Talk:Caucasian War

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Casualties

Who put those casualties? They are really far away from the true ones.

Circassians not even mentioned?

It's just a stub really. --HanzoHattori 23:42, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Circassian ethnic cleansing

Hey, I did an article about it. Everyone's welcome to add something to or correct the article, incorporate it into existing ones, and also to protect it from overzealous Russian nationalistic editor(s). Thanks! --HanzoHattori 23:01, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Someone suggested Circassian ethnic cleansing be merged with Caucasian War. I do not think so. This is a different issue, although this is a part of Caucasian War.Biophys 23:57, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

I have created the circassian-russian war article, here, you can merge in whatever you like. Remember my article is in its infancy at the moment though. SGGH 13:09, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Chechen defeat of Prince Vorontsov in 1845

I amended the article so that it includes a sentence noting the Chechen defeat of Prince Vorontsov in 1845. I think this episode deserves mention in any basic article on this war. Although the Chechen success in 1845 was not decisive, it was certainly very dramatic, and it speaks volumes about the martial prowess, fierceness and national character of the Chechens. The 1845 campaign was a harbinger of what the Chechens proved able to achieve in 1994-96. Also, the defeat of Vorontsov in 1845 was the high-water mark of Shamil's effort to rid the Caucasus of the Russians.

I altered the paragraph describing the end of the war so that it includes a sentence noting General Baryatinsky's final offensive in 1856-59. I think this information should be included, as it tells the reader straightforwardly what event terminated this epoch. The sheer size of the Russian army involved in Baryatinsky's campaign -- an astounding 250,000 troops -- illustrates the extremes to which the Russians were forced to go in order to impose their control on the Caucasus.

Kenmore 19:34, 1 March 2007 (UTC)kenmore

Proposal to merge this article with Russian-Circassian War

That article, despite its name, isn't really about a single war. It's about the Russian conquest of the north-central and northwestern Caucasus (Circassia). Therefore, I propose it be merged with this article. Eventually, the presentation of the conquest of the northeastern Caucasus would be expanded. I have been editing that other article a lot for three weeks now. Hurmata (talk) 07:26, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Well it is true that the Caucasus War was split between the Western flank (Circassia & Karachay) and the Eastern flank (Chechnya & Dagestan), I agree that this article needs more base in it. --Kuban Cossack (По-балакаем?) 08:19, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus

1817 is way too near date. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mansur used to be definitely part of the resistance in that war long before 1817. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lors787 (talk • contribs) 09:33, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Translations

Translation moved to the Talk page to comply with Wikipedia rules.

From the German Wikipedia

This is a translation of the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia as of January 2015, with a few changes. The Results section has been much shortened.

Caucasus War (1817-1864) is a general term the military attempt by the Russian Empire to gain complete control of the north side to the Caucasus Mountains. The defenders were the native peoples of the Caucasus, such as the Circassians and Chechens.

Causes and Beginning of the War

Center, East and West

Northeast: The Murids and Shamil

   Origin of the Murid Movement
   The Imamate of the Caucasus
   The End

War in the Northwest

   Circassians and Abkhazians
   The Svans

Results

   The Fallen
   The Deportations
   The Deported
   Russia Literature

• ==Causes and Beginning of the War==

From at least the time of Peter the Great Russia sought access to the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. Under Catherine the Great, during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Russia gained large parts of the Ukraine and part of the central north Caucasus. By the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca(1774), the Crimean Khanate, formerly an Ottoman vassal became nominally independent, but was annexed by Russia in 1783. The treaty also made Russia the protecting power of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire (Romanians, Bulgars, Serbs, Greeks, Georgians and later Armenians). In the next decades Russia used this status to expand its power around the Black Sea. The ultimate goal was the conquest of the "narrow seas", that is, the Bosporus, Dardanelles and the city of Constantinople (the former capital of Orthodox Christendom) and link the Russian Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean. The Turks kept this sea route closed to Russian ships. Thus began the Russian attempt to expand on both sides to the Black Sea into the Balkans and Transcaucasia.

The Georgian Military Highway looking north to Mount Kazbek. This is the kind of country the Russians would have to fight in.

The mountains of Dagestan

Crossing the Caucasus

Defensive towers in a Svan village

Early fighting: Originally the Russians had no wish to conquer the difficult mountain country of the North Caucasus, which did not belong to the Turks in any case and had almost never been controlled by any outside power. What they did want was a secure road to the Christian state of Georgia – the Georgian Military Road thru the Darial Pass. To secure this the neighboring princedoms of Great Kabardia and Little Kabardia were declared protectorates in 1774 (these were annexed in 1825). These were the lands of the North Ossetians, the Ingush and Balkars. Also annexed were the northern lowlands of the Chechens. Here Russia met stiff resistance under a Sufi preacher named Sheik Mansur Ushurma. In 1785-91 he drove the Russian army out of north Chechnya. In four campaigns he was defeated, taken prisoner and died in Schusselburg in 1794.

The Caucasus Line: Thereafter the Russians tried to isolate the North Caucasus. They built a chain of forts - the Caucasus Line - between the Black and Caspian Seas. Among these forts were Vladikavkaz and Groznaya Krepost ("the awe-inspiring fort", today Grozny). In addition Cossacks were settled as soldier-peasants along the Caucasian foreland. This cut the mountaineers off from their traditional winter pastures, which increased hostility.

Yermolov: Local hostilities gradually grew into a proper war. Yermolov, the Governor-General of Transcaucasia, decided to try for complete control of the Caucasus. The mainly Muslim mountaineers, or rather the majority of them, offered stiff resistance. After the annexation of Kabardia in 1825 the main defenders of Caucasian liberty were the Circassians on the west and in the east the Chechens and the numerous peoples of Dagestan. At times the war against the mountaineers became entangled with the Russo-Persian War (1826–28), the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29) and the Crimean War 1853-56.

When did the war begin? The majority of authors set the beginning of the war in 1817, when general Yermolov conquered the lowlands of north Chechnya and founded the city of Grozny. A minority set the date as 1800-1802, to include a number of campaigns against Circassian and Dagestani princes, and especially the activities of a Georgian general in the Russian service, Prince Pavle Zizishvili, who built up the Georgian Military Road and undertook large campaigns against the mountaineers. A few even choose the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774.

Local rulers who were willing to cooperate were granted membership in the Russian nobility. Difficult geographic and climatic conditions and long supply lines in an age of horse-drawn transport cost the Russians dearly. Each side saw the other as culturally alien. Both sides fought with increasing brutality.

At first there were three expeditionary armies under Prince Rayevsky, Prince Golovin and Count Grabbe.

Controlling the Coasts: In 1818-1830 the Russians took the eastern side of Dagestan, that is, the western coast of the Caspian Sea. This was done by general Yermolov and his successor Count Paskevitch. This opened up a second supply line to Transcaucasia via Derbent and Baku along the Caspian coast. Another line of forts called the Caspian Line was built. Most of the local Muslim rulers accepted Russian supremacy. A few resisted in alliance with the Persians. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29 the Russians took the Turkish-held ports along the Black Sea from Anapa through Tuapse to Gagra – roughly Abkhazia. Here they built the Black Sea Line. In the next decades these forts were often attacked, besieged, and sometimes captured by the Circassians in order to open up sea communication with the Ottoman Empire. During the Crimean War all these places were abandoned.

• ==Center, East and West==

The axis of Russian penetration was always the Georgian Military Road through the Darial Pass. The three peoples that lived in this area generally stayed out of the conflict. These were the 85% Christian Ossetians on the west, the mostly Muslim Kabardians to the north who remained on good terms with the Russians and the Ingush to the east who were mostly passive. This divided resistance into eastern and western halves, each with its own history.

• ==Northeast: The Murids and Shamil==
• ===Origin of the Murid Movement===

Imam Shamil

From the 1820s the conflict was radicalized both politically and religiously. In the politically divided North Caucasus there already existed Sufi brotherhoods of the Naqshbandi and later the Qadiriyya. They began to combine the Sufi concept of Murid or disciple with the broader concept to Ghazi or Islamic warrior. At first there was a Naqshbandi preacher called "Mullah Muhammad", a Lezgian from the village of Jarag. In 1825 near Derbent he led military resistance against the Russians and the local princes who were partly allied with them. The movement spread very rapidly over Dagestan, Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus. By the time the Russians realized that this was a political mass movement it was already too late. From 1827/28 the Murids went over to armed conflict. This is sometimes called the Murid War.

The Sufi orders differ from other Muslims by their mystical interpretation of Islam and their use of ritual (Dhikr). The two above mentioned orders differ from other Sufis by their stricter adherence to Islamic law. This had direct political consequences.

Assault of Gimry where Ghazi Muhammad was killed and Shamil escaped with wounds

The first Imam of the Murids was Ghazi Muhammad who was killed in a Russian surprise attack on the aul (village) of Himry. The second Imam was Gamzat-bek who in 1834 was killed by Hadji Murad in revenge for his murder of an Avar princely family. Power now passed to Imam Shamil. Both Ghazi Muhammad and Shamil had been educated in Naqshbandi madrasas which led the mountaineers to consider them religious authorities. The North Caucasus was a complex network of often-quarreling princedoms, khanates, clans, tribes and language groups where only the Sufi Imams could claim more than local authority.

At the beginning of the 1840s the conflict increased and Russia lost more and more soldiers. From the time of the Crimean War the Murids had support from the Turkish Empire. Shamil was able to capture several Russian fortresses. The 1845 Russian expedition against the Murid capital of Dargo under Vorontsov was a disaster. An 18,000 man army occupied the previously-evacuated town but was forced to evacuate it and lost 3 generals, 195 officers and 3538 soldiers dead or wounded. International newspapers reported increasingly on the war.

After this the Russians changed their strategy under the leadership of Baryatinsky. Shamil would be systematically encircled and his land taken village by village. From the southeast Baron Vrevsky and later Orbeliani defended the Russian-held parts of Dagestan and pushed northwest. From the northwest first Orbeliani and later Baryatinski and Yevdokimov started from the Military Road and the northern foothills and pushed southeast. Baryatinsky's and Yevdokimov's strategy involved a "war against nature" in which large areas of forest were cut down to destroy hiding places and in which former mountain paths were converted into roads with bridges to allow the passage of large military units with artillery.

