Kazakhstan

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Kazakhstan fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. Xiongnu177 BC to 36 BC

   The Xiongnu dominate the eastern steppe and the Wusun and Kangju around them. When the Xiongnu ruler Zhizhi moves west to the Talas valley, a Han Chinese army storms his fort and kills him in 36 BC.

2. 🇨🇳 Tang China657 to 751

   Tang China defeats the Western Turks in 657 and claims their lands. Turkic tribes, Tibetans and Arabs contest its rule, which ends after an Abbasid army defeats the Tang near the Talas river, close to today's Taraz, in 751.

3. 🇲🇳 Mongol Empire1219 to 1221

   After the governor of Otrar has a Mongol trade caravan killed, Genghis Khan invades the Khwarezmian Empire. Otrar falls after a long siege in 1219 and 1220, and the towns along the Syr Darya are destroyed.

4. 🇺🇿 Uzbek Shaybanids1465 to 1510

   The Kazakh Khanate is born when Kerei and Janibek break away from the Uzbek khan Abu'l-Khayr. The two peoples fight over the Syr Darya towns, and in 1510 the Kazakhs defeat Muhammad Shaybani Khan.

5. Dzungar Khanate1643 to 1758

   The western Mongol Dzungars fight the Kazakhs for over a century. Their invasion of 1723 drives many Kazakhs from their pastures, until united Kazakh forces win at Anyrakai and the Qing destroy the khanate.

6. 🇷🇺 Russian Empire1731 to 1916

   Russia expands from protection to annexation. Kazakhs revolt under Syrym Datov from 1783 and Kenesary Kasymov from 1837 to 1847. In 1916 a revolt against the labour draft is crushed, and many flee to China.

7. 🇺🇿 Khanate of Kokand1808 to 1865

   Kokand takes the southern Kazakh towns, including Turkistan, Shymkent and Aulie-Ata, and taxes the herders of the Senior Horde. Russian troops take its fortress of Ak-Mechet in 1853 and the rest of the region by 1865.

8. 🇷🇺 Soviet Union1929 to 1986

   Kazakhs rise up against collectivisation from 1929 and the revolts are crushed. The famine that follows kills about one and a half million Kazakhs. In December 1986 young Kazakhs protest in Almaty and are beaten and arrested.

Today

Kazakhstan now

Ethnic Kazakhs derive from a mix of Turkic nomadic tribes that migrated to the region in the 15th century. The Russian Empire conquered the Kazakh steppe in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1925. Forced agricultural collectivization led to repression and starvation, resulting in more than a million deaths in the early 1930s.

Capital

Astana

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

Olzhas Bektenov

Head of state

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Languages

Kazakh, Russian

Area

2,724,902 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population20.3 million2023 · 6.8 million in 1950
• Life expectancy74.4 years2023 · 55.6 years in 1950
• GDP per person$26,4912022
• Living in cities62%2025 · 38% in 1950
• Literacy100%2009
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesCSTO2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending0.4% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.