The Great Caucasian War of 1817-1864 Caucasian war. Features of the Caucasian War

background

According to an agreement concluded in Georgievsk on July 24, Tsar Erekle II was accepted under the protection of Russia; in Georgia, it was decided to maintain 2 Russian battalions with 4 guns. However, it was impossible for such weak forces to protect the country from the incessantly repeated raids of the Lezgins - and the Georgian militias were inactive. Only in the fall of the city was it decided to undertake an expedition to the village. Dzhary and Belokany, to punish the raiders, who were overtaken on October 14, near the Muganlu tract, and, having been defeated, fled across the river. Alazan. This victory did not bring significant results; Lezgin invasions continued, Turkish emissaries traveled throughout the Transcaucasus, trying to excite the Muslim population against Russians and Georgians. When Umma Khan of Avar (Omar Khan) began to threaten Georgia, Heraclius turned to Gen. Potemkin with a request to send new reinforcements to Georgia; this request could not be honored, since the Russian troops were at that time busy suppressing the unrest produced on the northern slope of the Caucasus Range by the preacher of the holy war, Mansur, who appeared in Chechnya. A rather strong detachment sent against him under the command of Colonel Pieri was surrounded by Chechens in the Zasunzhensky forests and almost exterminated, and Pieri himself was killed. This raised Mansur's authority among the highlanders; the unrest spread from Chechnya to Kabarda and the Kuban. Although Mansur's attack on Kizlyar failed and soon after that he was defeated in Malaya Kabarda by a detachment of Colonel Nagel, the Russian troops on the Caucasian line continued to be in a tense state.

Meanwhile, Umma Khan, with the Dagestan hordes, invaded Georgia and devastated it completely unopposed; on the other hand, the Akhaltsikhe Turks raided it. The Georgian troops, representing nothing more than a crowd of poorly armed peasants, turned out to be completely untenable, Colonel Vurnashev, who commanded the Russian battalions, was constrained in his actions by Heraclius and his entourage. In the city, in view of the impending break between Russia and Turkey, our troops stationed in Transcaucasia were recalled to the line, to protect which a number of fortifications were erected on the coast of the Kuban and 2 corps were formed: the Kuban Chasseur, under the command of General-General Tekelli, and the Caucasian, under the command of Lieutenant General Potemkin. In addition, a settled or zemstvo army was established, from Ossetians, Ingush and Kabardians. General Potemkin, and then General Tekelli, undertook successful expeditions beyond the Kuban, but the state of affairs on the line did not change significantly, and the raids of the highlanders continued uninterruptedly. Russia's communications with Transcaucasia almost ceased: Vladikavkaz and other fortified points on the way to Georgia were abandoned by Russian troops in a year. Tekelli's campaign against Anapa (city) was not successful. In the city, the Turks, together with the highlanders, moved to Kabarda, but were defeated by the gene. German. In June 1791, General-General Gudovich took Anapa, and Mansur was also captured. Under the terms of the Peace of Jassy concluded in the same year, Anapa was returned to the Turks. With the end of the Turkish War, the K. line was strengthened with new fortifications and new Cossack villages were set up, moreover, the coasts of the Terek and the upper Kuban were settled mainly by the Don people, and the right bank of the Kuban, from the Ust-Labinsk fortress to the shores of the Azov and Black seas, was designated for settlement Black Sea Cossacks. Georgia was at that time in the most deplorable state. Taking advantage of this, the Persian Agha-Mohammed Khan, in the second half of the year, invaded Georgia and on September 11 took and ravaged Tiflis, from where the king, with a handful of close associates, fled to the mountains. Russia could not be indifferent to this, especially since the rulers of the regions neighboring Persia always leaned towards the stronger. At the end of the year, Russian troops entered Georgia and Dagestan. The Dagestan rulers declared their obedience, except for the Derbent Khan Sheikh Ali, who locked himself in his fortress. On May 10, after a stubborn defense, the fortress was taken. Derbent , and in June occupied without resistance by the city of Baku . Count Valerian Zubov, who commanded the troops, was appointed instead of Gudovich as the chief commander of the Caucasian region; but his activities are there (cf. Persian Wars) was soon put to an end by the death of Empress Catherine. Paul I ordered Zubov to suspend hostilities; after that, Gudovich was again appointed commander of the Caucasian corps, and the Russian troops that were in Transcaucasia were ordered to return from there: it was only allowed to leave 2 battalions in Tiflis for a while, due to the increased requests of Heraclius.

In the city, George XII ascended the Georgian throne, who persistently asked Emperor Paul to take Georgia under his protection and provide it with armed assistance. As a result of this, and in view of the clearly hostile intentions of Persia, the Russian troops in Georgia were significantly strengthened. When Umma Khan of Avar invaded Georgia, General Lazarev, with a Russian detachment (about 2 thousand) and part of the Georgian militia (extremely poorly armed), defeated him, on November 7, on the banks of the Yora River. On December 22, 1800, a manifesto was signed in St. Petersburg on the annexation of Georgia to Russia; after that, Tsar George died. At the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, Russian administration was introduced in Georgia; The commander-in-chief was Gen. Knorring, and the civil ruler of Georgia - Kovalensky. Neither one nor the other was well acquainted with the mores, customs and views of the people, and the officials who arrived with them allowed themselves various abuses. All this, combined with the intrigues of the party dissatisfied with the entry of Georgia into Russian citizenship, led to the fact that unrest in the country did not stop, and its borders were still subjected to raids by neighboring peoples.

At the end of the city of Knorring and Kovalensky were recalled, and the general commander in the Caucasus was appointed lieutenant general. book. Tsitsianov, who is well acquainted with the region. He removed to Russia most of the members of the former Georgian royal house, rightly considering them to be the main culprits of unrest and unrest. With the khans and the owners of the Tatar and mountain regions, he spoke in a formidable and commanding tone. The inhabitants of the Djaro-Belokan region, who did not stop their raids, were defeated by a detachment of the gene. Gulyakov, and the region itself is annexed to Georgia. In the city of Mingrelia, and in 1804 Imereti and Guria entered into Russian citizenship; in 1803 the fortress of Ganja and the entire Ganja Khanate were conquered. The attempt of the Persian ruler Baba Khan to invade Georgia ended in the complete defeat of his troops near Etchmiadzin (June). In the same year, the khanate of Shirvan accepted Russian citizenship, and in the city - the khanates of Karabakh and Sheki, Jehan-Gir-khan of Shagakh and Budag-sultan of Shuragel. Baba Khan again opened offensive operations, but at the very news of the approach of Tsitsianov, he fled for the Araks (see Persian Wars).

On February 8, 1805, Prince Tsitsianov, who approached the city of Baku with a detachment, was treacherously killed by the local khan. In his place was again Count Gudovich, who was well acquainted with the state of affairs on the Caucasian line, but not in Transcaucasia. The recently subdued rulers of various Tatar regions, having ceased to feel the firm hand of Tsitsianov over them, again became clearly hostile to the Russian administration. Although the actions against them were generally successful (Derbent, Baku, Nukha were taken), the situation was complicated by the Persian invasions and the break with Turkey that followed in 1806. In view of the war with Napoleon, all military forces were drawn to the western borders of the empire; Caucasian troops were left without staffing. Under the new commander-in-chief, Gen. Tormasova (from the city), it took intervention in the internal affairs of Abkhazia, where some of the members of the ruling house who quarreled with each other turned to Russia for help, and others to Turkey; at the same time, the fortresses of Poti and Sukhum were taken. It was also necessary to pacify uprisings in Imereti and Ossetia. Tormasov's successors were Gen. Marquis Pauducci and Rtishchev; at the latter, thanks to the victory of Gen. Kotlyarevsky near Aslanduz and the capture of Lankaran, the Gulistan peace was concluded with Persia (). A new uprising that broke out in the fall of the year in Kakheti, initiated by the fugitive Georgian prince Alexander, was successfully suppressed. Since the Khevsurs and Kistins (mountain Chechens) took an active part in this indignation, Rtishchev decided to punish these tribes and in May undertook an expedition to Khevsuria, little known to Russians. The troops sent there under the command of Major General Simonovich, despite the incredible natural obstacles and the stubborn defense of the mountaineers, reached the main Khevsurian village of Shatil (in the upper reaches of the Argun), captured it and ravaged all the enemy villages lying in their path. The raids into Chechnya undertaken by Russian troops around the same time were not approved by Emperor Alexander I, who ordered General Rtishchev to try to restore calm on the Caucasian line with friendliness and condescension.

Yermolovsky period (-)

“... Downstream the Terek live Chechens, the worst of the robbers who attack the line. Their society is very sparsely populated, but it has increased enormously in the last few years, for the villains of all other peoples who leave their land for some kind of crimes were friendly received. Here they found accomplices, immediately ready either to avenge them or to participate in robberies, and they served as their faithful guides in lands they themselves did not know. Chechnya can rightly be called the nest of all robbers ... ”(from the notes of A.P. Yermolov during the government of Georgia)

The new (from the city) head of all the tsarist troops in Georgia and on the Caucasian line, A.P. Ermolov, however, convinced the sovereign of the need to humble the highlanders exclusively by force of arms. It was decided to carry out the conquest of the mountain peoples gradually, but firmly, occupying only those places that could be retained and not going further until the acquired was strengthened.

Yermolov began his activities on the line in Chechnya, strengthening the Nazranovsky redoubt located on the Sunzha and laying the Groznaya fortress on the lower reaches of this river. This measure stopped the uprisings of the Chechens who lived between the Sunzha and the Terek.

In Dagestan, the highlanders who threatened Shamkhal Tarkovsky, captured by Russia, were pacified; to keep them in bondage, the () sudden fortress was built. The attempt against her, undertaken by the Avar Khan, ended in complete failure. In Chechnya, Russian detachments exterminated auls and forced the indigenous inhabitants of these lands (Chechens) to move further and further away from Sunzha; a clearing was cut through the dense forest to the village of Germenchuk, which served as one of the main defensive points of the Chechen army. In the city, the Black Sea Cossack army was included in the composition of a separate Georgian corps, renamed into a separate Caucasian one. The fortress of Burnaya was built in the city, and the gatherings of the Avar Khan Akhmet, who tried to interfere with Russian work, were defeated. On the right flank of the line, the Trans-Kuban Circassians, with the help of the Turks, began to disturb the borders more than ever; but their army, which invaded the land of the Black Sea army in October, suffered a severe defeat from the Russian army. In Abkhazia, Prince. Gorchakov defeated the rebellious crowds near Cape Kodor and introduced the prince into the possession of the country. Dmitry Shervashidze. In the city, for the complete pacification of the Kabardians, a number of fortifications were built at the foot of the Black Mountains, from Vladikavkaz to the upper reaches of the Kuban. In and years the actions of the Russian command were directed against the Trans-Kuban highlanders, who did not stop their raids. In the city, the Abkhazians, who rebelled against the successor of the prince, were forced to submit. Dmitry Shervashidze, Prince. Michael. In Dagestan, in the 1920s, a new Mohammedan teaching, muridism, began to spread, which subsequently created a lot of difficulties and dangers. Yermolov, visiting in the city of Cuba, ordered Aslankhan of Kazikumukh to stop the unrest initiated by the followers of the new teaching, but, distracted by other matters, could not follow the execution of this order, as a result of which the main preachers of Muridism, Mulla-Mohammed, and then Kazi-Mulla, continued inflame the minds of the highlanders in Dagestan and Chechnya and proclaim the proximity of gazavat, that is, a holy war against the infidels. In 1825, there was a general uprising in Chechnya, during which the highlanders managed to seize the post of Amir-Adzhi-Yurt (July 8) and tried to take the fortification of Gerzel-aul, rescued by a detachment of the general-leit. Lisanevich (July 15). The next day, Lisanevich and the gene with him. The Greeks were killed by one Chechen intelligence officer. From the very beginning of the city, the coasts of the Kuban began again to be subjected to raids by large parties of the Shapsugs and Abadzekhs; the Kabardians also became agitated. In the city, a number of expeditions were made to Chechnya, with cutting down clearings in dense forests, laying new roads and destroying auls free from Russian troops. This ended the activity of Yermolov, who left the Caucasus in the city.

The Yermolovsky period (1816-27) is considered one of the bloodiest for the Russian army. Its results were: on the northern side of the Caucasus Range - the strengthening of Russian power in Kabarda and the Kumyk lands; the capture of many societies that lived on the foothills and plains against the lion. flank line; for the first time the idea of ​​the need for gradual, systematic actions in a country similar, according to the correct remark of Yermolov's associate, gene. Velyaminov, to a huge natural fortress, where it was necessary to seize successively each redoubt and, only having firmly established itself in it, lead the approaches further. In Dagestan, Russian power was supported by the betrayal of the rulers there.

Beginning of ghazawat (-)

The new Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Corps, General Adjut. Paskevich, at first was busy with wars with Persia and Turkey. The successes he won in these wars contributed to the maintenance of outward calm in the country; but Muridism spread more and more, and Kazi-Mulla sought to unite the hitherto scattered tribes of the east. Caucasus into one mass hostile to Russia. Only Avaria did not succumb to his power, and his attempt (in the city) to seize Khunzakh ended in defeat. After that, the influence of Kazi-Mulla was greatly shaken, and the arrival of new troops sent to the Caucasus after the conclusion of peace with Turkey forced him to flee from his residence, the Dagestan village of Gimry, to the Belokan Lezgins. In April, Count Paskevich-Erivansky was recalled to command the army in Poland; in his place, they were temporarily appointed commanders of the troops: in Transcaucasia - gene. Pankratiev, on the line - gene. Velyaminov. Kazi-Mulla transferred his activities to the Shamkhal possessions, where, having chosen the inaccessible tract of Chumkesent (in the 13th century, 10 from Temir-Khan-Shura), he began to call all the mountaineers to fight against the infidels. His attempts to take the fortresses Stormy and Sudden failed; but the movement of General Emanuel to the Aukh forests was not crowned with success either. The last failure, greatly exaggerated by the mountain messengers, multiplied the number of adherents of Kazi-Mulla, especially in central Dagestan, so that he plundered Kizlyar and attempted, but unsuccessfully, to capture Derbent. Attacked, December 1, regiment. Miklashevsky, he had to leave Chumkesent and went to Gimry. The new head of the Caucasian Corps, Baron Rosen, took Gimry on October 17, 1832; Kazi-Mulla died during the battle. His successor was Gamzat-bek (see), who in the city invaded Avaria, treacherously took possession of Khunzakh, exterminated almost the entire khan's family and was already thinking about conquering all of Dagestan, but died at the hands of the killer. Shortly after his death, on October 18, 1834, the main den of the Murids, the village of Gotsatl (see the corresponding article), was taken and devastated by a detachment of Colonel Kluki-von Klugenau. On the Black Sea coast, where the highlanders had many convenient points for communication with the Turks and trading in slaves (the Black Sea coastline did not yet exist at that time), foreign agents, especially the British, distributed appeals hostile to us between the local tribes and delivered military supplies. This prompted the bar. Rosen to entrust the gene. Velyaminov (in the summer of 1834) a new expedition to the Trans-Kuban region, to set up a cordon line to Gelendzhik. It ended with the construction of the fortification of Nikolaevsky.

Imam Shamil

Imam Shamil

In the Eastern Caucasus, after the death of Gamzat-bek, Shamil became the head of the murids. The new imam, gifted with outstanding administrative and military abilities, soon turned out to be an extremely dangerous adversary, rallying under his despotic power all the hitherto scattered tribes of the V. Caucasus. Already at the beginning of the year, his forces increased so much that he set out to punish the Khunzakh people for the murder of his predecessor. Aslan-Khan-Kazikumukhsky, who was temporarily appointed by us as the ruler of Avaria, asked to occupy Khunzakh with Russian troops, and Baron Rosen agreed to his request, in view of the strategic importance of the named point; but this entailed the need to occupy many other points in order to ensure communications with Khunzakh through inaccessible mountains. The Temir-Khan-Shura fortress, newly built on the Tarkov plane, was chosen as the main reference point on the way of communication between Khunzakh and the Caspian coast, and to provide a pier, to which ships from Astrakhan approached, the Nizovoe fortification was built. Shura's communication with Khunzakh was covered by the fortification of Zirani, at the river. Avar Koisu, and the Chipmunk-kale tower. For a direct connection between Shura and the Vnezapnaya fortress, the Miatlinskaya crossing over Sulak was built and covered with towers; the road from Shura to Kizlyar was provided by the fortification of Kazi-yurt.

Shamil, more and more consolidating his power, chose the Koysubu district as his residence, where, on the banks of the Andean Koysu, he began to build a fortification, which he called Akhulgo. In 1837, General Fezi occupied Khunzakh, took the village of Ashilty and the fortification of Old Akhulgo, and besieged the village of Tilitl, where Shamil had taken refuge. When, on July 3, we took possession of part of this village, Shamil entered into negotiations and promised obedience. I had to accept his proposal, since our detachment, which had suffered heavy losses, turned out to be a severe shortage of food and, in addition, news was received of an uprising in Cuba. The expedition of General Fezi, despite its outward success, brought more benefit to Shamil than to us: the retreat of the Russians from Tilitl gave him a pretext for spreading in the mountains the conviction of the clear protection of Allah for him. In the western Caucasus, a detachment of General Velyaminov, in the summer of the city, penetrated to the mouths of the Pshada and Vulan rivers and laid the fortifications of Novotroitskoye and Mikhailovskoye there.