Shamil reacted with shifting attacks in many directions which were sometimes massive and beat back the Russian army. In 1843 from Chechnya he reconquered most of the Avar lands, then in 1845 took parts of south Dagestan and later attacked the Russian fortress of Vladikavkaz. The Murids took advantage of their knowledge of the local geography with its many valleys, passes and mountain paths.

• ===The Imamate of the Caucasus===

From the 1840s Shamil built up a proper government with a standing army, tax and finance administration, deputy governors (niab) and postal service. This strict government caused some resentment among the local population. Corruption was strictly punished.

Researchers have characterized the state ideology by nine points:

• Sufi-ism: Important elements of social life were the teachings of the Naqshbandi Sufis. The Murids divided themselves into "Tariqa-Murids" who celebrated the Naqshbandi rituals and the "Naib-Murids" who were only fighters.
• Puritanism: Strict discipline for Murids.
• Ghazawat: war against Russia
• Deepening of faith ("lesser Jihad"): Struggle against pre-Islamic religious rituals an ideas. Shamil was particularly opposed to three Caucasian traditions that he thought Un-Islamic: alcohol, tobacco and most traditional dances which involved romantic relations between men and women.
• Equality: Slavery, serfdom and the traditional privileges of princely families were abolished.
• Imamate: The unlimited religious and secular power to Shamil.
• Islamic Orthodoxy: Emphasis on the rules of the Koran and Sunnah.
• Salafiyya: Imitation of conditions during the lifetime of Mohammed
• Struggle for the Sharia against traditional law (adat).

Especially the last three points characterized Muridism as a form of strict Islam, something that cost him many supporters, for example Haji Murad who switched sides several times. Placing all power in Shamil led the Murid movement to quickly break up once Shamil surrendered.

In recent years Russian and international researchers have criticized this view of the Imamate and have refuted some points. Certainly the Naqshbandi disciples (Murids) and teachers were a large and noticeable part of the population but they never formed a hierarchic leading class and were "never the driving force", in the words of one scholar. Of the ten or more provincial governors only one was a Naqshbandi teacher, and many were not practicing Naqshbandi deciples. Decisive for their appointment were their closeness to the Imam, their military skills and the number of supporters they could bring with them. The second Imam was not a Naqshbandi. Shamil dealt pragmatically with traditional custom. Islamic scholars in Dagestan had doubts about his use of Islamic law.

• ===The End===

A modern view of Gunib where Shamil made his last stand

During the Crimean War of 1853/56 Shamil overestimated his chances. Equipped with Turkish cannon he shifted from guerrilla to regular warfare. For a time Russia had to put in the field 200,000 regular soldiers, Cossacks and Caucasian militia. In open battle General Yedokimov's army was undoubtedly superior. After a series of defeats Murid resistance ended with the surrender of Shamil in 1859. Marshal Baryatinsky's vastly superior army stormed the last remaining village of Gunib which was held by a few hundred loyal men. Shamil went to an honorable exile in Kaluga and died in 1871 on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Shamil was often compared to another Naqshbandi Imam (sic in the German wiki), Abd-el Kader in Algeria who corresponded with him in 1865.

The percent of the North Caucasian population that participated in the Murid movement has been variously estimated. Not everyone was involved. Some, because of clan feuds or loyalty to their chief remained neutral or stood on the Russian side. The anti-noble policy of the Murids made almost all of the princes anti-Murid with a few exceptions. In the core region of the Imamate, the lands of the Chechens and Dagestan Avars, Murid supporters were as least 60% of the male population. In the eastern mountains of Dagestan it was significantly less. Here there were princedoms under Russian protection and the majority of the local population (Kumyks, Laks, Tabassarans and a minority of the Lezgians) felt bound to their leaders. The anti-Russian state of the Dargwas no longer existed and the exiled ruler of the Sultanate of İlisu of the Tsakhurs resisted along with the Murids. Shortly before 1859, after a quarrel with Shamil, Sultan Daniel Bek went over to the Russians. In the high mountains of south Dagestan there were clans that were completely on the Murid side or were completely uninvolved.

The names of linguistic nationalities are given here only for geographic orientation. Two hundred years ago a man's loyalty was to friends, kin, clan, and chief and almost never to language group.

• ==War in the Northwest==
• ===Circassians and Abkhazians===

In the west the Circassians lived north to the Caucasus from near the Sea of Azov to somewhat beyond the Darial Pass. The Abkhazians lived south of the mountains between the mountains and the Black Sea. Both spoke Northwest Caucasian languages.

In the Northwest Caucasus political relations were different from the Northeast. Here the only participants in the Murid movement were the majority of the Turkic-speaking Karachays and Balkars and a minority of the Circassians under the Murid deputy Mahomet Amin. The resistance was led by the majority of the princely class. Support from Turkey came through the Abkhazian prince and general Saffar Bey who claimed to be the 'leader of all the Circassians', which is debatable. In Abkhazia the resistance was also non-Murid. Mahomet Amin and Saffar Bey were rivals and briefly fought in 1856 and 1858. The Murid's strict Islam found little support in the west. There was no Shamil here; in practice every Circassian clan had its own leader.

Circassian society was traditionally divided into 12 tribes, each with its own dialects and traditions. One of these, the Ubykhs, is now considered to have spoken a distinct language. Some tribes had a complex four-estate society with the princes (pshi) at the top, while others in the high mountains had a classless clan society. Although Circassian tradition (Adyghe Habze) forbad the princes from piling up wealth and property and putting it on display, the princes did form a collective noble class, married only among themselves and sometimes formed monarchical states. Exceptions were the east-Circassian Kabardians, who had already fallen to the Russians and the very old Abkhazians. Three non-Circassian groups were associated with the Circassians. These were the Abazins who came from Abkhazia in the 15th century, the Turkic Karachay and a remnant of the Nogais (Kuban-Nogais).

War in the Northwest was first led by General Filipson, and then (1859-64) by Marshall Yedokimov. Above them were Baryatinsky and his successor as Governor General Grand Duke Michael, the younger brother of Alexander II. In 1859 Filipson conquered the Circassian lands from the Taman Peninsula to the hill and mountain country and south of the Kuban. The Circassians were by far the most populous people in the North Caucasus (600,000 or more) and could put 100,000 men in the field as opposed the Murid's 20-30,000. A larger fraction of the population participated than in the east, although the Murids were better disciplined. After the fall of Shamil in 1859, 91 army units were moved from east to west. Here also the land was conquered village by village and valley by valley. In May/June of 1864 the last high mountain regions were conquered by the Russian army.

The war became increasingly bitter and brutal. In 1859-61 the third-from-last Circassian tribe, the Abadsekhs, were conquered and their villages were often destroyed. The reason for this policy is debated. In the summer of 1861 Alexander II met with the leaders of the three tribes who were still resisting – Abadsekhs, Shapsugs and Ubykhs – and accused the Abadsekhs of revolting after having surrendered. Perhaps it was that the fighting became more radical and perhaps it was to prevent the Circassians from recapturing their villages after withdrawing into the mountains. After the plan for resettlement was finalized, from the beginning to 1862 every conquered village without exception was burnt down and destroyed. Especially affected at this time were the villages in the Black Sea hinterland where lived part of the Shapsugs ('Little Shapsugia'), the Ubykhs and some of the Abazins. Survivors who were not deported fled to the forests and mountains. Only in 1877-80 did the Russian government allow the reestablishment of some Shapsug villages between Tuapse and Sochi, which still exist today. At one time (1923-45) there was a Shapsug National District.

Kirentukh Berzeg - the last holdout

The last unconquered tribe of the Circassians was, from the end of 1862(sic), the Ubykhs and a few western Abazins ('Zads-Abkhazians', 'Zads') in the vicinity of modern Sochi. They were led by their last elected prince Kirantukh Berzek. In May/June 1864 the entire population of four valleys – men, women, children and the old- were armed and resolved to fight to the death, which made their conquest a massacre.

• ===The Svans===

Related to this is the conquest of Svaneti on the south side of the mountains. These warlike mountaineers spoke a distinct dialect of Georgian and had been Christian since the sixth century but had many pre-Christian customs. Part of Svaneti was tribal territory and parts were ruled by the houses of Gelovani and Dadeshkeliani. They were conquered by Baryatinsky in 1857-59, but offered such stiff resistance that they were granted autonomy. When this was revoked in 1875 they revolted.

• ==Results==
• ===The Fallen===

It is estimated that up to the 1860s around 130,000 Russian soldiers died, three fourths from disease. The losses of the native peoples cannot be estimated.

• ===The Deportations===

The mountaineers leave the village

The Caucasian War ended with the expulsion of several hundred thousand people into the Turkish Empire, whose descendants now live in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and other places. The broad resistance in the Northwest Caucasus and its close ties to the Ottoman Empire led the military administration to doubt that the area could ever be administered securely. Therefore in 1860 Mikhail Loris-Melikov was sent to Constantinople to discuss conditions for the reception of emigrants or deportees. By the end of the year there developed a deportation plan. The Muslim tradition of flight from non-Muslim areas was to be encouraged. In the summer of 1861 Alexander II told a Circassian delegation that after the war the Circassians should immigrate to the Ottoman Empire or be resettled in the hill country south of the Kuban where guerrilla warfare was not practical. This declaration, together with war experiences and regional expulsions led to a mass flight of the Circassians into the Ottoman Empire. The plan was decided at a conference of the main Russian commanders at Vladikavkaz in October 1860 (Baryatinsky, Yedokimov, Filipson, Orbeliani and others), with only Filipson objecting. The original idea came fore Count Dmitry Milyutin in 1860. In the early phase from 1858-60 it was partly a voluntary emigration, but also a voluntary flight from military violence, but from around 1860 with the policy of destroying villages in 1862, especially in the west, it became an organized forced deportation.

