Progress of hostilities

To illuminate the course of the war, it would be advisable to highlight several stages:

· Ermolovsky period (1816--1827),

· Beginning of gazavat (1827--1835),

· Formation and functioning of the Imamate (1835-1859) Shamil,

· End of the war: the conquest of Circassia (1859--1864).

As already noted, after the transfer of Georgia (1801 - 1810) and Azerbaijan (1803 - 1813) to Russian citizenship, the annexation of the lands separating Transcaucasia from Russia and the establishment of control over the main communications was considered by the Russian government as the most important military-political task . However, the mountaineers did not agree with this state of events. The main opponents of the Russian troops were the Adygs of the Black Sea coast and the Kuban region in the west, and the highlanders in the east, united in the military-theocratic Islamic state of the Imamate of Chechnya and Dagestan, headed by Shamil. At the first stage, the Caucasian War coincided with Russian wars against Persia and Turkey, and therefore Russia was forced to conduct military operations against the highlanders with limited forces.

The reason for the war was the appearance of General Alexei Petrovich Ermolov in the Caucasus. He was appointed in 1816 commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in Georgia and on the Caucasian line. Ermolov, a European educated man, a hero Patriotic War, carried out a lot of preparatory work in 1816-1817 and in 1818 invited Alexander I to complete his policy program in the Caucasus. Ermolov set the task of changing the Caucasus, putting an end to the raiding system in the Caucasus, with what is called “predation.” He convinced Alexander I of the need to pacify the highlanders solely by force of arms. Soon the general moved from individual punitive expeditions to a systematic advance deep into Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan by surrounding mountainous areas with a continuous ring of fortifications, cutting clearings in difficult forests, building roads and destroying “rebellious” villages.

His activities on the Caucasian line in 1817 - 1818. the general started from Chechnya, moving the left flank of the Caucasian line from the Terek to the river. Sunzha, where he strengthened the Nazran redoubt and founded the fortification of Pregradny Stan in its middle reaches (October 1817) and the Grozny fortress in the lower reaches (1818). This measure stopped the uprisings of the Chechens living between Sunzha and Terek. In Dagestan, the highlanders who threatened Shamkhal Tarkovsky, captured by Russia, were pacified; To keep them in submission, the Vnezapnaya fortress was built (1819). An attempt to attack it by the Avar Khan ended in complete failure.

In Chechnya, Russian troops destroyed auls, forcing the Chechens to move further and further from Sunzha into the depths of the mountains or move to a plane (plain) under the supervision of Russian garrisons; 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 1820, the Black Sea Cossack Army (up to 40 thousand people) was included in the Separate Georgian Corps, renamed the Separate Caucasian Corps and also strengthened. In 1821, the Burnaya fortress was built, and the crowds of the Avar Khan Akhmet, who tried to interfere with Russian work, were defeated. The possessions of the Dagestan rulers, who united their forces against Russian troops on the Sunzhenskaya line and suffered a series of defeats in 1819-1821, were either transferred to Russian vassals with subordination to Russian commandants, or became dependent on Russia, or were liquidated. 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 1821, was defeated.

In 1822, to completely pacify the Kabardians, a series of fortifications were built at the foot of the Black Mountains, from Vladikavkaz to the upper reaches of the Kuban. In 1823 - 1824 The actions of the Russian command were directed against the Trans-Kuban highlanders, who did not stop their raids. A number of punitive expeditions were carried out against them.

In Dagestan in the 1820s. A new Islamic movement began to spread - muridism (one of the directions in Sufism). Ermolov, having visited Cuba in 1824, ordered Aslankhan of Kazikumukh to stop the unrest caused by the followers of the new teaching. But he was distracted by other matters and could not monitor the execution of this order, as a result of which the main preachers of Muridism, Mulla-Mohammed, and then Kazi-Mulla, continued to inflame the minds of the mountaineers in Dagestan and Chechnya and proclaim the proximity of gazavat, that is, a holy war against the infidels . The movement of the mountain people under the flag of Muridism was the impetus for expanding the scope of the Caucasian War, although some mountain peoples (Kumyks, Ossetians, Ingush, Kabardians, etc.) did not join this movement.

