The Kalmyks are a unique and ancient ethnic group in the Caucasus, mainly in the Republic of Kalmykia and adjacent regions of Russia, and this unusual ethnic group is not well known to us, but if we mention their other name, we will suddenly understand.
There are close historical ties between the Kalmyks and the Turkut tribes of Mongolia, so to speak, both the Kalmyks and the Turkut tribes belong to the race, whose origins can be traced back to the time of the Mongol Empire.
Historically, both groups were part of the Mongol Empire, however, over time, for various reasons, the two groups made several separate migrations.
Remain in the Volga River valley of the "Turghut Division".
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Kalmyks began to migrate out of the Mongolian region, and this mass migration took them to the northwest, through Central Asia, and eventually settled in the Volga valley on the territory of Russia, where the Kalmyk Khanate was founded.
At the beginning of the 18th century, tensions between the Kalmyks and Tsarist Russia reached their peak.
A joint attack on Tambov and Penza became an armed response to the oppression of the Kalmyks, who imposed a harsh policy of enslavement and control over the Kalmyks, who were oppressed by conscription, religion, and heavy taxes.
For several years, they became cannon fodder for the Tsarist Russian army and paid a heavy price.
In the autumn of 1770, in the face of the re-conscription of the Kalmyks by Tsarist Russia, the Kalmyk chieftain made a decision to act immediately and return to his homeland.
After the river froze, more than 30,000 Kalmyk families secretly agreed to cross the river with more than 10,000 Kalmyk families on the north bank of the river, and the decision to return marked the Kalmyk rebellion against oppression, and they embarked on a journey back to their former nomadic lands in the face of the cold and the unknown.
This is a saga of the struggle for freedom and dignity, and the Kalmyks showed tenacious survival and the pursuit of freedom in the face of adversity, which is the historical background of the famous return of the Turks.
In the distant spring of 1772, the fate of the Kalmyks was firmly locked on the banks of the Ural River, which was a moat that Tsarist Russia thought could not be crossed, but the Kalmyks managed to cross this obstacle, escaped, and began the road back to the east.
At the same time, in the process of returning to the East, the Yayk Cossacks, the natural enemies of the Kalmyks, unexpectedly refused to carry out the order to "intercept the Eastward Return", which made it possible for the Kalmyks to flee Russia.
In fact, the Yayk Cossacks were also employed by Tsarist Russia, but they were also oppressed and exploited by **, although they could not return to the East with them, and their support for the return of the Kalmyks to the East was an expression of their dissatisfaction with **.
At the beginning of 1771, the Cossacks learned that the Russians were planning to form cavalry with their own people, and also demanded that they change their clothing and appearance, which caused great anger among them.
The Yayik Cossacks began to riot, thus refusing to pursue the Kalmyks, and soon the Tsarist Russians sent regular troops, and the uprising of the Yayik Cossacks finally failed.
As the leader of the uprising, Pugachev played an important role between the Yayk Cossacks and the Kalmyks, he supported the return of the Kalmyks, and the Kalmyks also helped Pugachev during the uprising.
Although the Tsarist Russians set up layers of obstacles to prevent the return of the Kalmyks, they did not give up because of this, and in the face of strict precautions, the Kalmyks secretly discussed and formulated an ingenious and arduous plan.
They chose to secretly cross the river in the cold winter, when the Ural River was frozen, with the help of the power of nature, and the cold wind was bitter, covered with ice and snow, as if the earth had paved a passage for the courage and perseverance of the Kalmyks.
Finally, in 1772, the Kalmyks returned to their homeland after a long journey, stepping through the snowfields, step by step towards the bosom of their homeland.
In the 37th year of Qianlong, this group of Kalmyks, that is, the Tuerhu tribe that we are familiar with, took root in Yili, Xinjiang, and the entire tribe was specially taken care of by Emperor Qianlong, and finally returned to a peaceful and peaceful life.
However, due to the urgency of time, the chief, fearing the leakage of information, decided not to wait for the inhabitants of the northern bank, and in the end more than 10,000 Kalmyk families living on the north bank of the Volga River remained in Russia, and less than half of the more than 30,000 families on the southern bank eventually returned to their homeland.
These more than 10,000 households, more than 60,000 Kalmyks, will also witness and participate in almost all the major events and battles in the recent history of Europe, and will also experience more pain and suffering.
In World War I, he made great contributions to the establishment of the Soviets
After the return of a large number of Kalmyks to their homeland in 1771, Tsarist Russia implemented a cruel policy towards those who did not return, first abolishing the Kalmyk Khanate and forcing some Kalmyks to move to live in the mountains with poor soils.
The tsar imprisoned those who were inclined to return, and at the same time actively bribed the Kalmyk elite to make them loyal supporters of Tsarist Russia.
The Tsar also spread rumors that he was the reincarnation of a living Buddha, and that since the Mongols believed in Tibetan Buddhism, Tsarist Russia tried to control the Kalmyks through religion.
However, Tsarist Russia only regarded the Kalmyks as a tool of war, and at the end of the 18th century, part of it was incorporated into the Don Cossack Army, and the Kalmyks participated in the War of Resistance against France and other wars in 1812, and made many meritorious contributions to the **.