Numbers: The number of emigrants is variously estimated, generally between 500,000 and 1,500,000, with the higher numbers likely an exaggeration. The Abkhazian historian Dzidzariya estimated 470,703 from West Caucasia in 1863-4. The Russian historian Volkova estimated 610,000 West Caucasians in 1858-64. Adolf Berge gave 493,194 and Vsevolod Miller 400,000. The army command of the Caucasus registered 418,000 in 1861-64. These figures exclude around 30,000 Nogais, 10,000 Kabardians and a few thousand Chechens, Avars and Dagestanis. These numbers make probable a grand total of 500,000 – 700,000 in the period 1858-64. Higher figures, which run up to two million, do not seem to be based on solid research or include other time periods.

Percent: The percent of the population that emigrated varied greatly from place to place and was consistently higher in the west. For the Circassians and Abkhazians it was over 80%, including all the Ubykhs, for the Karachays and Balkars about 50%, for the east Circassian Kabardians, Chechens and Avars, where there was no mass migration, something over 10% and for the Dagestanis and other Central Caucasian peoples still lower. Of the 70,000 Abkhazians, 20,000 left and then another 30,000 following an uprising in 1877-78. Most of the remaining Circassians, about 90,000, were resettled to the Kuban hill country as planned. The vacated areas went mostly to Russians and Ukrainians, and along the coast, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks and so on.

• ===The Deported===

Estimates of those who died during the deportations start at 10,000 and go much higher. They are often speculative. People died while traveling on foot through rough country, at sea and in reception camps in the Ottoman Empire. The main cause was hunger and malnutrition and the resulting diseases such as Typhus. Accidents and robbery took their toll as did storms at sea. Both Russian and Ottoman officials tried to manage this mass migration, without much success given the primitive conditions. For several decades the emigrants formed a distinct social group and social problem, but their descendants have now mostly been absorbed. They may be compared to the Muslims who left the Balkans, Crimea and other places.

President Putin passes Circassian guards in Jordan

In Turkey and the Middle East people whose ancestors were driven from the Caucasus are often loosely described as 'Circassians'. There are estimated to be 1 to 2.5 million such people in Turkey, around 40-60,000 in Syria, around 60,000 in Jordan, 3-5,000 in Israel, a few hundred in Egypt and a few tens of thousands in Iraq and other places. In Turkey there are estimated to be 100-300,000 people with a Circassian mother tongue and a few tens of thousands for other Caucasian languages. In Israel and Jordan there are schools that teach in Caucasian languages. The Jordanian parliament reserves two seats for Circassians and one for Chechens.

• ===Russia Literature===

The long war in the Caucasus had a marked influence on nineteenth century Russian literature, the best-known writers being Mikhail Lermontov and Leo Tolstoy. Both were eye witnesses and officers during the war. Lermontov wrote romantic-heroic poems on the mountains and mountaineers. Tolstoy's stories, like Haji Murat and The Cossacks are more complex. Pushkin’s Prisoner of the Caucasus and Journey to Erzurum should also be mentioned. The war period was the beginning of scientific investigation to the Caucasus, often financed by the war ministry. Peter von Uslar with his groundbreaking investigation of the Abkhazian and Chechen languages and the five main languages of Dagestan became the father of Russian Caucasiology.

From the Russian Wikipedia

This is a translation of the corresponding article in the Russian Wikipedia as of January 2015

Caucasian War (1817 or 1829 -1864) was the Russian attempt to gain military control of the North Caucasus and its confrontation with the Caucasian Imamate.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Russian Empire gained control of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti [east-central Georgia] (1801-1810), as well as some predominantly Azerbaijani Transcaucasian Khanates (1805-1813). Between the newly acquired land and Russia were mostly Islamic mountain peoples who had sworn allegiance to Russia, but were de facto independent. Suppression of raids by the highlanders was one of the main objectives of Russian policy. Many mountain peoples of the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountain range offered fierce resistance to the expanding power of the Russian Empire. The most fierce fighting took place in the period 1817-1864. The main areas of military operations were the west (Circassia) and northeast (Chechnya, Dagestan). There were also armed clashes between the highlanders and Russian troops in the South Caucasus, Kabarda and Karachai. After the pacification of the Great Kabarda (1825), the main opponents of the Russian troops were, in the west, the Circassians from Black Sea coast and along the Kuban River, and in the east, the highlanders, united in a military-theocratic Islamic state called the Imamate of Chechnya and Dagestan, headed by Shamil. At this time, the Caucasian war became entangled with the Russian war against Persia. Military action against the highlanders required significant forces and was very bitter.

From the mid-1830s conflict escalated with the rise in Chechnya and Dagestan of a religious-political movement under the banner holy war which received moral and military support of the Ottoman Empire, and during the Crimean War, the British Empire. The resistance of the mountaineers of Chechnya and Dagestan was broken only in 1859. The war with the Circassian tribes of the Western Caucasus lasted until 1864 and ended with the deportation of the Circassians to the Ottoman Empire or the lowlands along the Kuban.

1. Name
2. Background
  2.1 Russian-Turkish War
  2.2 Russian-Persian War (1796)
  2.3 The annexation of Georgia (1800-1804)
  2.4 Russian-Persian War
  2.5 Uprising in South Ossetia (1810-1811)
  2.6 Events 1814-1816
3. The Yermolov period
4. The Beginning of Gaznivat
5. Imam Shamil
  5.1 The Battle of Ichkeria (1842)
  5.2 The Dargo Campaign
6. Baryatinsky
7. Completion of the Conquest of the Caucasus 1859-1864)

==Name== The term "Caucasian War" was introduced by the Russian military historian, publicist, and contemporary of the events, R. A. Fadeev (1824 - 1883) who in 1860 published, "Sixty years of Caucasian War" which was written on behalf of the supreme commander of the Caucasus Prince Aleksandr Baryatinsky. However, the pre-revolutionary and Soviet historians up to the 1940s preferred term “Caucasian wars of the empire”. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia the article about the war was called "Caucasian War 1817-64". After the collapse of the USSR separatist tendencies increased. This is reflected in the attitude toward the events in the North Caucasus. In "Caucasian War: Lessons of History and the Present", presented in May 1994 at a scientific conference in Krasnodar the historian Valery Ratushnyak spoke of a " Russian-Caucasian war lasting half a century". In his book "Chechnya Invictus", published in 1997 after the First Chechen War, the social and political activist Lyoma Usmanov called the war years 1817-1864 the "The first Russian-Caucasian war". The political analyst Viktor Chernous noted that the Caucasian war was not only the longest in Russian history, but also the most controversial, including the question of whether there was one Caucasian War or several.

==Background== Relationships between Russia and peoples and states on both sides of the Greater Caucasus have a long and complex history. After the collapse of Georgia in 1460s into several separate kingdoms and principalities (Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, and (sic) Samtskhe-Javakheti) their rulers often turned to the Russian tsars asking for protection. In 1557 there was signed a military-political alliance between Russia and Kabardia {north central Caucasus}, whose rulers were at war with the Gazikumukh Shamkhalate {Caspian coast}. In 1561 Maria Temryukovna the daughter of the Kabardian ruler, Temryuk Idarovich (or Temryuk-murza) became the wife of Ivan the Terrible. The sons of the exiled pro-Moscow Nogai Josef Bey, who had been overthrown pro-Moscow elements in the Nogai Horde, sought shelter in Kabardia [??].

In 1560 "... by request of the Kabardian princes and for the unrighteousness of the Shemkal” troops under Astrakhan governor I. S. Cheremisinova landed on the Caspian coast two kilometers from the center of the Shamkhalate at Tarki. The Shamkhal organized resistance, but was defeated and fled to the mountains. Having ravaged Tarki, the Russian force returned unhindered to their ships and left the Shamkhalate

In 1582, the inhabitants of the area around Mount Beshtau {?}, suffering from raids of the Crimean Tatars, placed themselves under the protection of Russian tsar. In the same year the Shamkhal {*which one?*}, working through the Astrakhan governor, declared his friendly attitude to Ivan IV, and in 1587 expressed a desire to serve him. In response Moscow sent an ambassador to the Shamkhal and raised the question of building a fortress on the Sulak River. The Shamkhal expressed full agreement.

Meanwhile, some Dagestani nobles continued to raid the Georgians and Persians as well as Russian villages. In 1586 Kakheti {Georgian} tsar Alexander II, suffering from by attacks by the Gazikumukh Shamkhalate sent an ambassador to Tsar Fedor I. In 1589 the voyevod of Tersky Gorod {near the Terek River} A. I. Khvorostinin sent against the Shamkhal Gregory Zasekin. The Shamkhal met the Russian army on the river Koys, but failed and fled to the mountains. During a punitive raid Zasekin burned the village of Endirey and slaughtered or captured a large number of mountaineers. Soon the Shamkhal made a major raid on Georgian lands, which led to another request by the Kakheti Tsar Alexander to subdue the Shamkhal, Alexander pledging to assist with troops. In 1594 Khvorostinin captured Sulak River ford and the second capital Gazikumukh Shamkhalate, Tarki. The Shamkhal again fled to the mountains and soon gathered a large army of Kumyks and other peoples of Dagestan and led a guerrilla war. Alexander’s promised help never arrived, and the Russian army retreated with heavy losses to Sulak ford.

In 1598 Boris Godunov came to the throne and continued the Caucasian policy of Fyodor. In 1604 another campaign in Dagestan was again organized under {okolnichiy} voyevode I. M. Buturlin. In addition to streltzi and Cossacks where were allied Nogais and, Kabardians (Circassians of Kabardia and Pyatigorsk area). Alexander, like last time, promised to send Kakheti army, but, due to a palace coup at the instigation Abbas I of Persia, the Georgian army did not arrive. Buturlin made a number or raids on the mountaineers, gained control to the Kumykh lowlands and took Tarki by storm. The Shamkhal appealed for help to the Turkish Sultan Ahmed I, and the next year (1605) the Turkish army, the Crimean Tatars and Dagestani militia besieged Russians at Tarki. Storming the fort was not successful, and both sides entered into negotiations. As a result, the Russians pledged to evacuate Tarki and Turkish pasha and Shamkhal pledged not to interfere. After the withdrawal of Turkish troops, the Kumyks and their allies, led Endirey ruler Sultan-Makhmud, violating the treaty, caught Buturlin’s army and almost completely destroyed it at the Karamanskaya Battle.

