The Kazakh Empire

**The Kazakh Empire** ,also known as **Kazakhstan**, is a despotic state in Asia. It borders the Astrakhan Demilitarized Zone, Union of West Russian States and the Russian Empire to the West, the Russian Anarchy to the North, the Khivan Islamic State and the Bukharan Islamic State to the South with the Warriors of Altai and the Oryat Regional Council to the West.

The Kazakh Empire is considered to be a warlord state due to it's formation during the Imperial Withdrawal of 1994. A band of Kazakh Warlords united under Nursultan Nazarbayev's Group called the Black Hand Kazakhs and this group would invade or subjugate the other warlords. However, the Kazakh Empire is unlike these warlord groups due to it's size and organised Government.

After the formation of the Kazakh Empire, the Kazakhs would become a leading power in the post-Imperium Russian Lands up until 1998. The Kazakhs would regularly skirmish with the Imperial Territory of Greater Caucasia. The Kazakh Empire would establish a military alliance with the Khivan Islamic State, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Bukharan Islamic State on the 4th of June 1995 called the Alliance of the Great Steppe. This alliance would then fight the 5 Nations Alliance in the War of the Caucasus but would eventually lose this war. The Kazakh Empire has been in a state of shock and decline since then, struggling to deal with the post-warlord control.

## History

### Formation

The modern day Kazakhstan was formerly apart of the Russian Empire (from 1813 to 1917) and the Soviet Union (from 1917 to 1943) as the Kazakh SSR. After the Invasion of the Soviet Union, most of the Kazakh Lands would be occupied by the Union of East Asian Soviets. The Kazakh People were heavily suppressed under the rule of the UEAS. As such when The Imperium would invade the UEAS in the Last Great War, many Kazakh Warlord Groups would join the fight against the UEAS, expecting autonomy. The Kazakhs would not receive this autonomy and would instead be subjugated by The Imperium. Due to the immense military power of the Imperium, resistance was futile and any Kazakh rebellions would be crushed before they could effectively begin.

However, in 1994 during The Gulf War, the Imperium would completely abandon all land east of the Urals and established 3 Imperial Territories in the lands west of the Urals. The Kazakh Warlords would all rise up and establish small warlord nations in the Kazakh Lands and began fighting each other. However, 4 Large Kazakh Warlords in the East would unite under Nursultan Nazarbayev's Black Hand Kazakhs and this new group would go onto invade or subjugate the remaining warlords, eventually uniting the country in December 1994.

Nazarbayev would establish the Kazakh Empire and had great ambitions.

### Pre-War of the Caucasus

The Kazakh Empire would turn it's attention south to the various warlords located there. Under Nazarbayev, the Kazakh Empire mobilised it's various warlord bands and used them in place of an army. The Kazakh Warbands invaded the southern warlords in Central Asia and the Empire would also enter an alliance with three warlord groups who Nazarbayev deemed as valuable allies. The Alliance of the Great Steppe was formed on the 4th of June 1995 with the Khivan Islamic State, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Bukharan Islamic State.

Due to the largely regional warlord control with Nazarbayev leading them all, the warlords largely cared for their own land which resulted in the Kazakh Empire not really having an economy and therefore were unable to industrialise. These warlords stayed very agricultural and traditional which put the Kazakh Empire behind in terms of economic or military might. Nazarbayev had very little control over the Empire and couldn't do much without the approval of the Kazakh Warlords who provided the manpower and resources needed for whatever the Empire wanted.

In 1998, the Kazakh Empire set it's eyes east as the Emperor would die and the Great Collapse would occur. The Russian Imperial Territories would crumble and collapse ,the nations following would be weak and began fighting amongst themselves. The Kazakh Empire saw this and with the Major Powers of Russia being focused on the West Russian War, the Kazakh's decided to invade the Caucasian Russian States, starting with the Nationalist State of Kalmykia.

### War of the Caucasus

The Kazakh Empire went into the war largely unprepared and assumed that it would be a one on one fight. The Kazakh Warbands invaded across into Astrakhan on the 14th of September 1998 and declared war on the Kalmykians.

The Kazakh and Kalmykian Forces would clash on the 15th of September in the City of Astrakhan. During the Siege of Astrakhan, the Caucasian States began pledging support for the Kalmykian cause as they recognised the threat the Kazakhs posed and that they would be better off facing the Kazakh Empire united together than being picked off one by one. Representatives of the Crimean Empire, Stavropol, Republic of Chechnya and the Greater Georgian Empire approached the Kalmykians and proposed an Alliance. The Kalmykians accepted very quickly and on the 19th, the Alliance declared war on the Kazakh Empire who were now supported by their Allies in Asia. The Alliance ,despite varying political beliefs, began mobilising forces to break the Siege of Astrakhan and relieve the front.

