The Geopolitical Environment of the Kyrgyz Before the 6th Century

Since the Sakas did not have a centralized state, they did not conduct a specific foreign policy. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, the Sakas were direct participants in historical events of the 6th to 4th centuries BC, related to the campaigns of the Persians and Greeks in Central Asia.

In the second half of the 2nd century BC, the Usuns were drawn into the sphere of the great politics of the Han Empire. The dynastic marriages of the Usun kunbags with princesses of the Han Empire and the Hunnic state over the centuries led to the formation of two constantly competing dynastic branches of the kunbags: the Han and the Hunnic. In the 70s of the 1st century BC, the Huns, concerned about the rise of the Usuns, undertook several successful raids by large cavalry units on the eastern borders of the Usun territories. In response, the Usuns concluded a treaty with the Han Empire for joint military actions against the Huns, and in 71 BC, the allies dealt a crushing blow to the Huns.

At the end of the 2nd century BC, the strong and aggressive Chinese Emperor Wu-di (140-87 BC) attacked Dayuan. Initially, the Ferghanians suffered defeat, but after four years of struggle with the Han Empire, the ancient Ferghan state restored its independence.

The main initiator and participant in the geopolitical games of antiquity on the territory of Kyrgyzstan and adjacent lands was the Han Empire. The regular invasions of Chinese armies eventually undermined the power of the nomadic state of the Xiongnu, and the Han Empire captured vast territories of Eastern Turkestan. It came to possess a large part of the lands through which one of the main trade arteries of that era — the Great Silk Road — passed.