At the same time Kartalinia Tsar George X gave the oath of allegiance to Tsar Boris, but the latter died in 1605, leading to the Time of Troubles which suspended Russian relations with the Caucasus for a long time.

From the time of Peter the Great Russian influence on Caucasus region became more definite and constant, although the Caspian region, conquered by Peter during the Russo-Persian War (1722–23), soon reverted back to Persia. The boundary between the two powers remained north-eastern arm of the Terek, the so-called old Terek. Under Anna Ivanovna the Caucasian Line was begun. By a 1739 treaty the Ottoman Empire Kabardia was recognized as independent and was to serve as "a barrier between the two powers."

The foundation of the fortress of Mozdok ( 1763 ){north end to the Georgian Military Road}. Mozdok was founded on the left bank of the Terek and garrisoned by the Mountain Cossack Command under Andrey Ivanov. The fortress began receiving runaway Kabardian serfs, which angered the free Kabardians, despite the Catherine the Great’s offer of 3,000 rubles in monetary compensation.

From the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74), Russia maintained continuous relations with Georgia. Tsar Irakli II even helped Russian troops, who under the command of Count Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben, crossed the Caucasus range and through Kartli entered in Imereti. By Treaty of St. George on July 24th 1783 Heraclius II of Georgia was taken under the protection of Russia. In Georgia Russia decided to maintain 2 battalions with 4 cannon. By the Act of 1792, Catherine II granted land to the Black Sea troops from the Taman Peninsula to the mouth of the Laba River {about half way up the Kuban}. The following year, 1793, was founded the military town of Ekaterinodar (now Krasnodar) and a number of Cossack villages. The process of settlement lasted several years. In the Black Sea area were settled not only Cossacks but also runaway peasants and soldiers who had served their term.

===Russian-Turkish War=== Main article: Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) In 1787, in view of the pending break with Turkey Russian troops in the Transcaucasus were withdrawn to a fortified line, for the defense of which along the Kuban were created a number of forts and two corps: the Kuban Jaeger, under the command of General-in-Chief Peter Tekeli, and Caucasian, under Colonel-General Potemkin. The Kabardians stopped fighting in exchange for the return of arable land around Pyatigorsk. A local army of Ossetians, Ingush and Kabardians was established. Because the area around Pyatigorsk was not returned in 1790 the Kabardians withdrew from the Russian troops operating against Turkey. General Potemkin, and then General Tekeli undertook expeditions along the Kuban, but the situation on the line did not change much and raids by highlanders continued. Communication with Transcaucasia almost ceased. Vladikavkaz and other fortified points on the way to Georgia were abandoned in 1788. A campaign against Anapa failed(1789). In 1790 the Turks with Trans-Kuban Mountaineers moved into the Kabardia, but were defeated by the general Hermann. In June 1791, the Gudovich stormed Anapa, where Sheikh Mansour was wounded and captured. Under the terms of the Treaty of Jassy in the same year Anapa was returned to the Turks.

With the end of the war the Caucasian Line was strengthened and new Cossack stanitsas built. Don Cossacks settled on the Terek and upper Kuban, but on the right bank of the Kuban from Yst-Labinsky fort to the shores of the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, were settled Black Sea Cossacks.

===Russian-Persian War (1796)=== Main article: Russian-Persian war of 1796 Georgia was at this time in the most pitiable condition. Using this, Mohammad Khan Qajar invaded Georgia and on September 11, 1795 and took and ravaged Tiflis. Tsar Irakli with a handful of retainers fled to the mountains. At the end of that year, Russian troops entered Georgia and Dagestan. Dagestani rulers acknowledged the Russians, except Surkhay Khan II Kazikumukh and Derbent Khan Sheikh Ali. On 10 May 1796 the fortress of Derbent was taken despite the stubborn resistance. In June Baku was taken. Commanded the troops of Lieutenant-GeneralCount Valerian Zubov was appointed to replace Gudovich chief ruler>>> of the Caucasus region; but his activities there soon put an end by the death of Empress Catherine. Paul I ordered Zubov suspend hostilities. Commander of the Caucasian Army was re-appointed Gudovich . Russian troops were withdrawn from the Transcaucasus, except two battalions left at Tiflis.

===The annexation of Georgia (1800-1804)=== George XII of Georgia came to the Georgian throne in 1798. He asked the Emperor Paul I take Georgia under his protection and give her armed support. Because of this, and because of the clearly hostile measures of Persia, Russian troops in Georgia were significantly strengthened.

In 1800 Georgia was invaded by Umma Khan of the Avars. Nov. 7 on the banks of the river Iori, he was defeated by General Lazarev. On December 22, 1800 in St. Petersburg was signed a manifesto on the annexation of Georgia by Russia. After that Tsar George died.

At the beginning of the reign of Alexander I (1801) Russian rule was introduced into Georgia. General Knorring was appointed Commander in Chief, and as civil governor of Georgia - Kovalensky. Neither knew the manners and customs of the local peoples, and the officials that came with them committed various abuses. Many in Georgia were unhappy with subjection to Russia. Unrest in the country did not stop, and on the borders raiding continued.

The annexation of Eastern Georgia (Kartli and Kakheti) was announced in the manifesto of Alexander I on 12 September 1801. According to this manifesto the Bagratid reigning dynasty of Georgia was deprived of the throne, the management of Kartli and Kakheti passed to the Russian governor, and Russian administration was introduced.

At the end of 1802 Knorring and Kovalensky were withdrawn, and as commander of the Caucasus was appointed Lieutenant-General Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, himself a Georgian native who was familiar with the country. He sent to Russia members of the former Georgian royal house, thinking them guilty of stirring up trouble. He spoke with a threatening and imperious tone to the Khans and rulers of the Tatars and mountain regions. Residents of Jaro-Balakan area, who did not stop their raids, were defeated a detachment of General Gulyakov, and the area annexed to Georgia. The ruler of Abkhazia, Kelesh Ahmed-Bey Shervashidze, made a military campaign against Prince of Megrelia Grigol Dadiani. Grigol’s son Levan taken hostage by Kelesh Ahmed-Bey. In 1803 Mingrelia joined the Russian Empire.

In 1803 Tsitsianov organized Georgian militia of 4,500 volunteers, joined to the Russian army. In January 1804 stormed the fortress of Ganja, subjecting the Ganja Khanate, for which he was promoted to general of infantry. In 1804 Imereti and Guria joined the Russian Empire.

===Russian-Persian war=== Main article: Russo-Persian War (1804–13)

10 June 1804 Persian Shah Fath Ali (Baba Khan) (1797-1834), entered into an alliance with Great Britain declared war on Russia. The attempt of Fath Ali Shah to invade Georgia ended in complete defeat of his troops near Echmiadzin{?} in June. In the same year Tsitsianov subdued as Shirvan Khanate. He took a number of measures to promote crafts, agriculture and trade. He founded in Tiflis noble college which was later converted into a gymnasium {in the German sense}, established a print shop, sought for the Georgian youth the right to receive education in higher educational institutions of Russia. In 1805 - Karabakh and Sheki, Jahan Gir Khan of the Shaki Khanate and Budag Sultan of Shuragel{?}. Fath-Ali Shah Qajar reopened offensive, but on hearing of the approach of Tsitsianov he withdrew to the Aras.

8 February 1805 Prince Tsitsianov, who had come with an army to Baku, during a ceremony for the peaceful surrender of the city was killed servants of the Khan. In his place was again appointed Ivan Gudovich, who was familiar with the situation on the Caucasian Line, but not the Transcaucasus. Recently subjugated Tatar rulers of various areas were again clearly hostile to the Russian administration. Actions against them were successful. Derbent, Baku, Nukha were taken. But the situation was complicated by Persian invasions and the subsequent rupture with Turkey (1806).

The war with Napoleon drew most of the army to the western frontier of the empire and thinned out the troops in the Caucasus.

In 1808 the ruler of Abkhazia, Keleshbei Chachba-Shervashidze was killed as the result of a conspiracy and armed attack. The Mingrelian court and Nina Dadian, favoring his [*son-in-law / brother-in-law*] -Sefer Ali-Bey Shervashidze, spread the rumor that his son Aslan-Bey Shervashidze was involved in the murder. This unverified story was picked up by General I. I. Rygkof, and the other Russians and became the main reason for their support of Seferbey in the struggle for the throne of Abkhazia. From this moment begins the struggle between the two brothers Safarbey and Aslanbey.

In 1809 General Alexander Tormasov was named commander in chief. He intervened in the internal affairs of Abkhazia, where some factions of the ruling house sought for help from Russia, and others from Turkey. The fortresses of Poti and Sukhumi were taken. Uprisings in Imereti and Ossetia were pacified.

===Uprising is South Ossetia (1810-1811)=== {a note in the Russian Wiki says that this section is pending expansion*} In the summer of 1811, as political tensions in Georgia and South Ossetia became heated, Alexander I was forced to withdraw from Tiflis General Alexander Tormasov and replace him in political and military command in Georgia by Philip Osipovich Paulucci. From the new commander they expected strict measures to make major changes in Transcaucasia. On 7 July 1811 General Rtishchev was placed in command of the Caucasian Line and the Governments of Astrakhan and Caucasia. Philip Paulucci had to simultaneously fight a war against the Turks (from Kars) and against the Persians (in Karabakh ) and fight insurgencies. Also at this time Alexander I received a memorial from the Georgian bishop and vicar Dosifey who was leader of the Aznauri faction of Georgian nobles, questioning the legality of the feudal holdings of the Eristavi princes in South Ossetia, The Aznauri faction hoped to oust the Eristavi faction and divide the lands among themselves. But soon, in view of the impending war against Napoleon, he [*who?] was summoned to St. Petersburg . 16 February 1812 General Nikolai Rtishchev was appointed political and military commander of Georgia. The political situation in South Ossetia was one of the most acute problems he encountered. The complexity of it after 1812 was not only a relentless struggle Ossetia with the Georgian Tavadi, but the struggle for the control of South Ossetia, between the two Georgian feudal factions. In the war with Persia, after many defeats, Crown Prince [[Abbas Mirza], proposed peace talks. on 23 August 1812 Rtishchev left Tiflis for the Persian frontier and, with the mediation of the English ambassador, entered into negotiations, but the conditions proposed by Abbas Mirza were not acceptable and Rtishchev returned to Tiflis.