In September of the same 1837, Emperor Nicholas I visited the Caucasus for the first time and was dissatisfied with the fact that, despite many years of efforts and heavy sacrifices, we were still far from lasting results in the pacification of the region. General Golovin was appointed to replace Baron Rosen. In the city on the Black Sea coast, the fortifications of Navaginskoye, Velyaminovskoye and Tenginskoye were built and the construction of the Novorossiyskaya fortress, with a military harbor, began.

In the city, operations were carried out, in various areas, by three detachments. The first landing detachment of General Raevsky erected new fortifications on the Black Sea coast (forts Golovinsky, Lazarev, Raevsky). The second, Dagestan detachment, under the command of the corps commander himself, took possession, on May 31, of a very strong position of the highlanders on the Adzhiakhur heights, and on June 3 occupied the village. Akhta, near which a fortification was erected. The third detachment, Chechen, under the command of General Grabbe, moved against the main forces of Shamil, who fortified near the village. Argvani, on the descent to the Andean Kois. Despite the strength of this position, Grabbe seized it, and Shamil, with several hundred murids, took refuge in the renewed Akhulgo. It fell on August 22, but Shamil himself managed to escape.

The highlanders, apparently, submitted, but in fact they were preparing an uprising, which for 3 years kept us in the most tense state. Military operations began on the Black Sea coast, where our hastily built forts were in a dilapidated state, and the garrisons were extremely weakened by fevers and other diseases. On February 7, the highlanders captured Fort Lazarev and exterminated all its defenders; On February 29, the Velyaminovskoye fortification befell the same fate; On March 23, after a fierce battle, the enemy penetrated the Mikhailovskoye fortification, the rest of the garrison of which exploded into the air, along with enemy crowds. In addition, the highlanders captured (April 2) the Nikolaevsky fort; but their undertakings against Fort Navaginsky and the fortifications of Abinsk were unsuccessful.

On the left flank, a premature attempt to disarm the Chechens aroused extreme anger among them, taking advantage of which, Shamil raised the Ichkerin, Aukh and other Chechen communities against us. Russian troops under the command of General Galafeev were limited to searches in the forests of Chechnya, which cost many people. Especially bloody was the case on the river. Valerik (July 11). While gen. Galafeev walked around M. Chechnya, Shamil subjugated Salatavia to his power and in early August invaded Avaria, where he conquered several auls. With the addition to him of the foreman of the mountain communities on the Andi Koisu, the famous Kibit-Magoma, his strength and enterprise increased enormously. By autumn, all of Chechnya was already on the side of Shamil, and the means of the K. line were insufficient for a successful fight against him. The Chechens extended their raids as far as the Terek and nearly captured Mozdok. On the right flank, by autumn, the new line along the Laba was secured by the forts of Zassovsky, Makhoshevsky and Temirgoevsky. On the Black Sea coastline, the Velyaminovskoye and Lazarevskoye fortifications were renewed. In 1841 riots broke out in Avaria, initiated by Hadji Murad. Sent to pacify their battalion with 2 mountain guns, under the command of Gen. Bakunin, failed at the village of Tselmes, and Colonel Passek, who took over the command after the mortally wounded Bakunin, only with difficulty managed to withdraw the remnants of the detachment in Khunzakh. The Chechens raided the Georgian Military Highway and captured the military settlement of Aleksandrovskoye, while Shamil himself approached Nazran and attacked the detachment of Colonel Nesterov stationed there, but was unsuccessful and took refuge in the forests of Chechnya. On May 15, Generals Golovin and Grabbe attacked and took the imam's position near the village of Chirkey, after which the village itself was occupied and the Evgenievskoye fortification was laid near it. Nevertheless, Shamil managed to extend his power to the mountain communities of the right bank of the river. Avarsky-Koysu and reappeared in Chechnya; the murids again took possession of the village of Gergebil, which blocked the entrance to the Mehtuli possessions; our communications with the Accident have been temporarily interrupted.

In the spring, the expedition of the gene. Fezi corrected our affairs in Avaria and Koisubu. Shamil tried to stir up southern Dagestan, but to no avail. General Grabbe moved through the dense forests of Ichkeria, with the aim of capturing the residence of Shamil, the village of Dargo. However, already on the 4th day of the movement, our detachment had to stop, and then begin a retreat (always the most difficult part of operations in the Caucasus), during which we lost 60 officers, about 1700 lower ranks, one gun and almost the entire convoy. The unfortunate outcome of this expedition greatly elevated the spirit of the enemy, and Shamil began to recruit an army, intending to invade Avaria. Although Grabbe, having learned about this, moved there with a new, strong detachment and captured the village of Igali from the battle, but then withdrew from Avaria, where our garrison remained in Khunzakh alone. The overall result of the actions of 1842 was far from satisfactory; in October, Adjutant General Neidgardt was appointed to replace Golovin. The failures of our weapons have spread in the highest spheres of government the conviction of the futility and even the danger of offensive action. Against this kind of action, the then Minister of War, Prince. Chernyshev, who visited the Caucasus the previous summer and witnessed the return of the Grabbe detachment from the Ichkerin forests. Impressed by this catastrophe, he issued the Supreme Command, which forbade all expeditions to the city and ordered that they be limited to defense.

This forced inactivity encouraged the opponents, and raids on the line became more frequent again. August 31, 1843 Imam Shamil captured the fort at the village. Untsukul, destroying the detachment that went to the rescue of the besieged. In the following days, several more fortifications fell, and on September 11, Gotsatl was taken, which interrupted communication with Temir-khan-Shura. From August 28 to September 21, the losses of Russian troops amounted to 55 officers, more than 1,500 lower ranks, 12 guns and significant warehouses: the fruits of many years of effort were lost, long-submissive mountain communities were torn from our power and our moral charm was shaken. On October 28, Shamil surrounded the Gergebil fortification, which he managed to take only on November 8, when only 50 people remained from the defenders. Gangs of highlanders, scattered in all directions, interrupted almost all communication with Derbent, Kizlyar and Lev. flank of the line; our troops in Temir-khan-Shura withstood the blockade, which lasted from November 8 to December 24. The Nizovoye fortification, defended by only 400 people, withstood for 10 days the attacks of a crowd of thousands of highlanders, until it was rescued by a detachment of the gene. Freytag. In mid-April, Shamil's gatherings, led by Hadji Murat and Naib Kibit-Magom, approached Kumykh, but on the 22nd they were completely defeated by Prince Argutinsky, near the village. Margi. About this time, Shamil himself was defeated, at the village. Andreeva, where he was met by a detachment of Colonel Kozlovsky, and at the village. The Gilly Highlanders were defeated by Passek's detachment. On the Lezghin line, the Elisu Khan Daniel-bek, who until then had been loyal to us, was indignant. A detachment of General Schwartz was sent against him, which scattered the rebels and captured the village of Elisu, but the Khan himself managed to escape. The actions of the main Russian forces were quite successful and ended with the capture of the Dargeli district (Akusha and Tsudahar); then the construction of the advanced Chechen line began, the first link of which was the fortification of Vozdvizhenskoye, on the river. Argun. On the right flank, the highlanders' assault on the Golovinskoye fortification was brilliantly repulsed on the night of July 16.

At the end of the year, a new commander-in-chief, Count M. S. Vorontsov, was appointed to the Caucasus. He arrived in the early spring of the city, and in June moved with a large detachment to Andia and then to the residence of Shamil - Dargo (see). This expedition ended in the extermination of the named aul and delivered the princely title to Vorontsov, but cost us huge losses. On the Black Sea coastline, in the summer of 1845, the highlanders attempted to capture the forts of Raevsky (May 24) and Golovinsky (July 1), but were repulsed. From the city on the left flank, we began to consolidate our power in the lands already occupied, erecting new fortifications and Cossack villages, and preparing for further movement deep into the Chechen forests, by cutting down wide clearings. Prince's victory Bebutov, who wrested from the hands of Shamil the hard-to-reach village of Kutishi (in central Dagestan), which had just been occupied by him, resulted in the complete calming of the Kumyk plane and foothills. On the Black Sea coastline, on November 28, the Ubykhs (up to 6 thousand people) launched a new desperate attack on the Golovinsky Fort, but were repelled with great damage.

In the city, Prince Vorontsov besieged Gergebil, but, due to the spread of cholera in the troops, he had to retreat. At the end of July, he undertook a siege of the fortified village of Salta, which, despite the significance of our siege weapons, held out until September 14, when it was cleared by the highlanders. Both of these enterprises cost us about 150 officers and more than 2 1/2 tons of lower ranks who were out of action. The gatherings of Daniel-bek invaded the Djaro-Belokan district, but on May 13 they were completely defeated at the village of Chardakhly. In mid-November, crowds of Dagestani highlanders invaded Kazikumukh and managed to capture, but not for long, several auls.

In the city, an outstanding event is the capture of Gergebil (July 7) by Prince Argutinsky. In general, for a long time there has not been such calmness in the Caucasus as this year; only on the Lezghin line were frequent alarms repeated. In September, Shamil tried to capture the fortification of Akhta, on Samur, but he failed. In the city of the siege of the village of Chokha, undertaken by Prince. Argutinsky, cost us heavy losses, but was not successful. From the side of the Lezgin line, General Chilyaev made a successful expedition to the mountains, which ended in the defeat of the enemy near the village of Khupro.

In the year, systematic deforestation in Chechnya continued with the same persistence and was accompanied by more or less hot deeds. This course of action, by putting societies hostile to us in a stalemate, forced many of them to declare unconditional obedience. It was decided to adhere to the same system in the city. On the right flank, an offensive was launched to the Belaya River, with the aim of moving our advanced line there and taking away the fertile lands between this river and Laba from the hostile Abadzekhs; in addition, the offensive in this direction was caused by the appearance in the western Caucasus of Shamil's agent, Mohammed-Emin, who was gathering large parties for raids on our settlements near the Labinsk, but was defeated on May 14.

G. was marked by brilliant actions in Chechnya, under the leadership of the chief of the left flank, Prince. Baryatinsky, who penetrated hitherto inaccessible forest shelters and exterminated many hostile villages. These successes were overshadowed only by the unsuccessful expedition of Colonel Baklanov to the village of Gurdali.

In the city, rumors of an impending break with Turkey aroused new hopes in the highlanders. Shamil and Mohammed-Emin, having gathered the mountain elders, announced to them the firmans received from the Sultan, commanding all Muslims to rise up against the common enemy; they talked about the imminent arrival of Turkish troops in Georgia and Kabarda and about the need to act decisively against the Russians, who were allegedly weakened by the dispatch of most of the military forces to the Turkish borders. However, in the mass of the highlanders, the spirit had already fallen so much, due to a series of failures and extreme impoverishment, that Shamil could subordinate them to his will only through cruel punishments. The raid he planned on the Lezgin line ended in complete failure, and Mohammed-Emin, with a crowd of Trans-Kuban highlanders, was defeated by a detachment of General Kozlovsky. When the final break with Turkey followed, it was decided at all points in the Caucasus to adhere to a predominantly defensive course of action on our part; however, the clearing of forests and the extermination of the enemy's food supplies continued, albeit on a more limited scale. In the city, the head of the Turkish Anatolian army entered into relations with Shamil, inviting him to move to connect with him from Dagestan. At the end of June, Shamil invaded Kakheti; the highlanders managed to ruin the rich village of Tsinondal, capture the family of its owner and plunder several churches, but, having learned about the approach of Russian troops, they fled. Shamil's attempt to seize the peaceful village of Istisu (see) was not successful. On the right flank, the space between Anapa, Novorossiysk and the mouths of the Kuban was left by us; At the beginning of the year, the garrisons of the Black Sea coastline were taken to the Crimea, and the forts and other buildings were blown up (see the Eastern War of 1853-56). Book. Vorontsov left the Caucasus back in March, transferring control to the gene. Readu, and at the beginning of the year, the general was appointed commander in chief in the Caucasus. N. I. Muravyov. The landing of the Turks in Abkhazia, despite the betrayal of its owner, Prince. Shervashidze, had no harmful consequences for us. At the conclusion of the Paris peace, in the spring of 1856, it was decided to use the existing in Az. Turkey with troops and, having strengthened the K. corps with them, proceed to the final conquest of the Caucasus.

Baryatinsky

The new commander in chief, Prince Baryatinsky, turned his main attention to Chechnya, the conquest of which he entrusted to the head of the left wing of the line, General Evdokimov, an old and experienced Caucasian; but in other parts of the Caucasus, the troops did not remain inactive. In and years Russian troops achieved the following results: the Adagum valley was occupied on the right wing of the line and the Maykop fortification was built. On the left wing, the so-called "Russian road", from Vladikavkaz, parallel to the Black Mountains, to the fortification of Kurinsky on the Kumyk plane, is completely completed and strengthened by newly built fortifications; wide clearings were cut in all directions; the mass of the hostile population of Chechnya has been brought to the point of having to submit and move to open places, under state supervision; the Auch district is occupied and a fortification has been erected in its center. Salatavia is completely occupied in Dagestan. Several new Cossack villages were built along Laba, Urup and Sunzha. The troops are everywhere close to the front lines; the rear is secured; huge expanses of the best lands are cut off from the hostile population and, thus, a significant share of the resources for the struggle is wrested from the hands of Shamil.

On the Lezgin line, as a result of deforestation, predatory raids were replaced by petty theft. On the Black Sea coast, the second occupation of Gagra marked the beginning of securing Abkhazia from incursions by Circassian tribes and from hostile propaganda. The actions of the city in Chechnya began with the occupation of the gorge of the Argun River, which was considered impregnable, where Evdokimov ordered the construction of a strong fortification, called Argunsky. Climbing up the river, he reached, at the end of July, the auls of the Shatoevsky society; in the upper reaches of the Argun he laid a new fortification - Evdokimovskoe. Shamil tried to divert attention by sabotage to Nazran, but was defeated by a detachment of General Mishchenko and barely managed to escape to the still unoccupied part of the Argun Gorge. Convinced that his power there was finally undermined, he retired to Veden - his new residence. On March 17, the bombardment of this fortified aul began, and on April 1 it was taken by storm.

Shamil fled for the Andean Koisu; the whole of Ichkeria declared obedience to us. After the capture of Veden, three detachments went concentrically into the valley of the Andean Koisu: Chechen, Dagestan and Lezgin. Shamil, who temporarily settled in the village of Karata, fortified Mount Kilitl, and covered the right bank of the Andean Koisu, against Konkhidatl, with solid stone blockages, entrusting their defense to his son Kazi-Magome. With any energetic resistance of the latter, forcing the crossing in this place would cost huge sacrifices; but he was forced to leave his strong position, as a result of the troops of the Dagestan detachment entering his flank, who made a remarkably courageous crossing through the Andiyskoye Koisa near the Sagritlo tract. Shamil, seeing the danger threatening from everywhere, fled to his last refuge on Mount Gunib, having only 332 people with him. the most fanatical murids from all over Dagestan. On August 25, Gunib was taken by storm, and Shamil himself was captured by Prince Baryatinsky.

End of the war: Conquest of Circassia (1859-1864)

The capture of Gunib and the capture of Shamil could be considered the last act of the war in the Eastern Caucasus; but there still remained the western part of the region, inhabited by warlike and hostile tribes to Russia. It was decided to conduct actions in the Trans-Kuban Territory in accordance with the system adopted in recent years. The native tribes had to submit and move to the places indicated by them on the plane; otherwise, they were driven further into the barren mountains, and the lands they left behind were settled by Cossack villages; finally, after pushing the natives from the mountains to the seashore, it remained for them either to move to the plane, under our closest supervision, or to move to Turkey, in which it was supposed to provide them with possible assistance. In order to carry out this plan as soon as possible, Baryatinsky decided, at the beginning of the year, to reinforce the troops of the right wing with very large reinforcements; but the uprising that broke out in the newly pacified Chechnya and partly in Dagestan forced this to be temporarily abandoned. Actions against the small gangs there, led by stubborn fanatics, dragged on until the end of the year, when all attempts at revolt were finally crushed. Then only it was possible to start decisive operations on the right wing, the leadership of which was entrusted to the conqueror of Chechnya, Evdokimov. His troops were divided into 2 detachments: one, Adagum, operated in the land of the Shapsugs, the other - from the side of Laba and Belaya; a special detachment was sent for operations in the lower reaches of the river. Pshish. Cossack villages were set up in the Natukhai district in autumn and winter. The troops operating from the side of Laba completed the construction of the villages between Laba and Bela and cut through the entire foothill space between these rivers with clearings, which forced the local societies to partly move to the plane, partly to go beyond the pass

Caucasian War 1817-1864
	Territorial and political expansion of Russia
	Russian victory
Territorial changes:	Conquest of the North Caucasus by the Russian Empire
Opponents
	Big Kabarda (until 1825)
Gurian principality (until 1829)
Principality of Svaneti (until 1859)	North Caucasian Imamat (from 1829 to 1859)
	Kazikumukh Khanate
	Mehtulin Khanate
Kyurin Khanate	Kaitag Utsmiystvo
Ilisu Sultanate (until 1844)	Ilisu Sultanate (in 1844)
	Abkhaz rebels
	Mehtulin Khanate
	Vainakh free societies
Commanders
Alexey Ermolov
Alexander Baryatinsky	Kyzbech Tuguzhoko
Nikolay Evdokimov	Gamzat-bek
Ivan Paskevich	Ghazi Muhammad
Mamia V (VII) Gurieli	Baysangur Benoevsky
Davit I Gurieli	Hadji Murad
George (Safarbey) Chachba	Muhammad-Amin
Dmitry (Omarbey) Chachba	Beibulat Taimiev
Mikhail (Khamudbey) Chachba	Hadji Berzek Kerantukh
Levan V Dadiani	Aublaa Ahmat
David I Dadiani	Daniyal-bek (from 1844 to 1859)
Nicholas I Dadiani	Ismail Ajapua
Sulaiman Pasha
Abu Muslim Tarkovsky
Shamsuddin Tarkovsky
Ahmedkhan II
Ahmedkhan II
Daniyal-bek (until 1844)
Side forces
Large military group, number. cat. on closing stage of the war reached more than 200 thousand people.
Military casualties
Total combat losses Ross. army for 1801-1864. comp. 804 officers and 24143 killed, 3154 officers and 61971 wounded: "The Russian army has not known such a number of casualties since the Patriotic War of 1812"

Caucasian war (1817—1864) - military operations related to the accession to the Russian Empire of the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Transcaucasian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (1801-1810) and the khanates of Northern Azerbaijan (1805-1813) were annexed to the Russian Empire. However, between the acquired lands and Russia lay the lands of the swearing allegiance to Russia, but de facto independent mountain peoples. The highlanders of the northern slopes of the Main Caucasian Range put up fierce resistance to the growing influence of imperial power.

