Editing Kazakhstan (section)

=== Russian Kazakhstan ===
[[File:Battle Cossacks with Kyrgyz 1826.JPG|thumb|[[Ural Cossacks]] skirmish with Kazakhs]]
[[File:Kazakhs 19th Century 4.jpg|thumb|Kazakh woman in wedding clothes, 19th century]]

In the first half of the 18th century, the [[Russian Empire]] constructed the {{Interlanguage link|Irtysh line|ru|Иртышская линия}}, a series of forty-six forts and ninety-six redoubts, including [[Omsk]] (1716), [[Semey|Semipalatinsk]] (1718), [[Pavlodar]] (1720), [[Orenburg]] (1743) and [[Petropavl]]ovsk (1752),<ref>"''Russian Colonization and the Genesis of Kazak National Consciousness''". S. Sabol (2003). Springer. p.27 {{ISBN|0230599427}}</ref> to prevent Kazakh and Oirat raids into Russian territory.<ref>"''Central Asia, 130 Years of Russian Dominance: A Historical Overview''". Edward A. Allworth, Edward Allworth (1994). Duke University Press. p. 10. {{ISBN|0822315211}}</ref> In the late 18th century the Kazakhs took advantage of [[Pugachev's Rebellion]], which was centred on the Volga area, to raid Russian and [[Volga Germans|Volga German]] settlements.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bodger |first1=Alan |title=The Kazakhs and the Pugachev Uprising in Russia, 1773-1775 |date=1988 |publisher=Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University |isbn=9789999328128 |page=22}}</ref> In the 19th century, the [[Russian Empire]] began to expand its influence into Central Asia. The "[[Great Game]]" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the [[Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907]]. The [[tsar]]s effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Russian Empire introduced a system of administration and built military garrisons and barracks in its effort to establish a presence in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" for dominance in the area against the [[British Empire]], which was extending its influence from the south in India and Southeast Asia. Russia built its first outpost, [[Orsk]], in 1735. Russia introduced the Russian language in all schools and governmental organisations.

Russia's efforts to impose its system aroused the resentment of the Kazakhs, and, by the 1860s, some Kazakhs resisted its rule. Russia had disrupted the traditional nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy, and people were suffering from starvation, with some Kazakh tribes being decimated. The Kazakh national movement, which began in the late 19th century, sought to preserve the native language and identity by resisting the attempts of the Russian Empire to assimilate and stifle Kazakh culture.

From the 1890s onward, ever-larger numbers of settlers from the Russian Empire began [[Colonization|colonizing]] the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, in particular, the province of [[Jetisu|Semirechye]]. The number of settlers rose still further once the [[Trans-Aral Railway]] from [[Orenburg]] to [[Tashkent]] was completed in 1906. A specially created Migration Department (Переселенческое Управление) in [[St. Petersburg]] oversaw and encouraged the migration to expand Russian influence in the area. During the 19th century, about 400,000 Russians immigrated to Kazakhstan, and about one million Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan |title=Kazakhstan |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=16 December 1991 |access-date=9 September 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617101159/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan |archive-date=17 June 2015}}</ref> [[Vasile Balabanov]] was the administrator responsible for the resettlement during much of this time.

The competition for land and water that ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of the [[Russian Empire]]. The most serious uprising, the [[Central Asian revolt of 1916|Central Asian revolt]], occurred in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked Russian and [[Cossacks|Cossack]] settlers and military garrisons. The revolt resulted in a series of clashes and in brutal massacres committed by both sides.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566451_8/Kazakhstan.html|title=Kazakhstan|encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia|date=2005y|archive-date=15 April 2005|access-date=29 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050415185833/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566451_8/Kazakhstan.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Both sides resisted the communist government until late 1919.