The Dzungar–Qing Wars (, ), also known as the Sino-Dzungar Wars, were a decades-long series of conflicts that pitted the Dzungar Khanate against the Qing dynasty and its Mongol vassals. Fighting took place over a wide swath of Inner Asia, from present-day central and eastern Mongolia to Tibet, Qinghai, and Xinjiang regions of present-day China. Qing victories ultimately led to the incorporation of Outer Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang into the Qing Empire that was to last until the fall of the dynasty in 1911–1912, and the genocide of much of the Dzungar population in the conquered areas.
Background
After the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, China's Mongol rulers withdrew to Mongolia and became known as the Northern Yuan. Over time, the Mongol state disintegrated into a series of Khanates, ruled by various descendants of Genghis Khan. The Qing dynasty defeated the Inner Chahar Mongol leader Ligdan Khan and annexed Inner Mongolia. While the Eastern Mongols (Outer and Inner Mongols) were ruled by Chingisids, the Oirats were ruled by the Choros clan. The Dzungar Oirats under Erdeni Batur and Zaya Pandita held a pan-Oirat-Mongol conference in 1640 with all Oirat and Mongol tribes participating except the Inner Mongols under Qing rule. The conference ended in failure. By the 1650s, the Dzungar Khanate, an Oirat state centered in Dzungaria and western Mongolia, had risen to become the preeminent khanate in the region and was often in conflict with Khalkha Mongols, the remnants of the Northern Yuan, of eastern Mongolia. Upon assuming the throne after the death of his brother Sengge in 1670, Galdan Boshugtu Khan launched a series of successful campaigns to expand his territory as far as present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia. Through skillful diplomacy, Galdan maintained peaceful relations with the Qing dynasty while also establishing relations with Russia. However, when Galdan's brother Dorjijab was killed in a skirmish with troops loyal to the Khalkha khan in 1687, Galdan took the pretext to launch a full-scale invasion of eastern Mongolia. He destroyed several Khalkha tribes at the battle of Olgoi Nor (Olgoi Lake) in 1688, sending twenty thousand refugees fleeing south to Qing territory.Peter C. Perdue, China Marches West:The Qing Conquest of Central Asia, pg. 149
The Khalkha rulers, defeated, fled to Hohhot and sought Qing assistance.New Qing Imperial History:The Making of an Inner Asian Emire at Qing Chengde, Ruth W. Dunnell, Mark Elliot, James A. Millward, pg. 99 Meanwhile, the Qing had secured a peace treaty with the Cossacks on their northern border, who had previously been inclined to support Galdan. The Treaty of Nerchinsk prevented an alliance between Galdan and the Russians, leaving the Qing free to attack their Mongol rivals.The Tea Road:China and Russia Meet Across the Steppe, pg. 106, Martha Avery Fearing a united Mongol state ruled by the hostile Dzungars, the Qing now turned their powerful war machine on the Oirats.The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet:Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing, 44,45, Yincong Dai
The Dzungars had conquered and subjugated the Uyghurs during the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr after being invited by the Afaqi Khoja to invade the Chingisid Chagatai ruled Yarkent Khanate. Heavy taxes were imposed upon the Uyghurs by the Dzungars, provoking resentment. This led to uprisings and Uyghur rebels from Turfan and Kumul who were rebelling against Dzungar rule joined the Qing in their war against the Dzungars. The Yarkent Khanate under Muhammad Amin Khan presented tribute to the Qing dynasty twice to request aid against the Dzungar attack.
The Dzungars used the Zamburak, camel mounted miniature cannons, in battle, notably at Ulan Butung.Millward 2007, p. 89. Gunpowder weapons like guns and cannons were deployed by the Qing and the Dzungars at the same time against each other.
First Dzungar-Qing War
The First Dzungar–Qing War was a military conflict fought from 1687 to 1697 between the Dzungar Khanate and an alliance of the Qing dynasty and the northern Khalkhas, remnants of the Northern Yuan dynasty. The war resulted from a Dzungar attack on the Northern Yuan dynasty based in Outer Mongolia, who were heavily defeated in 1688. Their rulers and twenty thousand refugees fled south to the Qing dynasty, which feared the growing power of the Dzungar state. Motivated by the opportunity to gain control over Mongolia and by the threat posed to them by a strong, unified Mongol state such as the Oirats threatened to form, the Qing sent their army north to subdue the Dzungars in 1690.
