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Annexation of the Caucasus to Russia in the 19th century

“The conquest of the Caucasus is so important for Russia, it so strengthened the international position of our Fatherland that at least a brief acquaintance with this gigantic struggle and with those people who laid down their bones for their homeland is the moral duty of every Russian person.”

(Essays on the conquest of the Caucasus. St. Petersburg, 1911.)

Wars for the annexation of the Caucasus Mountains were fought by the Russian Empire, which needed to protect its southern borders from constant invasions, raids and control of trade routes connecting Russia through the Caspian and Black Seas with eastern markets, during the 18th–19th centuries. They fought not only with the Caucasian highlanders, but also with Iran and Turkey who did not want to give up control over the Caucasus.

Russia's Caucasian wars include the Persian campaign of 1722–1723, the Persian campaign of 1796, the Russian-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828, the Caucasian part of the Russian-Turkish wars of 1768–1774, 1787–1791, 1806– 1812, 1828–1829, the Crimean War of 1853–1856, the Caucasian War of 1817–1864, which completed the complete annexation of the Caucasus to Russia.

In the middle of the 16th century, Russian troops liquidated the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates. The conquest - annexation of the Volga region moved the border of the Muscovite kingdom to the Terek River and provided Russia with access to the Caspian Sea with the wide sale of its traditional goods, including furs, without intermediaries in the East. It was necessary to gain a foothold in the Caspian part of the Great Silk Road, capturing the mouth of the Terek and the Dagestan coast. In the Caucasus at that time there were wars against Iranian and Turkish invaders, internal strife, some of the mountain tribes sought to get help or even enter into an alliance with Moscow. In 1554, diplomatic negotiations began with Kabarda and the Dagestan Shamkhalate of Tarkovsky, as a result of which in 1557 Kabarda accepted Russian citizenship, and in 1567 the Terki fortress was founded at the mouth of the Sunzha River, and in 1588 the Terek town was built in the Terek delta. The lower reaches of the Terek were populated by Cossacks who migrated from the Don and Volga.

In 1594, and later in 1604–1605, Russian detachments of governors Buturlin and Pleshcheev tried to break into coastal Dagestan, fighting with the Kumyk Shamkhal Tarkovsky, but were unsuccessful.

In 1720, by decree of Peter I, 5 Cossack villages were built on the lower bank of the Terek. During the Persian campaign of 1722–1723, the troops of Peter I occupied the entire Dagestan coast, including Derbent. At the same time, the Kuban Khanate passed into Russian citizenship. The Russian army even occupied Baku, but failed to gain a foothold on the coast - Türkiye, which was still strong at that time, did not allow it. The border of the Russian Empire returned to the Terek, where under Anna Ioannovna the construction of Caucasian fortified lines began.

In 1735–1739, the Kizlyar fortified line was built with the construction of a fortress and fortifications along the Terek River. By 1769 the line reached Mozdok, and by 1780 the Azov-Mozdok fortified line was completely created - from the Azov to the Caspian Sea. This became possible after the Russian-Turkish war of 1768–1774, as a result of which Russia received, in particular, Kabarda and North Ossetia, and the Kuban highlanders gained independence from Turkey.

The Ukrainian fertile steppes and Crimea became part of the Russian Empire. The Azov-Mozdok line (Mozdok was built in 1763) provided further advance to the mountainous Caucasus, occupation of the fertile Cis-Caucasian plain and access to the Black Sea shores of the Caucasus.

By decree of 1782, occupied lands were distributed to the Russian nobility. Until 1804, more than half a million dessiatines were distributed. Vorontsov, Bezborodko, Chernyshev, and many others received the Caucasian lands.

In 1783, A. Suvorov, then the commander of the Kuban Corps, pushed the Nogai tribes to the Urals and beyond the Kuban in battles. In 1784, Shamkhal Murtaza Ali became a Russian citizen - Russia reached the northern Dagestan coast of the Caspian Sea. In the same year, the Vladikavkaz fortress was founded and the construction of fortifications began on the Georgian Military Road being created.

This made it possible in 1785 to create a single Caucasian line, later divided into the left flank, center, right flank and the Black Sea cordon line - from the village of Ust-Labinskaya to the mouth of the Kuban, populated by former Zaporozhye Cossacks who became the Black Sea Cossack army.

Two years earlier, the king of Kartli and Kakheti, Irakli II, squeezed by the Iranians, Turks, subjected to constant raids by the Avars, turned to Russia and Eastern Georgia, according to the Treaty of Georgievsk in 1783, was declared a Russian protectorate, Russian troops entered there, but at first they failed to gain a foothold there - in Chechnya and Kabarda, the uprising of Sheikh Mansur, a Muslim preacher, began, trying to unite the Caucasian tribes under the banner of gazavat - a war against infidels.

At the head of the Caucasian tribes were feudal lords - khan, chanka, bek, depending on whom were local nobles - uzdeni, who bore duties to the beks, who distributed peasant households to them. The nukers, the inner circle of the feudal lords, also received them. Some tribes did not yet have private ownership of land, which belonged to clans - teips, whose members, like the teips themselves, were considered equal to each other. However, “strong” tapes also constantly stood out.

The Russian detachment of Colonel Pierre, sent to suppress it, was destroyed by the Chechens. Mansur tried to take Kizlyar and Mozdok, but was repulsed. A year later, the attempt to march on Kizlyar was repeated, the Chechens were again driven back, Mansur went to Transkuban, where the uprising began. The threat of a new Turkish war and the actions of Mansur forced Russian troops to withdraw from Eastern Georgia.

During the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787–1791, the Turkish army of Batal Pasha in 1790 was defeated by Russian troops in the upper reaches of the Kuban River, who were also forced to act against the Adyghe troops of Mansur, whose base was in then Turkish Anapa and Sujuk-Kale (future Novorossiysk). In 1791, Russian troops took Anapa, Mansur was captured and exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery, where he died.

According to the Yassy Peace Treaty, Anapa was returned to Turkey, the Adyghe tribes were recognized as independent, the right flank of the Caucasian fortified line was moved to the Kuban River, and its center, a few years later, was moved to Mount Beshtau and Pyatigorsk founded there, which later became the first resort of the Caucasian Mineral Waters and Cherkessk.

In 1795, Georgia was attacked by Iran and Russian troops were again brought into the country. A year later, during the Persian campaign, the Russian army V.A. Zubova took Derbent, Cuba, Baku and Shemakha. Paul I, who ascended the Russian throne, interrupted the campaign and withdrew Russian troops from Transcaucasia. In 1799, Eastern Georgia was attacked - the threat of dividing the country between Iran and Turkey became real. The Georgian king George XII turned to Paul I. Russian troops again entered Eastern Georgia, together with Georgian soldiers on November 7, 1800 on the Iora River in Kakheti, defeating the army of the Avar and Kazikumukh khans. A year after the death of George XII, by the manifesto of Paul I, Eastern Georgia became part of the Russian Empire.

The 19th century began in the Caucasus with numerous uprisings. In 1802 the Ossetians rebelled, in 1803 - the Avars, in 1804 - the Georgians.