31 October 1812 Russian troops gained a victory at Battle of Aslanduz, and in December, they took the last Persian stronghold in Transcaucasia, the fortress of Lankaran, the capital of Talysh Khanate.

In the autumn of 1812 there was a new uprising in Kakheti, under the Georgian crown prince Alexander. It was suppressed. Khevsurians and Kists took an active part. Rtishchev decided to punish the tribes, and in May 1813 undertook a punitive expedition into Khevsureti, which was little known to the Russians. Troops under Major-General Simanovich, despite stubborn defense by the mountaineers reached the main Khevsurian village of Shatili on the upper Argun and ravaged all villages on their path. Raids into Chechnya were not approved by the Tsar. Alexander I ordered Rtishchev try to maintain peace on the Caucasian line with friendship, concessions and mercy. 10 October 1813 Rtishchev left Tiflis for Karabakh and on 12 October in the near Gulistan, was signed a peace treaty, under which Persia renounced all claims to Dagestan, Georgia, Imereti, Abkhazia, Megrelia and recognized the right of all Russia to all conquered and voluntarily submitted regions and Khanates. (Karabakh, Gyandzhinskoye{?}, Shekinskoye,Shirvan, Derbent, Quba,Baku and Talysh).

In the same year, a rebellion broke out in Abkhazia led by Aslanbeem Chachba-Shervashidze against the power of his younger brother Safarbeya Chachba-Shervashidze. A Russian battalion and troops of the Mengrellian ruler Levan Dadiani saved the life and power of the Abkhazian ruler Safarbeya Chachba.

===Events 1814-1816=== In 1814 Alexander I, occupied by the Congress of Vienna, devoted his short stay in St. Petersburg, to the problem of South Ossetia. He instructed the prince A. Golitsyn, the chief procurator of the Holy Synod , "inform himself" about South Ossetia, in particular, about the basis of the feudal rights there by her Georgian princes, in consultation with Generals Tormasov and Paulucci, former commanders in the Caucasus who were in Petersburg at that time. After the report of A.N. Golitsyn and consultation with the commander of the Caucasus General Rtishchev and in the name of latter, on 31 August 1814, just before leaving for the Congress of Vienna, Alexander I issued a rescript over South Ossetia - the monarch letter to Tiflis. In it, Alexander I ordered the commander in chief to deprive Georgian Eristavi nobles of possessory rights in South Ossetia, and estates and settlements, which were previously granted to them by the monarch, and transferred to state ownership and granted the princes compensation.

Decisions of Alexander I, adopted them in late summer 1814 over South Ossetia, were taken negatively by the leading circles of the Georgian tavad****, but the Ossetians met this with satisfaction. However, the execution of the decree was hampered by commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, General of Infantry Nicholas Rtishchev. At the same time the Eristov princes provoked anti-Russian actions in South Ossetia.

In 1816, with the participation of AA Arakcheev, the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire confirmed the transfer to the treasury of the holdings Eristavi princes, but in February 1817 the decree was disavowed. Meanwhile, long-term service, advanced years and disease forced Rtishchev ask dismissal from office. 9 April 1816 General Rtishchev retired from his posts. However, he ruled temporarily until the arrival of his replacement, A. P. Yermolov. In the summer of 1816 by order of Alexander I, to the command of the Separate Georgian Corps, the civil parts of the Caucasus and Astrakhan Government was appointed Lieutenant-General Alexei Yermolov, who had won respect in the wars against Napoleon. In addition, he was appointed ambassador extraordinary to Persia.

==The Yermolov period ==

In September 1816 Yermolov arrived at the border of the Caucasian province. In October, he came to the Caucasian Line in the city Georgiyevsk. From there, he immediately went to Tiflis, where he expected the former commander of Infantry General Nikolai Rtishchev. 12 October 1816 by the tsar’s command Rtishchev was retired from the army.

After reviewing the border with Persia in 1817 he went as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the court of the Persian Shah Fath Ali . Peace was affirmed and for the first time the permanent residence of a Russian charge d'affaires was allowed. On his return from Persia he was graciously awarded the rank of General of Infantry.

After reviewing the situation in the Caucasus Line, Yermolov formed a plan of action, which then held steady. Given the fanaticism of the mountain tribes, their unbridled self-will and hostility to the Russians, as well as features of their psychology, the new commander in chief decided that it was completely impossible to establish peaceful relations under existing conditions. Yermolov formed a consistent and systematic plan of offensive operations. He did not start decisive action without first equipping a base and creating an offensive bridgehead. Among the components of Ermolov’s plan were the building of roads, cutting down forests, construction of fortifications, the colonization of the region by the Cossacks, the formation of wedges between anti-Russian tribes by resettlement between them of pro-Russian tribes.

As he said: " The Caucasus is a huge fortress protected by a half-million-man garrison. It must either be stormed or taken by trenches. A storm will cost dearly. Therefore we will lay siege! "

Yermolov moved left flank of the Caucasian Line from the Terek to the Sunzha, where he strengthened the Nazran redoubt and in October 1817 laid out the Pregradnaya Stan on its middle reaches.

In the autumn of 1817 the army was reinforced by troops under Count Vorontsov who had been occupying France. With the arrival of these forces Yermolov had about 4 divisions, and he could go over to decisive action. On the Caucasian Line the situation was as follows: the right wing was threatened by the Trans-Kuban Circassians, in the center the Kabardians, and against the left flank beyond the river Sunzha lived the Chechens who had a high reputation and authority with the mountain tribes. The Circassians were weakened by internal strife, Kabardians were mown down by plague, so danger came mainly from the Chechens.

He wrote: " Now a sketch of the peoples that live up against the Caucasian Line. From the upper Kuban on south side live nations subservient to the Ottoman Porte, commonly called Transkubanians, who are well-known, warlike, and rarely quiet. Against the center is Kabardia, formerly populous, whose inhabitants are considered the bravest of the mountaineers, and who often in multitudes fiercely resisted the Russians in bloody battles. ... Plague was our ally against the Kabardians, for it destroyed completely the entire population of Lesser Kabardia and produced devastation in the Greater and so weakened them that they could no longer gather in large forces, but could only make small raids; otherwise our troops would be overstretched and subject to danger. Very many expeditions were undertaken in the Kabarda, sometimes forcing them to return or pay for the return of prisoners. ... Downstream on the Terek live Chechens, the worst of robbers who attack our line. A society of very few people, but greatly multiplied in the past few years, because they are happy to take in villains from all the neighboring tribes, who were driven from their homes for some crime or other. Here are they find their fellows and are immediately ready, either to participate brigandage or to serve as faithful guides in the lands the Chechens do not know. Chechnya can rightly be called a nest of all brigands... "

And from a report to Alexander I " Your Majesty! The mountain peoples are an example of independence to the obedient subjects of your Imperial Majesty and spread a rebellious spirit and love of independence . "

In the spring of 1818 Yermolov turned to Chechnya. In 1818, in the lower reaches or the river was laid out the fortress of Grozny, It was hoped that this would put an end to rebellion of the Chechens who lived between the Sunzha and Terek, but in fact it was the beginning of a new war with Chechnya. Yermolov went over from individual punitive expeditions to the systematic penetration deep into Chechnya and Dagestan by the encirclement of mountain areas with a continuous ring of fortifications and the cutting of clearings in the impassable forests, road building, and the burning and destroying of rebellious villages together with their inhabitants.

In Dagestan Yermolov subdued the highlanders who were threatening the recently annexed Shamkhalate of Tarki. In 1819 the fort of Vnezapnaya to keep the mountaineers in subjection. The Avar Khan’s attack on it was a complete failure.

In December 1819 Yermolov campaigned against the Dagestani aul of Akusha. After a brief battle the native militia was broken, and the population of the free Akusha community was made to swear allegiance to the Russian Emperor. In Chechnya, Russian forces drove groups of armed Chechens farther into the mountains and resettled the population onto the plains under the guard of Russian garrisons. A clear area was cut through the dense forest to the village Germenchuk, which had served as one of the main Chechen bases. In 1820 Black Sea Cossack Host (up to 40 thousand men) was placed under the Separate Georgian Corps which was renamed the Separate Caucasian Corps and reinforced.

In 1821 the Burnaya fortress was built at the top of a steep hill on the slopes of which the city was Tarki - the capital of the Shamkhalate of Tarki. During construction the Avar Khan Akhmed, who was trying to stop the work, was defeated. Possessions of the Dagestan princes who suffered a series of defeats in 1819-1821 were either transferred to vassals of Russia and subject to Russian commandants subordinated or liquidated.

On the right flank of the Line the Trans-Kuban Circassians with Turkish help began to harass the border more strongly. In October 1821 their army invaded in the land of the Black Sea troop, but was defeated.

In Abkhazia Major-General Prince Pyotr Gorchakov defeated the rebels near Cape Cawdor and took possession of the lands of Prince Dmitry Shervashidze.

For a complete pacification of Kabarda in 1822 they built a series of fortifications at the foot of the mountains from Vladikavkaz to the upper reaches of the Kuban. This included Nalchik (1818 or 1822).

In 1823 - 1824 there were a series of punitive expeditions against the Trans-Kuban Circassians. Some of the Black Sea Abkhazians rebelled against the successor of Prince Dmitry Shervashidze, Prince Michael Shervashidze and in 1824 they were forced to submit.

