THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 77
of the Russian Tsar, and that peace in the steppes was maintained
thanks to his personal efforts. According to Kenesary, some malicious
Kazaks had been accusing him with the various concocted stories and
events, and had been distorting his relations with the Russian government.
Uslar wrote: “Although all these tricks of the stubborn rioter
were amusing, it was not a novelty for me. I already knew that after
every painful defeat, Kenesary applied similar games. Usually Kenesary
starts correspondence with the steppe administration (Tsarist Russia’s
governorship that was in charge of the Kazak steppes - GKE), where
he accuses others, attempting to clean himself, and where he also
would express his readiness to obey. Meantime, he would be actively
preparing for the new predatory actions”. Uslar indicated that all these
hospitable receptions and the procedures helped him to understand
the steppe diplomacy. 104 Although Baron Uslar’s notes are biased, it
contains important details.
Uslar’s description also draws attention to Kenesary’s diplomacy.
Moreover, even if the archive documents reveal Kenesary’s letters
addressed to the Tsar or the governors, expressing that he was ready
to obey or he was already the most diligent servant, they should be
evaluated together with Uslar’s words. Therefore, even this memoir
alone demonstrates that how written sources, including the archival
documents, should be carefully used. This method, described by
Uslar, was one of the tactics used by Kenesary to keep the Russian
government busy and meanwhile to get prepared for new battles. It is
understood from Uslar’s depiction that Kenesary, knowing and using
diplomacy very well, was not only a brilliant commander, but also a
successful politician.
E.T. Smirnov, a Russian expert on Central Asia, prepared and published
a work in 1889, narrated by Kenesary’s son Sultan Ahmet, Sultany
Kenesary i Syzdyk (Sultan Kenesary and Sultan Syzdyk). In the Preface,
written by Smirnov, he underlined that Ahmet Kenesaryuly’s narrations
served as an occasion to prepare this work, and states: “the events
narrated there are very valuable as they narrate the war in Central
Asia from the opposite angle” (opposite to Russia). 105
N.I. Veselovsky prepared Sochineniya Chokana Chingisovicha Valikhanova
(Works of Chokan Valikhanov) for publication and published it in
St. Petersburg, in 1904. Grigorii Potanin, the friend of Chokan and one
104 Uslar, P.K. “Chetyre mesyatsa v Kirgizskoy Stepi” (Four Months in the Kazak Steppes),
Otechestvennye zapiski, 1848, no: 10, http://rus-turk.livejournal.com/400427.html (Accessed
October 2015).
105 Smirnov, E.T., “Preface”, Sultany Kenesary i Syzdyk (Sultan Kenesary and Sultan Syzdyk),
prepared by E.T. Smirnov, Tashkent, 1889, p.6.