The Geopolitical Environment of the Kyrgyz in the 6th—18th Centuries

The Turkic states pursued an active foreign policy and participated in geopolitical games in the Eurasian space. Starting from the VI century AD, control over the Silk Road permanently passed to the Turkic states. The outstanding Turkic leader Kagan Istemi sent an embassy from the shores of Issyk-Kul to the world center of that time — Byzantium. This step was the first major geopolitical act of the Turkic kagans aimed at forming a triple alliance — the Turkic Kaganate - China - Byzantium — against Sasanian Iran, the main rival of the Turks in mastering the Great Silk Road. The ambassador Maniakh arrived in Constantinople in 568. Emperor Justin II received the ambassadors well and sent a return embassy headed by Zemarch of Cilicia. The Byzantine ambassadors, having passed through Talas and Chuy, arrived at the kagan's camp located in the Ak-Tuu area of the Issyk-Kul basin. This international alliance quickly brought the Turkic Kaganate success: Turkic warriors reached the Black Sea, Iran was defeated, and all of Central Asia fell under Turkic influence.

However, by the end of the VII century, the power of the Tang dynasty (618-907) in China strengthened under Emperor Taizong, who pursued far-reaching aggressive goals in his foreign policy. The ruling dynasty had long harbored plans to establish its control over the Great Silk Road. In 630, Chinese troops invaded the territory of the Eastern Turkic Kaganate to turn it into a base for subsequent campaigns against the Western Turkic Kaganate.

For several years, the Western Turks, together with the peoples of Eastern Turkestan, bravely repelled Chinese aggression. Eventually, in 656, the Chinese general Su Dingfang achieved a decisive victory over the army of the Western Turkic kagan Yshbara in the battle on the Ili River. The Turkic troops retreated to the Chuy Valley. However, they were pursued by superior enemy forces. After the final defeat of Yshbara, he was captured and executed two years later.

At the beginning of the VIII century, the geopolitical situation changed again. Now the Arab Caliphate actively entered the game, beginning to exert military pressure on Central Asia from 711. In this situation, the diplomat Chabyshchor Suluk, the kagan of the Turgish, showed his skills. In 717, he made a trip to China, where he was received well. Suluk then formed very successful marital alliances with royal houses that posed a potential threat to him: he married the daughter of a descendant of the western branch of the Ashina dynasty, his second wife was the daughter of Kagan Bilge, and his third was the daughter of the king of Tibet. One of his daughters was married to the son of Bilge.

The diplomatic successes in the east allowed the Turgish to intensify military actions in the western direction — starting from 720, Kagan Chabyshchor Suluk undertook several campaigns against the Arabs. During the struggle, an anti-Arab coalition was formed, which included Fergana, Chach (the Tashkent oasis), and the Turgish Kaganate. After suffering a series of defeats, the Arabs were forced to leave Sogd in 728. Military actions between the Arabs and the Turgish from 734 to 738 proceeded with varying success. Having narrowly escaped capture and suffering heavy losses in personnel in a decisive battle, the kagan returned with the remnants of his army to the Chuy Valley. Kagan Suluk died in 738.

This was quickly exploited by the governors of the Chinese Tang dynasty in Eastern Turkestan. In 748, the Chinese army invaded the Chuy Valley, captured the city of Suayb, and subjected it to destruction. However, the Arabs, who had their own interests in the region, could not allow such a strengthening of a hostile empire's positions in Central Asia. The Arabs, under the command of Ziyad ibn Salih, marched against the Chinese. The Chinese general Gao Sanchzhi, having learned of this, set out from Suayb to meet the Arabs with an army of one hundred thousand. The two armies clashed in July 751 in the Talas Valley near the city of Atlah (the ruins north of the village of Pokrovka in the Manas region of Kyrgyzstan). For four days, the armies hesitated to cross the river that separated them and begin actions. On the fifth day, the cavalry of the Karluks unexpectedly struck the rear of the Chinese, while the Arabs launched a frontal attack. The Chinese army, caught between two sides, could not withstand and, in confusion, rushed into one of the narrow gorges of the Talas River. According to the medieval historian Ibn al-Asir, in the battle of Atlah, the Chinese suffered enormous losses — 50,000 were killed and about 20,000 were captured.