After the pacification of Greater Kabarda (1825), the main opponents of the Russian troops in the west were the Adygs and Abkhazians of the Black Sea coast and the Kuban region, and in the east, the peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya, united in a military-theocratic Islamic state - the North Caucasian Imamat, which was headed by Shamil. At this stage, the Caucasian war intertwined with the war of Russia against Persia. Military operations against the highlanders were carried out by significant forces and were very fierce.

From the mid 1830s. the conflict escalated in connection with the emergence in Chechnya and Dagestan of a religious and political movement under the flag of ghazavat. The resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan was broken only in 1859, they surrendered after the capture of Imam Shamil in Gunib. One of Shamil's naibs, Baysangur Benoevsky, who did not want to surrender, broke through the encirclement of the Russian troops, went to Chechnya and continued to resist the Russian troops until 1861. The war with the Adyghe tribes of the Western Caucasus continued until 1864 and ended with the eviction of part of the Adygs, Circassians and Kabardians, Ubykhs, Shapsugs, Abadzekhs and the West Abkhazian tribes of Akhchipshu, Sadz (Dzhigets) and others to the Ottoman Empire, or to the flat lands of the Kuban region.

Name

concept "Caucasian War" introduced by the Russian military historian and publicist, a contemporary of the fighting, R. A. Fadeev (1824-1883) in the book “Sixty Years of the Caucasian War” published in 1860. The book was written on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky. However, pre-revolutionary and Soviet historians up until the 1940s preferred the term Caucasian wars to empire.

In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, an article about the war was called "The Caucasian War of 1817-64."

After the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the Russian Federation, separatist tendencies intensified in the autonomous regions of Russia. This was reflected in the attitude to the events in the North Caucasus (and in particular to the Caucasian war), in their assessment.

In the work “The Caucasian War: Lessons of History and Modernity”, presented in May 1994 at a scientific conference in Krasnodar, historian Valery Ratushnyak speaks of “ Russian-Caucasian war that lasted for a century and a half.

In the book "Unconquered Chechnya", published in 1997 after the First Chechen War, public and political figure Lema Usmanov called the war of 1817-1864 " First Russo-Caucasian War».

background

Russia's relations with peoples and states on both sides of the Caucasus Mountains have a long and difficult history. After the collapse of Georgia in the 1460s. to several separate kingdoms and principalities (Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, Samtskhe-Javakheti), their rulers often turned to the Russian tsars with requests for patronage.

In 1557, a military-political alliance between Russia and Kabarda was concluded, in 1561 the daughter of the Kabardian prince Temryuk Idarov Kuchenya (Maria) became the wife of Ivan the Terrible. In 1582, the inhabitants of the vicinity of Beshtau, constrained by the raids of the Crimean Tatars, surrendered under the protection of the Russian Tsar. Tsar Alexander II of Kakheti, constrained by the attacks of Shamkhal of Tarkovsky, sent an embassy to Tsar Theodore in 1586, expressing his readiness to enter into Russian citizenship. The Kartalian king Georgy Simonovich also swore allegiance to Russia, which, however, was not able to provide significant assistance to the Transcaucasian co-religionists and limited itself to petitions for them to the Persian Shah.

During the Time of Troubles (beginning of the 17th century), Russia's relations with Transcaucasia ceased for a long time. Repeated requests for help, with which the Transcaucasian rulers turned to Tsars Mikhail Romanov and Alexei Mikhailovich, remained unsatisfied.

Since the time of Peter I, Russian influence on the affairs of the Caucasus region has become more definite and permanent, although the Caspian regions, conquered by Peter during the Persian campaign (1722-1723), soon again withdrew to Persia. The northeastern branch of the Terek, the so-called old Terek, remained the border between the two powers.

Under Anna Ioannovna, the beginning of the Caucasian line was laid. The treaty of 1739, concluded with the Ottoman Empire, Kabarda was recognized as independent and was supposed to serve as a "barrier between both powers"; and then Islam, which quickly spread among the highlanders, completely alienated the latter from Russia.

Since the beginning of the first, under Catherine II, the war against Turkey, Russia maintained continuous relations with Georgia; King Erekle II even helped the Russian troops, who, under the command of Count Totleben, crossed the Caucasus Range and penetrated into Imeretia through Kartli.

According to the Treaty of Georgievsky on July 24, 1783, the Georgian king Erekle II was accepted under the protection of Russia. In Georgia, it was decided to maintain 2 Russian battalions with 4 guns. These forces, however, could not protect the country from the raids of the Avars, and the Georgian militia was inactive. Only in the autumn of 1784 was a punitive expedition launched against the Lezgins, who were overtaken on October 14 near the Muganlu tract, and, having been defeated, fled across the river. Alazan. This victory did not bring much fruit. The Lezgin invasions continued. Turkish emissaries incited the Muslim population against Russia. When Umma Khan of Avar (Omar Khan) began to threaten Georgia in 1785, Tsar Heraclius turned to General Potemkin, who commanded the Caucasian Line, with a request to send new reinforcements, but an uprising broke out in Chechnya against Russia, and Russian troops were busy suppressing it. The holy war was preached by Sheikh Mansour. A rather strong detachment sent against him under the command of Colonel Pieri was surrounded by Chechens in the Zasunzhensky forests and destroyed. Pieri himself was also killed. This raised the authority of Mansur, and the unrest spread from Chechnya to Kabarda and the Kuban. Mansur's attack on Kizlyar failed and soon after he was defeated in Malaya Kabarda by a detachment of Colonel Nagel, but the Russian troops on the Caucasian line continued to remain in suspense.

Meanwhile, Umma Khan with the Dagestan highlanders invaded Georgia and devastated it without meeting resistance; on the other hand, the Akhaltsikhe Turks raided. The Russian battalions, and Colonel Burnashev, who commanded them, turned out to be insolvent, and the Georgian troops consisted of poorly armed peasants.

Russo-Turkish War

In 1787, in view of the impending break between Russia and Turkey, the Russian troops stationed in Transcaucasia were recalled to a fortified line, to protect which a number of fortifications were erected on the coast of the Kuban and 2 corps were formed: the Kuban Chasseur, under the command of General-in-Chief Tekeli, and Caucasian, under the command of Lieutenant General Potemkin. In addition, a zemstvo army was established from Ossetians, Ingush and Kabardians. General Potemkin, and then General Tekelli, undertook expeditions beyond the Kuban, but the state of affairs on the line did not change significantly, and the raids of the highlanders continued uninterruptedly. Communication between Russia and Transcaucasia almost ceased. Vladikavkaz and other fortified points on the way to Georgia were abandoned in 1788. The campaign against Anapa (1789) failed. In 1790, the Turks, together with the so-called. Trans-Kuban highlanders moved to Kabarda, but were defeated by the gene. German. In June 1791, Gudovich took Anapa by storm, and Sheikh Mansur was also captured. Under the terms of the Peace of Jassy concluded in the same year, Anapa was returned to the Turks.

With the end of the Russian-Turkish war, the strengthening of the Caucasian line and the construction of new Cossack villages began. The Terek and the upper Kuban were settled by the Don Cossacks, and the right bank of the Kuban, from the Ust-Labinsk fortress to the shores of the Azov and Black Seas, was settled by the Black Sea Cossacks.

Russo-Persian War (1796)

Georgia was at that time in the most deplorable state. Taking advantage of this, Agha Mohammed Shah Qajar invaded Georgia and on September 11, 1795 took and ravaged Tiflis. King Heraclius with a handful of close associates fled to the mountains. At the end of the same year, Russian troops entered Georgia and Dagestan. The Dagestan rulers expressed their obedience, except for Surkhay Khan II of Kazikumukh, and the Derbent Khan Sheikh Ali. On May 10, 1796, the Derbent fortress was taken despite stubborn resistance. Baku was occupied in June. Lieutenant-General Count Valerian Zubov, who commanded the troops, was appointed instead of Gudovich as the chief commander of the Caucasus region; but his activities there were soon put to an end by the death of Empress Catherine. Paul I ordered Zubov to suspend hostilities. Gudovich was again appointed commander of the Caucasian Corps. Russian troops were withdrawn from Transcaucasia, except for two battalions left in Tiflis.

Accession of Georgia (1800-1804)

In 1798 George XII came to the Georgian throne. He asked Emperor Paul I to take Georgia under his protection and provide it with armed assistance. As a result of this, and in view of the clearly hostile intentions of Persia, the Russian troops in Georgia were significantly strengthened.

In 1800, Umma Khan of Avar invaded Georgia. On November 7, on the banks of the Iori River, he was defeated by General Lazarev. On December 22, 1800, a manifesto was signed in St. Petersburg on the annexation of Georgia to Russia; after that, Tsar George died.

At the beginning of the reign of Alexander I (1801), Russian rule was introduced in Georgia. General Knorring was appointed commander-in-chief, and Kovalensky was appointed civil ruler of Georgia. Neither one nor the other knew the manners and customs of the local people, and the officials who arrived with them allowed themselves various abuses. Many in Georgia were dissatisfied with the entry into Russian citizenship. Unrest in the country did not stop, and the borders were still subjected to raids by neighbors.

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

At the end of 1802, Knorring and Kovalensky were recalled, and Lieutenant General Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Tsitsianov, himself a Georgian by birth, well acquainted with the region, was appointed commander in chief in the Caucasus. He sent members of the former Georgian royal house to Russia, considering them to be the perpetrators of the turmoil. With the khans and the owners of the Tatar and mountain regions, he spoke in a formidable and commanding tone. The inhabitants of the Jaro-Belokan region, who did not stop their raids, were defeated by a detachment of General Gulyakov, and the region was annexed to Georgia. The ruler of Abkhazia, Keleshbey Chachba-Shervashidze, made a military campaign against the Prince of Megrelia, Grigol Dadiani. Grigol's son Levan was taken by Keleshbey as an amanat.

In 1803, Mingrelia became part of the Russian Empire.

In 1803, Tsitsianov organized a Georgian militia of 4,500 volunteers who joined the Russian army. In January 1804, he stormed the fortress of Ganja, subjugating the Ganja Khanate, for which he was promoted to general of infantry.

In 1804, Imereti and Guria became part of the Russian Empire.

Russo-Persian War

On June 10, 1804, the Persian Shah Feth-Ali (Baba Khan) (1797-1834), who entered into an alliance with Great Britain, declared war on Russia. Feth Ali Shah's attempt to invade Georgia ended in the complete defeat of his troops near Etchmiadzin in June.

In the same year, Tsitsianov also subjugated the Shirvan Khanate. He took a number of measures to encourage crafts, agriculture and trade. He founded the Noble School in Tiflis, which was later transformed into a gymnasium, restored a printing house, and sought the right for Georgian youth to receive education in higher educational institutions in Russia.

In 1805 - Karabakh and Sheki, Jehan-Gir-khan of Shagakh and Budag-sultan of Shuragel. Feth Ali Shah again opened offensive operations, but at the news of Tsitsianov's approach, he fled for the Araks.

On February 8, 1805, Prince Tsitsianov, who approached Baku with a detachment, was killed by the Khan's servants during the peaceful surrender of the city. In his place was again appointed Gudovich, who was familiar with the state of affairs on the Caucasian line, but not in Transcaucasia. The recently subjugated rulers of various Tatar regions again became clearly hostile to the Russian administration. Actions against them were successful. Derbent, Baku, Nukha were taken. But the situation was complicated by the Persian invasions and the break with Turkey that followed in 1806.

The war with Napoleon pulled all the forces to the western borders of the empire, and the Caucasian troops were left without staffing.

In 1808, the ruler of Abkhazia, Keleshbey Chachba-Shervashidze, was killed as a result of a conspiracy and an armed attack. The sovereign court of Megrelia and Nina Dadiani, in favor of her son-in-law Safarbey Chachba-Shervashidze, spreads a rumor about the involvement of the eldest son of Keleshbey, Aslanbey Chachba-Shervashidze, in the murder of the ruler of Abkhazia. This unverified information was picked up by General I.I. Rygkof, and then by the whole Russian side, which became the main motive for supporting Safarbey Chachba in the struggle for the Abkhazian throne. From this moment, the struggle between the two brothers Safarbey and Aslanbey begins.

In 1809, General Alexander Tormasov was appointed commander-in-chief. Under the new commander-in-chief, it was necessary to intervene in the internal affairs of Abkhazia, where some of the members of the ruling house who quarreled with each other turned to Russia for help, and others to Turkey. The fortresses of Poti and Sukhum were taken. I had to pacify the uprisings in Imereti and Ossetia.

Uprising in South Ossetia (1810-1811)

In the summer of 1811, when political tensions in Georgia and South Ossetia reached a noticeable intensity, Alexander I was forced to recall General Alexander Tormasov from Tiflis and instead send F.O. Paulucci to Georgia as commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief. The new commander was required to take drastic measures aimed at serious changes in the Transcaucasus.

On July 7, 1811, General Rtishchev was appointed to the post of Chief Commander of the troops located along the Caucasian line and the provinces of Astrakhan and the Caucasus.

Philippe Paulucci had to simultaneously wage war against the Turks (from Kars) and against the Persians (in Karabakh) and fight the uprisings. In addition, during the reign of Paulucci, the address of Alexander I received statements from the Bishop of Gori and Vicar of Georgia Dositheus, the leader of the Aznauri Georgian feudal group, who raised the issue of the illegality of granting feudal estates to the princes Eristavi in ​​South Ossetia; The Aznaur group still hoped that, having ousted the representatives of Eristavi from South Ossetia, it would divide the vacated possessions among themselves.

But soon, in view of the impending war against Napoleon, he was summoned to St. Petersburg.

On February 16, 1812, General Nikolai Rtishchev was appointed Commander-in-Chief in Georgia and Chief Manager for the civilian part. He faced in Georgia with the question of the political situation in South Ossetia as one of the most acute. Its complexity after 1812 consisted not only in the uncompromising struggle of Ossetia with the Georgian tavads, but also in the far-reaching confrontation for the mastery of South Ossetia, which continued between the two Georgian feudal parties.

In the war with Persia after many defeats, Crown Prince Abbas Mirza offered peace negotiations. On August 23, 1812, Rtishchev left Tiflis to the Persian border and, through the mediation of the English envoy, entered into negotiations, but did not accept the conditions proposed by Abbas Mirza and returned to Tiflis.

On October 31, 1812, Russian troops won a victory near Aslanduz, and then, in December, the last stronghold of the Persians in Transcaucasia, the fortress of Lenkoran, the capital of the Talysh Khanate, was taken.

In the autumn of 1812, a new uprising broke out in Kakheti, led by the Georgian prince Alexander. It was suppressed. The Khevsurs and Kistins took an active part in this uprising. Rtishchev decided to punish these tribes and in May 1813 undertook a punitive expedition to Khevsureti, little known to Russians. The troops of Major General Simanovich, despite the stubborn defense of the mountaineers, reached the main Khevsurian village of Shatili in the upper reaches of the Argun, and destroyed all the villages that lay on their way. The raids on Chechnya undertaken by the Russian troops were not approved by the emperor. Alexander I ordered Rtishchev to try to restore calm on the Caucasian line with friendliness and condescension.

On October 10, 1813, Rtishchev left Tiflis for Karabakh and on October 12 in the Gulistan tract, a peace treaty was concluded, according to which Persia renounced claims to Dagestan, Georgia, Imeretia, Abkhazia, Megrelia and recognized Russia's rights to all conquered and voluntarily submitted regions and khanates (Karabakh, Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Cuban, Baku and Talyshinsky).

In the same year, an uprising broke out in Abkhazia led by Aslanbey Chachba-Shervashidze against the power of his younger brother Safarbey Chachba-Shervashidze. The Russian battalion and militia of the ruler of Megrelia, Levan Dadiani, then saved the life and power of the ruler of Abkhazia, Safarbey Chachba.

Events of 1814-1816

In 1814, Alexander I, busy with the Congress of Vienna, devoted his short stay in St. Petersburg to solving the problem of South Ossetia. He instructed Prince A.N. Golitsyn, Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, to "personally explain" about South Ossetia, in particular, about the feudal rights of the Georgian princes in it, with Generals Tormasov, who were at that time in St. Petersburg and Paulucci, former commanders in the Caucasus.