In Dagestan in the 1820s the Murid movement was gaining popularity. Yermolov, visiting in 1824 Quba, ordered Aslankhan of Kazikumukh put an end to the agitation, aroused by followers of these teachings, but distracted by other things, could not enforce this commandment, so that the main preachers Muridism, Mullah Mohammad, and then Kazi-Mulla, continued to stir up the Mountaineers of Dagestan and Chechnya, and proclaim the coming of gazavat, holy war against the infidels. The movement of the mountaineers under the banner Muridism was the impetus for the expansion of the Caucasian War, although some mountain peoples ( Ossetians , Ingush , Kabardians ) did not join.

In 1825 in Chechnya began a general uprising. July 8 Highlanders captured the post of Amiradzhiyurt and tried to take Gerzel. July 15 it was rescued by Lt. General Lisanevich. In the Gerzel aol(village) were gathered 318 Aksaevtsi Kumyk elders. The next day, July 18, Lisanevich and General Grekov were killed by the Kumyks of Mullah Ochar-Haji (according to other sources Uchur-Mullah or Haji-Uchar-Gadzhi) during talks with Kumykh elders. Ochar Hadji attacked with a dagger Lieutenant General Lisanevich and stabbed in the back the unarmed general Grekov. In response to the murder of two generals troops killed all Kumykh elders invited for negotiations. The revolt was suppressed only in 1826

Kuban banks were again raided by major parties Shapsugs and Abadzekhs. The Kabardians were agitated. In1 826 there were a number of campaigns in Chechnya, with the cutting of forests to make open areas and the pacification of villages that had been free of Russian troops. This activity ended when Yermolov in 1827 was recalled by Nicholas I and sacked on suspicion of having links with the Decembrists.

The result was the consolidation of Russian power in Kabarda and Kumykh lands in the foothills and plains. The Russian advanced slowly, methodically cutting down forests, which sheltered the Highlanders.

==The Beginning of Gaznivat== March 29, 1827 Nicholas I appointed as commander of the Caucasian Corps Adjutant General Ivan Paskevich. The new commander in chief rejected the policy of planned advance with the fortification of occupied territories and returned to the former policy of individual punitive expeditions. At first, he was mainly occupied with wars with Persia and Turkey. Success in these wars contributed to the maintenance of superficial peace. 11 January 1827 in Stavropol a delegation Balkar princes presented General Georgy Emmanuel a petition for Balkaria to become a Russian subject.

In 1828, in connection with the construction of the Sukhumi Military Road, the Karachai region was annexed.

Muridism spread more and more. In December 1828 Kazi-Mulla (Ghazi Muhammad) was proclaimed Imam. He first called for jihad, seeking to unite the disparate tribes of the eastern Caucasus in an anti-Russian mass. Only the Avar Khanate refused to acknowledge his authority, and the attempt of Kazi-Mulla (in 1830 ) to take Khunzakh ended in defeat. After that, the power of Kazi-Mulla suffered greatly, and the arrival of new troops sent to the Caucasus after the conclusion of peace with the Ottoman Empire, forced him to flee from the Dagestani village of Gimry to the Belokan Avars.

In 1830 was created another line of fortifications - the Lezghian. In August 1830 Ubykhs and Sadzs under Haji Berzek Dagomuko (Adagua-ipa) launched a desperate assault against the newly-built fort of Gagra. Violent resistance led by General Hesse stopped further advance to the north. Thus, the coastal strip between Gagra and Anapa remained free of the Russian troops. In April 1831 the Count Paskevich-Erivansky was recalled to suppress the uprising in Poland. In his place were temporarily assigned to the Transcaucasus - General Pankratiev and to the Caucasian Line - General Velyaminov .

Kazi-Mulla moved his operations to shamkhal territory (which one?), and fixed his the seat of government in the inaccessible tract of Chumkesent (near Temir-Khan-Shura) and called all the mountaineers to fight against the infidels. His attempts to take the forts of Burnaya and Bnezapnaya failed; but the movement of General Emanuel into the Aukhov {?} forest also failed. This failure, greatly exaggerated by Mountain news-carriers{?}, multiplied the number of adherents of Kazi-Mulla, especially central Dagestan, so that in 1831 Kazi-Mulla took and plundered Tarki and Kizlyar and tried unsuccessfully to take Derbent with the support of Tabasaran rebels. The Imam now held Chechnya and a large part of Dagestan. However, since the end of 1831 the rebellion began to wane. Kazi-Mulla's troops were pushed to the Mountain Dagestan. Attacked on 1 December 1831 by Colonel Miklashevsky, he was forced to leave Chumkesent and went to Gimry. Baron Rosen (appointed1 the commander of the Caucasian Corps in September 1831) took Gimry in 1832. Kazi-Mulla was killed during the battle. Imam Kazi Mulla (1829-1832) threw himself on the enemy and died of multiple bayonets wounds. His body was crucified and put for a month on top of the Mount Tarko-tau, and then his head was cut off and sent as a trophy for all fortresses of Caucasian Line. Besieged with Imam Kazi Mullah in a tower near his native village of Gimri, Shamil was able to break through the ranks of the besiegers, though terribly wounded (broken arm, ribs, collarbone, punctured lung).

As second imam was proclaimed Gamzat-bek, who, thanks to military victories rallied around him almost all the nations of the Mountain Dagestan, including part of the Avars. In 1834 he invaded Avaria, took Khunzakh and destroyed almost all of the Khan’s family who were pro-Russian, and had dreamed of conquering the whole of Dagestan, but was killed by conspirators in revenge for the murder of Khan's family. Shortly after his death Shamil was proclaimed the third Imam. On 18 October 1834 the main stronghold of murids, the village of Gotsatl was taken and destroyed by troops under Colonel Kluge von Klugenau. Shamil’s troops retreated from Avaria.

On the Black Sea coastal zone, where the mountaineers were able to contact the Turks and sell slaves (the Black Sea Line of forts did not yet exist), foreign agents, especially the British, there spread among the tribes anti-Russian appeals and military supplies. This forced Baron Rosen to send General Velyaminov (summer 1834), on new expedition to the Transkuban to build a cordon line to Gelendzhik. He completed the erection of the fortifications Abinsky and Nicholaesky.

==Imam Shamil==

In the Eastern Caucasus after the death of Gazi-Magomed Shamil became head of the Murids. New imam, who had administrative and military powers, soon proved to be very dangerous opponent, rallying under his rule of the hitherto disparate tribes and Auls of the Eastern Caucasus. At the beginning of 1835, his strength increased so much that he intended to punish the Khunzakhis for the death of his predecessor. The just-appointed{?} ruler of Avaria, Aslan Khan-Kazikumukh, requested the dispatch of Russian troops to defend Khunzakh. Baron Rosen agreed to his request because of the strategic importance of the fortress; but it required him to occupy many other points to ensure communication with Khunzakh through the inaccessible mountains. The main strong point on the path between Khunzakh and the Caspian coast was the newly rebuilt fortress of Temir-Khan-Shura on the Tarki plain, and to secure the landing place for ships from Astrakhan, was built the fort of Nizovoye. Communications between Temir-Khan-Shura and Khunzakh were secured by the forts of Zirani on the Avar Koysu River and the tower{?} of Burunduk-Kale. For direct communication between Temir-Khan-Shura and the Bnezapnaya fortress the Miatlinskaya ford across the Sulak River was protected by towers. The road from Temir-Khan-Shura to Kizlyar was protected by the Kazi-Yurt fort.

Shamil increasingly cementing his power, chose as his residence the Koysubud district, where on the banks of the Andysky Koysu began to build fortifications, which he called Akhulgo. In 1837, the General Fesi occupied Khunzakh took the Ashilty aul and the fort of Old Akhulgo and invested Tilitl where Shamil took refuge. When on July 3 Russian troops took over part of the village, Shamil entered into negotiations and promised submission. His offer was accepted, as Russian the detachment had suffered heavy losses, there were major shortages of supplies and, in addition, there was news of an uprising in Quba.

In the Western Caucasus a detachment of General Velyaminov, in the summer of 1837, reached the mouths of rivers and Pshada and Voula and built the forts of Novotroitskoe and Mikhalovskoye.

In September 1837 Emperor Nicholas I first visited the Caucasus and was unhappy with the fact that, despite years of efforts and large sacrifices, Russian troops were still far from significant results in the pacification of the region. In place of Baron Rosen was appointed General Yevgeny Golovin.

In 1838, the on the Black Sea coastal zone were built the forts of Navaginskoye, Velyaminovskoye and Tenginskoye and the construction of Novorossiysk with its military harbor was begun.

In 1839 operations were carried out in various places by three groups. Landing party of General Rajewski erected on the Black Sea littoral new fortifications (forts Golovin, Lazarev, Rayevsky). The Dagestan detachment under the same corps commander captured on May 31 very strong position on the Highlanders on the Adzhiakhursky heights, and on June 3 took the village of Akhti where a fort was built. The third corps, the Chechen, under the command of General Grabbe, marched against Shamil's main forces entrenched in the village of Argvani, on the slopes toward the Andyskaya Koysu River. Despite the strength of this position, Grabbe mastered it and Shamil with several hundred murids took refuge in them resumed Akhulgo which they had recaptured. Akhulgo fell on August 22, but Shamil managed to escape.

The highlanders showed apparent passivity while actually preparing another uprising, which kept the Russians busy for the next 3 years.

After the defeat at Akhulgo, Shamil, with a group of seven companions arrived in Chechnya, where, from the end of February 1840 there was a general uprising led by Shoip-Mullah of Tsentoroev, Dzhavatkhan of Dargo, Tashi Hajji of Sayasan and Isa of Gendergen {?spelling of these?). After meeting with the Chechen leaders Isa of Gendergen and Akberd-Makma at Urus-Martan, Shamil was proclaimed Imam of Chechnya (March 7, 1840). The capital of the Imamate became Dargo.

Meanwhile, hostilities began on the Black Sea coast, where hastily constructed Russian forts were in a dilapidated condition, and garrisons were extremely weakened by fever and other diseases. February 7, 1840 , the Highlanders captured the fort of Lazarev and killed all of its defenders; February 29, the same fate befell the fort of Velyaminovskoye; March 23 after a fierce battle, the Mountaineers got into Mikhailovskoe and the defenders who blew themselves up. In addition, the highlanders captured (April 1) Fort Nikolaev, but their attacks on Fort Navaginskaya and Fort Abinsky failed.

