The Kalmyks, traditionally Mahayana Buddhist pastoral nomads, originated as an offshoot of the Mongols. They moved into the southern Volga Steppe region in the 1660s. Strong under Khan Aiuka (1669–1724), they allied with Peter the Great who used them as a buffer against possible Persian invasion.

Subsequently, the tsarist government "divided and ruled," and a continuing influx of peasants severely hampered the Kalmyk pastoral-nomadic life. Despairing and desperate, in 1771 they attempted a coordinated flight back to their ancestral home, Dzungaria. Weather prevented the Kalmyks on the western bank from leaving, but both groups residing on the eastern bank fled eastward. It was at this point that the first genocide occurred. The harsh winter killed many, but Bashir units sent by the tsarist government massacred many more. Perhaps only a quarter of the fleeing Kalmyks reached Dzungaria. There the Ching government annihilated large...