After the report of A. N. Golitsyn and consultations with the commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, General Rtishchev and addressed to the latter on August 31, 1814, just before leaving for the Congress of Vienna, Alexander I sent his rescript on South Ossetia - a royal letter to Tiflis. In it, Alexander I ordered the commander-in-chief to deprive the Georgian feudal lords Eristavi of their property rights in South Ossetia, and to transfer the estates and settlements, which had previously been granted to them by the monarch, to state ownership. At the same time, the princes were assigned a reward.

The decisions of Alexander I, taken by him at the end of the summer of 1814 regarding South Ossetia, were perceived by the Georgian Tavad elite extremely negatively. The Ossetians greeted him with satisfaction. However, the execution of the decree was hampered by the commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, infantry general Nikolai Rtishchev. At the same time, the Eristov princes provoked anti-Russian demonstrations in South Ossetia.

In 1816, with the participation of A. A. Arakcheev, the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire suspended the withdrawal of the possessions of the princes Eristavi to the treasury, and in February 1817 the decree was disavowed.

Meanwhile, long-term service, advanced years and illness forced Rtishchev to ask for dismissal from his post. On April 9, 1816, General Rtishchev was dismissed from his posts. However, he ruled the region until the arrival of A.P. Yermolov, who was appointed to take his place. In the summer of 1816, by order of Alexander I, Lieutenant General Alexei Yermolov, who won respect in the wars with Napoleon, was appointed commander of the Separate Georgian Corps, manager of the civilian unit in the Caucasus and Astrakhan province. In addition, he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to Persia.

Yermolovsky period (1816-1827)

In September 1816, Yermolov arrived at the border of the Caucasian province. In October, he arrived on the Caucasian line in the city of Georgievsk. From there he immediately left for Tiflis, where the former commander-in-chief, General of the Infantry, Nikolai Rtishchev, was waiting for him. On October 12, 1816, Rtishchev was expelled from the army by the highest order.

After reviewing the border with Persia, he went in 1817 as an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the court of the Persian Shah Feth-Ali. Peace was approved, consent was expressed for the first time to allow the stay of the Russian charge d'affaires and the mission with him. Upon his return from Persia, he was most mercifully awarded the rank of general of infantry.

Having familiarized himself with the situation on the Caucasian line, Yermolov outlined a plan of action, which he then steadily adhered to. Given the fanaticism of the mountain tribes, their unbridled self-will and hostility towards the Russians, as well as the peculiarities of their psychology, the new commander-in-chief decided that it was absolutely impossible to establish peaceful relations under the existing conditions. Yermolov drew up a consistent and systematic plan of offensive operations. Yermolov did not leave unpunished a single robbery and raid of the highlanders. He did not begin decisive action without first equipping the bases and without creating offensive bridgeheads. Among the components of Yermolov's plan were the construction of roads, the creation of clearings, the construction of fortifications, the colonization of the region by the Cossacks, the formation of "layers" between the tribes hostile to Russia by resettling pro-Russian tribes there.

Ermolov transferred the left flank of the Caucasian line from the Terek to the Sunzha, where he strengthened the Nazran redoubt and in October 1817 laid the fortification of Barrier Stan in its middle course.

In the autumn of 1817, the Caucasian troops were reinforced by the occupation corps of Count Vorontsov, who arrived from France. With the arrival of these forces, Yermolov had a total of about 4 divisions, and he could move on to decisive action.

On the Caucasian line, the state of affairs was as follows: the right flank of the line was threatened by the Trans-Kuban Circassians, the center by the Kabardians, and against the left flank behind the Sunzha River lived the Chechens, who enjoyed a high reputation and authority among the mountain tribes. At the same time, the Circassians were weakened by internal strife, the Kabardians were mowed down by the plague - the danger threatened primarily from the Chechens.

"Opposite the center of the line lies Kabarda, once populous, whose inhabitants, revered as the bravest among the highlanders, often fiercely resisted the Russians in bloody battles due to their crowding. ... The pestilence was our ally against the Kabardians; for, having completely destroyed the entire population of Little Kabarda and devastated the Big Kabarda, it weakened them so much that they could no longer gather in large forces as before, but made raids in small parties; otherwise our troops, scattered over a large area by weak units, could be endangered. Quite a few expeditions were undertaken to Kabarda, sometimes they were forced to return or pay for the abductions made.”(from the notes of A.P. Yermolov during the administration of Georgia)

In the spring of 1818 Yermolov turned to Chechnya. In 1818, the Groznaya fortress was founded in the lower reaches of the river. It was believed that this measure put an end to the uprisings of the Chechens living between the Sunzha and the Terek, but in fact it was the beginning of a new war with Chechnya.

Yermolov moved from separate punitive expeditions to a systematic advance deep into Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan by surrounding the mountainous regions with a continuous ring of fortifications, cutting clearings in difficult forests, laying roads and destroying recalcitrant auls.

In Dagestan, the highlanders were pacified, threatening the Tarkovsky Shamkhalate attached to the empire. In 1819, the Vnepnaya fortress was built to keep the highlanders in submission. An attempt to attack her, undertaken by the Avar Khan, ended in complete failure.

In Chechnya, Russian forces drove detachments of armed Chechens further into the mountains and resettled the population on the plain under the protection of Russian garrisons. A clearing was cut in the dense forest to the village of Germenchuk, which served as one of the main bases of the Chechens.

In 1820, the Black Sea Cossack army (up to 40 thousand people) was included in the Separate Georgian Corps, renamed the Separate Caucasian Corps and reinforced.

In 1821, on the top of a steep mountain, on the slopes of which the city of Tarki, the capital of the Tarkov Shamkhaldom, was located, the Burnaya fortress was built. Moreover, during the construction, the troops of the Avar Khan Akhmet, who tried to interfere with the work, were defeated. The possessions of the Dagestan princes, who suffered a series of defeats in 1819-1821, were either transferred to the vassals of Russia and subordinated to Russian commandants, or liquidated.

On the right flank of the line, the Trans-Kuban Circassians, with the help of the Turks, began to disturb the border more strongly. Their army invaded in October 1821 the lands of the Black Sea troops, but was defeated.

In Abkhazia, Major General Prince Gorchakov defeated the rebels near Cape Kodor and brought Prince Dmitry Shervashidze into the possession of the country.

For the complete pacification of Kabarda in 1822, a number of fortifications were built at the foot of the mountains from Vladikavkaz to the upper reaches of the Kuban. Among other things, the Nalchik fortress was founded (1818 or 1822).

In 1823-1824. A number of punitive expeditions were carried out against the Trans-Kuban highlanders.

In 1824, the Black Sea Abkhazians were forced to submit, rebelling against the successor of Prince. Dmitry Shervashidze, Prince. Mikhail Shervashidze.

In Dagestan in the 1820s. A new Islamic trend began to spread - Muridism. Yermolov, visiting Cuba in 1824, ordered Aslankhan of Kazikumukh to stop the unrest initiated by the followers of the new teaching, but, distracted by other matters, could not follow the execution of this order, as a result of which the main preachers of Muridism, Mulla-Mohammed, and then Kazi-Mulla, continued inflame the minds of the highlanders in Dagestan and Chechnya and herald the proximity of the ghazavat, the holy war against the infidels. The movement of the highlanders under the banner of Muridism was the impetus for the expansion of the Caucasian War, although some mountain peoples (Kumyks, Ossetians, Ingush, Kabardians) did not join it.

In 1825, a general uprising began in Chechnya. On July 8, the highlanders captured the Amiradzhiyurt post and tried to take the Gerzel fortification. On July 15, he was rescued by Lieutenant General Lisanevich. The next day, Lisanevich and General Grekov were killed by the Chechen mullah Ochar-Khadzhi during negotiations with the elders. Ochar-Khadzhi attacked General Grekov with a dagger, and also mortally wounded General Lisanevich, who tried to help Grekov. In response to the murder of two generals, the troops killed all the Chechen and Kumyk elders invited to the negotiations. The uprising was put down only in 1826.

The coasts of the Kuban began to be again subjected to raids by large parties of the Shapsugs and Abadzekhs. The Kabardians got excited. In 1826, a number of campaigns were made in Chechnya, with deforestation, clearing and pacification of auls free from Russian troops. This ended the activities of Yermolov, who was recalled by Nicholas I in 1827 and dismissed due to suspicion of having links with the Decembrists.

Its result was the strengthening of Russian power in Kabarda and the Kumyk lands, in the foothills and on the plains. The Russians advanced gradually, methodically cutting down the forests in which the highlanders took refuge.

Beginning of Ghazawat (1827-1835)

The new commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Corps, Adjutant General Paskevich, abandoned the systematic advance with the consolidation of the occupied territories and returned mainly to the tactics of individual punitive expeditions. At first, he was mainly occupied with wars with Persia and Turkey. Successes in these wars contributed to the maintenance of outward calm, but Muridism spread more and more. In December 1828 Kazi-Mulla (Gazi-Muhammad) was proclaimed imam. He was the first to call for ghazavat, seeking to unite the disparate tribes of the Eastern Caucasus into one mass hostile to Russia. Only the Avar Khanate refused to recognize his authority, and Kazi-Mulla's attempt (in 1830) to seize Khunzakh ended in defeat. After that, the influence of Kazi-Mulla was greatly shaken, and the arrival of new troops sent to the Caucasus after the conclusion of peace with Turkey forced him to flee from the Dagestan village of Gimry to the Belokan Lezgins.

In 1828, in connection with the construction of the Military Sukhumi road, the Karachaev region was annexed. In 1830, another line of fortifications was created - Lezginskaya.

In April 1831, Count Paskevich-Erivansky was recalled to put down the uprising in Poland. In his place were temporarily appointed in Transcaucasia - General Pankratiev, on the Caucasian line - General Velyaminov.

Kazi-Mulla transferred his activities to the Shamkhal possessions, where, having chosen the inaccessible tract of Chumkesent (not far from Temir-Khan-Shura), he began to call all the mountaineers to fight against the infidels. His attempts to take the fortresses Stormy and Sudden failed; but the movement of General Emanuel to the Aukh forests was not crowned with success either. The last failure, greatly exaggerated by the mountain messengers, multiplied the number of adherents of Kazi-Mulla, especially in central Dagestan, so that in 1831 Kazi-Mulla took and plundered Tarki and Kizlyar and attempted, but unsuccessfully, with the support of the rebellious Tabasarans, to capture Derbent. Significant territories (Chechnya and most of Dagestan) were under the authority of the imam. However, from the end of 1831 the uprising began to wane. Detachments of Kazi-Mulla were pushed back to the Mountainous Dagestan. Attacked on December 1, 1831 by Colonel Miklashevsky, he was forced to leave Chumkesent and went to Gimry. Appointed in September 1831, the commander of the Caucasian Corps, Baron Rosen, on October 17, 1832, took Gimry; Kazi-Mulla died during the battle. Besieged together with Imam Kazi-Mulla by troops under the command of Baron Rosen in a tower near his native village of Gimri, Shamil managed, although terribly wounded (his arm, ribs, collarbone were broken, his lung was pierced), to break through the ranks of the besiegers, while Imam Kazi-Mulla ( 1829-1832) who was the first to rush at the enemy died, all pierced with bayonets. His body was crucified and exposed for a month on the top of Mount Tarki-tau, after which his head was cut off and sent as a trophy to all the fortresses of the Caucasian cordon line.

The second imam was proclaimed Gamzat-bek, who, thanks to military victories, rallied around him almost all the peoples of Mountainous Dagestan, including part of the Avars. In 1834, he invaded Avaria, took possession of Khunzakh, exterminated almost the entire pro-Russian khan's family, and was already thinking about conquering all of Dagestan, but died at the hands of conspirators who were avenging him for the murder of the khan's family. Shortly after his death and the proclamation of Shamil as the third imam, on October 18, 1834, the main stronghold of the Murids, the village of Gotsatl, was taken and ravaged by a detachment of Colonel Kluki-von Klugenau. Shamil's troops retreated from Avaria.

On the Black Sea coast, where the highlanders had many convenient points for communication with the Turks and trading in slaves (the Black Sea coastline did not exist then), foreign agents, especially the British, distributed anti-Russian appeals between the local tribes and delivered military supplies. This prompted the bar. Rosen to entrust the gene. Velyaminov (in the summer of 1834) a new expedition to the Trans-Kuban region, to set up a cordon line to Gelendzhik. It ended with the erection of the fortifications of Abinsk and Nikolaevsky.

In the Eastern Caucasus, after the death of Gamzat-bek, Shamil became the head of the murids. The new imam, who possessed administrative and military abilities, soon turned out to be an extremely dangerous opponent, rallying under his despotic power part of the hitherto disparate tribes and villages of the Eastern Caucasus. Already at the beginning of 1835, his forces increased so much that he set out to punish the Khunzakhs for the murder of his predecessor. Aslan-Khan-Kazikumukhsky, temporarily installed as the ruler of Avaria, asked to send Russian troops to defend Khunzakh, and Baron Rosen agreed to his request in view of the strategic importance of the fortress; but this entailed the need to occupy many more points to ensure communications with Khunzakh through inaccessible mountains. The Temir-Khan-Shura fortress, newly built on the Tarkov plane, was chosen as the main reference point on the way of communication between Khunzakh and the Caspian coast, and the Nizovoe fortification was built to provide a pier to which ships from Astrakhan approached. The communication of Temir-Khan-Shura with Khunzakh was covered by the fortification of Zirani near the Avar Koysu River and the Burunduk-Kale tower. For a direct connection between Temir-Khan-Shura and the fortress of Vnezpnaya, the Miatly crossing over the Sulak was built and covered with towers; the road from Temir-Khan-Shura to Kizlyar was provided by the fortification of Kazi-yurt.

Shamil, more and more consolidating his power, chose the Koysubu district as his residence, where on the banks of the Andean Koysu he began to build a fortification, which he called Akhulgo. In 1837, General Fezi occupied Khunzakh, took the village of Ashilty and the fortification of Old Akhulgo, and besieged the village of Tilitl, where Shamil had taken refuge. When Russian troops took possession of part of this village on July 3, Shamil entered into negotiations and promised obedience. I had to accept his proposal, since the Russian detachment, which suffered heavy losses, turned out to be a severe shortage of food and, in addition, news was received of an uprising in Cuba. The expedition of General Fezi, despite its outward success, brought Shamil more benefit than the Russian army: the Russian retreat from Tilitl gave Shamil a pretext for spreading in the mountains the belief that Allah was clearly protecting him.

In the Western Caucasus, a detachment of General Velyaminov in the summer of 1837 penetrated to the mouths of the Pshada and Vulana rivers and laid the Novotroitskoye and Mikhailovskoye fortifications there.

In September of the same 1837, Emperor Nicholas I visited the Caucasus for the first time and was dissatisfied with the fact that, despite many years of efforts and heavy casualties, the Russian troops were still far from lasting results in pacifying the region. General Golovin was appointed to replace Baron Rosen.

In 1838, the Navaginskoye, Velyaminovskoye and Tenginskoye fortifications were built on the Black Sea coast, and the construction of the Novorossiyskaya fortress with a military harbor began.

In 1839, operations were carried out in various regions by three detachments.

The landing detachment of General Raevsky erected new fortifications on the Black Sea coast (forts Golovinsky, Lazarev, Raevsky). The Dagestan detachment, under the command of the corps commander himself, captured on May 31 a very strong position of the highlanders on the Adzhiakhur Heights, and on June 3 occupied the village. Akhta, near which a fortification was erected. The third detachment, Chechen, under the command of General Grabbe, moved against the main forces of Shamil, who fortified near the village. Argvani, on the descent to the Andean Kois. Despite the strength of this position, Grabbe seized it, and Shamil, with several hundred murids, took refuge in the renewed Akhulgo. Akhulgo fell on August 22, but Shamil himself managed to escape.

The highlanders, showing visible humility, were actually preparing another uprising, which for the next 3 years kept the Russian forces in the most tense state.

Meanwhile, Shamil arrived in Chechnya, where, since the end of February 1840, a general uprising was underway under the leadership of Shoip-mulla Tsontoroyevsky, Dzhavatkhan Dargoevsky, Tash-hadzhi Sayasanovsky and Isa Gendergenoevsky. After meeting with the Chechen leaders Isa Gendergenoevsky and Akhverdy-Makhma in Urus-Martan, Shamil was proclaimed imam (March 7, 1840). Dargo became the capital of the Imamat.

Meanwhile, hostilities began on the Black Sea coast, where the hastily built Russian forts were in a dilapidated state, and the garrisons were extremely weakened by fevers and other diseases. On February 7, 1840, the highlanders captured Fort Lazarev and exterminated all its defenders; On February 29, the Velyaminovskoye fortification befell the same fate; On March 23, after a fierce battle, the highlanders penetrated the Mikhailovskoye fortification, the defenders of which blew themselves up along with the attackers. In addition, the highlanders captured (April 2) the Nikolaevsky fort; but their undertakings against Fort Navaginsky and the fortifications of Abinsk were unsuccessful.

