Siege of Bukhara (1598)

The Siege of Bukhara (1598) was a siege by the Kazakh Khanate led by Tauekel Khan against the Khanate of Bukhara's capital of Bukhara during the Kazakh invasion of Northern Bukhara. This resulted in Uzbek victory and failure of capture of Bukhara by the Kazakhs.

In 1598, the Kazakh Khan Tauekel invaded the Khanate of Bukhara, after the death of the Uzbek Khan, Abdullah Khan II. The Kazakhs with the support of the Kyrgyz, and Karapalkaks soon invaded the region of Transoxiana after their departure from Dasht-i-Kipchak. The Kazakhs later captured the following cities on the Syr Darya; Turkistan, Tashkent and Samarkand. After which Taukel left Samarkand with a force of about 70,000 to 80,000 men—leaving Esim Khan on Samarkand with 20,000 men—to capture the city of Bukhara. Meanwhile the city garrison of 15,000 men had fortified Bukhara, which Pirmuhammed Khan ordered the city walls and towers be fortified. Instead of abandoning the city or directly confronting the larger Kazakh army.

Following those events, the Kazakhs attempted a siege for about thirteen days, causing the Kazakh army to retreat to Tashkent, defeated by Bukharan forces again during their retreat. Esim Khan later sent a message to his brother Tauekel, stating:

"It is shameful, indeed shameful, that such a large army as the Tsar had could be defeated by a handful of Bukharans and forced to flee. If the Khan were to fugitively return to Samarkand, it could very well happen that the Samarkandians would no longer wish to obey us. Let the Khan return again; I, with the army that is with me, will join him."