In 1825, there was a general uprising of Chechnya, during which the highlanders managed to capture the Amiradzhiyurt post (July 8) and tried to take the Gerzel fortification, rescued by the detachment of Lieutenant General D.T. Lisanevich (July 15). The next day, Lisanevich and General Grekov, who was with him, were killed by the Chechens. The uprising was suppressed in 1826.

From the very beginning of 1825, the coasts of the Kuban again began to be subject to raids by large parties of Shapsugs and Abadzekhs; The Kabardians also became worried. In 1826, a number of expeditions were made to Chechnya, cutting down clearings in dense forests, laying new roads and restoring order in villages free from Russian troops. This ended the activities of Ermolov, who in 1827 was recalled by Nicholas I from the Caucasus and sent into retirement for his connections with the Decembrists.

Period 1827--1835 associated with the beginning of the so-called gazavat - the sacred struggle against the infidels. The new Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Corps, Adjutant General I.F. Paskevich abandoned a systematic advance with the consolidation of the occupied territories and returned mainly to the tactics of individual punitive expeditions, especially since at first he was mainly occupied with wars with Persia and Turkey. The successes he achieved in these wars contributed to maintaining external calm in the country; but muridism spread more and more, and Kazi-Mulla, proclaimed imam in December 1828 and the first to call for ghazavat, sought to unite the hitherto scattered tribes of the Eastern Caucasus into one mass hostile to Russia. Only the Avar Khanate refused to recognize his power, and Kazi-Mulla’s attempt (in 1830) to take control of Khunzakh ended in defeat. After this, 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 1828, in connection with the construction of the Military-Sukhumi road, the Karachay region was annexed. In 1830, another defensive line was created - Lezginskaya. In April 1831, Count Paskevich-Erivansky was recalled to command the army in Poland; in his place were temporarily appointed commanders of the troops: in Transcaucasia - General N.P. Pankratiev, on the Caucasian line - General A.A. Velyaminov.

Kazi-Mulla transferred his activities to the Shamkhal possessions, where, having chosen as his location the inaccessible tract Chumkesent (not far from Temir-Khan-Shura), he began to call all the mountaineers to fight the infidels. His attempts to take the fortresses of Burnaya and Vnezapnaya failed; but the movement of General G.A. was also unsuccessful. Emanuel to the Aukhov forests. The last failure, greatly exaggerated by the mountain messengers, increased the number of Kazi-Mulla’s followers, 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 rebel Tabasarans (one of the mountain peoples Dagestan) to capture Derbent. Significant territories came under the authority of the imam (Chechnya and most of Dagestan). However, from the end of 1831 the uprising began to decline. The detachments of Kazi-Mulla were pushed back to Mountainous Dagestan. Attacked on December 1, 1831 by Colonel M.P. Miklashevsky, he was forced to leave Chumkesent and went to Gimry. Appointed in September 1831, the commander of the Caucasian Corps, Baron Rosen, took Gimry on October 17, 1832; Kazi-Mulla died during the battle.

Gamzat-bek was proclaimed the second imam, who, thanks to military victories, rallied around himself almost all the peoples of Mountainous Dagestan, including some of the Avars. In 1834, he invaded Avaria, treacherously took possession of Khunzakh, exterminated almost the entire khan’s family, which adhered to a pro-Russian orientation, and was already thinking about conquering all of Dagestan, but died at the hands of an assassin. Soon 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 destroyed 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 communications with the Turks and slave trading (Black Sea coastline did not yet exist), foreign agents, especially the British, distributed anti-Russian appeals among the local tribes and delivered military supplies. This forced Baron Rosen to instruct General A.A. Velyaminov (in the summer of 1834) a new expedition to the Trans-Kuban region to establish a cordon line to Gelendzhik. It ended with the construction of fortifications of Abinsky and Nikolaevsky.

So, the third imam was the Avar Shamil, originally from the village. Gimry. It was he who managed to create the imamate - a united mountain state on the territory of Dagestan and Chechnya, which lasted until 1859.