On the left flank, the premature attempt to disarm the Chechens aroused extreme bitterness among them. In December 1839 and January 1840, General Pullo led punitive expeditions in Chechnya and ravaged several auls. During the second expedition, the Russian command demanded to hand over one gun from 10 houses, as well as give one hostage from each village. Taking advantage of the discontent of the population, Shamil raised the Ichkerin, Aukh and other Chechen communities against the Russian troops. Russian troops under the command of General Galafeev were limited to searches in the forests of Chechnya, which cost many people. Especially bloody was the case on the river. Valerik (July 11). While General Galafeev was walking around Little Chechnya, Shamil with Chechen detachments subjugated Salatavia to his power and in early August invaded Avaria, where he conquered several auls. With the addition to him of the foreman of the mountain communities on the Andi Koisu, the famous Kibit-Magoma, his strength and enterprise increased enormously. By autumn, all of Chechnya was already on the side of Shamil, and the means of the Caucasian line turned out to be insufficient for a successful fight against him. The Chechens began to attack the tsarist troops on the banks of the Terek and almost captured Mozdok.

On the right flank, by autumn, a new fortified line along the Laba was provided by the forts of Zassovsky, Makhoshevsky and Temirgoevsky. Velyaminovskoye and Lazarevskoye fortifications were renewed on the Black Sea coastline.

In 1841, riots broke out in Avaria, initiated by Hadji Murad. Sent to pacify their battalion with 2 mountain guns, under the command of Gen. Bakunin, failed at the village of Tselmes, and Colonel Passek, who took over the command after the mortally wounded Bakunin, only with difficulty managed to withdraw the remnants of the detachment in Khunzakh. The Chechens raided the Georgian Military Highway and stormed the military settlement of Alexandrovskoye, while Shamil himself approached Nazran and attacked the detachment of Colonel Nesterov located there, but was unsuccessful and took refuge in the forests of Chechnya. On May 15, Generals Golovin and Grabbe attacked and took the imam's position near the village of Chirkey, after which the village itself was occupied and the Evgenievskoye fortification was laid near it. Nevertheless, Shamil managed to extend his power to the mountain communities of the right bank of the river. Avar Koysu and reappeared in Chechnya; the murids again took possession of the village of Gergebil, which blocked the entrance to the Mehtuli possessions; Communications of the Russian forces with Avaria were temporarily interrupted.

In the spring of 1842, the expedition of General. Fezi corrected the situation in Avaria and Koisubu somewhat. Shamil tried to stir up South Dagestan, but to no avail.

Battle of Ichkerin (1842)

In May 1842, 500 Chechen soldiers under the command of the naib of Little Chechnya Akhverda Magoma and Imam Shamil went on a campaign against Kazi-Kumukh in Dagestan.

Taking advantage of their absence, on May 30, Adjutant General p. Kh. Grabe with 12 infantry battalions, a company of sappers, 350 Cossacks and 24 guns set out from the Gerzel-aul fortress in the direction of the capital of the Imamat Dargo. According to A. Zisserman, the 10,000-strong tsarist detachment was opposed, according to A. Zisserman, “according to the most generous calculations, up to one and a half thousand” Ichkerin and Aukh Chechens.

Led by the talented Chechen commander Shoaip-mulla Tsentoroyevsky, the Chechens were preparing for battle. Naibs Baysungur and Soltamurad organized the Benoyites to build blockages, fences, pits, prepare provisions, clothing and military equipment. Shoaip instructed the Andians, who were guarding the capital of Shamil Dargo, to destroy the capital at the approach of the enemy and take all the people to the mountains of Dagestan. Naib Great Chechnya Dzhavatkhan, seriously wounded in one of the recent battles, was replaced by his assistant Suaib-Mullah Ersenoyevsky. The Aukh Chechens were led by the young naib Ulubiy-mullah.

Stopped by the fierce resistance of the Chechens near the villages of Belgata and Gordali, on the night of June 2, the Grabbe detachment began to retreat. Huge damage to the enemy was inflicted by a detachment of Benoyites led by Baysungur and Soltamurad. The tsarist troops were defeated, having lost 66 officers and 1,700 soldiers killed and wounded in battle. The Chechens lost up to 600 people killed and wounded. 2 guns and almost all military and food stocks of the enemy were captured.

On June 3, Shamil, having learned about the Russian movement towards Dargo, turned back to Ichkeria. But by the time the imam arrived, everything was already over. The Chechens smashed the superior, but already demoralized enemy. According to the memoirs of the tsarist officers, "... there were battalions that took flight from the mere barking of dogs."

Shoaip-Mulla Tsentoroyevsky and Ulubiy-Mulla Aukhovsky were awarded two trophy banners embroidered with gold and orders in the form of a star with the inscription "There is no strength, there is no fortress, except for God alone" for their merits in the battle of Ichkerin. Baysungur Benoevsky received a medal for bravery.

The unfortunate outcome of this expedition greatly raised the spirit of the rebels, and Shamil began to recruit an army, intending to invade Avaria. Grabbe, having learned about this, moved there with a new, strong detachment and captured the village of Igali from the battle, but then withdrew from Avaria, where only the Russian garrison remained in Khunzakh. The overall result of the actions of 1842 was unsatisfactory, and already in October Adjutant General Neidgardt was appointed to replace Golovin.

The failures of the Russian troops spread the belief in the futility and even harm of offensive actions in the highest government spheres. This opinion was especially supported by the then Minister of War, Prince. Chernyshev, who visited the Caucasus in the summer of 1842 and witnessed the return of the Grabbe detachment from the Ichkerin forests. Impressed by this catastrophe, he persuaded the tsar to sign a decree banning all expeditions for 1843 and ordering to be limited to defense.

This forced inactivity of the Russian troops encouraged the enemy, and attacks on the line became more frequent again. On August 31, 1843, Imam Shamil took possession of the fort at the village. Untsukul, destroying the detachment that went to the rescue of the besieged. In the following days, several more fortifications fell, and on September 11, Gotsatl was taken, which interrupted communication with Temir Khan Shura. From August 28 to September 21, the losses of Russian troops amounted to 55 officers, more than 1,500 lower ranks, 12 guns and significant warehouses: the fruits of many years of efforts disappeared, long-submissive mountain communities were cut off from Russian forces and the morale of the troops was undermined. On October 28, Shamil surrounded the Gergebil fortification, which he managed to take only on November 8, when only 50 people survived from the defenders. Detachments of mountaineers, scattered 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 blockade, which lasted from November 8 to December 24.

In mid-April 1844, Shamil's Dagestan detachments, led by Hadji Murad and Naib Kibit-Magom, approached Kumykh, but on the 22nd they were completely defeated by Prince Argutinsky, near the village. Margi. About this time, Shamil himself was defeated, at the village. Andreeva, where he was met by a detachment of Colonel Kozlovsky, and at the village. Gilly, the Dagestani mountaineers were defeated by Passek's detachment. On the Lezghin line, the Elisu Khan Daniel-bek, who until then had been loyal to Russia, was indignant. A detachment of General Schwartz was sent against him, which scattered the rebels and captured the village of Elisu, but the Khan himself managed to escape. The actions of the main Russian forces were quite successful and ended with the capture of the Dargin district in Dagestan (Akusha, Khadzhalmakhi, Tsudakhar); then the construction of the advanced Chechen line began, the first link of which was the fortification of Vozdvizhenskoye, on the river. Argun. On the right flank, the mountaineers' assault on the Golovinskoye fortification was brilliantly repulsed on the night of July 16.

At the end of 1844, a new commander-in-chief, Count Vorontsov, was appointed to the Caucasus.

Battle for Dargo (Chechnya, May 1845)

In May 1845, the tsarist army invaded the Imamat in several large detachments. At the beginning of the campaign, 5 detachments were created for operations in different directions. Chechen was led by General Leaders, Dagestan by Prince Beibutov, Samur by Argutinsky-Dolgorukov, Lezgin by General Schwartz, Nazran by General Nesterov. The main forces moving towards the capital of the Imamat were led by the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Caucasus, Count MS Vorontsov himself.

Encountering no serious resistance, a 30,000-strong detachment passed mountainous Dagestan and on June 13 invaded Andia. The old people say: the tsarist officers boasted that they were taking mountain villages with blank shots. They say that the Avar guide answered them that they had not yet reached the hornet's nest. In response, angry officers kicked him with their feet. On July 6, one of Vorontsov's detachments moved from Gagatli to Dargo (Chechnya). At the time of the exit from Andia to Dargo, the total strength of the detachment was 7940 infantry, 1218 cavalry and 342 artillerymen. The Dargin battle lasted from 8 to 20 July. According to official data, in the battle of Dargin, the tsarist troops lost 4 generals, 168 officers and up to 4,000 soldiers. Although Dargo was taken and the commander-in-chief M. S. Vorontsov was awarded the order, but in essence it was a major victory for the rebel highlanders. Many future well-known military leaders and politicians took part in the campaign of 1845: the governor in the Caucasus in 1856-1862. and Field Marshal Prince A. I. Baryatinsky; commander-in-chief of the Caucasian military district and chief of the civilian unit in the Caucasus in 1882-1890. Prince A. M. Dondukov-Korsakov; acting commander-in-chief in 1854, before arriving in the Caucasus, Count N. N. Muravyov, Prince V. O. Bebutov; famous Caucasian military general, chief of the General Staff in 1866-1875. Count F. L. Heiden; military governor killed in Kutaisi in 1861, Prince AI Gagarin; commander of the Shirvan regiment, Prince S. I. Vasilchikov; adjutant general, diplomat in 1849, 1853-1855, Count K. K. Benkendorf (seriously wounded in the campaign of 1845); Major General E. von Schwarzenberg; Lieutenant General Baron N. I. Delvig; N. P. Beklemishev, an excellent draftsman who left many sketches after going to Dargo, also known for his witticisms and puns; Prince E. Wittgenstein; Prince Alexander of Hesse, major general, and others.

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

Since 1846, actions were carried out on the left flank aimed at strengthening control over the occupied lands, erecting new fortifications and Cossack villages and preparing for further movement deep into the Chechen forests by cutting down wide clearings. Prince's victory Bebutov, who wrested from the hands of Shamil the hard-to-reach village of Kutish (now part of the Levashinsky district of Dagestan), which he had just occupied, resulted in the complete calming of the Kumyk plane and foothills.

There are up to 6,000 Ubykhs on the Black Sea coastline. On November 28, they launched a new desperate attack on the Golovinsky Fort, but were repulsed with heavy damage.

In 1847, Prince Vorontsov besieged Gergebil, but, due to the spread of cholera among the troops, he had to retreat. At the end of July, he undertook a siege of the fortified village of Salta, which, despite the significance of the siege weapons of the advancing troops, held out until September 14, when it was cleared by the highlanders. Both of these enterprises cost the Russian troops about 150 officers and more than 2,500 lower ranks who were out of order.

The detachments of Daniel-bek invaded the Djaro-Belokan district, but on May 13 they were completely defeated at the village of Chardakhly.

In mid-November, the Dagestan highlanders invaded Kazikumukh and briefly took possession of several auls.

In 1848, the capture of Gergebil (July 7) by Prince Argutinsky became an outstanding event. In general, for a long time there has not been such calmness in the Caucasus as this year; only on the Lezghin line were frequent alarms repeated. In September, Shamil tried to capture the fortification of Akhta on the Samur, but he failed.

In 1849, the siege of the village of Chokha, undertaken by Prince. Argutinsky, cost the Russian troops heavy losses, but was not successful. From the side of the Lezgin line, General Chilyaev made a successful expedition to the mountains, which ended in the defeat of the enemy near the village of Khupro.

In 1850, systematic deforestation in Chechnya continued with the same persistence and was accompanied by more or less serious clashes. This course of action forced many hostile societies to declare their unconditional submission.

It was decided to adhere to the same system in 1851. On the right flank, an offensive was launched to the Belaya River in order to move the front line there and take away the fertile lands between this river and Laba from the hostile Abadzekhs; in addition, the offensive in this direction was caused by the appearance in the Western Caucasus of Naib Shamil, Mohammed-Amin, who gathered large parties for raids on the Russian settlements near the Labina, but was defeated on May 14.

1852 was marked by brilliant actions in Chechnya under the leadership of the chief of the left flank, Prince. Baryatinsky, who penetrated hitherto inaccessible forest shelters and exterminated many hostile villages. These successes were overshadowed only by the unsuccessful expedition of Colonel Baklanov to the village of Gordali.

In 1853, rumors of an impending break with Turkey aroused new hopes among the highlanders. Shamil and Mohammed-Amin, Naib of Circassia and Kabarda, having gathered the mountain elders, announced to them the firmans received from the Sultan, commanding all Muslims to rise up against the common enemy; they talked about the imminent arrival of Turkish troops in Balkaria, Georgia and Kabarda and about the need to act decisively against the Russians, as if weakened by the dispatch of most of the military forces to the Turkish borders. However, in the mass of the mountaineers, the spirit had already fallen so much due to a series of failures and extreme impoverishment that Shamil could subordinate them to his will only through cruel punishments. The raid he planned on the Lezgin line ended in complete failure, and Mohammed-Amin, with a detachment of the Trans-Kuban highlanders, was defeated by a detachment of General Kozlovsky.

With the outbreak of the Crimean War, the command of the Russian troops decided to maintain a predominantly defensive mode of action at all points in the Caucasus; however, the clearing of forests and the destruction of the enemy's food supplies continued, albeit on a more limited scale.

In 1854, the head of the Turkish Anatolian army entered into relations with Shamil, inviting him to move to connect with him from Dagestan. At the end of June, Shamil invaded Kakhetia with the Dagestani highlanders; the highlanders managed to ruin the rich village of Tsinondal, capture the family of its owner and plunder several churches, but, having learned about the approach of Russian troops, they fled. Shamil's attempt to seize the peaceful village of Istisu was not successful. On the right flank, the space between Anapa, Novorossiysk and the mouths of the Kuban was abandoned by Russian troops; At the beginning of the year, the garrisons of the Black Sea coastline were taken to the Crimea, and the forts and other buildings were blown up. Book. Vorontsov left the Caucasus back in March 1854, transferring control to the gene. Readu, and at the beginning of 1855 the general was appointed commander in chief in the Caucasus. Muravyov. The landing of the Turks in Abkhazia, despite the betrayal of its owner, Prince. Shervashidze, had no harmful consequences for Russia. At the conclusion of the Peace of Paris, in the spring of 1856, it was decided to use the troops operating in Asiatic Turkey and, having strengthened the Caucasian Corps with them, proceed to the final conquest of the Caucasus.

Baryatinsky

The new commander-in-chief, Prince Baryatinsky, turned his main attention to Chechnya, the conquest of which he entrusted to the head of the left wing of the line, General Evdokimov, an old and experienced Caucasian; but in other parts of the Caucasus, the troops did not remain inactive. In 1856 and 1857 Russian troops achieved the following results: the Adagum valley was occupied on the right wing of the line and the Maykop fortification was built. On the left wing, the so-called "Russian road", from Vladikavkaz, parallel to the ridge of the Black Mountains, to the fortification of Kurinsky on the Kumyk plane, is completely completed and strengthened by newly built fortifications; wide clearings were cut in all directions; the mass of the hostile population of Chechnya has been brought to the point of having to submit and move to open places, under state supervision; the Auch district is occupied and a fortification has been erected in its center. Salatavia is completely occupied in Dagestan. Several new Cossack villages were built along Laba, Urup and Sunzha. The troops are everywhere close to the front lines; the rear is secured; huge expanses of the best lands are cut off from the hostile population and, thus, a significant share of the resources for the struggle is wrested from the hands of Shamil.

On the Lezgin line, as a result of deforestation, predatory raids were replaced by petty theft. On the Black Sea coast, the secondary occupation of Gagra marked the beginning of securing Abkhazia from incursions by Circassian tribes and from hostile propaganda. The actions of 1858 in Chechnya began with the occupation of the gorge of the Argun River, which was considered impregnable, where Evdokimov ordered the construction of a strong fortification, called Argunsky. Climbing up the river, he reached, at the end of July, the auls of the Shatoevsky society; in the upper reaches of the Argun he laid a new fortification - Evdokimovskoe. Shamil tried to divert attention by sabotage to Nazran, but was defeated by a detachment of General Mishchenko and barely managed to get out of the battle without falling into an ambush (due to the large number of tsarist troops) and leave for the still unoccupied part of the Argun Gorge. Convinced that his power there was completely undermined, he retired to Vedeno, his new residence. From March 17, 1859, the bombardment of this fortified village began, and on April 1 it was taken by storm. Shamil left for the Andean Koisu; the whole of Ichkeria declared obedience to Russia. After the capture of Veden, three detachments went concentrically to the Andean Koisu valley: Dagestan (mostly Avars), Chechen (former naibs and Shamil's wars) and Lezgin. Shamil, who temporarily settled in the village of Karata, fortified Mount Kilitl, and covered the right bank of the Andean Koisu, against Konkhidatl, with solid stone blockages, entrusting their defense to his son Kazi-Magome. With any energetic resistance of the latter, forcing the crossing in this place would cost huge sacrifices; but he was forced to leave his strong position, as a result of the troops of the Dagestan detachment entering his flank, who made a remarkably courageous crossing through the Andiyskoye Koisa near the Sagritlo tract. Shamil, seeing the danger threatening from everywhere, went to his last refuge on Mount Gunib, having with him only 47 people of the most devoted murids from all over Dagestan, together with the population of Gunib (women, children, old people) was 337 people. On August 25, Gunib was taken by storm by 36 thousand tsarist soldiers, not counting those forces that were on the way to Gunib, and Shamil himself, after a 4-day battle, was captured during negotiations with Prince Baryatinsky. However, the Chechen naib of Shamil, Baysangur Benoevsky, refusing captivity, went to break through the encirclement with his hundred and left for Chechnya. According to legend, only 30 Chechen fighters managed to break through with Baysangur from the encirclement. A year later, Baysangur and former naibs Shamil Uma Duev from Dzumsoy and Atabi Ataev from Chungaroy raised a new uprising in Chechnya. In June 1860, a detachment of Baysangur and Soltamurad defeated the troops of the tsarist major general Musa Kundukhov in a battle near the town of Pkhachu. After this battle, Benoy restored its independence from the Russian Empire for 8 months. Meanwhile, the rebels of Atabi Ataev blocked the fortification of Evdokimovskoye, and the detachment of Uma Duev liberated the villages of the Argun Gorge. However, due to the small number (the number did not exceed 1500 people) and the poor armament of the rebels, the tsarist troops quickly crushed the resistance. Thus ended the war in Chechnya.

