Etymology The Basmyl ethnonym is etymologisable as
Turkic: the first component *
bas- means "to crush, press, oppress make a surprise attack" in
Proto-Turkic; the other, *
-mïl, is the
Oghuric cognate of
Common Turkic nominalizing suffix *
-miš/-
*mïs. Thus "
Basmıl may be viewed as Oğuric Turkic
bas- +
-mıl = 'the tribe that crushed (its opponents),'
Basmıš in Common Turkic. This was typical of Turkic tribal names that denoted aggressiveness." This prompted Golden to further posit that Basmyls were Oghuric speakers who remained east after their cousins had migrated west.
Khaganate period According to
Tongdian, the Basmyls originally lived dispersed on the snowy mountains, hunted on
skis, and dwelt south of
Beiting Protectorate and the Northern Sea (i.e.
Lake Baikal) and southeast of
Yenisei Kyrgyz; the "courageous and powerful" Basmyls numbered 2,000 families, and had leaders but no princes (Tigin) Since 552, the Basmyls became a part of the
First Turkic Khaganate, who might have recognized Basmyls' economic or political importance enough to appoint an
Ashina yabghu over the Basmyls. The period from 649 to 703 is the best documented in Basmyl history due to the existence of Chinese annalistic records. This was also a prosperous period; vassalage did not impose any obligations and was instead afforded Chinese luxuries provided as gifts, until the Tang emperors felt confident enough to introduce their own bureaucracy to supplant the rule of the traditional Türkic nobility. According to ancient Türkic succession law, a brother succeeded a brother, and a nephew succeeded his uncle in a process of
lateral succession. The Chinese thought such an idea absurd, and ignored it in their acts, causing further problems on top of existing resentment of the greedy bureaucracy. This 52-year period of relative quiet ended with the rise of the restored
Eastern Turkic Kaganate, and its recapture of Dzungaria and the Dzungarian Basmyls by
Kutlug and
Kul Tegin.
Rule Under Türgesh Khaganate Because Chinese Tang forces in the "Western Territories" were negligible, to resist the restoration of the Türkic Kaganate, the Tang government had to accede to the rise of
Turgesh, a nation descendent from
Xianbei Abars and Mukri, under the leadership of an
Wuzhile. In effect, the territory captured by Tang by 659 was divided between the Chinese, the Türkic Kaganate, and Türgeshes, a people who did not belong to the
Tiele,
Chuy, or
Eastern Türküt (東突厥) group, but are first known as one of the five
Duolu tribes of the
Western Türküt. The Türgeshes numbered 5–700,000, and although this represented a large state for the time, they were under pressure from
Arabs from the south. Given the complexity of the situation, Tang diplomacy succeeded in drawing the Basmyls into an anti-Türkic alliance that already included the
Kidans,
Tatabi, and a 300,000 strong Tang expeditionary army. This involved the Basmyls into one of the most exciting events of the century, and bestowed on them a place in the most celebrated Türkic compositions of the 8th century. Under an unrealistic plan concocted in 720 in
Chang'an, China against the Türkic Kaganate, the Kidans and Tatabi, and the south-western Dzungaria Basmyls were to simultaneously converge on the
Bilge-kagan court from different directions. The
Yenisei Kirghiz were also pressing from the north, and the Türgeshes from the west. Bilge-kagan's chancellor
Tonyukuk developed a counter-plan, which involved facing the enemies one at a time, and the use of audacity and speed to compensate for their lack of forces. At the beginning of the subsequent war, the Basmyls were the first allies to join the Türkic horde but failing to find any other coalition forces turned back. Tonyukuk's Türks left them alone and following a forced march came to
Beshbalyk (Ch.
Beiting), which they took by surprise attack. By the time the exhausted men and horses of the Basmyls reached Bishbalyk, instead of rest and provisions they found an enemy waiting. Surrounded under the walls of the fortress, the Basmyls surrendered, and the whole campaign fell apart. The war was immortalized in the Orkhon inscriptions on the
Bilge-kagan and
Tonyukuk monuments. The Tang court offered Ozmysh-khan asylum whereupon he sent his son to China with five thousand covered wagons containing families, and fled his horde. In 744 the Basmyls killed Ozmysh-khan and sent his head to Chang'an. His brother
Baimei-khan Kulun-beg was enthroned in his place, but most of the Türkic nobles joined in the election of the Basmyl leader Elterish (Ch. Sede Ishi) as supreme Khagan. The allies soon split apart; Uyghur leader Peilo attacked and defeated the Basmyls whose leader Elterish-kagan was beheaded and his head was sent to Changan with an offer to recognize Peilo with the title Kutlug-Bilge Kül-khan. The Basmyls, under pressure from the Karluks, then joined with the Uyghurs.
Uyghur period Kypchak Türkic domination over the Uyghur lasted from 688 to 741. The Uyghur leader received the title
Shad from his father and in 742 consolidated his people into the
Tokuz-Oguzes or Nine Tribes. Unlike the
Ashina Türks, the
Tokuz-Oguz Uyghurs were a leading but not a dominating tribe. After quelling the Basmyls and Karluks, the Uyghurs accepted them as equals. Inscriptions on the "
Selenga stone" are a main source for the record of events around 750. In 753, the Uyghurs continued their violent struggle against the Basmyls and Karluks. The war ended in 755 with the Uyghurs subduing the Karluk's eastern pasturing routes extending to the
Saur and
Tarbagatai. The Uyghur tribal confederation (Tokuz-Oguz) consisted of a leading Uygur tribe (which incorporated Basmyls and eastern Karluks), six established
Tele tribes of Pugu, Hun, Bayïrku, Tongra, Sijie, & Qibi, and two new A-Busi and Gulunwugusi, legally considered equal, and several subjugated tribes who paid tribute to the Tokuz-Oguz Khagan
Yaglakar family. The Tokuz-Oguz tribes were in a privileged position not only in respect to the tribal union, but also vis-a-vis the Basmyls and Karluks, who in battles were always "sent in front", because they were less valued and protected. In Dzungaria, the Basmyls lived next to the Karluks and Bayïrku, who were apparently one of the numerous tribes which in 747 battled against the Uyghurs on the side of the Basmyls. Another neighbor east of the Türgeshes were the
Ograk, one of the aborigional tribes of Dzungaria, still known in the 1st century BCE as
Uge. A community of
Yduk-kas ("Holy People"), a reference to a Christian community, are mentioned as the
Uch-Yduk ("Three Yduks") in the Orkhon inscriptions also resided within Basmyl territory. The Basmyls remained within the
Uyghur Kaganate, so called after the Uyghurs captured the leadership of the Türkic Kaganate in 752, until its demise at the hands of
Yenisei Kyrgyz in 840. == Religion ==