However, the majority of the Kalmyks have become impoverished and have lost ownership of their original land.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Tsar ordered the Kalmyks to retreat from the Volga and the Black Sea, freeing up 30-40 kilometers of land, which was a good pasture for the tribe for grazing for generations.
Eventually, the bankrupt Kalmyks survived fishing and salting, and gradually became serfs.
With the surging of modern revolutions in Europe, the reform of the first class has gradually risen, under the efforts of political strongmen such as Peter the Great, Tsarist Russia, a backward serfdom country, also participated in the imperialist division of the world, and after entering the 20th century, the first world war also kicked off.
As we all know, the Soviet Union, the world's first socialist country, was born in World War I, and it was in this unjust victory that Tsarist Russia went bankrupt and bourgeois democracy rushed to power, and then the Bolsheviks led by Lenin were born to participate in the struggle for state power.
We must know that the Kalmyks are a people on horseback, and they have the blood of Genghis Khan who can fight well, and such a people can herd horses in peacetime, and they can directly form a cavalry team in wartime, so they have also become the object of all forces.
This brings us to the Battle of Tsaritsyn, in which Stalin played an important role, leading the Soviet army in a series of strategic and tactical moves that successfully defended Tsaritsyn.
Realizing the importance of cavalry in the defense of cities, Stalin formed the first Soviet cavalry corps, composed mainly of Kalmyks, a decision that laid the foundation for the widespread use of cavalry in the civil war.
Stalin built field fortifications close to the city, created reserves, divided the army in the Tsaritsyn section into three sections, implemented a consolidated urban defense system, effectively withstood the repeated attacks of the White Guards, and provided the possibility of counterattacks.
Tsaritsyn is an important granary of grain to the north, the White Guard enemy occupies the main communication route, how to open up this lifeline has become the top priority, in the battle Stalin made full use of the firepower of artillery and armored trains, intensive fire support, broke the enemy's frontal encirclement in the assault, and played a key role in the liberation of two important transportation hubs.
The White Guards relied on the superiority of cavalry and made many attempts to seize important areas, and Stalin finally crushed the enemy's offensive by quickly adjusting the formation and flexibly using mixed cavalry divisions to counterattack, and the realization of all these ideas ultimately depended on the cavalry regiments formed by the Kalmyks.
The Battle of Tsaritsyn was Stalin's famous work, and this battle became the origin of Tsaritsyn's other name, Stalingrad.
The Kalmyks also turned into serfs and sang, and finally relied on the strength of their own nation to carve out a world of their own, and officially became the backbone of Soviet statehood.
Accidental "treason" wiped out the clan, and the hero returned in a desperate situation
After the establishment of a socialist state, the Soviet Union began a new economic construction, which had many ups and downs, such as the forced relocation of the Kalmyks from the Volga River valley, where they had lived for generations, which killed and injured many people in the process, and also laid the foundation for the later "treason".
On August 12, 1942, the Germans captured the Kalmyk autonomous capital of the Soviet Union, and the Nazis, in order to win over the locals, announced the abolition of collective farms, the return of land, and the promise of an independent state, thus successfully winning over the Kalmyks.
Originally, Stalin had already decided to expand the Mongol component of his troops, because he was convinced of the ability of the Kalmyks in the defense of Tsaritsyn.
But the success of the Germans in rebellion made Stalin furious, and he regarded the Kalmyks as "traitors" and ordered the exile of 120,000 Kalmyks.
However, due to the situation of the war, the Soviets urgently needed cavalry as an important assault force, and if they continued to regard the Mongols as traitors, everyone would die without a place to bury.
At this difficult moment, the commander of the Kalmyk cavalry regiment, Gorodovikov, took the plunge and issued a military order guaranteeing with his life that the Kalmyk troops would always be loyal to the Soviets and would comfort the country with the last drop of blood.
Stalin finally agreed to limit the troops to 2000 people.
In March 1944, the cavalry regiment headed by Gorodovikov reappeared on the battlefield in the Soviet Union, guided by the honor of the Soviet Union and the immortality of the Mongol faith, vowing to fight to the last man in Berlin.
Shouldering the task of the loyalty and honor of the people, this team can only win and not lose, they lead the team to kill, and the groups of high-headed men fall, but still cannot stop their courage and determination to fight for the motherland and the people, and finally they penetrate into Germany with the large army and liberate Berlin.
At this time, although more than half of the cavalry regiment had been **, and the commander of the Gorodovikov regiment strictly forbade soldiers to enter the city to loot the spoils in order to restrain the team, such a heroic team eventually became a model regiment in the Soviet Red Army, and their achievements finally made the clansmen ashamed and the heroes returned.
Reference: The Return of the Kalmyks to the East and the Pugachev Uprising, Li Yujun, Gansu Social Sciences, No. 2, 1999.
Ancestors on the steppe - on the Kalmyks, Zhang Daming.
Lenin and the Kalmyk Mongols, Man Lin, National Unity, No. 11, 1998.
Cavalry in the Great Patriotic War, Gorodovikov, 1942.