The main functions of the imamate were the defense of the territory, ideology, ensuring law and order, economic development, and solving fiscal and social problems. Shamil managed to unite the multi-ethnic region and form a coherent centralized system of government. The head of state - the great imam, “father of the country and checkers” - was a spiritual, military and secular leader, had enormous authority and a decisive voice. All life in the mountain state was built on the basis of Sharia - the laws of Islam. Year after year, Shamil replaced the unwritten law of customs with laws based on Sharia. Among his most important acts was the abolition of serfdom. The Imamate had effectively operating armed forces, which included cavalry and foot militia. Each branch of the military had its own division.

The new commander-in-chief, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, paid his main attention to Chechnya, the conquest of which he entrusted to the head of the left wing of the line, General N.I. 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 have reached following results: on the right wing of the line the Adagum valley was occupied 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 constructed fortifications; wide clearings have been cut in all directions; the mass of the hostile population of Chechnya has been driven to the point of having to submit and move to open areas, under state supervision; The Aukh district is occupied and a fortification has been erected in its center. In Dagestan, Salatavia is finally occupied. Several new Cossack villages were established along Laba, Urup and Sunzha. The troops are everywhere close to the front lines; the rear is secured; vast expanses of the best lands are cut off from the hostile population and, thus, a significant share of the resources for the fight are wrested from the hands of Shamil.

On the Lezgin line, as a result of deforestation, predatory raids gave way to 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 Argun River gorge, which was considered impregnable, where N.I. Evdokimov ordered the foundation of a strong fortification, called Argunsky. Climbing up the river, he reached, at the end of July, the villages of the Shatoevsky society; in the upper reaches of the Argun he founded a new fortification - Evdokimovskoye. Shamil tried to divert attention by sabotage to Nazran, but was defeated by a detachment of General I.K. Mishchenko and barely managed to escape into the still unoccupied part of the Argun Gorge. Convinced that his power there had been completely undermined, he retired to Veden - his new residence. On March 17, 1859, the bombardment of this fortified village began, and on April 1 it was taken by storm.

Shamil fled beyond the Andean Koisu; all of Ichkeria declared its submission to us. After the capture of Veden, three detachments headed concentrically to the Andean Koisu valley: 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, opposite Conkhidatl, with solid stone rubble, entrusting their defense to his son Kazi-Magoma. With any energetic resistance from the latter, forcing the crossing at this point would cost enormous 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 across the Andean Koisu at the Sagytlo tract. Shamil, seeing danger threatening from everywhere, fled to his last refuge on Mount Gunib, having with him only 332 people. the most fanatical murids from all over Dagestan. On August 25, Gunib was taken by storm, and Shamil himself was captured by Prince A.I. Baryatinsky.

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 tribes hostile to Russia. It was decided to conduct actions in the Trans-Kuban region in accordance with what had been learned in last years system. The native tribes had to submit and move to the places indicated to them on the plane; otherwise, they were pushed further into the barren mountains, and the lands they left behind were populated by Cossack villages; finally, after pushing the natives from the mountains to the seashore, they could either move to the plain, under our closest supervision, or move to Turkey, in which it was supposed to provide them with possible assistance. To quickly implement this plan, I.A. Baryatinsky decided, at the beginning of 1860, to strengthen the troops of the right wing with very large reinforcements; but the uprising that broke out in the newly calmed Chechnya and partly in Dagestan forced us to temporarily abandon this. Actions against the small gangs there, led by stubborn fanatics, dragged on until the end of 1861, when all attempts at indignation were finally suppressed. Then only it was possible to begin decisive operations on the right wing, the leadership of which was entrusted to the conqueror of Chechnya, N.I. Evdokimov. His troops were divided into 2 detachments: one, Adagumsky, operated in the land of the Shapsugs, the other - from Laba and Belaya; a special detachment was sent to operate in the lower reaches of the river. Pshish. In autumn and winter, Cossack villages are established in the Natukhai district. The troops operating from the direction of Laba completed the construction of villages between Laba and Belaya 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 pass of the Main Range.

