By 1868, the Russian conquest of Turkestan had captured Tashkent and Samarkand, and gained control over the khanates of Kokand in the eastern mountains and Bukhara along the Oxus River.

This left a roughly triangular area east of the Caspian, south of the Aral Sea and north of the Persian border.

Mikhail Skobelev mapped a route from Krasnovodsk to the edge of the oasis, and Colonel Vasily Markozov later explored the area more thoroughly.

In September 1872, Colonel Markozov started from Krasnovodsk and Chikishlyar; he planned to make a dash to Khiva, but was called back by the Viceroy of the Caucasus.

In the east, Konstantin Kaufman sent parties into the desert south of the Syr-Darya.In December 1872 the Czar made the final decision to attack Khiva.

(1) General von Kaufmann, in supreme command, would march west from Tashkent and meet a second force moving south from (2) Fort Aralsk.

On 13 April, Kaufmann issued new orders: both forces would turn southwest, meet at Khala-Ata about 130 miles east of the head of the delta, then march west to the Oxus.

A Kazakh found a small waterhole a few miles north, and the camels were sent back to bring a new load of water.

On June 4 he occupied the abandoned fort of Hazarasp and received a letter from the Khan offering terms and another message from Veryovkin who had just taken Kungrad.

Kungard is around 140 miles north-northwest of Khiva at the northwest corner of populated part of the delta, north of which there are marshes and then Lake Aral.)

On June 9 an advanced party came under heavy fire and found that they had unwittingly reached the North Gate of the city.

The next day some Turkmen began firing from the walls, the artillery opened up and a few lucky shots smashed the gate.

According to MacGahan,[5] Kaufmann demanded an impossibly large tax and when the Yomuds fled he sent soldiers after them with a great deal of unnecessary slaughter.