In 1802, the Georgian prince in Russian service P.D. was appointed commander of the troops of the Caucasian fortified line. Tsitsianov. In 1803, a successful military expedition of General Gulyakov was carried out - the Russians reached the Dagestan coast from the south. In the same year, Mingrelia passed into Russian citizenship, and in 1804, Imereti and Türkiye. Most members of the Georgian royal house by Prince P.D. Tsitsianov was deported to Russia. The remaining Tsarevich Alexander, the main contender for the Georgian throne, took refuge in Ganja, with the local khan. Ganja belonged to Azerbaijan, but this did not stop Prince Tsitsianov. Ganja was taken by storm by Russian troops, under the pretext that it had once been part of Georgia. Ganja became Elizavetpol. The march of Russian troops on Erivan-Yerevan and the capture of Ganja served as the pretext for the Russian-Iranian War of 1804–1813.

In 1805, the Shuragel, Sheki, Shirvan, and Karabakh khanates came under Russian citizenship. And although Prince Tsitsianov was treacherously killed near Baku, the uprising of Khan Sheki was suppressed and the detachment of General Glazenap took Derbent and Baku - the Derbent, Kuba and Baku khanates went to Russia, which caused the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812. It was the alliance of Iran and Turkey that prevented the Russians, who had captured Nakhichevan, from taking Erivan.

The Persian troops that entered the Yerevan Khanate and Karabakh were defeated by the Russians on the Araks, Arpachai and near Akhalkalaki. In Ossetia, General Lisanevich’s detachment defeated the troops of the Cuban Khan Shikh-Ali. On the Black Sea coast, Russian troops took the Turkish fortresses of Poti and Sukhum-Kale. In 1810, Abkhazia became part of Russia. Dagestan also announced the adoption of Russian citizenship.

In 1811, Russian troops of the commander in the Caucasus, Marquis Pauluchi, took the Akhalkalaki fortress. The detachment of General I. Kotlyarevsky defeated the Persians in 1812 at Aslanduz, and a year later took Lankaran. Russia's wars with Iran and Turkey ended almost simultaneously. And although, according to the Peace of Bucharest of 1812, Poti, Anapa and Akhalkalaki were returned to Turkey, according to the Peace of Gulistan of 1813, Persia lost the Karabakh Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Kuba, Baku, Talyshin khanates, Dagestan, Abkhazia, Georgia, Imereti, Guria, Mingrelia. Most of Azerbaijan with Baku, Ganja, Lankaran became part of Russia.

The territories of Georgia and Azerbaijan, annexed to Russia, were separated from the empire by Chechnya, Mountainous Dagestan and the North-West Caucasus. The Battle of the Mountains began with the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

In 1816, the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, General A.P., was appointed commander of a separate Caucasian corps. Ermolov, who was aware of the difficulties of repelling the raids of the highlanders and mastering the Caucasus: “The Caucasus is a huge fortress, defended by a garrison of half a million. We must storm it or take possession of the trenches.” A.P. himself Ermolov spoke out in favor of a siege.

The Caucasian Corps numbered up to 50 thousand people; A.P. The 40,000-strong Black Sea Cossack army was also subordinate to Ermolov. In 1817, the left flank of the Caucasian fortified line was moved from the Terek to the Sunzha River, in the middle course of which the Pregradny Stan fortification was founded in October. This event marked the beginning of the Caucasian War.

A line of fortifications erected along the Sunzha River in 1817–1818 separated the flat fertile lands of Chechnya from its mountainous regions - a long siege war began. The fortified line was intended to prevent raids by the mountaineers into the regions occupied by Russia; it cut off the mountaineers from the plain, blocked the mountains and became a support for further advance into the depths of the mountains.

The advance into the depths of the mountains was carried out by special military expeditions, during which “rebellious villages” were burned, crops were trampled, gardens were cut down, and the mountaineers were resettled on the plain, under the supervision of Russian garrisons.

The occupation of the Beshtau-Mashuk-Pyatigorye region by Russian troops at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries caused a series of uprisings that were suppressed in 1804–1805, in 1810, 1814 and even at the beginning of 1820. Under General Ermolov, a system of forest cutting was first introduced - creating clearings the width of a rifle shot - to penetrate into the depths of the Chechen lands. To quickly repel an attack by the mountaineers, mobile reserves were created and fortifications were built in clearings. The Sunzha fortified line was continued by the Grozny fortress, built in 1818.

In 1819, part of the Chechen and Dagestan highlanders united and attacked the Sunzhenskaya line. Having defeated one of the Russian detachments, the attackers were driven back into the mountains in a series of battles, and in 1821 the Sheki, Shirvan, and Karabakh khanates were liquidated. The Sudden fortress, built in 1819 in the Kumyk lands, blocked the Chechens’ path to Dagestan and the lower Terek. In 1821, Russian troops founded the Burnaya fortress - present-day Makhachkala.

The fertile lands of Transkuban were occupied by the Black Sea Cossacks. The raids were repulsed - in 1822, the expedition of General Vlasov, which crossed the Kuban, burned 17 villages. The general was removed from command, tried and acquitted.

Fighting also took place in Dagestan, where General Madatov’s detachment defeated the last khan, the Avar Sultan-Ahmed, in 1821. General A.P. Ermolov wrote in an order to the troops, “There are no more peoples in Dagestan opposing us.”

During this period, the Muridist sect that came from Sharvan began to operate in Southern Dagestan - the Muslim sect of the Naqshbandi tariqa, the second stage of religious improvement of a Muslim after Sharia). Murid – student, follower. The teachers of the murids and their leaders were called sheikhs, who put forward demands for the equality of all Muslims, which at the beginning of the 19th century were taken up by many simple mountaineers. The transfer of Muridism from Shirvan to Southern Dagestan is associated with the name of Kurali-Magoma. Initially, Ermolov limited himself to only ordering the Kyurinsky and Ukhsky kazik Aslan Khan to stop the activities of Kurali-Magoma. However, through the secretary of Aslan Khan Dzhemaleddin, who was elevated to sheikh by Kurali-Magoma, the tariqa penetrated into Mountainous Dagestan, in particular, into the Koisubulin society, which had long been a hotbed of the anti-feudal peasant movement. The Uzda elite significantly modified the tariqa, which became ghazavat - a teaching aimed at fighting the infidels. In 1825, a large anti-Russian uprising began in the Caucasus, led by the Chechen Bey-Bulat. The rebels took the fortification of Amir-Adji-Yurt, began the siege of Gerzel-aul, but were repulsed by the Russian garrison. Bey-Bulat attacked the Grozny fortress, was repulsed and General Ermolov suppressed the uprising, destroying several villages. In the same year, the expedition of General Velyaminov suppressed the incipient uprising in Kabarda, which never rebelled again.

In 1827, General A.P. Ermolov was replaced in the Caucasus by General I.F. Paskevich, who in the same year, during the outbreak of the Russian-Iranian War of 1826–1828, took Yerevan by storm. The Russians also won the war of 1828–1829 with the Turks. According to the Peace of Turkmanchay in 1828, Russia received the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates, and according to the Peace of Adrianople in 1829, the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus from the mouth of the Kuban to Poti. The strategic situation in the Caucasus has changed dramatically in favor of Russia. The center of the Caucasian fortified line passed at the headwaters of the Kuban and Malka rivers. In 1830, the Lezgin cordon line of Kvareli-Zagatala was built between Dagestan and Kakheti. In 1832, the Temir-Khan-Shura fortress was built - the current Buinaksk.

In 1831, Count I.F. Paskevich was recalled to St. Petersburg to suppress the Polish uprising. In the Caucasus he was replaced by General G.V. Rosen. At the same time, a Muslim state, the Imamate, was formed in Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan.