On the left flank premature attempt to disarm the Chechens caused extreme resentment. In December 1839 and January 1840, General Pullo led punitive expeditions to Chechnya and destroyed several villages. During the second expedition the Russian command demanded one rifle for each 10 houses, as well as one hostage from each village. Taking advantage of the discontent of the population, Shamil raised against Russian troops the Ichkerians, Aukhovtsians and other Chechen groups. Russian troops under General Apollon Galafeyev sent raiding parties to cut off parts of the forests of Chechnya, costing many men. Particularly bloody was the Battle of the Valerik River on 11 July. When Galafeev went to Lesser Chechnya, Shamil with Chechen troops subdued Salataviya and early August returned to Avaria, where he won several villages. With the accession to him of the elder of mountain clans on the Andyskaya Koisa, the famous Kibit-Magoma, his strength greatly increased. By autumn the whole of Chechnya was on his side and the forces the Caucasian line were inadequate to deal with it. Chechens began to attack Czarist troops on the banks of the Terek and nearly captured Mozdok.

On the right flank, toward the autumn, a new fortified line on the Laba River was protected by forts Zassovsky, Makhoshevsky and Temirgoevsky. On the Black Sea Coast Line were renewed Forts Velyaminovsky and Lazarevsky.

In 1841, in Avaria there were troubles stirred up by Hadji Murad. A battalion with two mountain guns under General Bakunin was sent to pacify them. It was defeated at the aul of Tselmes and Colonel Passek, taking command after Bakhunin was mortally wounded, barely managed to lead the survivors to Khunzakh. The Chechens made a raid on the Georgian Military Highway and took by storm the military settlement Alexandrovsky, and Shamil himself approached Nazran and attacked the detachment there of Colonel Nesterov, but had no success and took refuge in the forests of Chechnya. On May 15 generals Golovin and Grabbe attacked and took the Imam’s position near the aul of Chirkei then took the aul itself and built nearby Fort Evgenevsky. However, Shamil managed to extend its authority to the mountain communities along the right bank of the Avar Koysu, the murids again took the Gergebil aul, barred entrance to the Mekhtulinsky territory; and communication of Russian forces with Avaria were temporarily suspended.

In the spring of 1842, the campaign of General Fezi somewhat improved the situation in Avaria and Koysuba. Shamil tried to excite Southern Dagestan, but to no avail. Thus, the entire territory of Dagestan was not attached to the Imamate.

===The Battle of Ichkeria (1842)=== In May 1842 4777 Chechen warriors under Imam Shamil went on a campaign against Kazi-Kumukh in Dagestan. Taking advantage of their absence, on May 30 Adjutant General Grabbe with 12 battalions of infantry, a company of sappers, 350 Cossacks and 24 guns left them the fortress of Gerzel-aul for the capital of the Imamate at Dargo. The ten-thousand-man Czarist army was opposed by, in the words of A. Zisserman , "by most generous estimates up to one and a half thousand" Ichkerin and Aukhov Chechens.

Headed by Shoaip-Mullah of Tsentoro, the mountaineers prepared for battle. Naib Baysungur and Soltamurad organized {benoevtsev?} for making obstructions, clearings, pits, and the collection of provisions, clothing and military equipment. With the Andy-ians, guarding Shamil’s capital of Dargo, Shoaip prepared on the approach of the enemy to destroy the capital and take out all the people to the mountains of Dagestan. The Naib of Great Chechnya Dzhavatkhan, seriously wounded in a recent battle, was replaced by his assistant Suaib-Mullah of Ersenoev. Aukhov Chechens were headed by the young Naib Ulubiy-Mullah.

Stopped by fierce resistance at the Chechen villages of Belgat and Gordal, late at night on June 2 Grabbe's troops began to retreat. The czar’s troops lost in battle 36 officers and 700 men killed and wounded. The mountaineers lost in killed and wounded up to 600 men. Two guns were captured along with almost all the military supplies and food.

On June 3 Shamil, learned of the Russian movement against Dargo and turned back to Ichkeria, but by the time he arrived it was all over.

The unfortunate outcome of this expedition greatly raised the spirits of the rebels, and Shamil began to build up an army, intending to invade Avaria. Grabbe, having learned about it, went there with a new, strong detachment and seized the aul of Igali, but then withdrew from Avaria, leaving only the Russian garrison at Khunzakh. The overall result of action in 1842 was not satisfactory, and in October Golovin was replaced by Adjutant General Neidgardt.

News of the failures of Russian troops reached the higher spheres of the government and convinced many of the futility and even the harm of offensive action. This view is particularly supported the then Minister of War, Prince Alexander Chernyshyov, who in summer 1842 visited the Caucasus and who witnessed the return of the unit Grabbe from the Ichkeran forests. Impressed by this disaster, he persuaded the Czar to sign a decree forbidding any expedition in 1843 and prescribing limited defense.

This forced idleness of the Russian troops encouraged the enemy, and attacks on the line again increased. August 31, 1843 Imam Shamil captured the fort at the village of Untsukul, killing the soldiers that went to the rescue of the besieged. In subsequent days a few more forts fell and on September 11 Gotsatl was taken interrupting communications with Temir-Khan-Shura. From August 28 to September 21 the Russians lost 55 officers, more than 1,500 men, 12 guns and large amounts of supplies; the fruit of many years of effort have gone, mountain communities that had long ago submitted were cut off from Russian forces and the morale of the troops was undermined. October 28 Shamil surrounded the Gergebil fort, which he was able to take on 8 November, when the defenders had only 59 men left. Detachments of the highlanders, scattering in all directions, interrupted almost all communication with Derbent, Kizlyar and the left flank of the Line. Russian troops in Temir-Khan-Shura withstood the siege, which lasted from November 8 to December 24.

In mid-April 1844, the Dagestani troops of Shamil led by Hadji Murad and Naib Kibit-Mahom, approached Kumykh, but on the 22nd were completely defeated by Prince Argutinsky near the village of Marga. About this time Shamil himself was defeated near the village of Andreevo, where he met his detachment of Colonel Kozlowsky, and near the village of Gilly Dagestani mountaineers were beaten by a detachment under Passek. On the Lezgian Line the formerly loyal Elisa Khan Daniel Bey rebelled. Against him was sent a detachment of General Schwartz, who scattered the rebels and seized the Elisa aul, but the Khan managed to escape. Actions of the main Russian forces were quite successful and resulted in the seizure of Dargin district in Dagestan (Akusha ,Khadzhalmakhi , Tsudakhar ); then steps were taken to construct an advanced Chechen Line, the first element of which was the Vozdvizhenskoe fort on the river Argun River. On the right flank was brilliantly repulsed the assault of the Highlanders on Fort Golovinskoye on the night of July 16th.

At the end of 1844 Count Vorontsov was appointed as the new commander in chief in the Caucasus.

===The Dargo Campaign=== {The Russian Wikipedia refers off to a separate article which is far too long to translate. Basically, Vorontsov captured Dargo, found himself surrounded and fought himself out with heavy losses}

On the Black Sea coastline in the summer of 1845 mountaineers attempted to seize the forts Raevsky (May 24) and Golovinsky (July 1), but were repulsed.

From 1846, the on the left flank actions were taken to strengthen control over the occupied territory, construction of new fortifications and Cossack villages and the preparation of further movement deep into the Chechen forests through logging of large open areas. Shamil captured the difficult-of-access village of Kutisha (now part of Levashinsky District), but Prince Bebutov, quickly retook it, this victory resulting in perfect calm in the Kumykh plain and foothills.

On the Black Sea Line 6,000 Ubykhs on November 28 launched a new attack on the Golovinsky fort, but were repulsed with heavy losses.

In 1847, the Prince Vorontsov besieged Gergebil, but, due to cholera, had to retreat. In late July, he undertook the siege of the fortified village of Salta, which, despite the large amount of supplies and troops, lasted until September 14, when it was cleared mountaineers. Both of these compaigns cost the Russians about 150 officers and 2,500 other ranks.

The Jaro-Balakan District was invaded by Daniel Bey, but on May 13 he was completely defeated at the village Chardakhla.

In mid-November Dagestani mountaineers briefly captured several auls in Kazikumikh.

In 1848, the outstanding event was the taking Gergebil (July 7) by Prince Argutinsky. In general there had not been such peace in the Caucasus as this year; Only on the Lezgian Line was there some alarm. In September, Shamil tried to take the fort of Akhty and failed.

In 1849, the siege of Chokh by Prince Argutinsky, cost the Russians heavy losses, but had no success. On the Lezgian Line General Chilyaevy led a successful expedition to the mountains, culminating in the defeat of the enemy near the aul of Khupro.

In 1850, the systematic deforestation in Chechnya continued with perseverance and was accompanied by more or less serious fighting. This course of action has forced many hostile clans to declare their unconditional obedience.

In 1851 the same system continued. On the right wing offensive was undertaken to the Belaya River (Kuban) in order to establish there an advanced line and take from the hostile Abadzekhs fertile land between that river and the Laba River. In addition, there appeared in the Western Caucasus Shamil’s Naib Mohammed Amin, who collected the major parties for raids on Russian Laba River settlement, but was defeated on May 14.

1852 was marked by brilliant actions in Chechnya led by the Chief of the left flank, Prince Bariatinsky, who penetrated into hitherto inaccessible forest refuge, and extirpated many hostile villages. These successes were overshadowed by a colonel Baklanov’s unsuccessful expedition to the aul of Gordal.

