribes of the Kyrgyz. In 1831, an additional 300 sipahis were sent from Kokand to Pishpek under the command of Duvanbek Khudayberdi. They collected taxes on trade. In a confrontation with them, the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs killed 56 tax collectors. Duvanbek himself was killed. After this, no tax collector from Kokand appeared for about two years.
Kokand took measures to strengthen its colonial administration. The commandants of the Pishpek fortress were Ugarbek from 1832 to 1834, and Atabek from 1853 to 1860. At the same time, there were fortresses in the vicinity of Pishpek led by the chieftains Solto Jangarach and Baytik batyr.
In the summer of 1850, part of the Chui Kyrgyz rose up again and attacked the Bishkek fortifications. The Kokand military garrison did not allow the rebels to gain a foothold and occupy the besieged fortifications. In 1851, a punitive detachment of 7,000 armed men arrived in Pishpek. They seized livestock and horses from the Kyrgyz. Such plunder was repeated in 1856. In 1857-58, one of the major uprisings of the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs of Semirechye occurred, involving almost all Kyrgyz from the Solto and Sarbagysh tribes who were nomadic in the Chui Valley. In 1858, they completely defeated five khan's detachments near Bishkek. This uprising, like the previous ones, demonstrated the widespread hatred of the Kyrgyz population of the Chui Valley towards the Kokand khan.
However, the tax burden of the colonial authorities, accompanied by the arbitrariness of the khan's officials, provoked outrage among all layers of the population paying zakat. Not only the masses of nomadic tribes were enraged, but also the tribal nobility. Baytik batyr led the armed struggle against the colonial administration. On September 19, 1862, General Dyugamel, commander of the Siberian Corps, reported to the military minister of the Russian Empire that Manap of the Kyrgyz clan Baytik, angered by the violence and extortion of the Pishpek commandant Rahmatulla, invited him with 60 soldiers to his aul under the pretext of participating in a celebration and treacherously exterminated all but one soldier.
After committing this act, the nomads left the heavily fortified Pishpek fortress and then attacked 168 families of Sart (descendants from Tashkent and Bukhara, who had long been in this area) relocated across the Chui River, taking away 50,000 heads of livestock and seizing property.
This was not the first attack on the Pishpek fortress of the Kokand Khanate. In the 19th century, the imperial expansion policy of the Russian Empire was aimed at seizing the territories of Central Asia, including the Chui Valley.
The Russian military command had previously gathered intelligence on the future subjects of the tsar's possessions. In his report, Tsarist General-Adjutant Perovsky informed the military minister on July 31, 1853, about the strategic significance of the Kokand fortresses. "Ak Mechet" on the Orenburg road and "Bishkek" - at the main junction of the Siberian-Central Asian and Chinese roads, was called "Bishbek" the "Key to the entire eastern khanate."
They housed permanent garrisons armed with firearms and cold weapons, and among the larger ones, there were cannons of various calibers produced by specialized masters from Kokand and Tashkent.
The number of soldiers in these garrisons during peacetime ranged from several dozen to several hundred, and during wartime, it sharply increased according to the capacity of the fortresses, sometimes exceeding the largest by thousands of people.
It was further noted that the Kokand troops, built on a strictly feudal basis, i.e., consisting of separate units mobilized from each region (fief) under their military commander (vakhadur-bashi), formed an extremely unstable union, nominally subordinate to a common command. They were provided with food and a regular salary, not to mention regular hot meals. In addition to a certain part of the main contingent from kharaj, they existed on the grain issued by beratu and sometimes on money and gifts.
In campaigns, groups of merchants accompanied the troops, from whom Kokand warriors purchased the most necessary supplies. "In the campaign," wrote an eyewitness, "if it is slow, the Kokand hordes are accompanied by huge merchants of all kinds: butchers, bakers, sellers of millet, and even red goods - robes, carpets, etc.
But in campaigns, each warrior must have his own supply for a certain time until they reach a place where they can replenish their supplies through plunder or other means; the army often has to make do with the most meager food, and sometimes goes hungry.
The spoils played a significant role in supplying the troops. Naturally, merchants were not always available in sufficient numbers and with the necessary provisions. Therefore, there are numerous cases of military actions being halted for this reason."
The Emergence of Pishpek