In December 1828, in the village of Gimry, the Koisubulin Avar preacher Gazi-Magomed-Kazi-Mullah, who put forward the idea of ​​​​unifying all the peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan, was proclaimed the first imam. Under the banner of Gazavat, Kazi Mullah, however, failed to unite everyone - Shamkhal Tarkovsky, the Avar Khan, and other rulers did not submit to him.

In May 1830, Gazi-Magomed, with his follower Shamil, at the head of an 8,000-strong detachment, tried to take the capital of the Avar Khanate, the village of Khunzakh, but was repulsed. The Russian expedition of the imam to the village of Gimry also failed. The influence of the first imam increased.

In 1831, Gazi-Magomed with a 10,000-strong detachment went to the Tarkov Shamkhalate, in which there was an uprising against the Shamkhal. The imam defeated the tsarist troops at Atly Bonen and began the siege of the Burnaya fortress, which ensured continuity of communication with Transcaucasia along the shores of the Caspian Sea. Finding himself unable to take Burnaya, Gazi-Muhammad, however, prevented Russian troops from penetrating further than the coast. The growing uprising reached the Georgian Military Road. Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus G.V. Rosen sent a detachment of General Pankratov to Gerki to suppress the uprising. Gazi-Muhammad went to Chechnya. He captured and devastated Kizlyar, tried to take Georgia and Vladikavkaz, but was repulsed, as well as from the Sudden fortress. At the same time, the Tabasaran beks tried to take Derbent, but were unsuccessful. The imam did not live up to the hopes of the Caucasian peasantry, did practically nothing for them, and the uprising itself began to fade. In 1832, a Russian punitive expedition entered Chechnya; About 60 villages were burned. On October 17, Russian troops besieged the residence of the imam, the village of Gimry, which had several lines of defense built in tiers. Gimry was taken by storm, Gazi-Magomed was killed.

The Avar Chanka Gamzat-bek was elected as the successor of the murdered imam, who concentrated his efforts on taking the Avar Khanate of Pakhu-bike, but in 1834, during negotiations in the camp of Galuat-bek near the capital of the Avar Khanate Khunzakh, his murids killed the sons of Pakhu-bike Nutsal Khan and Umma Khan, and the next day Galuat Beg took Khunzakh and executed Pahu-bike. For this, the Khunzakhs, led by Khanzhi-Murat, organized a conspiracy and killed Galuat-bek, the village of Khunzakh was taken by a Russian detachment.

The third imam was the candidate of the Koisubulin brigade, Shamil. At the same time, in the Trans-Kuban region, Russian troops built fortifications Nikolaevskoye and Abinsk.

Shamil managed to unite the mountain peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan under his rule, destroying the rebellious beks. With great administrative abilities, Shamil was an outstanding strategist and organizer of the armed forces. He managed to field up to 20 thousand soldiers against the Russian troops. These were massive military militias. The entire male population from 16 to 50 years old was required to perform military service.

Shamil paid special attention to creating a strong cavalry. Among the cavalry, the best part militarily were the Murtazeks, who were recruited from one out of ten families. Shamil sought to create a regular army, divided into thousands (alphas), capable of mobile defense in the mountains. Knowing perfectly all the mountain paths and passes, Shamil made amazing treks in the mountains of up to 70 km per day. Thanks to its mobility, Shamil’s army easily left the battle and evaded pursuit; but it was extremely sensitive to the rounds that Russian troops usually used.

Shamil's talent as a commander was reflected in the fact that he was able to find tactics that suited the characteristics of his army. Shamil established his base in the center of the mountain system of the northeastern Caucasus. Two gorges lead here from the south - the valleys of the Avar and Andean Koisu rivers. At their confluence, Shamil built his famous fortification Akhulgo, surrounded on three sides by impregnable cliffs. The mountaineers covered the approaches to their strongholds with rubble, built fortified posts and entire tiers of defensive lines. The tactics were to delay the advance of the Russian troops, to wear them down in continuous skirmishes and unexpected raids, especially on the rearguards. As soon as the Russian troops were forced to retreat, it always took place in difficult conditions, since the incessant attacks of the highlanders eventually exhausted the strength of the retreating ones. Taking advantage of his central position in relation to the Russian troops scattered around, Shamil made formidable raids, unexpectedly appearing where he counted on the support of the population and the weakness of the garrison.

The significance of the high-mountain base for Shamil’s military operations will become even clearer if we consider that here he organized military, albeit simplified, production. Gunpowder was produced in Vedeno, Untsukul and Gunib; saltpeter and sulfur were mined in the mountains. The population of the villages that produced saltpeter were exempt from military service and received a special payment - one and a half silver rubles per family. Melee weapons were made by handicraftsmen; rifles were usually made in Turkey and Crimea. Shamil's artillery consisted of guns captured from Russian troops. Shamil tried to organize the casting of guns and the production of gun carriages and artillery boxes. Fugitive Russian soldiers and even several officers served as craftsmen and artillerymen for Shamil.

In the summer of 1834, a large Russian detachment was sent from the Temir-Khan-Shura fortress to suppress Shamil’s uprising, which on October 18 stormed the main residence of the murids - the villages of Old and New Gotsatl in Avaria - Shamil left the khanate. The Russian command in the Caucasus decided that Shamil was not capable of active action and until 1837 was limited to small punitive expeditions against “rebellious” villages. Shamil, in two years, subjugated the entire mountainous Chechnya and almost the entire Accident with the capital. The ruler of Avaria called the Russian army for help. At the beginning of 1837, a detachment of General K.K. Fezi, who left the most interesting memories, took Khunzakh, Untsukutl and part of the village of Tilitl, to which Shamil retreated. Having suffered heavy losses and lacking food, K. Fezi’s troops found themselves in a difficult situation. On July 3, a truce was concluded and the Russian troops retreated. This event, as always, was perceived as a defeat for the Russians, and to rectify the situation, a detachment of General P.H. Grabbe was sent to take possession of the residence of Shamil Akhulgo.

After an 80-day siege, as a result of a bloody assault on August 22, 1839, Russian troops took Akhulgo; the wounded Shamil with part of the murids managed to break into Chechnya. After three days of fighting on the Valerik River and in the Gekhin Forest area in July 1840, Russian troops occupied most of Chechnya. Shamil made the village of Dargo his residence, from where it was convenient to lead the uprising in both Chechnya and Dagestan, but Shamil was then unable to take serious action against the Russian troops. Taking advantage of Shamil's defeat, Russian troops intensified their offensive against the Circassians. Their goal was to surround the Adyghe tribes and cut them off from the Black Sea.

In 1830 Gagra was taken, in 1831 the Gelendzhik fortification was built on the Black Sea coast. At the beginning of 1838, a Russian landing force landed at the mouth of the Sochi River and built the Navaginsky fortification; the Taman detachment built the Vilyaminovskoe fortification at the mouth of the Tuapse River in May 1838; At the mouth of the Shapsugo River, the Russians built the Tengin fortification. On the site of the former Sudzhuk-Kale fortress at the mouth of the Tsemes River, a fortress was founded, the future Novorossiysk. In May 1838, all the fortifications from the mouth of the Kuban River to the border of Mingrelia were united into the Black Sea coastline. By 1940, the Black Sea coastline of Anapa - Sukhumi was supplemented by fortification lines along the Laba River. Subsequently, by 1850, fortifications were built along the Urup River, and by 1858 - along the Belaya River with the founding of Maykop. The Caucasian fortified lines were abolished as unnecessary in 1860.

In 1840, the Circassians took the forts of Golovinsky and Lazarev, the fortifications of Vilyaminovskoye and Mikhailovskoye. Soon Russian troops drove them out of the Black Sea coastline, but the movement of the highlanders intensified, and Shamil also became more active.