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 inhabitants living between the Khodz and Belaya rivers were ordered to immediately move to Kuban or Laba, and within 20 days (from March 8 to 29), up to 90 villages were resettled. At the end of April, N.I. Evdokimov, having crossed the Black Mountains, descended into the Dakhovskaya Valley along the road that the mountaineers considered inaccessible to us, and set up a new Cossack village there, closing the Belorechenskaya line. Our movement deep into the Trans-Kuban region was met everywhere by desperate resistance from the Abadzekhs, reinforced by the Ubykhs and other tribes; but the enemy’s attempts could not be crowned with serious success anywhere. The result of the summer and autumn actions of 1862 on the part of Belaya was the strong establishment of Russian troops in the space limited on the west by the rivers Pshish, Pshekha and Kurdzhips.

At the beginning of 1863, the only opponents of Russian rule throughout the Caucasus region were the mountain societies on the northern slope of the Main Range, from Adagum to Belaya, and the coastal tribes of Shapsugs, Ubykhs, etc., who lived in the narrow space between the sea coast and the southern slope Main Range, Aderby Valley and Abkhazia. The final conquest of the country fell to the lot of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, appointed governor of the Caucasus. In 1863, the actions of the troops of the Kuban region. should have consisted of spreading 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 mountaineers of the northwestern Caucasus in a hopeless situation. Already from mid-summer 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 summer the number of immigrants settled on the plane in the Kuban and Laba reached 30 thousand people. At the beginning of October, the Abadzekh elders came to Evdokimov and signed an agreement according to which all their fellow tribesmen who wanted to accept Russian citizenship pledged no later than February 1, 1864 to begin moving to the places indicated by him; the rest were given 2 1/2- month period to move to Turkey.

The conquest of the northern slope of the ridge was completed. All that remained was to move to the southwestern slope in order to, going down to the sea, clear the coastal strip and prepare it for settlement. On October 10, our troops climbed to the very pass and in the same month occupied the river gorge. Pshada and the mouth of the river. Dzhubgi. The beginning of 1864 was marked by unrest in Chechnya, stirred up by followers of the new Muslim sect of Zikr; but these unrest were soon pacified. In the western Caucasus, the remnants of the highlanders of the northern slope continued to move to Turkey or to the Kuban plane; from the end of February, actions began on the southern slope, which ended in May with the conquest of the Abkhaz tribe Akhchipsou, in the upper reaches of the river. Mzymty. The masses of native inhabitants were pushed back to the seashore and were taken to Turkey by arriving Turkish ships. On May 21, 1864, in the camp of the united Russian columns, in the presence of the Grand Duke Commander-in-Chief, a thanksgiving prayer service was served to mark the end of a long struggle that had cost Russia countless victims.

Results and consequences of the war

Integration process North Caucasus was a unique event in its own way. It reflected both traditional schemes that corresponded to the national policy of the empire in the annexed lands, as well as its own specifics, determined by the relationship between the Russian authorities and the local population and the policy of the Russian state in the process of establishing its influence in the Caucasus region.

The geopolitical position of the Caucasus determined its importance in expanding Russia's spheres of influence in Asia. Most of the assessments of contemporaries - participants in military operations in the Caucasus and representatives Russian society shows that they understood the meaning of Russia’s struggle for the Caucasus.

In general, contemporaries’ understanding of the problem of establishing Russian power in the Caucasus shows that they sought to find the most optimal options for ending hostilities in the region. Most representatives state power and Russian society were united by the understanding that the integration of the Caucasus and local peoples into a common socio-economic and cultural space Russian Empire required some time.

The results of the Caucasian War were Russia’s conquest of the North Caucasus and its achievement of the following goals:

· strengthening the geopolitical position;

· strengthening influence on the states of the Near and Middle East through the North Caucasus as a military-strategic springboard;

· acquisition of new markets for raw materials and sales on the outskirts of the country, which was the goal of the colonial policy of the Russian Empire.