End of the war: Conquest of Circassia (1859-1864)

The capture of Gunib and the capture of Shamil could be considered the last act of the war in the Eastern Caucasus; but the western part of the region, inhabited by highlanders, was not yet completely controlled by Russia. It was decided to conduct actions in the Trans-Kuban Territory in this way: the highlanders had to submit and move to the places indicated by him on the plain; otherwise, they were driven further into the barren mountains, and the lands they left behind were settled by Cossack villages; finally, after pushing the highlanders from the mountains to the seashore, they had to either go to the plain, under the supervision of the Russians, or move to Turkey, in which it was supposed to provide them with possible assistance. In order to carry out this plan as soon as possible, Baryatinsky decided, at the beginning of 1860, to reinforce the troops of the right wing with very large reinforcements; but the uprising that broke out in the newly pacified Chechnya and partly in Dagestan forced this to be temporarily abandoned. In 1861, at the initiative of the Ubykhs, a Mejlis (parliament) "Great and free meeting" was created near Sochi. The Ubykhs, Shapsugs, Abadzekhs, Akhchipsu, Aibga, coastal Sadzes sought to unite the mountain tribes "into one huge rampart." A special delegation of the Mejlis, headed by Izmail Barakay-ipa Dziash, visited a number of European states. Actions against the local small armed formations dragged on until the end of 1861, when all attempts at resistance were finally crushed. Then only it was possible to start decisive operations on the right wing, the leadership of which was entrusted to the conqueror of Chechnya, Evdokimov. His troops were divided into 2 detachments: one, Adagum, operated in the land of the Shapsugs, the other - from the side of Laba and Belaya; a special detachment was sent for operations in the lower reaches of the river. Pshish. Cossack villages were set up in the Natukhai district in autumn and winter. The troops operating from the side of the Laba completed the construction of the villages between the Laba and the Bela and cut through the entire foothill space between these rivers with clearings, which forced the local communities to partly move to the plane, partly to go beyond the Main Range Pass.

At the end of February 1862, Evdokimov's detachment moved to the river. Pshekh, to which, despite the stubborn resistance of the Abadzekhs, a clearing was cut and a convenient road was laid. All those who lived between the Khodz and Belaya rivers were ordered to immediately move to the Kuban or Laba, and within 20 days (from March 8 to March 29) up to 90 auls were resettled. At the end of April, Evdokimov, having crossed the Black Mountains, descended into the Dakhovskaya Valley along the road, which the highlanders considered inaccessible to the Russians, and set up a new Cossack village there, closing the Belorechenskaya line. The movement of the Russians deep into the Trans-Kuban region was met everywhere by the desperate resistance of the Abadzekhs, reinforced by the Ubykhs and the Abkhazian tribes of the Sadz (Dzhigets) and Akhchipshu, which, however, was not crowned with serious success. The result of the summer and autumn actions of 1862 on the part of Belaya was the firm establishment of the Russian troops in the space limited from the west by pp. Pshish, Pshekha and Kurdzhips.

At the beginning of 1863, only mountain communities on the northern slope of the Main Range, from Adagum to Belaya, and the tribes of the seaside Shapsugs, Ubykhs, and others, who lived in a narrow space between the sea coast, the southern slope of the Main Range, the valley Aderba and Abkhazia. The final conquest of the Caucasus was led by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, who was appointed governor of the Caucasus. In 1863, the actions of the troops of the Kuban region. should have consisted in the spread of Russian colonization of the region simultaneously from two sides, relying on the Belorechensk and Adagum lines. These actions were so successful that they put the highlanders of the northwestern Caucasus in a hopeless situation. Already from the middle of the summer of 1863, many of them began to move to Turkey or to the southern slope of the ridge; most of them submitted, so that by the end of the summer the number of immigrants settled on the plane, along the Kuban and Laba, reached 30 thousand people. In early October, the Abadzekh foremen came to Evdokimov and signed an agreement according to which all their fellow tribesmen who wished to accept Russian citizenship were obliged to begin moving to the places indicated by them no later than February 1, 1864; the rest were given 2 1/2 months to move to Turkey.

The conquest of the northern slope of the ridge was completed. It remained to go to the south-western slope, in order, going down to the sea, to clear the coastal strip and prepare it for settlement. On October 10, Russian troops climbed the very pass and in the same month occupied the gorge of the river. Pshada and the mouth of the river. Dzhubga. The beginning of 1864 was marked by unrest in Chechnya, which were soon pacified. In the western Caucasus, the remnants of the highlanders of the northern slope continued to move to Turkey or the Kuban plain. From the end of February, actions began on the southern slope, which ended in May with the conquest of the Abkhaz tribes. The masses of the highlanders were pushed back to the seashore and the arriving Turkish ships were taken to Turkey. On May 21, 1864, in the camp of the united Russian columns, in the presence of the Grand Duke Commander-in-Chief, a thanksgiving service was served on the occasion of the victory.

Memory

In March 1994, in Karachay-Cherkessia, by a decree of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of Karachay-Cherkessia, the “Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Caucasian War” was established in the republic, which is celebrated on May 21.

The concept of "Caucasian war", its historical interpretations

The concept of "Caucasian War" was introduced by the pre-revolutionary historian Rostislav Andreevich Fadeev in the book "Sixty Years of the Caucasian War", published in 1860.

Pre-revolutionary and Soviet historians until the 1940s preferred the term "Caucasian wars of the empire"

"Caucasian war" became a common term only in Soviet times.

Historical interpretations of the Caucasian war

In the huge multilingual historiography of the Caucasian War, three main directions stand out, which reflect the positions of the three main political rivals: the Russian Empire, the great powers of the West and the supporters of the Muslim resistance. These scientific theories determine the interpretation of the war in historical science.

Russian imperial tradition

The Russian imperial tradition is represented in the works of pre-revolutionary Russian and some contemporary historians. It originates from the pre-revolutionary (1917) lecture course of General Dmitry Ilyich Romanovsky. The supporters of this trend include the author of the well-known textbook Nikolai Ryazanovsky "History of Russia" and the authors of the English-language "Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History" (under the editorship of JL Viszhinsky). The work of Rostislav Fadeev, mentioned above, can also be attributed to the same tradition.

In these works, we often talk about "pacifying the Caucasus", about Russian "colonization" in the sense of developing territories, focuses on the "predation" of the highlanders, the religiously militant nature of their movement, emphasizes the civilizing and reconciling role of Russia, even taking into account mistakes and " kinks".

In the late 1930s-1940s, a different point of view prevailed. Imam Shamil and his supporters were declared proteges of the exploiters and agents of foreign intelligence services. Shamil's prolonged resistance, according to this version, was allegedly due to the help of Turkey and Britain. From the late 1950s - the first half of the 1980s, the emphasis was on the voluntary entry of all peoples and border regions without exception into the Russian state, the friendship of peoples and the solidarity of workers in all historical eras.

In 1994, Mark Bliev and Vladimir Degoev's book "The Caucasian War" was published, in which the imperial scientific tradition is combined with an orientalist approach. The overwhelming majority of North Caucasian and Russian historians and ethnographers reacted negatively to the hypothesis expressed in the book about the so-called "raid system" - the special role of raids in mountain society, caused by a complex set of economic, political, social and demographic factors.

Western tradition

It is based on the premise of Russia's inherent desire to expand and "enslave" the annexed territories. In Britain of the 19th century (fearing Russia's approach to the "pearl of the British crown" India) and the USA of the 20th century (worried about the approach of the USSR / Russia to the Persian Gulf and the oil regions of the Middle East), the highlanders were considered a "natural barrier" on the way of the Russian Empire to the south. The key terminology of these works is "Russian colonial expansion" and the "North Caucasian shield" or "barrier" that opposes them. A classic work is the work of John Badley, "The Conquest of the Caucasus by Russia", published at the beginning of the last century. At present, adherents of this tradition are grouped in the "Society for Central Asian Studies" and the magazine "Central Asian Survey" published by it in London.

Anti-imperialist tradition

Early Soviet historiography of the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s. (the school of Mikhail Pokrovsky) considered Shamil and other leaders of the resistance of the highlanders as leaders of the national liberation movement and spokesmen for the interests of the broad working and exploited masses. The raids of the highlanders on their neighbors were justified by the geographical factor, the lack of resources in conditions of almost impoverished urban life, and the robberies of the abreks (19-20 centuries) were justified by the struggle for liberation from the colonial oppression of tsarism.

During the Cold War, Leslie Blanch emerged from among the Sovietologists who creatively reworked the ideas of early Soviet historiography with his popular work Sabers of Paradise (1960), translated into Russian in 1991. A more academic work, Robert Bauman's study Unusual Russian and Soviet Wars in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Afghanistan, speaks of Russian "intervention" in the Caucasus and the "war against the highlanders" in general. Recently, a Russian translation of the work of the Israeli historian Moshe Gammer "Muslim resistance to tsarism. Shamil and the conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan" has appeared. A feature of all these works is the absence of Russian archival sources in them.

periodization

Background of the Caucasian War

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (1801-1810), as well as the Transcaucasian khanates - Ganja, Sheki, Cuban, Talyshinsky (1805-1813) became part of the Russian Empire.

Treaty of Bucharest (1812), who ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812, recognized Western Georgia and the Russian protectorate over Abkhazia as Russia's sphere of influence. In the same year, the transition to Russian citizenship of the Ingush societies, enshrined in the Vladikavkaz Act, was officially confirmed.

By Gulistan Peace Treaty of 1813, which ended the Russian-Persian war, Iran renounced in favor of Russia sovereignty over Dagestan, Kartli-Kakheti, Karabakh, Shirvan, Baku and Derbent khanates.

The southwestern part of the North Caucasus remained in the sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire. The hard-to-reach mountainous regions of Dagestan and Chechnya, the mountain valleys of Trans-Kuban Circassia remained outside Russian control.

Since the power of Persia and Turkey in these regions was limited, the mere fact of recognizing these regions as a sphere of influence of Russia did not at all mean automatic subordination of the local population to it.

Between the newly acquired lands and Russia lay the lands of de facto independent mountain peoples, predominantly Muslim. The economy of these regions to a certain extent depended on raids on neighboring regions, which, precisely for this reason, could not be stopped, despite the agreements reached with the Russian authorities.

The Russian government, in a hurry to restore order in the North Caucasus as soon as possible and considered it unnecessary to delve deeply into local subtleties, decided to simply cut the Gordian knots of mountain politics with a sword. It can be said that, in addition to well-known reasons, the war was based on an intercivilizational conflict, which was much less pronounced in the more developed Transcaucasia and therefore did not lead to such serious consequences.

Thus, from the point of view of the Russian authorities in the Caucasus at the beginning of the 19th century, there were two main tasks:

• The need to join the North Caucasus to Russia for territorial unification with Transcaucasia.
• The desire to stop the constant raids of the mountain peoples in the territory of Transcaucasia and Russian settlements in the North Caucasus.

It was they who became the main causes of the Caucasian War.

Brief description of the theater of operations

The main centers of war were concentrated in hard-to-reach mountainous and foothill areas in the North-Eastern and North-Western Caucasus. The region where the war was fought can be divided into two main theaters of war.

Firstly, it is the North-Eastern Caucasus, which mainly includes the territory of modern Chechnya and Dagestan. The main opponent of Russia here was the Imamat, as well as various Chechen and Dagestan state and tribal formations. During the hostilities, the highlanders managed to create a powerful centralized state organization and achieve noticeable progress in armament - in particular, the troops of Imam Shamil not only used artillery, but also organized the production of artillery pieces.

Secondly, this is the North-Western Caucasus, which primarily includes the territories located south of the Kuban River and which were part of historical Circassia. These territories were inhabited by the numerous people of the Adygs (Circassians), divided into a significant number of sub-ethnic groups. The level of centralization of military efforts throughout the war here remained extremely low, each tribe fought or put up with the Russians on its own, only occasionally forming fragile alliances with other tribes. Often during the war there were clashes between the Circassian tribes themselves. Economically, Circassia was poorly developed, almost all iron products and weapons were purchased on foreign markets, the main and most valuable export product was slaves captured during raids and sold to Turkey. The level of organization of the armed forces corresponded approximately to European feudalism, the main force of the army was a heavily armed cavalry, consisting of representatives of the tribal nobility.

Periodically, armed clashes between the highlanders and Russian troops took place on the territory of Transcaucasia, Kabarda and Karachay.

The situation in the Caucasus in 1816

At the beginning of the 19th century, the actions of Russian troops in the Caucasus had the character of random expeditions, not connected by a common idea and a definite plan. Often, conquered regions and sworn-in peoples immediately fell away and became enemies again as soon as the Russian troops left the country. This was due, first of all, to the fact that almost all organizational, managerial and military resources were diverted to waging war against Napoleonic France, and then to organizing post-war Europe. By 1816, the situation in Europe had stabilized, and the return of occupying troops from France and European states gave the government the necessary military force to launch a full-scale campaign in the Caucasus.

The situation on the Caucasian line was as follows: the right flank of the line was opposed by the Trans-Kuban Circassians, the center - by the Kabardian Circassians, and against the left flank behind the Sunzha River lived Chechens, who enjoyed a high reputation and authority among the mountain tribes. At the same time, the Circassians were weakened by internal strife, and a plague epidemic raged in Kabarda. The main threat came primarily from the Chechens.

Politics of General Yermolov and the uprising in Chechnya (1817 - 1827)

In May 1816, Emperor Alexander I appointed General Alexei Yermolov as commander of the Separate Georgian (later Caucasian) Corps.

Yermolov believed that it was impossible to establish a lasting peace with the inhabitants of the Caucasus due to their historically established psychology, tribal fragmentation and established relations with the Russians. He developed a consistent and systematic plan of offensive operations, which provided for the creation of a base and the organization of bridgeheads at the first stage, and only then the beginning of phased but decisive offensive operations.

Yermolov himself characterized the situation in the Caucasus as follows: "The Caucasus is a huge fortress, defended by a half-million garrison. You must either storm it or take possession of the trenches. The assault will cost a lot. So let's lay a siege!" .

At the first stage, Yermolov moved the left flank of the Caucasian Line from the Terek to the Sunzha in order to get closer to Chechnya and Dagestan. In 1818, the Nizhne-Sunzhenskaya line was strengthened, the Nazranovsky (modern Nazran) redoubt in Ingushetia was strengthened, and the Groznaya fortress (modern Grozny) in Chechnya was built. Having strengthened the rear and created a solid operational base, the Russian troops began to move deep into the foothills of the Greater Caucasus Range.

Yermolov's strategy was to systematically move deep into Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan by surrounding the mountainous regions with a continuous ring of fortifications, cutting clearings in difficult forests, laying roads and destroying recalcitrant auls. The territories liberated from the local population were settled by Cossacks and Russian and Russian-friendly settlers, who formed "layers" between the tribes hostile to Russia. Yermolov responded to the resistance and raids of the highlanders with repressions and punitive expeditions.

In Northern Dagestan, in 1819, the Vnezapnaya fortress was founded (near the modern village of Endirey, Khasavyurt district), and in 1821, the Burnaya fortress (near the village of Tarki). In 1819-1821, the possessions of a number of Dagestan princes were transferred to the vassals of Russia or annexed.

In 1822, the Sharia courts (mekhkeme), which had been operating in Kabarda since 1806, were dissolved. Instead, a Provisional Court for Civil Cases was established in Nalchik under the full control of Russian officials. Together with Kabarda, the Balkars and Karachays, dependent on the Kabardian princes, came under Russian rule. In the interfluve of Sulak and Terek, the lands of the Kumyks were conquered.

In order to destroy the traditional military-political ties between the Muslims of the North Caucasus hostile to Russia, on the orders of Yermolov, Russian fortresses were built at the foot of the mountains on the rivers Malka, Baksanka, Chegem, Nalchik and Terek, which formed the Kabardian line. As a result, the population of Kabarda was locked in a small area and cut off from the Trans-Kuban region, Chechnya and mountain gorges.

Yermolov's policy was to severely punish not only the "robbers", but also those who did not fight them. Yermolov's cruelty towards the recalcitrant highlanders was remembered for a long time. Back in the 1940s, Avar and Chechen residents could tell Russian generals: "You have always ruined our property, burned villages and intercepted our people!"

In 1825-1826, the brutal and bloody actions of General Yermolov caused a general uprising of the highlanders of Chechnya under the leadership of Bei-Bulat Taimiev (Taymazov) and Abdul-Kadyr. The rebels were supported by some Dagestan mullahs from among the supporters of the Sharia movement. They called on the highlanders to rise up in jihad. But Bey-Bulat was defeated by the regular army, the uprising was crushed in 1826.

In 1827, General Alexei Yermolov was recalled by Nicholas I and dismissed due to suspicion of having links with the Decembrists.

