He was educated at the Nicholas Staff College, enlisted in the army in 1847, and distinguished himself in the Crimean War and in the Caucasus Mountains region.

[2] During 1864, having gained the rank of Major-General, Chernyaev made his famous march with 1000 men across the steppes of Turkestan to Chimkent (Shymkent) in the Khanate of Kokand, to meet another Russian column from Semipalatinsk (Semey), in Siberia, in conjunction with which he successfully captured Chimkent, and then unsuccessfully attacked Tashkent, 130 km farther south.

This was contrary to his instructions, and although he was received in St. Petersburg with enthusiasm, and presented with a sword of honor by the emperor, he was not again employed by the Russian military service, and retired from it in July 1874.

[2] He bought, and edited with great success, the publication Russkiy Mir, devoting himself to Pan-Slavism.

He succeeded to von Kaufmann as Governor of Turkestan in 1882, but his bellicose plans for the Great Game with the British Empire resulted in his replacement two years later, when he was appointed a member of the council of war at St. Petersburg.