Main article: Crimean War

In 1853, rumors of an impending break with Turkey opened a new hope for the Highlanders. Shamil and Mohammed Amin, Naib of Cherkessia and Kabarda gathered Mountain elders, announced they received from the Sultan a firman, commanding all Muslims to rebel against the common enemy; talked about the imminent arrival of Turkish troops in Balkaria, Georgia and Kabarda and the need to act decisively against the Russians, who were weakened by sending a large part of the military forces to the Turkish border. However, the mountaineers' spirits had fallen due to a number of failures and extreme poverty so that to bend them to his will Shamil could only rely on cruel punishments. His planned foray into Lezgian Line ended in complete failure, and Mohammed Amin with a detachment of Trans-Kuban Highlanders, was defeated by a detachment of General Kozlovsky.

from the start of the Crimean War, it was decided to keep all points of the Caucasus primarily on the defensive. However, clearing of forests and destruction of the enemy's means of food continued, albeit in a more limited scale.

In 1854, the head of the Turkish Anatolian army to entered into relations with Shamil, inviting him to move to link up with them somewhere in Dagestan. In late June Shamil and Dagestan mountaineers invaded Kakheti. Highlanders were able to destroy the rich village Tsinondal and kidnap the family of its ruler and plunder several churches, but after learning of the approach of Russian troops they pulled back. Shamil attempted to take the peaceful aul of Istisu but failed. On the right flank Russian troops evacuated the area between Anapa, Novorossiysk and the mouths of the Kuban; garrisons of the Black Sea coastline in the early years were taken in the Crimea, and the forts and other buildings were blown up. Prince Vorontsov in March 1854, the left the Caucasus, transferring control to General Read, and in early 1855, the commander of the Caucasus was appointed General Nikolay Muravyov-Karsky. The landing of the Turks in Abkhazia, despite the betrayal of its ruler, Prince Shervashidze, had no adverse consequences for Russia. At the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris in the spring of 1856, it was decided to take advantage of the Russian troops that had fought in Asiatic Turkey forces to strengthen the Caucasian Corps, and proceed to the final conquest of the Caucasus.

==Baryatinsky== With the new commander in chief, Prince Baryatinsky, attention turned to Chechnya, the conquest of which was entrusted to the head of the left wing of the Caucasian Line, General Evdokimov, an old and experienced Caucasus hand, while in other parts of the Caucasus troops did not remain inactive. In 1856 and 1857 Russian troops achieved the following results: on the right wing of the Line the Adagumskaya Valley was taken and the Maikop fort was built. On the left wing {?the so-called "Russian way" from Vladikavkaz, along the ridge of the Black Mountains {east-west in central Chechnya}}, to the Kurinsky fort on the Kummykh plain was completed and strengthened with newly-built forts ?}; wide lanes were cut through the forests in all directions; masses of hostile population in Chechnya forced to submit and move out into the open country under state supervision; the Aukh region {a vague area south of the lower Terek} was occupied and forts built. In Dagestan was finally occupied Salataviya. On the Laba, Urupa and Sunzha several new Cossack villages were established. Troops were everywhere brought up to advanced lines; rear areas were secured and stocked with provisions; vast expanses of the best land was cut off from the hostile population, and thus, a significant proportion of resources to fight taken out of the hands of Shamil.

In Lezgian Line, due to deforestation, predatory raids were replaced by petty theft. On the Black Sea, the re-occupation of Gagra secured Abkhazia from intrusions by the Circassian tribes and from hostile propaganda. Actions in Chechnya in 1858 began with the occupation of the Argun River Gorge, which had been considered impregnable, where Evdokimov built the strong Argunsky fort. Ascending the river, he reached at the end of July, villages of the Shatoy{clan?}; in the upper reaches of the Argun built Fort Evdokimovsky. Shamil tried to divert attention with a diversion to Nazran, but was defeated by the detachment of General Mishchenko and barely escaped the battle without falling into an ambush due to the large number of Russian troops. He avoided this thanks to Naib Beta Achkhoevsky {of Achkho?} who broke the encirclement and allowed him to reach an unoccupied part of the Argun Gorge. Recognizing that his power in the region was finished or severely undermined, he moved to a new headquarters at Vedeno. From 17 March 1859 bombardment of the fortified village began, and on 1 April, it was taken by storm. Shamil moved to the Andi Koysu. After the capture of Vedeno three military groups moved toward the Andi Koysu valley: the Dagestan, the Chechin (former naibs {sic} and Shamil warriors) and the Lezgian. Shamil temporarily settled in the aul of Karata, fortified Mount Kilitl on the right bank of the Andi Koysu opposite Konkhidatlya, which was completely protected by stony obstructions and entrusted for defense to his son Kazi-Magoma. Give Kazi-Magoma's energetic resistance, forcing the crossing at this location would cost enormous sacrifices; but he was forced to leave his strong position due to appearance on his flank troops of the Dagestan Corps who made a remarkably daring crossing of the Andi Koysu near the Sagrytlo gorge. Shamil, seeing the impending danger everywhere, went to their last refuge on Mount Gunib, taking with him all of 47 men who were the most devoted murids from all over Dagestan. Together with the population of Gunib (including women, children and old men) there were 337 people. August 25 Gunib was taken by storm by thousands of Imperial soldiers, not counting those forces that were on the way to Gunib, and the Shamil after a 4 day battle was captured during negotiations with Prince Baryatinsky. Thus ended the war in Dagestan.

==Completion of the Conquest of the Caucasus (1859-1864)==

The taking of Gunib and the capture of Shamil could be considered as the last act of the war in the Eastern Caucasus; but Western Circassia, occupying the entire western part of the Caucasus to the Black Sea had not been conquered. The final phase of the war in Western Circassia was decided to be carried on in this manner: the Circassians had to submit and move to specified points in the lowlands; otherwise they were pushed further into the barren mountains, and the land they abandoned was to be settled by Cossack villages. Finally, the mountaineers were to be pushed from the mountains to the shore of the Black Sea, from which they could go the lowlands under the Russian supervision, or move to Turkey which was supposed to provide them assistance. In 1861, under Ubykh initiative, was held at Sochi a Circassian parliament called the "Great and Free Meeting”. Ubykhs , Shapsugs , Abadzekhs , Dzhigets ( Sadzi ) tried to unite the Circassians ' into one huge group.’ A special delegation of this parliament, led by Ishmael Barakay Dziash, visited a number of European countries. Action against small armed groups dragged on until the end of 1861, when all attempts at resistance were finally suppressed. Only then could begin decisive operations on the right wing, the command of which was given to the conqueror of Chechnya, Evdokimov . His troops were divided in two: the Adagumsky which acted in the land Shapsugs , and the other on the Laba and Belaya Rivers with a special detachment for action in the lower reaches of the Pshish River. In autumn and winter are established Cossack villages in the Natukhai district. Forces acting in the Laba region finished building stanitsas between the Laba and Belaya and cut clearings all through the foothill area between these rivers that forced the local people to move to the plain or cross over the main range of the Caucasus.

In late February 1862, troops under Evdokimov moved to the River Pshekh, to which, despite the stubborn resistance Abadzekhs, was built a road with a wide clearing on both sides. Everyone who lived between the rivers Hodzh and Belaya was ordered to immediately move to the Kuban and Laba, and within 20 days (from 8 to 29 March) 90 villages were relocated. In late April, Evdokimov crossing the Black Mountains, descended into the Dakhovsky valley by a path which the mountaineers considered impassible, and gave it a new Cossack village, {completing the Belaya River Line?}. The Russian movement deep into the Trans-Kuban was greeted everywhere with desperate resistance by the Abadzekhs, Ubykhs and Abkhaz tribes of Sadz (Dzhjigets) and Akhchilskhis without much successes. The result of the summer and autumn of action in 1862 along the Belaya was the firm consolidation of Russian troops in the area bounded from the west by the rivers Pshish, Pshekha and Kurdzhips .

At the beginning of 1863 the only remaining opponents of Russian domination in the entire Caucasus were the mountain communities on the northern slope of the Caucasus from Adagum to the Belaya, and coastal tribes Shapsugs , Ubykhs and so on who lived in the narrow space between the sea coast and the southern slope of the Main Ridge, the Aderba valley and Abkhazia. The final conquest of the Caucasus led by Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, who was appointed governor of the Caucasus. In 1863 the plan was to spread Russian colonization simultaneously from both sides, based on Belaya River and Adagumsky Lines. These actions went so well that put the Highlanders northwest Caucasus in a hopeless situation. Already by the summer of 1863, many of them began to move out to Turkey or the southern slope of the ridge; many of them submitted, so that by the end of summer, the number of immigrants resettled on the plain, on the Kuban and the Laba came to 30,000. In early October the Abadzekh elders came to Evdokimov and signed an agreement under which all tribesmen willing to become Russian subjects pledged not later 1 February 1864 to begin to moving to the places assigned to them and the rest were given a two and a half month period to remove themselves to Turkey. The conquest of the northern slope had been completed. What remained was to cross over to the south-western slope that descended to the sea, mop up the coastal strip and prepare it for settlement. October 10 Russian troops climb to the pass and in the same month took the gorge of the river. Pshada and the mouth of the River Dzhubga. In the western Caucasus remnants of the north slope Circassians continued to move out to Turkey or in the Kuban plain. From the end of February action began on the southern slope, which lasted until May. Masses of Circassians were driven to the sea shore and arriving Turkish ships carried them Turkey. On 21 May 1864 in the mountain village of Kbaade in the camp of the united Russian columns, in the presence of the Grand Duke, was held a thanksgiving service to mark the victory.

The concerns why this content was moved were: It lacks the citations present in the originals. Plus it was added into the article under a section "Translations" rather than genuinely integrating it into the article. Finnusertop (talk | guestbook | contribs) 08:08, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

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Dates of the war

The article claims that the Russo-Circassian War was part of the Caucasian War. And yet, the dates for the former are stated to be "1763 – 21 May 1864", those of the latter "1817–1864". If the former is indeed a part of the latter, one front thereof, I fail to see how it could have begun before it, and a good half a century at that. HermannusAlemannus (talk) 08:18, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Chechens fought (1722—1861). Baddeley J. F. The Russian conquest of the Caucasus 1720—1860 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Товболатов (talk • contribs) 05:36, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:22, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

Abkhazians and Abkhazians of Circassia

Do you have sources who reject historical facts? You are engaged in socialism Alsho093 (talk) 06:37, 26 February 2024 (UTC)