In September 1840, after fierce battles near the villages of Ishkarty and Gimry, Shamil retreated. Russian troops, exhausted by continuous fighting, retreated to winter quarters.

In the same year, Hadji Murat fled from under arrest on the denunciation of the Avar Khan Ahmed from Khunzakh to Shamil and became his naib. In 1841, Naib Shamil Kibit-Magoma practically completed the encirclement of the Avar Khanate, the strategic key to Mountainous Dagestan.

To hold the Avalanche, almost all of Russia's free troops in the Caucasus were deployed there - 17 companies and 40 guns. At the beginning of 1842, Shamil took the capital of the Kazikumukh Khanate - the village of Kumukh, but was driven out of there.

A detachment of General P.H. Grabbe was sent in pursuit of Shamil - about 25 battalions - with the goal of occupying the residence of the imam, the village of Dargo. In the six-day battles in the Ichkerian forests, the detachment was badly battered by the imam’s soldiers and the Russians returned, having suffered heavy losses in killed and wounded - 2 generals, 64 officers, more than 2,000 soldiers. The retreat of P.H. Grabbe made such an impression on the Minister of War Chernyshev, who was at that moment in the Caucasus, that he obtained an order to temporarily suspend new military expeditions.

The defeat in Chechnya worsened the already tense situation in Nagorno-Dagestan. The accident itself was lost, since Russian troops, even before Shamil’s appearance here, could fear an attack from the local population every minute. Inside Avaria and Nagorno-Dagestan, the Russians held several fortified villages - Gerbegil, Untsukul, 10 km south of the village of Gimry, Gotsatl, Kumukh, and others. The southern border of Dagestan on the Samur River was covered by the Tiflis and Akhta fortifications. It was based on these fortifications that field armies operated, usually acting in the form of separate detachments. About 17 Russian battalions were scattered over a vast area. The confused Caucasian command did nothing to concentrate these forces scattered across small fortifications, which Shamil took advantage of with great skill. When he launched an attack on Avaria in mid-1843, most of the small Russian detachments were killed. The highlanders took 6 fortifications, captured 12 guns, 4,000 gun charges, 250 thousand cartridges. Only a Samur detachment hastily transferred to Avaria helped hold Khunzakh. Shamil occupied Gerbegil and blocked the Russian detachment of General Pasek in Khunzakh. Communication with Transcaucasia through Dagestan was interrupted. The assembled Russian troops in the battle near Bolshiye Kazanischi threw back Shamil and Pasek’s detachment escaped from the encirclement, but Avaria was lost.

Shamil expanded the territory of the Imamate twice, having more than 20,000 soldiers under arms.

In 1844, Count M.S. was appointed commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps with emergency powers. Vorontsov. The king’s order read: “It will be possible to break up Shamil’s crowd, penetrating into the center of his dominion, and establish himself in it.”

The Dargin expedition began. Vorontsov managed to reach Dargo without encountering serious resistance, but when the empty aul, lit by the mountaineers, was occupied by Vorontsov, the detachment, surrounded by the mountaineers and cut off from the food supply, found itself trapped. An attempt to bring food under a strong escort failed and only weakened the detachment. Vorontsov tried to break through to the line, but the continuous attacks of the mountaineers disorganized the detachment so much that he, being already not far from the fortified line, was forced to stop his advance. Only the appearance of General Freytag’s detachment, operating in the Chechen forests, saved the expedition, which ended, in general, in failure, although Vorontsov received a princely title for it. But the uprising did not grow - the peasants received practically nothing and only endured the hardships of the war. The enormous funds spent on the war were only partly covered by military booty; extraordinary military taxes, in the collection of which the naibs showed complete arbitrariness, ruined the mountain population. Naibs - the heads of individual districts - widely practiced various extortions and fines, which they often appropriated to themselves. At the same time, they began to force the population to work for them for free. Finally, there are sources about the distribution of lands to naibs and persons close to Shamil. Detachments of murtazeks began to be used to suppress discontent with the naibs that arose here and there. The nature of military operations has also changed in significant ways.

The Imamat began to fence itself off from the enemy with a wall of fortified villages - the war was increasingly turning from a maneuver to a positional one, in which Shamil had no chance. Among the mountain population there was a saying: “It is better to spend a year in a pit-prison than to spend a month on a campaign.” Dissatisfaction with the exactions of the naibs is growing more and more. It is especially pronounced in Chechnya, which served as the main food supply for Nagorno-Dagestan. Large purchases of food, produced at low prices, the resettlement of Dagestani colonists to Chechnya, the appointment of Dagestanis as Chechen naibs, the settlement of Dagestanis in Chechnya - all this taken together created an atmosphere of constant fermentation there, which erupted in small uprisings against individual naibs, such as an uprising against Shamil in 1843 in Cheberloy.

The Chechens switched to defensive tactics against Russian troops, which directly threatened the ruin of the villages. Accordingly, with the change in the situation, the tactics of the Russian troops also changed. Military expeditions to the mountains cease and the Russians switch to trench warfare - Vorontsov compresses the Imamate with a ring of fortifications. Shamil tried several times to break through this ring.

In Dagestan, Russian troops systematically besieged fortified villages for three years. In Chechnya, where Russian troops encountered obstacles in their advance in dense forests, they systematically felled these forests; The troops cut wide clearings within the range of a rifle shot, and sometimes a cannon shot, and methodically fortified the occupied space. A long “siege of the Caucasus” began.

In 1843, Shamil broke through the Sunzha fortified line into Kabarda, but was repulsed and returned to Chechnya. Having tried to break through to the Dagestan coast, Shamil was defeated in the battle of Kutishi.

In 1848, after the secondary siege of M.S. Vorontsov took the village of Gergebil, but a year later he did not take the village of Chokh, although he repelled the attempt of Shamil’s mountaineers to enter Kakheti, having built the Urus-Martan fortification a year before in Lesser Chechnya.

In 1850, as a result of a military expedition to Inguschtia, the western part of the imamate was transferred to the Karabulaks and Galashevites. At the same time, in Greater Chechnya, Russian troops took and destroyed the fortification built by Shamil - the Shalinsky trench. In 1851–1852, two campaigns of the imamate to Tabasaran were repulsed - Hadji Murad and Buk-Mukhamed, defeated near the village of Shelyagi. Shamil quarreled with Hadji Murat, who went over to the Russian side; Other naibs followed him.

In the western Caucasus, Circassian tribes stormed the Black Sea coastline. In 1849, Efendi Muhammad Emmin, who replaced Hadji Mohammed and Suleiman, became the head of the Circassians. In May 1851, the speech of the envoy Shamil was suppressed.

In Chechnya during 1852 there was a stubborn struggle between the detachments of Prince A.I. Baryatinsky and Shamil. Despite the stubborn resistance of the Imamate A.I. At the beginning of the year, Baryatinsky walked through the whole of Chechnya to the Kura fortification, which caused some of the villages to fall away from Shamil, who tried to retain Chechnya for himself, suddenly appearing either in the Vladikavkaz region or near Grozny; near the village of Gurdali he defeated one of the Russian detachments.

In 1853, a major battle took place on the Michak River, the last stronghold of Shamil. A. Baryatinsky, having 10 battalions, 18 squadrons and 32 guns, bypassed Shamil, who had collected 12 thousand infantry and 8 thousand cavalry. The highlanders retreated with heavy losses.

