The article provides a comparative analysis of history textbooks in secondary schools in Kazakhstan and Turkey in the first half of the twentieth century. The periods and subjects of history study in secondary schools of both countries were also differentiated. The contribution of Alash figures and the Kazakh intelligention to the study of the history of Kazakhstan at the beginning of the 20th century is considered. The influence of Soviet power on the formation of history textbooks of Kazakhstan is analyzed. The subject of the research is the textbook by S. Asfendiarov, published in 1934, “Essays on the History of Kazakhstan,” and the book by K. Ataturk, "The main directions of the history of Turkey" published in 1930. A brief content-comparative analysis of the first history textbooks in Kazakh and in Turkish secondary schools was carried out. During the study, historical-comparative, ideographic, quantitative-qualitative, content analysis, structural and systematic research work was carried out. As a result of the study, a comparative analysis of the first history textbooks for secondary schools of the Kazakh and Turkish people of the early twentieth century was carried out, and the differences and similarities in teaching history in Kazakhstan under Soviet rule and the independent Turkish Republic were compared. In addition, the reasons why S. Asfendiarov’s textbook “Essays on the History of Kazakhstan” were not taught in secondary schools were identified.