The significance of this victory for the Turkic peoples was immense: the Chinese were pushed back from the borders of Central Asia, and for about a thousand years, the troops of imperial China did not approach its borders. The defeat of the Chinese created conditions in the region for the unhindered development of Muslim culture.

In the late VII and early VIII centuries, significant international events also took place in Central Asia and Southern Siberia, which had fateful significance for the Kyrgyz. The reign of Barsbek coincided with a sharp change in the political situation in Central Asia. The Kyrgyz did not participate in the internecine strife of the Turkic tribes and managed to preserve their troops, which allowed Barsbek to lead the forces opposing the Turkic Kaganate on its northern borders. Some time later, deciding to test the strength of the Kyrgyz, he undertook an important political act — he accepted the title of kagan along with the throne name Ynancho Alp Bilge. This was an open challenge to the kagan of the Turkic Kaganate, an open rivalry with him for dominance in Central Asia. To eliminate the looming danger from the Kyrgyz, the kagan of the Turks Kapagan (691-716) sent an army led by Prince Bilge to the Yenisei. The campaign was unsuccessful: the army was halted on the approach to the borders of the Kyrgyz, and the opponents were forced to settle for a peace treaty. Kapagan recognized Barsbek as kagan and gave him his niece in marriage. In response, the Kyrgyz apparently promised support to the Turkic Kaganate. Thus, the treaty solidified Barsbek's status as kagan Ynancho Alp Bilge, increased his authority, but did not realize his ambitious plans.

At the beginning of the VIII century, the foreign policy of the strengthened Barsbek was subordinated to the task of weakening the positions of the Turks and removing them from the struggle for dominance in Central Asia. In 707-709, he sent two embassies to China, which was at war with the Turks at that time, to create an anti-Turkish bloc and attempted to get closer to the Turgish Kaganate. An embassy was sent to the Turgish of the Chuy Valley headed by Ezgene. By 709, as a result of successful diplomatic actions, he managed to organize a powerful anti-Turkish coalition, which included the Tang Empire and the Turgish Kaganate. One of the prominent political and military figures of the Turkic Kaganate, Tonuyukuk, characterized the political situation in Central Asia at that time as follows: “The Tabgach (Chinese) kagan was our enemy. The kagan of the 'ten arrows' (Turgish) was our enemy. But the greatest enemy was the mighty kagan of the Kyrgyz. The enemies were all around like predatory birds; we were their carrion...”

The Turks did not wait for their opponents to take joint action against them. They decided to strike first and defeat the enemy separately. The Turks began by attacking the Kyrgyz, who posed a greater danger to them than others. In 709, Turkic troops, having crossed the upper reaches of the Yenisei, defeated the allied Kyrgyz tribes of chik and az, occupied Tuva, turning it into a base for subsequent attacks on the Kyrgyz.

Barsbek believed he was completely safe and calmly awaited help from his allies. However, neither the Chinese nor the Turgish supported him. Their primary concern was the security of their borders. Left alone in the struggle against the formidable forces of the Turkic Kaganate, Barsbek, in search of a way out of the situation, was forced to change his political course. On the eve of autumn 710, he sent an embassy to the Tang Empire and the Turgish state, as well as to Tibet. The head of the embassy was appointed Eren-Ulug, who enjoyed special favor with the kagan — a descendant of a strong Kyrgyz clan, bolshar. A subtle and experienced diplomat, he had previously led similar missions four times. Barsbek did not officially notify China of Eren-Ulug's embassy; however, rumors about it were deliberately spread among the nomads. The kagan's plan likely was not to intimidate the Turks and thereby activate military activity from the Chinese and Turgish. But it was already too late. For unknown reasons, Eren-Ulug died on the way, resulting in Tibet not becoming an ally of Barsbek. The Chinese and Turgish also did not march out.