After the outbreak of the Crimean War of 1853–1856, Shamil announced that from now on the holy war with Russia would be waged jointly with Turkey. Shamil broke through the Lezgin fortified line and took the Zagatala fortress, but was again driven into the mountains by Prince Dolgorukov-Argutinsky. In 1854, Shamil invaded Kakheti, but was again repulsed. England and France sent only the Polish detachment of Laninsky to help the Circassians. And although, due to the threat of the Anglo-French fleet, Russian troops liquidated the Black Sea coastline, this did not have a significant impact on the course of the war. The Turks were defeated in battles on the Cholok River, on the Chingil Heights and at Kyuryuk-Dara, Kars was taken; The Turks were defeated in their campaign against Tiflis.

The Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 freed the hands of Russia, which concentrated a 200,000-strong army against Shamil, led by N.N., who replaced him. Muravyov Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, who also had 200 guns.

The situation in the Eastern Caucasus during this period was as follows: the Russians firmly held the fortified Vladikavkaz-Vozdvizhenskaya line, however, further to the east, up to the Kurinsky fortification, the Chechen plain was unoccupied. From the east, a fortified line ran from the Vnezapnaya fortress to Kurakha. Shamil moved his residence to the village of Vedeno. By the end of 1957, the entire plain of Greater Chechnya was occupied by Russian troops. A year later, General Evdokimov’s detachment captured Lesser Chechnya and the entire course of the Argun. Shamil tried to take Vladikavkaz, but was defeated.

In 1859, Russian troops took the village of Tauzen. Shamil tried to delay the offensive by taking a position with a 12,000-strong army at the exit from the Bas Gorge, but this position was bypassed. At the same time, Russian troops were advancing on Ichkeria from Dagestan.

In February 1859, General Evdokimov began the siege of Vedeno, where the mountaineers built 8 redoubts. After the defeat of the key Andean redoubt on April 1, Shaml with 400 murids escaped from the village. His naibs went over to the side of the Russians. The mountaineers began to be evicted en masse to the plain. Shaml retreated to the south, to Andia, where on the shore of the Andean Koisu he took a powerful fortified position - Mount Kilitl, at the same time occupying both banks of the Andean Koisu, which were fortified with stone rubble, on which 13 guns stood.

The Russian offensive was carried out by three detachments simultaneously: the Chechen General Evdokimov, moving south through the Andean ridge; the Dagestani General Wrangel, advancing from the east; Lezgins, advancing from the south along the Andean Gorge. The Chechen detachment, approaching from the north and descending into the Koisu valley, threatened Shamil’s old main position. A major role was played by the detour of the Dagestan detachment, which captured the right bank of the Koysu River and cut off Shamil from Avaria. Shamil abandoned the Andean position and went to his last refuge on the impregnable Mount Gunib. Two weeks later, Gunib was completely surrounded by Russian troops. On August 25, the Russians managed to climb, unnoticed by the besieged, from different sides to the considered impregnable Gunib-Dag and surround the village of Gunib, after which Shamil surrendered and was sent to Russia, to Kaluga.

After 1859, there was only one serious attempt to organize resistance of the Circassians, who created Medzhik. His failure marked the end of the active resistance of the Circassians.

The mountaineers of the northwestern Caucasus were evicted to the plain; they left and sailed en masse to Turkey, dying in thousands along the way. The captured lands were populated by Kuban and Black Sea Cossacks. The war in the Caucasus was completed by 70 battalions, a dragoon division, 20 Cossack regiments and 100 guns. In 1860, the resistance of the Natukhaevites was broken. In 1861–1862, the space between the Laba and Belaya rivers was cleared of mountaineers. During 1862–1863, the operation was moved to the Pshekha River, and roads, bridges, and redoubts were built as the troops advanced. The Russian army advanced deep into Abadzekhia, to the upper reaches of the Pshish River. The Abadzekhs were forced to fulfill the “peace conditions” prescribed to them. The Upper Abadzekhs on the crest of the Caucasus, the Ubykhs and part of the Shapsugs put up longer resistance. Having reached the Goytkh Pass, Russian troops forced the upper Abadzekhs to surrender in 1863. In 1864, through this pass and along the Black Sea coast, Russian troops reached Tuapse and began the eviction of the Shapsugs. The last to be conquered were the Ubykhs along the Shakh and Sochi rivers, who offered armed resistance.

Four Russian detachments moved from different sides against the Khakuchi into the valley of the Mzylta River. On May 21, 1864, Russian troops occupied the Kbaada tract (currently the Krasnaya Polyana resort), where the last Circassian base was located, ending almost half a century of the history of the Caucasian War. Chechnya, Mountainous Dagestan, the Northwestern Caucasus, and the Black Sea coast were annexed to Russia.

The final event for the final entry of the Caucasus into Russia was the Caucasian War.

The annexation of Transcaucasia to Russia forced the Russian government to rush to conquer the North Caucasus. For Russia, the Caucasus was necessary in the interests of defending its southern borders and as a stronghold in economic and military penetration into the Near and Middle East. At first, they tried to persuade the mountain feudal lords to switch to Russian citizenship through diplomatic means. The mountaineers easily accepted political obligations and just as easily violated them. In response to this, punitive “searches” were carried out against the mountain feudal lords who violated the oath. Tsarism developed an energetic offensive in the mountainous regions of the Caucasus. He was opposed mainly by two groups of the mountain population: firstly, the peasantry, who suffered from the oppression of numerous exactions, duties and cruel methods of warfare, and, secondly, the clergy, dissatisfied with the fact that their privileges were infringed upon by the Russian command and bureaucracy. The clergy tried to completely direct the discontent of the peasants in a certain direction of “gazavat” (“holy war”) against the Russian “guiaurs” (“infidels”) under the banner of the religious and political doctrine - muridism. The main thing in muridism was the idea of ​​​​the extermination of “guiaurs” and “equality of the faithful before God.” One of the most active organizers of armed uprisings under the flag of muridism in Dagestan and Chechnya in the early 20s was Mullah Muhammad Yaragsky. Being a murshid, i.e. mentor of the murids, he approved one of them, Muhammad from the village of Gimry, as “imam of Dagestan and Chechnya.” Having received the title of Ghazi, i.e. A fighter for the faith (in Gazavat), he gained fame under the name Gazi-Muhammad (often called Kazi-Mulla). Taking advantage of the growing discontent among the mountaineers, he began to energetically spread the ideas of Murism and the slogans of Gazavat and quickly achieved significant success.

In 1829, a significant part of the population of Dagestan rose at his call to fight for the faith (gazavat) against the Russians. In the eastern part of the North Caucasus, only the capital of Avaria, the village of Khunzakh, remained loyal to Russia. Therefore, Gazi-Muhammad (Kazi-Mulla) directed his first blow against this village.

