The Nogay Horde in the System of International Relations at the turn of the 15th–16th centuries

The article is devoted to the study of foreign policy of the Nogai Horde as well as to its attempts to join the system of international relations of the Western Desht. The author identified the main geopolitical interests of the Manghyt Yurt. Struggle against the Great Horde was a significant factor in the formation of international relations of the Western Desht. It turned out to be the most important factor that both cemented political alliances in the region and ensured their viability. However, we should point out the possibility of coalition configurations’ changing, bearing in mind that the interests of the Nogai Horde, that is of a new player, were not always taken into account. In 1493, such an attempt was undertaken by Mirza Musa, but since he had encountered resistance, this attempt was unsuccessful. Reliance on the Siberian Yurt played a much larger role for the Nogai claims. Using the Siberian Chinggisids, the Nogais managed to legitimize their claims to the Kazan khanate. Particularly successful were the events in 1496. However, these events had shown the lack of resources of the Nogai Horde to fight with the Russian government and eventually led to the restriction of the Nogai policy interests by the marriage diplomacy. The Nogai-Crimean confrontation and struggle for control over the Volga crossings determined the nature of international relations in the Western Desht and became a major geopolitical factor in the region after the defeat of the Great Horde. However, for the turn of the 15th–16th centuries the Crimean-Nogai confrontation had not yet become irreversible. In this struggle a new challenge faced the Nogais: they had to take hold of the Volga transports and Haji-Tarkhan for effective control over the right bank of the Volga. This logic of events would lead to a new great war in the Western Desht, in which the Nogai Horde was to play a leading role. However the Kazakh invasion dramatically altered the balance of power and changed the vector of international relations, in which the confrontation of the Russian State and the Crimean Khanate began to play a major role. In turn, khan Qasim died in 1521 and the Nogais began to expel the Kazakhs. This led to the fact that the Nogai Horde returned into the vortex of international relations, where the Manghyt Yurt was again forced to find its place.