In 1817 - 1827, there were no active hostilities in the North-Western Caucasus, although numerous raids by Circassian detachments and punitive expeditions of Russian troops took place. The main goal of the Russian command in this region was to isolate the local population from the Muslim environment hostile to Russia in the Ottoman Empire.

The Caucasian line along the Kuban and the Terek was shifted deep into the Adyghe territory and by the beginning of the 1830s went to the Labe River. The Adygs resisted with the help of the Turks. In October 1821, the Circassians invaded the lands of the Black Sea troops, but were driven back.

In 1823-1824 a number of punitive expeditions were carried out against the Circassians.

In 1824, an uprising of the Abkhaz was suppressed, forced to recognize the authority of Prince Mikhail Shervashidze.

In the second half of the 1820s, the coasts of the Kuban again began to be subjected to raids by the Shapsugs and Abadzekhs.

Formation of the Imamat of Nagorno-Dagestan and Chechnya (1828 - 1840)

Operations in the Northeast Caucasus

In the 1820s, the muridism movement arose in Dagestan (murid - in Sufism: a student, the first stage of initiation and spiritual self-improvement. It can mean a Sufi in general and even just an ordinary Muslim). Its main preachers - Mulla-Mohammed, then Kazi-Mulla - propagated in Dagestan and Chechnya a holy war against infidels, primarily Russians. The rise and growth of this movement was largely due to the brutal actions of Alexei Yermolov, as a reaction to the harsh and often indiscriminate repression of the Russian authorities.

In March 1827, Adjutant General Ivan Paskevich (1827-1831) was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Corps. The general Russian strategy in the Caucasus was revised, the Russian command abandoned the systematic advance with the consolidation of the occupied territories and returned mainly to the tactics of separate punitive expeditions.

At first, this was due to the wars with Iran (1826-1828) and Turkey (1828-1829). These wars had significant consequences for the Russian Empire, establishing and expanding the Russian presence in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia.

In 1828 or 1829, the communities of a number of Avar villages elected as their imam an Avar from the village of Gimry Gazi-Muhammed (Gazi-Magomed, Kazi-Mulla, Mulla-Magomed), a student of the Naqshbandi sheikhs Muhammad Yaragsky and Jamaluddin Kazikumukh, who were influential in the North-Eastern Caucasus. This event is usually considered as the beginning of the formation of a single imamate of Nagorno-Dagestan and Chechnya, which became the main focus of resistance to Russian colonization.

Imam Gazi-Mohammed developed an active activity, calling for jihad against the Russians. From the communities that joined him, he took an oath to follow the Sharia, abandon local adats and break off relations with the Russians. During the reign of this imam (1828-1832), he destroyed 30 influential beks, since the first imam saw them as accomplices of Russians and hypocritical enemies of Islam (munafiks).

In the 1830s, Russian positions in Dagestan were fortified by the Lezgin cordon line, and in 1832 the Temir-Khan-Shura fortress (modern Buynaksk) was built.

Peasant uprisings took place from time to time in the Central Ciscaucasia. In the summer of 1830, as a result of the punitive expedition of General Abkhazov against the Ingush and Tagaurians, Ossetia was included in the administrative system of the empire. Since 1831, Russian military administration was finally established in Ossetia.

In the winter of 1830, the Imamat launched an active war under the banner of defending the faith. Ghazi-Mohammed's tactic was to organize swift surprise raids. In 1830, he captured a number of Avar and Kumyk villages subject to the Avar Khanate and Tarkov Shamkhalate. Untsukul and Gumbet voluntarily joined the imamate, and the Andians were subjugated. Gazi-Mohammed tried to capture the village of Khunzakh (1830), the capital of the Avar khans who accepted Russian citizenship, but was repulsed.

In 1831, Gazi-Muhammed sacked Kizlyar, and the next year besieged Derbent.

In March 1832, the imam approached Vladikavkaz and laid siege to Nazran, but was defeated by a regular army.

In 1831, Adjutant General Baron Grigory Rozen was appointed head of the Caucasian Corps. He defeated the troops of Gazi-Mohammed, and on October 29, 1832, he stormed the village of Gimry, the capital of the imam. Gazi-Mohammed died in battle.

In April 1831, Count Ivan Paskevich-Erivansky was recalled to put down the uprising in Poland. In his place were temporarily appointed in Transcaucasia - General Nikita Pankratiev, on the Caucasian line - General Alexei Velyaminov.

Gamzat-bek was elected the new imam in 1833. He stormed the capital of the Avar khans Khunzakh, destroyed almost the entire family of the Avar khans and was killed for this in 1834 by right of blood feud.

Shamil became the third imam. He pursued the same reform policy as his predecessors, but on a regional scale. It was under him that the state structure of the imamate was completed. The Imam concentrated in his hands not only religious, but also military, executive, legislative and judicial powers. Shamil continued the massacre of the feudal rulers of Dagestan, but at the same time tried to ensure the neutrality of the Russians.

Russian troops were actively campaigning against the Imamate, in 1837 and 1839 they destroyed Shamil's residence on Mount Akhulgo, and in the latter case, the victory seemed so complete that the Russian command hastened to report to St. Petersburg about the complete appeasement of Dagestan. Shamil with a detachment of seven comrades-in-arms retreated to Chechnya.

Operations in the Northwest Caucasus

On January 11, 1827, a delegation of Balkar princes petitioned General Georgy Emmanuel to accept Balkaria as Russian citizenship, and in 1828 the Karachaev region was annexed.

According to the Treaty of Adrianople (1829), which ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, Russia recognized a large part of the eastern coast of the Black Sea, including the cities of Anapa, Sudzhuk-Kale (in the area of ​​modern Novorossiysk), Sukhum, as the sphere of interests of Russia.

In 1830, the new "proconsul of the Caucasus" Ivan Paskevich developed a plan for the development of this region, practically unknown to Russians, by creating an overland communication along the Black Sea coast. But the dependence of the Circassian tribes inhabiting this territory on Turkey was largely nominal, and the fact that Turkey recognized the North-Western Caucasus as a Russian sphere of influence did not oblige the Circassians to anything. The Russian invasion of the territory of the Circassians was perceived by the latter as an attack on their independence and traditional foundations, and met with resistance.

In the summer of 1834, General Velyaminov made an expedition to the Trans-Kuban region, where a cordon line was organized to Gelendzhik, and the Abinsk and Nikolaev fortifications were erected.

In the mid-1830s, the Black Sea Fleet of Russia began to blockade the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. In 1837 - 1839, the Black Sea coastline was created - 17 forts were created under the cover of the Black Sea Fleet over a distance of 500 kilometers from the mouth of the Kuban to Abkhazia. These measures practically paralyzed coastal trade with Turkey, which immediately put the Circassians in an extremely difficult position.

At the beginning of 1840, the Circassians went on the offensive, attacking the Black Sea line of fortresses. On February 7, 1840, Fort Lazarev (Lazarevskoye) fell, on February 29, the Velyaminovskoye fortification was taken, on March 23, after a fierce battle, the Circassians broke into the Mikhailovskoye fortification, which was blown up by a soldier Arkhip Osipov due to his inevitable fall. On April 1, the Circassians captured the Nikolaevsky fort, but their actions against the Navaginsky fort and the Abinsky fortifications were repelled. Coastal fortifications were restored by November 1840.

The very fact of the destruction of the coastline showed how powerful the Circassians of the Trans-Kuban region had a powerful resistance potential.

The heyday of the Imamat before the start of the Crimean War (1840 - 1853)

Operations in the Northeast Caucasus

In the early 1840s, the Russian administration made an attempt to disarm the Chechens. Regulations for the surrender of weapons by the population were introduced, and hostages were taken to ensure their implementation. These measures caused a general uprising at the end of February 1840 under the leadership of Shoip-mulla Tsentoroyevsky, Dzhavatkhan Dargoevsky, Tashu-khadzhi Sayasanovsky and Isa Gendergenoevsky, which, upon arrival in Chechnya, was headed by Shamil.

On March 7, 1840, Shamil was proclaimed Imam of Chechnya, and Dargo became the capital of the Imamat. By the autumn of 1840, Shamil controlled the whole of Chechnya.

In 1841 riots broke out in Avaria, instigated by Hadji Murad. The Chechens raided the Georgian Military Highway, and Shamil himself attacked a Russian detachment located near Nazran, but was unsuccessful. In May, Russian troops attacked and took the position of the imam near the village of Chirkey and occupied the village.

In May 1842, Russian troops, taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of Shamil set out on a campaign in Dagestan, launched an attack on the capital of the Imamat Dargo, but were defeated during the Ichkerin battle with the Chechens under the command of Shoip-mullah and were driven back with heavy losses. Impressed by this catastrophe, Emperor Nicholas I signed a decree banning all expeditions for 1843 and ordering to be limited to defense.

The troops of the Imamat seized the initiative. On August 31, 1843, Imam Shamil captured the fort near the village of Untsukul and defeated the detachment that was going to the rescue of the besieged. In the following days, several more fortifications fell, and on September 11, Gotsatl was taken and communication with Temir-khan-Shura was interrupted. On November 8, Shamil took the Gergebil fortification. Detachments of mountaineers practically interrupted communication with Derbent, Kizlyar and the left flank of the line.
In mid-April 1844, the Dagestan detachments of Shamil under the command of Hadji Murad and Naib Kibit-Magoma launched an attack on Kumykh, but were defeated by Prince Argutinsky. Russian troops captured the Darginsky district in Dagestan and set about building the advanced Chechen line.

At the end of 1844, a new commander-in-chief, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, was appointed to the Caucasus, who, unlike his predecessors, possessed not only military, but also civil power in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Under Vorontsov, hostilities in the mountainous areas controlled by the imamate intensified.

In May 1845, the Russian army invaded the Imamat in several large detachments. Without encountering serious resistance, the troops passed the mountainous Dagestan and in June invaded Andia and attacked the village of Dargo. From July 8 to July 20, the Dargin battle lasted. During the battle, Russian troops suffered heavy losses. Although Dargo was taken, but, in essence, the victory was Pyrrhic. Due to the losses suffered, the Russian troops were forced to curtail active operations, so the battle at Dargo can be considered a strategic victory for the Imamate.

Since 1846, several military fortifications and Cossack villages have appeared on the left flank of the Caucasian Line. In 1847, the regular army besieged the Avar village of Gergebil, but retreated due to a cholera epidemic. This important stronghold of the imamate was taken in July 1848 by Adjutant General Prince Moses Argutinsky. Despite such a loss, Shamil's detachments resumed their operations in the south of the Lezgin line and in 1848 attacked the Russian fortifications in the Lezgi village of Akhty.

In the 1840s and 1850s, systematic deforestation continued in Chechnya, accompanied by periodic clashes.

In 1852, the new head of the Left flank, Adjutant General Prince Alexander Baryatinsky, drove the militant highlanders out of a number of strategically important villages in Chechnya.

Operations in the Northwest Caucasus

The offensive of the Russians and Cossacks against the Circassians began in 1841 with the creation of the Labinsk Line proposed by General Grigory von Zass. The colonization of the new line began in 1841 and ended in 1860. During these twenty years, 32 villages were founded. They were settled mainly by the Cossacks of the Caucasian linear army and a certain number of non-residents.

In the 1840s - the first half of the 1850s, Imam Shamil tried to establish contacts with the Muslim rebels in the Northwestern Caucasus. In the spring of 1846, Shamil made a rush to Western Circassia. 9 thousand soldiers crossed to the left bank of the Terek and settled in the villages of the Kabardian ruler Mukhammed-Mirza Anzorov. The imam counted on the support of the Western Circassians led by Suleiman Effendi. But neither the Circassians nor the Kabardians joined forces with Shamil's troops. The Imam was forced to retreat to Chechnya. On the Black Sea coastline in the summer and autumn of 1845, the Circassians tried to capture the Raevsky and Golovinsky forts, but were repulsed.

At the end of 1848, another attempt was made to unite the efforts of the Imamat and the Circassians - the naib of Shamil appeared in Circassia - Mohammed-Amin. He managed to create a unified system of administrative management in Abadzekhia. The territory of the Abadzekh societies was divided into 4 districts (mehkeme), from the taxes from which detachments of riders of Shamil's regular army (murtaziks) were kept.

In 1849, the Russians launched an offensive to the Belaya River in order to move the front line there and take away the fertile lands between this river and Laba from the Abadzekhs, as well as to counter Muhammad Amin.

From the beginning of 1850 until May 1851, the Bzhedugs, Shapsugs, Natukhais, Ubykhs and several smaller societies submitted to Mukhamed-Amin. Three more mekhkemes were created - two in Natukhai and one in Shapsugia. The naib ruled over a vast territory between the Kuban, Laba and the Black Sea.

Crimean War and the end of the Caucasian War in the North-Eastern Caucasus (1853 - 1859)

Crimean War (1853 - 1856)

In 1853, rumors of an impending war with Turkey caused a rise in the resistance of the highlanders, who counted on the arrival of Turkish troops in Georgia and Kabarda and on the weakening of Russian troops by transferring part of the units to the Balkans. However, these calculations did not come true - the morale of the mountain population dropped noticeably as a result of the long-term war, and the actions of the Turkish troops in the Transcaucasus were unsuccessful and the mountaineers failed to establish interaction with them.

The Russian command chose a purely defensive strategy, but the clearing of forests and the destruction of food supplies from the mountaineers continued, albeit on a more limited scale.

In 1854, the commander of the Turkish Anatolian army entered into relations with Shamil, inviting him to move to connect with him from Dagestan. Shamil invaded Kakhetia, but, having learned about the approach of Russian troops, he retreated to Dagestan. The Turks were defeated and driven back from the Caucasus.

On the Black Sea coast, the positions of the Russian command were seriously weakened due to the entry of the fleets of England and France into the Black Sea and the loss of dominance at sea by the Russian fleet. It was impossible to defend the forts of the coastline without the support of the fleet, in connection with which the fortifications between Anapa, Novorossiysk and the mouths of the Kuban were destroyed, the garrisons of the Black Sea coastline were withdrawn to the Crimea. During the war, Circassian trade with Turkey was temporarily restored, allowing them to continue their resistance.

But the abandonment of the Black Sea fortifications did not have more serious consequences, and the allied command practically did not show activity in the Caucasus, limiting itself to the supply of weapons and military materials to the Circassians at war with Russia, as well as the transfer of volunteers. The landing of the Turks in Abkhazia, despite its support from the Abkhaz prince Shervashidze, did not have a serious impact on the course of hostilities.

The turning point in the course of hostilities came after the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) and the end of the Crimean War. In 1856, Prince Baryatinsky was appointed commander of the Caucasian corps, and the corps itself was reinforced by troops returning from Anatolia.

The Paris Peace Treaty (March 1856) recognized Russia's rights to all conquests in the Caucasus. The only point limiting Russian rule in the region was the prohibition to maintain a military fleet on the Black Sea and build coastal fortifications there.

End of the Caucasian War in the Northeast Caucasus

Already at the end of the 1840s, the fatigue of the mountain peoples from the many years of war began to manifest itself, the fact that the mountain population no longer believed in the achievability of victory. Social tension grew in the Imamate - many highlanders saw that Shamil's "state of justice" was based on repressions, and the naibs were gradually turning into a new nobility, interested only in personal enrichment and glory. Dissatisfaction with the rigid centralization of power in the Imamat grew - Chechen societies, accustomed to freedom, did not want to put up with a rigid hierarchy and unquestioning submission to Shamil's power. After the end of the Crimean War, the activity of the operations of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya began to decline.

Prince Alexander Baryatinsky took advantage of these sentiments. He abandoned punitive expeditions to the mountains and continued the systematic work of building fortresses, cutting through clearings and resettling Cossacks to develop the territories taken under control. In order to win over the highlanders, including the "new nobility" of the Imamate, Baryatinsky received significant sums from his personal friend, Emperor Alexander II. Peace, order, the preservation of the customs and religion of the highlanders in the territory subject to Baryatinsky allowed the highlanders to make comparisons not in favor of Shamil.

In 1856-1857, a detachment of General Nikolai Evdokimov drove Shamil out of Chechnya. In April 1859, the imam's new residence, the village of Vedeno, was stormed.

On September 6, 1859, Shamil surrendered to Prince Baryatinsky and was exiled to Kaluga. He died in 1871 during the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca and is buried in Medina (Saudi Arabia). In the Northeast Caucasus, the war is over.

Operations in the Northwest Caucasus

Russian troops launched a massive concentric offensive from the east, from the Maykop fortification founded in 1857, and from the north, from Novorossiysk. Military operations were carried out very cruelly: the auls that resisted were destroyed, the population was expelled or moved to the plains.

Former opponents of Russia in the Crimean War - primarily Turkey and partly Great Britain - continued to maintain ties with the Circassians, promising them military and diplomatic assistance. In February 1857, 374 foreign volunteers landed in Circassia, mostly Poles, under the leadership of the Pole Teofil Lapinsky.

However, the defense capability of the Circassians was weakened by traditional intertribal conflicts, as well as disagreements between the two main leaders of the resistance - the Shamilevsky naib Muhammad-Amin and the Circassian leader Zan Sefer-bey.

The end of the war in the Northwestern Caucasus (1859 - 1864)

In the North-Western, hostilities continued until May 1864. At the final stage, hostilities were distinguished by particular cruelty. The regular army was opposed by scattered detachments of the Adygs, who fought in the hard-to-reach mountainous regions of the North-Western Caucasus. Circassian auls were massively burned, their inhabitants were exterminated or expelled abroad (primarily to Turkey), partly moved to the plain. On the way, they died by the thousands from hunger and disease.