Kazi-Mulla's two attempts to take Khunzakh were unsuccessful. Then he and his murids moved to Northern Dagestan, where he won a number of victories: he took the city of Tarki and the village of Paraul, besieged the Burnaya fortress and, having failed to capture it, moved to Sulak. There, after an unsuccessful attempt in August to take the Vnezapnaya fortress, Kazi-Mulla was driven back by the troops of the tsarist general G.A. Emmanuel, but he soon defeated this general and, inspired by the victory, moved south, besieged Derbent, and then, 8 days later, quickly marched north and on November 1, 1831 captured one of the most important centers of the North Caucasus - Kizlyar. Without stopping there, Kazi-Mulla sent his troops to the west and, entering Chechnya, crossed Sunzha and surrounded Nazran. In response to these actions, the commander-in-chief of the tsarist troops in the North Caucasus, General G.V. Rosen in the summer of 1831 undertook a campaign in Greater Chechnya, where he ravaged 60 villages and destroyed many gardens, forcing the residents to stop resistance. Then G.V. Rosen entered Dagestan and began an energetic pursuit of Kazi-Mulla. The latter, under the pressure of reinforced Russian troops, retreated to the mountains and there, in a major battle near his native village of Gimry, he suffered a complete defeat and himself fell in battle. [4, p. 238]

Two years after the death of Kazi-Mulla, Gamzat-bek was proclaimed the second imam, on the instructions of the same Muhammad of Yaragsky. Like his predecessor, he tried to subjugate rebellious societies and villages into the movement not only by promoting muridism, but also by force of arms. Having captured the capital of the Avar Khanate, Khunzakh, in 1834, which Kazi-Mulla had unsuccessfully tried to capture at one time, Gamzat-bek destroyed the entire family of Avar khans. This turned against him the large feudal lords of Dagestan and the elders of the taips and villages of Eastern Chechnya. At the end of the same year, 1834, in the Khunzakh mosque, Gamzat-bek was killed by relatives of the Avar Khan.

At the end of 1834, the mountaineer movement was led by a new - third imam - Shamil, who was undoubtedly a highly gifted person.

From the very beginning of his imamate, Shamil tried several times to negotiate with the royal command to conclude peace. But due to intransigence on both sides, underestimation by the tsarist command of the anti-colonial sentiments of the highlanders, as well as the authority and abilities of Shamil, the negotiations were interrupted.

Shamil widely propagated Koranic slogans about universal equality and freedom, and destroyed those feudal lords who collaborated with the Russian authorities. Not the entire population of Northern Dagestan and Greater Chechnya followed Shamil.

In the first period, Shamil managed to win over the popular masses of Dagestan and Chechnya and win a number of major victories. In 1834, the troops of General Lansky were defeated in a battle near the village of Gimry, which had already gone down in the history of the anti-colonial struggle of the highlanders.

In 1834-1835 An uprising began against the Russian authorities in the southeastern part of Chechnya - Ichkeria. It was headed by a native of this area, Tashov Hadji. From the Grozny fortress in 1835, troops under the command of Colonel Pullo tried to break into Ichkeria, but met stubborn resistance in the mountainous wooded area.

In 1835-1836 the combined forces of Dagestanis and Chechens opposed the rebellious villages who did not want to join the movement. At the same time, Shamil made an attempt to take possession of the capital of the Avaria - Khunzakh. However, all attacks were repelled by the actual leader of the Avar Khanate, Hadji Murat. Subsequently, they united together with the Tashov-Khadzhi detachments and the leader of the rebels in the Tiletl region, Kibit-Mukhammed, and began to actively act against Russian troops in Mountainous Dagestan and Eastern Chechnya.

In July 1836, Shamil sent a letter to Russian General F.K. Klugenau with a proposal to enter into negotiations with him, as the ruler of the population of the mountainous regions of Dagestan and Chechnya. However, the negotiations came to nothing.

During 1838, Shamil, having settled in the village of Chirkato, launched active efforts to unite the forces of the rebels. In 1839, the Caucasian command launched a two-pronged attack on the North Caucasus. General E.A. Golovin “pacified” Southern Dagestan, and General P.Kh. Grabbe with several battalions began an attack on Ichkeria. The first battle took place on May 31, 1838 for the village of Argun. Within two months, the troops of P.Kh. Grabbe was besieging the high mountain fortress of Ahulgo. Only on August 22 the troops of P.Kh. Grabbe, at the cost of huge losses, managed to capture this fortress. Shamil and his surviving associates went to the highlands of Chechnya.

In 1840 - 1842 Shamil's troops inflicted a number of major defeats on the militias of the Dagestan feudal lords and the troops of General F.K. Klugenau. At the end of 1842, his recent opponent Hadji, Murat, came over to Shamil. In 1842-1843. Shamil's troops won victories over the tsarist troops in Avaria and in a major battle near the village of Kharachoya in Chechnya. Shamil's troops captured Khunzakh and began an attack on flat Dagestan. After these victories, almost all of Dagestan and Greater Chechnya came under the rule of Shamil.

In 1844, Nicholas I appointed Lieutenant General M.S. as governor in the Caucasus and commander of the Caucasian Corps. Vorontsova.

In the spring of 1845, Vorontsov, at the head of several regiments, began the Dargin expedition, a campaign against the village of Dargo - the residence of Shamil, which was taken after several bloody battles.

In 1846, Shamil, at the head of a 10,000-strong detachment, made his way through the Sunzha line and invaded Kabarda, hoping to rouse the Kabardians to fight and thereby create a “second front” for the Russian army. However, this enterprise was not successful, and Shamil was forced to return to Dagestan.

In the fall of 1846, the troops of M.S. Vorontsova launched an attack on Greater Chechnya and Dagestan from several sides. In 1847, the movement led by Shamil began to decline. Its participants gradually lost faith in Shamil and moved away from him.

In the late 40s of the 19th century, Shamil’s military actions took on the character of scattered partisan actions; his attempts to retain the subject villages of Chechnya and Dagestan failed.

On July 25, 1847, under the direct command of M.S. Vorontsov begins a campaign against the village of Salty. But only on September 14, Russian troops manage to capture this village with heavy losses.

In June 1848, Russian troops took the previously impregnable Gergebel. Shamil was forced to retreat to Eastern Dagestan.

In 1849-1852. Russian troops achieved major successes in Chechnya, which put Shamil in a difficult position.

Since the end of 1856, the troops of General A.I. Baryatinsky, the new governor in the Caucasus, began a decisive attack on Shamil’s last possessions from Chechnya, from the Caspian regions of Dagestan and from the southwest - from the Lezgin cordon line. Particular attention was paid to troubled Chechnya. Shamil dug in at his residence in Vedeno, from where he sent a representative to negotiate peace with the Russian ambassador.

Negotiations with Shamil broke down. Gunib, the last stronghold of Shamil, to which he retreated after the loss of his residence in Vedeno, was taken by storm by Russian troops on August 25, 1859. Shamil surrendered and was soon sent into honorable exile in Kaluga, where his entire family was then transported.

After Shamil, it was the turn of Magomed - Emin. The troops landed from the ships captured Tuapse - the only port through which the highlanders of the North-West Caucasus were supplied with weapons and ammunition. On December 2, 1859, Magomed-Emin and the Abazekh elders swore allegiance to the Russian Empire. However, the appearance of Russian settlers in the Caucasus led to discontent among the local population and the uprising of the peoples of Abkhazia in 1862.

It was suppressed only in June 1864. After this, individual partisan detachments in the Caucasus fought against the Russians until 1884, but large-scale hostilities ended twenty years earlier.

The struggle of the highlanders of the North Caucasus in the 30-50s. XIX century difficult to assess unambiguously. It was certainly national liberation. On the other hand, Muridism, as an extremely extremist direction of Islam, having managed to raise and unite the mountaineers, could not and could not envisage positive solutions to the internal political and foreign policy problems of the Caucasus.

Thus, the entry of the North Caucasus into Russia created favorable conditions for the socio-economic development of the peoples of the region, because the threat of invasions by foreign invaders was removed. The socio-economic conditions of Russia, which were more developed than in Turkey or Iran, opened up better prospects for economic and cultural development for them.