Qing scouts attacked a Dzungar party north of the Great Wall. However, this proved to be the main Dzungar army, which destroyed the Qing detachment easily.Peter C. Perdue, China Marches West:The Qing Conquest of Central Asia, 153 A large Qing army under Prince Fuquan advanced North into Inner Mongolia, hoping to trap and crush the mobile Dzungar army. However, they were constrained by bad weather and difficult terrain. It took some Qing troops twelve days to cross the Gobi Desert, and the horses were left exhausted. Running low on supplies, the Qing finally confronted the Dzungars at Ulan Butung in September 1690. Although outnumbered 5 to 1, the Dzungars formed a camel wall, beat back a pair of artillery-supported Qing assaults, and escaped into the hills. The Qing commander claimed victory, but his failure to completely destroy the Dzungar forces led to his dismissal and early retirement.The Cambridge History of China, Willard J. Peterson, pg.154 Galdan was left in control of Mongolia from the Selenga River in the north to Khalkhyn Gol in the south.Historical Dictionary of Mongolia, Alan Sanders, pg. 288, Scarecrow Press
A pause in the conflict ensued. The Khalkha rulers declared themselves Qing vassals at Dolon Nor (the site of Shangdu, the pleasure palace of the Yuan Emperors) in 1691, a politically decisive step that officially ended the last remnants of the Yuan dynasty. It also allowed the Qing to assume the mantle of the Genghisid khans, merging the Khalkha forces into the Qing army.J. Millward, Eurasian Crossroads:A history of Xinjiang, pg. 91 The Kangxi Emperor had now become determined to "exterminate" Galdan. Negotiations between the two sides bore little fruit. The Dzungars cast about for allies, making overtures to the Russians and various Mongol princes, but were rejected.Peter C. Perdue, China Marches West:The Qing Conquest of Central Asia,177-180 Kangxi set about preparing the complex logistics necessary to support a planned 1696 expedition. This included procuring 1,333 carts, each carrying 6 shi of grain. Three armies eventually advanced north in 1696. One, under the command of Fiyanggu, numbering 30,000 and to be reinforced with a further 10,000, was to trap Galdan, while Kangxi personally led 32,000 men, including 235 cannon on camelback. A third, numbering 10,000, halted further to the east and would play no part in the coming campaign. The Dzungar army, heavily outnumbered and weakened by the plague, was unable to offer serious resistance. Galdan's army attacked the western force at the Battle of Jao Modo in May 1696, but was narrowly – albeit decisively- defeated. The Dzungar army, bereft of artillery, suffered heavily from Chinese musketry and cannon fire,Wars in the Age of Louis Xiv, 1650-1715, C.J.Nolan, p.g. 224 eventually breaking. The battle ended in a victory for the Qing army, who captured 20,000 sheep and 40,000 cattle, and captured, killed or scattered all but 40–50 of the Dzungar army, effectively destroying them as a military force. Galdan himself had managed to escape from an enemy encirclement, thanks in part to a counterattack led by his wife, Queen Anu. Galdan's wife, Queen Anu, died in the Battle of Jao Mudo. The circumstances surrounding the death of Galdan Boshugtu Khan continue to be debated in the literature by historians. As indicated by Vladimir Moiseev using Mongolian accounts referenced in the works of D. Gongor, Galdan took his own life after being defeated for the last time in 1697 in order to avoid being captured by the armies of the Qing Dynasty.
In contrast, Western and Chinese interpretations of this event are offered by Peter C. Perdue, who offers evidence suggesting Galdan died from disease or possibly the plague in the mountains of the Altai range with no more than several loyal followers.
After the war, a Qing garrison was stationed in the area of present-day Ulaanbaatar, and Khalkha Mongolia was placed under Qing rule. Outer Mongolia was effectively incorporated into the Qing Empire. On the other hand, Tsewang Rabtan, a long-time anti-Galdan Oirat chief, who had actually provided intelligence to the Qing at several points during the war, succeeded Galdan as Khan of the Dzungars. While the Qing managed to sideline the Dzungar in the 1690s, they would not completely eradicate them until they defeated the Dzungars in subsequent wars several decades later.
Second Dzungar-Qing War, in Tibet
In 1642, Güshi Khan, founder of the Khoshut Khanate, overthrew the prince of Tsang and made the 5th Dalai Lama the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet,René Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, New Brunswick 1970, p. 522 establishing the regime known as Ganden Phodrang. Tsewang Rabtan of the Dzungar Khanate invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed the pretender to the position of 7th Dalai Lama, Lha-bzang Khan, the last ruler of the Khoshut Khanate, and killed Lha-bzang Khan and his entire family. They also viciously destroyed a small force in the Battle of the Salween River which the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty had sent to clear traditional trade routes in 1718.Mullin 2001, p. 288 In response, an expedition sent by Kangxi Emperor, together with Tibetan forces under Polhané Sönam Topgyé of Tsang and Kangchennas (also spelled Gangchenney), the governor of Western Tibet,Mullin 2001, p. 290Smith 1997, p. 125 expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720. This began the Qing rule of Tibet, which lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. The Han Chinese General Yue Zhongqi (a descendant of Yue Fei) conquered Tibet for the Qing during the Dzungar–Qing War. Jalangga, a Manchu Bannermen, succeeded the Han General Yue Zhongqi as commander in 1732.
The Manchu Kangxi emperor incited anti-Muslim sentiment among the Mongols of Qinghai (Kokonor) in order to gain support against the Dzungar Oirat Mongol leader Galdan. Kangxi claimed that Chinese Muslims inside China such as Turkic Muslims in Qinghai (Kokonor) were plotting with Galdan, who he falsely claimed converted to Islam. Kangxi falsely claimed that Galdan had spurned and turned his back on Buddhism and the Dalai Lama and that he was plotting to install a Muslim as ruler of China after invading it in a conspiracy with Chinese Muslims. Kangxi also distrusted Muslims of Turfan and Hami.
Third Dzungar–Qing War