Although the Kazakhs would achieve great initial successes and would successfully capture Astrakhan on the 3rd of October, the war would turn in the Alliances favour from there. Due to the focus on the rescue of the Astrakhan Forces, the Kazakh Northern Warbands were able to push across the Volga and from the 2nd to the 5th of October, over 230,000 Soldiers crossed the Volga and began forcing the Alliance back and the forces were in full retreat. The Alliance Forces were pushed back to the state borders of Kalmykia and the Kazakh Force was near Elista , the capital of the NSK.

The Kazakh Warbands began a full assault on the 8th of October and expected that the Alliance would fall and the line would collapse. However by the 10th, the Kazakhs' had not made any significant progress. This was largely because of the work of the Russian Empire and Union of West Russian States' Military Advisors who had begun training the Alliance Forces and the presence of Russian Empire and UWRS volunteer troops who had entered on the 6th. The Russian Empire began supplying the Alliance with weapons and the Union provided financial support and training personnel. The Russian Empire also moved in a Detachment of their Elite Special Forces to assist the Alliance.

The Kazakhs had realised this by the 12th and stopped their assault. This would lead to a break period which would allow the Alliance to further strengthen. The War would however continue in the air with the weaker Kazakh Airforce ,which was a handful of heavily outdated prop aircraft and were not organised effectively, desperately fighting the combine air forces of the alliance and Volunteer Airwings of the UWRS.

After the failed assault, Nazarbayev made a decisive move which was to reorganise the Kazakh Warbands into a unified Army under a General Staff and directly under the control of the Premier. This greatly upset the warlords which led to several mutinies within the New Kazakh Army but Nazarbayev appeased some of these warlords by establishing them as Generals within the new army.

Eventually, the Russian Empire's entrance into the war and invasion in Northern Kazakhstan and even threatening the Kazakh Capital in December, forced a peace deal. The Kazakhs were humiliated and forced to pay massive war reparations which they were not in a position to even gain the money to give. Putin wanted to stop the Kazakh State from functioning and to destabilise the state. He also wanted for any hope of a Kazakh Economy to be crushed.

### Modernisation

Defeated, the Kazakh Empire entered a new era. The Kazakh Empire could no longer expand and were in debt to the Russian Nations. Nazarbayev needed to industrialise the nation which meant he would need to eliminate the warlord regional control. He wanted to establish an organised government under his command, establishing a dictatorship. On the 9th of February 1999, he would declare that the warlords no longer had any control and that they were either to bow to the new government or face imprisonment.

Due to the recent war toll on the warlords as well, most warlords were simply forced to submit to Nazarbayev and his Government. However, these warlords became heavily disgruntled and several seceded, the southern warlords who seceded would be invaded by the Khivan Islamic State or the Bukharan Islamic State, leading to the two warlord states to become even more powerful. The warlord vacuum as it would be called brought Kazakhstan to it's knees and the 3 larger warlords simply refused to back down and formed an opposition to Nazarbayev, demanding that in return for allegiance the Kazakh Government pays them. These 3 Warlords were the richest and provided the most soldiers so Nazarbayev was forced to make concessions.

However, the Kazakh Empire is facing another crisis. Nazarbayev's rapid industrialisation has had an opposite effect and has further plunged the already diminished Kazakh Economy into non-existence. The Kazakh Empire is at risk of falling back into warlordism and collapse.

## Situation

The Kazakh Situation is very dire. Nazarbayev's attempts to transform Kazakhstan into a unified state under a government has been a tough battle which has resulted in several warlords seceding from the Empire , several submitting to the new Government but the 3 Largest Warlord Groups have refused to back down. The Warlords who had been a fundamental power in the regions they operated in has left a vacuum where the Kazakh Economy can't function and the government are struggling to control these areas.

The 3 largest Warlord groups also opposed the creation of a Kazakh Government and abolition of the Warlord system. These 3 Warlords were the richest and provided the most soldiers so Nazarbayev was forced to make concessions. The Kazakh Government is forced to pay these 3 Warlords for their allegiance and for a lack of opposition but this hasn't stopped the Warlords from opposing Nazarbayev and refusing to obey rules and laws he sets. Nazarbayev has to play a balancing act to show force against the warlords but must appease them for the sake of Kazakh Integrity.

The Kazakh Empire has also become distant with her allies due to them trying to become a functioning nation on the world stage and their attempt at distancing themselves from warlordism. A collapse of the Alliance of the Great Steppe could very well occur, resulting in chaos to the already violent and destroyed region.

The Kazakh Economy has been shattered. The Warlord issue has crippled the country enough, the failures of Nazarbayev's Industrialisation has left the country in a worse state. On top of the war reparations owed to the Russian States, the Kazakh Economy is basically non-existent. There is no civilian industry and the Kazakh Military has very little supply and no organisation.

The Kazakh Empire is at risk of falling back into warlordism and collapse, but Nazarbayev could manoeuvre this dire situation for his favour. He must choose to wage war against the warlords to bring about the needed change, or to further appease them for the Kazakh People and the Nation.