The territory of the Caucasus, located between the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, covered with high mountain ranges and inhabited by numerous peoples, has attracted the attention of various conquerors since ancient times. The Romans were the first to penetrate there in the second century BC, and after the collapse of the Roman Empire the Byzantines came. It was they who spread Christianity among some peoples of the Caucasus.

By the beginning of the eighth century, Transcaucasia was captured by the Arabs, who brought Islam to its population and began to displace Christianity. The presence of two hostile religions sharply aggravated inter-tribal feuds that had previously existed for centuries and caused numerous wars and conflicts. In a fierce, bloody battle, at the behest of foreign politicians, some states arose in the Caucasus and others disappeared, cities and villages were built and destroyed, orchards and vineyards were planted and cut down, people were born and died...

In the thirteenth century, the Caucasus was subjected to a devastating invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, whose rule in its northern part was established for centuries. Another three centuries later, Transcaucasia became the scene of a fierce struggle between Turkey and Persia, which lasted for three hundred years.

Since the second half of the 16th century, Russia has also shown interest in the Caucasus. This was facilitated by the spontaneous advance of the Russians to the south into the steppes, which marked the beginning of the formation of the Don and Terek Cossacks, and the entry of some Cossacks into the Moscow border and city service. According to available data, already in the first half of the 16th century, the first Cossack villages appeared on the Don and in the upper reaches of the Sunzha; Cossacks participated in the protection and defense of the southern borders of the Moscow state.

The Livonian War at the end of the 16th century and the Troubles and other events of the 17th century diverted the attention of the Moscow government from the Caucasus. However, Russia’s conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate and the creation of a large military-administrative center in the lower reaches of the Volga in the mid-17th century contributed to the creation of a springboard for the Russian advance into the Caucasus along the coast of the Caspian Sea, where the main “silk” routes from the North to the Middle East and India passed.

During the Caspian campaign of Peter I in 1722, Russian troops captured the entire Dagestan coast, including the city of Derbent. True, Russia failed to retain these territories in subsequent decades.

At the end of the 18th century, first the rulers of Kabarda, and then the Georgian king, turned to Russia for help and with an offer to take their possessions under their protection. This was largely facilitated by the skillful actions of Russian troops on the coast of the Caspian Sea, their capture of Anapa in 1791, the annexation of Crimea and the victories of the Russian army over the Turks in the second half of the 18th century.

In general, several stages can be distinguished in the process of Russia’s conquest of the Caucasus.

1 First stage

At the first stage, from the end of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century, the process of creating bridgeheads for Russia’s attack on the Caucasus took place. The beginning of this process was laid by the formation and strengthening of the Terek Cossack army, its acceptance into military service by the Russian Empire. But already within the framework of this process, major armed conflicts took place between the Cossacks and the Chechens in the North Caucasus. Thus, on the eve of the Bulavin uprising in 1707, a large Chechen uprising occurred, associated with the then unfolding anti-government movement in Bashkiria. It is characteristic that the Terek schismatic Cossacks then joined the Chechens.

The rebels took and burned the city of Terki, and were then defeated by the Astrakhan governor Apraksin. The next time the Chechens rebelled in 1785 under the leadership of Sheikh Mansur. Extremely characteristic of these two Chechen performances is the pronounced religious overtones of the movement. The uprisings unfold under the slogan of ghazavat (holy war against infidels). A feature during the second uprising of the Chechens was also their unification with the Kumyks and Kabardins, and in Kabarda at that time the princes also spoke out against Russia. The Kumykh nobility took a hesitant position and was ready to join whoever was stronger. The beginning of the strengthening of Russia in Kabarda was laid by the foundation in 1780 of the fortifications of the Azov-Mozdok line (Konstantinovsky fortification in the area of ​​​​present-day Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk fortification).

2 Second stage

At the second stage, from the end of the 18th century to the first decade of the 19th century, Russia conquered part of the lands in Transcaucasia. This conquest was carried out in the form of campaigns on the territory of the Caucasian state formations and the Russian-Persian (1804–1813) and Russian-Turkish (1806–1812) wars. In 1801, Georgia was annexed to Russia. Then the annexation of the southern and eastern khanates began. In 1803, the rulers of Mingrelia, Imereti and Guria took the oath of allegiance to Russia. In parallel with the conquest of new lands, a struggle was waged aimed at suppressing anti-Russian protests of their peoples.

3 Third stage

At the third stage, which lasted from 1816 to 1829, an attempt was made by the Russian administration to conquer all the tribes of the Caucasus and subject them to the authority of the Russian governor. One of the governors of the Caucasus during this period, General Alexei Ermolov, stated: “The Caucasus is a huge fortress, defended by a garrison of half a million. We must storm it or take possession of the trenches.” He himself spoke out for a siege, which he combined with an offensive. This period is characterized by the emergence of a strong anti-Russian movement (muridism) among the peoples of the North Caucasus and Dagestan and the emergence of the leaders of this movement (sheikhs). In addition, events in the Caucasus unfolded within the framework of the Russian-Persian War (1826–1928) and the Russian-Turkish War (1828–1829)

4 Fourth stage

At the fourth stage, from 1830 to 1859, Russia's main efforts were concentrated in the North Caucasus to combat muridism and the Imamate. This period can be conditionally considered the heyday of the military art of Russian troops in the special conditions of mountainous terrain. They ended in the victory of Russian weapons and Russian diplomacy. In 1859, the powerful imam of Chechnya and Dagestan, Shamil, stopped resistance and surrendered to the Russian commander. A significant background to the events of this period was the Eastern (Crimean) War of 1853–1855.

5 Fifth stage

At the fifth stage, from 1859 to 1864, the Russian Empire conquered the Western Caucasus. At this time, mass relocation of highlanders from the mountains to the plain and forced relocation of highlanders to Turkey were practiced. The captured lands were populated by Kuban and Black Sea Cossacks.

6 Stage six

At the sixth stage, which lasted from 1864 to 1917, the government of the Russian Empire tried by all means to normalize the situation in the Caucasus, to make this region an ordinary province of a huge state. All levers of pressure were used: political, economic, religious, military, police, legal, subjective and others. This activity has generally yielded positive results. At the same time, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878. revealed large hidden contradictions between the Russian authorities and the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus, which sometimes resulted in open military resistance.

Thus, the Caucasian problem was for more than a hundred years one of the most pressing problems of the Russian Empire. The government tried to solve it through diplomatic and economic means, but these ways often turned out to be ineffective. The problem of conquering and pacifying the Caucasus was solved more effectively with the help of military force. But this path most often brought only temporary success.

7 Stage seven

The seventh was the period of the First World War, when the south of the Caucasus once again turned into a zone of active military and diplomatic play between Russia, Turkey and Persia. As a result of this struggle, Russia emerged victorious, but it could no longer take advantage of the fruits of this victory.

8 Eighth stage

The eighth stage was associated with the events of the Civil War of 1918–1922. The collapse of the Russian Caucasian Front at the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918. turned into a tragedy not only for the Russian army, but also for the local population. In a short time, Transcaucasia was occupied by the Turks and turned into an arena of terrible genocide against the indigenous population. The civil war in the North Caucasus was also extremely brutal and protracted.

The establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus did not solve the problems of the region, especially the North Caucasus. Therefore, it is right to consider the ninth stage of the history of the Caucasus to be the period of the Great Patriotic War, when the fighting reached the foothills of the Greater Caucasus Range. For political reasons, the Soviet government in 1943 evicted a number of Caucasian peoples to other parts of the country. This only angered the Muslim mountaineers, which affected the Russian population after their return during the years of Khrushchev’s “thaw”.