In November 1859, Imam Mohammed-Amin admitted his defeat and swore allegiance to Russia. In December of the same year, Sefer Bey suddenly died, and by the beginning of 1860, a detachment of European volunteers had left Circassia.

In 1860, the Natukhai resistance ceased. The struggle for independence was continued by the Abadzekhs, Shapsugs and Ubykhs.

In June 1861, representatives of these peoples gathered for a general meeting in the valley of the Sashe River (in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Sochi). They established the supreme body of power - the Mejlis of Circassia. The government of Circassia tried to achieve recognition of its independence and negotiate with the Russian command on the conditions for ending the war. For help and diplomatic recognition, the Majlis turned to Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire. But it was already too late, with the prevailing balance of power, the outcome of the war did not raise any doubts and no help was received from foreign powers.

In 1862, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, the younger brother of Alexander II, replaced Prince Baryatinsky as commander of the Caucasian army.

Until 1864, the highlanders slowly retreated further and further southwest: from the plains to the foothills, from the foothills to the mountains, from the mountains to the Black Sea coast.

The Russian military command, using the "scorched earth" strategy, hoped to completely clear the entire Black Sea coast of recalcitrant Circassians, either exterminating them or driving them out of the region. The emigration of the Circassians was accompanied by the mass death of the exiles from hunger, cold and disease. Many historians and public figures interpret the events of the last stage of the Caucasian War as the genocide of the Circassians.

On May 21, 1864, in the town of Kbaada (modern Krasnaya Polyana) in the upper reaches of the Mzymta River, the end of the Caucasian War and the establishment of Russian rule in the Western Caucasus were celebrated with a solemn prayer service and a parade of troops.

Consequences of the Caucasian War

In 1864, the Caucasian War was formally declared over, but separate pockets of resistance to the Russian authorities remained until 1884.

For the period from 1801 to 1864, the total losses of the Russian army in the Caucasus amounted to:

• 804 officers and 24,143 lower ranks killed,
• 3,154 officers and 61,971 lower ranks wounded,
• 92 officers and 5915 lower ranks captured.

At the same time, servicemen who died from wounds or died in captivity are not included in the number of irretrievable losses. In addition, the number of deaths from diseases in places with an unfavorable climate for Europeans is three times higher than the number of deaths on the battlefield. It is also necessary to take into account that civilians also suffered losses, and they can reach several thousand killed and wounded.

According to modern estimates, during the Caucasian wars, the irretrievable losses of the military and civilian population of the Russian Empire, incurred during hostilities, as a result of illness and death in captivity, amount to at least 77 thousand people.

At the same time, from 1801 to 1830, the combat losses of the Russian army in the Caucasus did not exceed several hundred people a year.

Data on the losses of the highlanders are purely estimated. Thus, estimates of the population of the Circassians at the beginning of the 19th century range from 307,478 people (K.F.Stal) to 1,700,000 people (I.F. Paskevich) and even 2,375,487 (G.Yu. Klaprot). The total number of Circassians who remained in the Kuban region after the war is about 60 thousand people, the total number of Muhajirs - immigrants to Turkey, the Balkans and Syria - is estimated at 500 - 600 thousand people. But, in addition to purely military losses and the death of the civilian population during the war years, the devastating plague epidemics at the beginning of the 19th century, as well as losses during the resettlement, influenced the population decline.

Russia, at the cost of significant bloodshed, was able to suppress the armed resistance of the Caucasian peoples and annex their territories. As a result of the war, many thousands of local people who did not accept Russian power were forced to leave their homes and move to Turkey and the Middle East.

As a result of the Caucasian War, the ethnic composition of the population was almost completely changed in the Northwestern Caucasus. Most of the Circassians were forced to settle in more than 40 countries of the world; according to various estimates, from 5 to 10% of the pre-war population remained in their homeland. To a large extent, although not so catastrophically, the ethnographic map of the North-Eastern Caucasus has changed, where ethnic Russians settled large areas cleared of the local population.

Huge mutual resentment and hatred gave rise to inter-ethnic tension, which then resulted in inter-ethnic conflicts during the Civil War, which turned into deportations of the 1940s, from which the roots of modern armed conflicts largely grow.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the Caucasian War was used by radical Islamists as an ideological argument in their fight against Russia.

XXI century: echoes of the Caucasian war

The question of the genocide of the Adygs

In the early 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, in connection with the intensification of the search for national identity, the question arose of the legal qualification of the events of the Caucasian War.

On February 7, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Kabardino-Balkarian SSR adopted a resolution "On the condemnation of the genocide of the Circassians (Circassians) during the years of the Russian-Caucasian war." In 1994, the Parliament of the KBR addressed the State Duma of the Russian Federation with the issue of recognizing the genocide of the Circassians. In 1996, the State Council - Khase of the Republic of Adygea and the President of the Republic of Adygea addressed a similar issue. Representatives of Circassian public organizations have repeatedly applied for recognition of the genocide of the Circassians by Russia.

On May 20, 2011, the Georgian Parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Circassians by the Russian Empire during the Caucasian War.

There is also an opposite trend. Thus, the Charter of the Krasnodar Territory says: "The Krasnodar Territory is the historical territory of the formation of the Kuban Cossacks, the original place of residence of the Russian people, who make up the majority of the population of the region". Thus, the fact that before the Caucasian War the main population of the territory of the region was the Circassian peoples is completely ignored.

Olympics - 2014 in Sochi

An additional aggravation of the Circassian issue was associated with the holding of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

Details about the connection of the Olympics with the Caucasian War, the position of the Circassian society and official bodies are set out in the reference prepared by the "Caucasian Knot" "The Circassian question in Sochi: the capital of the Olympics or the land of genocide?"

Monuments to the heroes of the Caucasian War

An ambiguous assessment is caused by the installation of monuments to various military and political figures of the times of the Caucasian War.

In 2003, in the city of Armavir, Krasnodar Territory, a monument was unveiled to General Zass, who in the Adyghe space is commonly called "the collector of Circassian heads." Decembrist Nikolai Lorer wrote about Zass: "In support of the idea of ​​fear preached by Zass, Circassian heads constantly stuck out on peaks on the mound at the Strong Trench under Zass, and their beards developed in the wind". The installation of the monument caused a negative reaction of the Circassian society.

In October 2008, a monument to General Yermolov was erected in Mineralnye Vody of the Stavropol Territory. He caused a mixed reaction among representatives of various nationalities of the Stavropol Territory and the entire North Caucasus. On October 22, 2011, unknown people desecrated the monument.

In January 2014, the mayor's office of Vladikavkaz announced plans to restore a pre-existing monument to Russian soldier Arkhip Osipov. A number of Circassian activists spoke out categorically against this intention, calling it militaristic propaganda, and the monument itself - a symbol of empire and colonialism.

Notes

The "Caucasian War" is the longest military conflict involving the Russian Empire, which dragged on for almost 100 years and was accompanied by heavy casualties from both the Russian and Caucasian peoples. The pacification of the Caucasus did not happen even after the parade of Russian troops in Krasnaya Polyana on May 21, 1864 officially marked the end of the subjugation of the Circassian tribes of the Western Caucasus and the end of the Caucasian war. The armed conflict that lasted until the end of the 19th century gave rise to many problems and conflicts, the echoes of which are still heard at the beginning of the 21st century.

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In 1817, the Caucasian War began for the Russian Empire, which lasted 50 years. The Caucasus has long been a region in which Russia wanted to expand its influence, and Alexander 1 decided on this war. This war was caught by three Russian emperors: Alexander 1, Nicholas 1 and Alexander 2. As a result, Russia emerged victorious.

The Caucasian war of 1817-1864 is a huge event, it is divided into 6 main stages, which are discussed in the table below.

Main reasons	Russia's attempts to establish itself in the Caucasus and introduce Russian laws there; Unwillingness of some peoples of the Caucasus to join Russia The desire of Russia to protect its borders from the raids of the highlanders.
	The predominance of the guerrilla warfare of the highlanders. The beginning of the tough policy of the governor in the Caucasus, General A.P. Yermolov to pacify the mountain peoples through the creation of fortresses and the forcible resettlement of the mountaineers to the plain under the supervision of Russian garrisons
	Unification of the rulers of Dagestan against the tsarist troops. Start of organized hostilities on both sides
	B. Taymazov's uprising in Chechnya (1824). The emergence of Muridism. Separate punitive operations of Russian troops against the highlanders. Replacement of the commander of the Caucasian corps. Instead of General A.P. Yermolov (1816-1827) was appointed General I.F. Paskevich (1827- 1831)
	Creation of a mountainous Muslim state - imamate. Gazi-Mohammed is the first imam who successfully fought against the Russian troops. In 1829, he declared gazavat to the Russians. He died in 1832 in the battle for his native village of Gimry
	"Brilliant" era" of Imam Shamil (1799-1871). Military operations with varying success on both sides. The creation by Shamil of an imamate, which included the lands of Chechnya and Dagestan. Active hostilities between the warring parties. August 25, 1859 - the capture of Shamil in the village of Gunib by the troops of General A. I. Baryatinsky
	The final suppression of the resistance of the highlanders (collapse of the imamate)
The results of the war:	Assertion of Russian power in the Caucasus; The inclusion of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the Russia; Settling of conquered territories by Slavic peoples;

the struggle of the Russian Empire for the accession of the North Caucasus to Russia.

The North Caucasus was inhabited by many peoples who differed in language, customs, customs and level of social development. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. The Russian administration concluded agreements with the ruling elite of the tribes and communities on their entry into the Russian Empire.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish and Russian-Iranian wars of the late 20s. 19th century Russia was joined by Georgia, Eastern Armenia, Northern Azerbaijan. (See the historical map "The territory of the Caucasus, ceded to Russia by the 1830s")

However, the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus remained out of control. Therefore, after joining the Transcaucasus and the Black Sea coast during the wars with Persia (Iran) and Turkey, Russia faced the task of ensuring a stable situation in the North Caucasus. Under Alexander I, General A.P. Yermolov began to advance deep into Chechnya and Dagestan, building military strongholds. The resistance of the mountain peoples resulted in a religious and political movement - muridism, which implies religious fanaticism and an uncompromising struggle against the "infidels", which gave it a nationalist character. In the North Caucasus, it was directed exclusively against Russians and was most widespread in Dagestan. A kind of state on religious grounds, the imamate, has developed here. (See the historical map "Caucasus in 1817 - 1864")

In 1834, Shamil became the imam - the head of state. He created a strong army and concentrated administrative, military and spiritual power in his hands. Under his leadership, the struggle against the Russians intensified in the North Caucasus. It continued with varying success for about 30 years. In the 1840s Shamil managed to expand the territories subject to him, establishing ties with Turkey and some European states.

The conquest of the highlanders of the North Caucasus and the protracted war brought significant human and material losses to Russia. During the whole time, up to 80 thousand soldiers and officers of the Caucasian corps died, were taken prisoner and went missing. The maintenance of the military contingent cost 10-15 million rubles. annually. Undoubtedly, it worsened the financial situation of Russia. However, prolonged resistance undermined the strength of the mountaineers. By the end of the 50s. 19th century the situation worsened for them. The internal decomposition of Shamil's state began. The peasantry and other strata of the population, tortured by the war, countless military exactions, severe religious restrictions, began to move away from Muridism. In August 1859, the last refuge of Shamil, the village of Gunib, fell. The Imamat ceased to exist. In 1863 - 1864. Russians occupied the entire territory along the northern slope of the Caucasus Range and crushed the resistance of the Circassians. The Caucasian war is over.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

CAUCASIAN WAR (1817-1864)

The war of the Russian Empire against the Muslim peoples of the North Caucasus in order to annex this region.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish and Russian-Iranian wars, the North Caucasus was surrounded by Russian territory. However, the imperial government failed to establish effective control over it for many decades. The mountain peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan have long lived to a large extent by raiding the surrounding flat territories, including Russian Cossack settlements and soldier garrisons. In 1819, almost all the rulers of Dagestan united in an alliance to fight against the Russians. In 1823, Kabardian princes rose up against Russian rule, and in 1824 an uprising in Chechnya was raised by Beibulat Taymazov, who had previously served as an officer in the Russian army. In 1828, the struggle of the highlanders was led by the Avar Gazi-Magomed, who received the title of imam (spiritual leader) of Chechnya and Dagestan. He fought against other Avar khans who took the side of Russia, but could not capture the Avar capital Khunzakh, to whose aid Russian troops came. The highlanders acted against them in small cavalry partisan detachments, which quickly dispersed in the mountains if the enemy had a significant superiority in people and artillery.

Until 1827, the fight against the highlanders, who called themselves murids (“those who seek the path of salvation” in the holy war against the infidels - ghazavat), was led by the commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps, General Yermolov, and later by General Paskevich. Yermolov built fortresses, laid roads between them, cut down forests and bit deeper into the mountainous territory. Paskevich began to build a road along the Black Sea coast. Russian troops established control over Pitsunda, Gagra and Sukhumi, but in fact they were blocked in these settlements by detachments of Dzhigets, Ubykhs, Shapsugs and Natukhians. Thousands of Russian soldiers died from malaria and typhus.

On October 17, 1832, in one of the battles near the village of Gimry, Gazi-Magomed was killed. His successor was Gamzat-bek, who two years later was hacked to death by the Avars in a mosque in retaliation for the murder of the Avar khans. In 1834, the closest friend of Gazi-Magomed Shamil was elected imam. He was the first of the imams who managed to organize the highlanders into a regular army, consisting of tens and hundreds. Hundreds, in turn, united into larger detachments of different numbers. He introduced Sharia law in the subject territory and established iron discipline in the army. The slightest disobedience was punishable by corporal punishment or death. Shamil equipped his troops with artillery both from captured cannons and from new ones, which Dagestan masters learned to cast. However, he also experienced some serious setbacks. In 1839, after a three-month siege, the Russians stormed the fortified residence of the imam - the village of Akhulgo. During the assault, the youngest son of Shamil Sagid and many other relatives of the imam died. Shamil was forced to give his younger 7-year-old son Jamalut-din as a hostage to the Russian Tsar. But eight months later, the imam launched a new uprising in Chechnya. His supporters also managed to capture several Russian fortifications on the Black Sea coast in 1840. In 1845, Shamil defeated an expeditionary force led by the governor of the Caucasus himself, Prince Mikhail Vorontsov. The highlanders at the same time captured rich booty.

In 1848, the Trans-Kuban highlanders united around Shamil's colleague Magomed-Emin, who became the ruler of the North-Western Caucasus. During the Crimean War, in the summer of 1854, Shamil's son Gazi-Magomed raided Georgia, hoping to join the Turkish troops. But the Russian Caucasian army did not allow the Turks into Georgia, and the soldiers of Gazi-Magomed were forced to limit themselves to rich booty. They captured about 900 prisoners, among whom were representatives of noble Georgian families. More than a thousand Georgian militias and civilians died. Princesses Chavchavadze and Orbeliani were exchanged for Shamil's son Jamalutdin, who returned from St. Petersburg, where he served as a lieutenant in the Ulan Guards Regiment. A large ransom was also paid for the rest of the captives. After that, a cash crisis began in Georgia, and in Chechnya and Dagestan, on the contrary, silver coins depreciated.

Oddly enough, a successful raid into Georgia brought the end of the struggle against the highlanders closer. Realizing that they could not capture such booty a second time, the soldiers demanded peace, provided that no one forced them to return the loot. The new governor in the Caucasus, Prince Alexander Baryatinsky, a personal friend of Emperor Alexander II, applied a flexible policy, attracting local feudal lords (naibs) to his side with a promise to keep their possessions and privileges intact.

A three-year offensive in the mountains of southern Chechnya ended with the encirclement of Shamil in the high mountain village of Gunib. The superiority in artillery and small arms affected. The new rifled rifles of the 1856 model of the year surpassed the guns of the highlanders in range and rate of fire. On September 7, 1859, Shamil, at the head of 400 defenders of Gunib, surrendered to the army of Baryatinsky. At the same time, the proud imam told Baryatinsky: “I fought for the faith for thirty years, but now my peoples have betrayed me, and the naibs have fled. I myself am tired. I am sixty-three years old, I am already old and gray, even though my beard is black. the conquest of Dagestan. May the sovereign emperor own the highlanders for their benefit. "

After Shamil, it was the turn of Magomed-Emin. The landing party, landed from the ships, captured Tuapse - the only port through which the highlanders of the North-Western Caucasus were supplied with weapons and ammunition. On December 2, 1859, Magomed Emin and the elders of the Abadzekhs swore allegiance to the Russian Empire. However, the appearance of Russian settlers in the Caucasus led to the discontent of the local population and the uprising in 1862 of the peoples of Abkhazia. It was suppressed only in June 1864. After that, individual partisan detachments in the Caucasus fought against the Russians until 1884, but large-scale hostilities ended 20 years earlier.

During the Caucasian War, the Russian army lost 25 thousand people killed and more than 65 thousand wounded. About 120 thousand soldiers and officers died from diseases. There is no exact data on the losses of the armed highlanders, but there is no doubt that they were several times smaller than the Russians, especially in terms of those who died from diseases. In addition, a number of the civilian mountain population became victims of Russian punitive operations. But even as a result of the mountain raids, there were losses among the peaceful inhabitants of the Cossack villages and fortifications and among the Christian population of Georgia. There is no exact data on this.

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