The aggravation of the military and socio-political situation in the Yaik Cossack army during the migration of Kalmyks from Russia in January – March 1771

Background. In January 1771, thousands of Kalmyk hordes led by Ubashi, the governor of the Kalmyk Khanate, passed through the territory of the Yaik Cossack army, leaving Russia. The belated order to prosecute them provoked a conflict between the fore-men and the rank-and-file Cossacks. The purpose of the work is to examine the causes of the conflict, the actions of the warring parties and their consequences using the method of critical analysis of archival sources. Materials and methods. The historical-genetic, structural-functional methods of scientific research and the results were used. Results and conclusions. The rebelliousness of the Yaik Cossacks was a natural reaction to the depriva-tion of the Cossack community of autonomy and the extension of the status of a military class to the Cossacks. The reason for the disobedience was the reluctance of the Cossacks to pursue the Kalmyks of the snowy and icy steppe. Under the pretext of non-payment of salaries for the previous five years and the restoration of the right to choose a marching chieftain and foremen, they refused both to persecute the Kalmyks and to send a replace-ment team to Kizlyar. Regular and irregular troops stationed in the Orenburg province were involved in the campaign for the Kalmyks and could not be used against the rebellious Cossacks. The victory over the “senior” party gave confidence to ordinary Cossacks. Its consequence was the bloody uprising of 1772 and participation in the movement of E.I. Pu-gachev in 1773–1774.