The collapse of the Soviet Union gave impetus to new actions by the peoples of the Caucasus and opened the tenth page of its history. Three independent states were formed in Transcaucasia, which get along little with each other. In the North Caucasus, which remained under Russian jurisdiction, active protests began against Moscow. This led to the beginning of the First Chechen War, and then the Second Chechen War. In 2008, a new armed conflict arose on the territory of South Ossetia.

Experts believe that Caucasian history has deep and ramified roots, which are very difficult to identify and trace. The Caucasus has always been in the sphere of interests of big international politics and domestic politics of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Individual Caucasian state formations (republics) and their rulers have always sought to play their own personal political game. As a result, the Caucasus turned into a huge, tangled labyrinth, from which it turned out to be very difficult to find a way out.

For many years, Russia tried to solve the Caucasus problem in its own way. She tried to study this region, its people, customs. But this also turned out to be a very difficult matter. The peoples of the Caucasus have never been united. Often, villages located several kilometers from each other, but separated by a ridge, gorge or mountain river, did not communicate with each other for decades, adhering to their own laws and customs.

Researchers and historians know that without knowing and taking into account all factors and features, it is impossible to correctly understand the past, evaluate the present, and predict the future. But instead of identifying, studying and analyzing all the accompanying factors in shaping the history of the Caucasus region, first the Russian Empire, then the USSR and finally the Russian Federation, attempts were often made to chop down the roots of what seemed like weeds. These attempts in practice were very painful, bloody and not always successful.

Russian politicians also took an “axe” approach to solving the Caucasus problem in the 90s of the 20th century. Having ignored centuries of historical experience, relying only on force, they did not take into account many objective factors, as a result of which they opened one of the most painful wounds on the body of the state, quite dangerous for the life of the entire organism. And only after taking such a rash step did they begin to talk about other ways to solve the problem...

For more than fifteen years, the “Caucasian syndrome” has existed in the minds of the Russian people, viewing this once beautiful region as a theater of endless military operations, and its population as potential enemies and criminals, many of whose representatives live in all cities of Russia. Hundreds of thousands of “refugees” from the once fertile land have flooded our cities, “privatized” industrial facilities, retail outlets, markets... It’s no secret that today in Russia the overwhelming number of people from the Caucasus live much better than the Russians themselves, and high in the mountains and In remote villages, new generations of people who are hostile to Russia are growing up.

The Caucasian labyrinth has not yet been completed to this day. There is no way out of it in a war that only brings ruin and sets people against each other. There is no way out of interethnic hostility, which turns people into ferocious animals, acting not on the basis of reason, but obeying instincts. It is impossible to solve the Caucasian problem the way it was solved in 1943, when many peoples were forcibly evicted from their homes to foreign lands.

Some researchers believe that the main reason for the bleeding Caucasian wound lies in a virus that is deeply ingrained in the brains of some politicians, and the name of this virus is power and money. Combining these two terrible forces can always put pressure on a sore spot in the form of economic, territorial, religious, cultural or other problems of any region. As long as this virus is alive, the wound will not be able to heal; as long as this wound is open, the virus will always find a favorable habitat for itself, which means that a way out of the Caucasian labyrinth will not be found for a long time.

The Caucasian War (1817 - 1864) - long-term military operations of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, which ended with the annexation of this region to Russia.

This conflict began the difficult relationship between Russian people and Caucasians, which has not stopped to this day.

The name “Caucasian War” was introduced by R. A. Fadeev, a military historian and publicist, a contemporary of this event, in 1860.

However, both before Fadeev and after him, pre-revolutionary and Soviet authors preferred to use the term “Caucasian wars of the empire,” which was more correct - the events in the Caucasus represent a whole series of wars, in which Russia’s opponents were different peoples and groups.

Causes of the Caucasian War

• At the beginning of the 19th century (1800-1804), the Georgian Kartli-Kakheti kingdom and several Azerbaijani khanates became part of the Russian Empire; but between these regions and the rest of Russia there were lands of independent tribes who carried out raids on the territory of the empire.
• A strong Muslim theocratic state emerged in Chechnya and Dagestan - the Imamat, headed by Shamil. The Dagestan-Chechen Imamate could become a serious adversary of Russia, especially if it received the support of such powers as the Ottoman Empire.
• We should not exclude the imperial ambitions of Russia, which wanted to spread its influence in the east. The independent mountaineers were a hindrance to this. Some historians, as well as Caucasian separatists, consider this aspect to be the main reason for the war.

Russians were familiar with the Caucasus before. Even during the collapse of Georgia into several kingdoms and principalities - in the middle of the 15th century - some rulers of these kingdoms asked for help from Russian princes and tsars. And, as you know, he married Kuchenya (Maria) Temryukovna Idarova, the daughter of a Kabardian prince.

Of the major Caucasian campaigns of the 16th century, Cheremisov’s campaign in Dagestan is famous. As we see, Russia’s actions in relation to the Caucasus were not always aggressive. It was even possible to find a truly friendly Caucasian state - Georgia, with which Russia was united, of course, by a common religion: Georgia is one of the most ancient Christian (Orthodox) countries in the world.

The lands of Azerbaijan also turned out to be quite friendly. From the second half of the 19th century, Azerbaijan was completely overwhelmed by a wave of Europeanization associated with the discovery of rich oil reserves: Russians, British and Americans became regular guests in Baku, whose culture the locals willingly adopted.

Results of the Caucasian War

No matter how severe the battles with the Caucasians and other close peoples (Ottomans, Persians) were, Russia achieved its goal - it subjugated the North Caucasus. This affected relations with local peoples in different ways. It was possible to reach an agreement with some by returning the selected arable land to them in exchange for a cessation of hostilities. Others, like the Chechens and many Dagestanis, harbored a grudge against the Russians and throughout subsequent history made attempts to achieve independence - again by force.

In the 1990s, Chechen Wahhabis used the Caucasian War as an argument in their war with Russia. The significance of the annexation of the Caucasus to Russia is also assessed differently. The patriotic environment is dominated by the idea expressed by the modern historian A. S. Orlov, according to which the Caucasus became part of the Russian Empire not as a colony, but as an area equal to other regions of the country.

However, more independent researchers, and not only representatives of the Caucasian intelligentsia, talk about the occupation. Russia seized the territories that the mountaineers considered theirs for many centuries, and began to impose its own customs and culture on them. On the other hand, “independent” territories inhabited by uncultured and poor tribes who professed Islam could at any time receive support from major Muslim powers and become a significant aggressive force; more than likely they would have become colonies of the Ottoman Empire, Persia, or some other eastern state.

And since the Caucasus is a border area, it would be very convenient for Islamic militants to attack Russia from here. Having put a “yoke” on the rebellious and warlike Caucasus, the Russian Empire did not take away their religion, culture and traditional way of life; Moreover, capable and talented Caucasians received the opportunity to study at Russian universities and subsequently formed the basis of the national intelligentsia.

Thus, father and son Ermolov raised the first professional Chechen artist - Pyotr Zakharov-Chechen. During the war, A.P. Ermolov, while in a destroyed Chechen village, saw a dead woman on the road and a barely alive child on her chest; this was the future painter. Ermolov ordered army doctors to save the child, after which he handed him over to the Cossack Zakhar Nedonosov to be raised. However, it is also a fact that a huge number of Caucasians emigrated to the Ottoman Empire and the countries of the Middle East during and after the war, where they formed significant diasporas. They believed that the Russians had taken their homeland away from them.