The Caucasian War had enormous geopolitical consequences. Reliable communications were established between Russia and its Transcaucasian lands due to the fact that the barrier separating them, which was the territories not controlled by Russia, disappeared. After the end of the war, the situation in the region became much more stable. Raids and rebellions began to happen less frequently, largely because the indigenous population in the occupied territories became much smaller. The slave trade on the Black Sea, which had previously been supported by Turkey, completely ceased. For the indigenous peoples of the region, a special system of government, adapted to their political traditions, was established - the military-people's system. The population was given the opportunity to decide their internal affairs according to folk customs (adat) and Sharia law.

However, Russia provided itself with problems for a long time by including “restless”, freedom-loving peoples - echoes of this can be heard to this day. The events and consequences of this war are still painfully perceived in the historical memory of many peoples of the region and significantly affect interethnic relations.

IN Lately in means mass media The topic of the “Circassian genocide” of the 19th century is being actively discussed in Russia and abroad. We are talking about the so-called Muhajirism (Mahajirism) - a mass exodus of the indigenous (mostly Muslim) population from the Caucasus conquered by the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire at the end of the Caucasian War (1817-1864) and in the subsequent decades of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Among the forced migrants-Muhajirs, the Circassians (Circassians) predominated numerically. This topic is perceived painfully in the North Caucasus today. They are especially emotional about it in the north-west of the region (in Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Adygea and Krasnodar region), the majority of the mountain population of which left the Caucasus and Russia forever in the 19th - early 20th centuries. In recent years, this historical drama has often been politicized, including for anti-Russian purposes.

The term "Muhajir" itself has Arab origin (muhajaret- resettlement, emigration, exile) and Islamic historical and religious overtones. In the second third of the 19th century. This is how Muslims who were forced to leave their places of residence, and later the Caucasus, called themselves. They identified themselves with the heroes of early Islam, who bear the name Muhajirs in the Muslim tradition - with the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, who were forced to migrate (hijra) from pagan Mecca to Yathrib (the future Muslim Medina). The concept of "muhajir" received in the Imamate - a military-theocratic state on the territory of Nagorno-Dagestan, Chechnya and Trans-Kuban Circassia under the leadership of Imam Shamil (1834-1859) - the meaning of an honorary title of a fighter for the faith. In the second half of the 19th century. it spread to forced migrants from the Russian Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire. Among them were many former muhajirs from the Shamil Imamate.

The cessation of armed confrontation marked the beginning of administrative and socio-economic reforms in the region, aimed at integrating the Caucasus into the state body of the Russian Empire. Basic principle Caucasian policy became a line towards centralization, unification of the region with the all-Russian legal and administrative system. Many obstacles to the implementation of government plans were created by the specifics of the Caucasus and, above all, its social diversity, multiethnicity and multiconfessionalism.

Muhajirism was caused by violent actions not only by the Russian authorities. It grew out of wartime internal migrations, such as the spontaneous transitions of the peasants of Kabarda to Trans-Kuban Circassia, the descent of the highlanders to the plain, the creation of enlarged villages and fortified cities of the Central and North-Western Caucasus, and organized military colonization. Sometimes the mountaineers (Shapsugs and others) agreed to move from the mountains to the flat places indicated to them by the authorities. All forces involved in the Caucasian wars used massive population movements for political purposes. The Russian military carried out resettlement to encourage the “peaceful highlanders” and Cossacks. As a repressive measure, they used the expulsion of individual families and entire villages outside the region. The tsarist authorities used part of the conquered Circassians, who swore an oath of loyal citizenship to Russia, as soldiers of auxiliary detachments created to establish and maintain order in the Caucasus. So, on February 2, 1860, the commander of the troops of the right wing of the Caucasian line, Lieutenant General G.I. Philipson sent the chief of staff of the Black Sea Cossack army, Major General L.I. Kusakov received a report on the call to duty of Bzhedukh policemen. Displacing the mountaineers from strategically important foothills and river valleys, the Russian authorities resettled Cossacks and military settlers in their place. In turn, Imam Shamil forcibly resettled rural communities that resisted the imamate. In the North-West Caucasus, Shamilev’s naib of Trans-Kuban Circassia, Muhammad-Amin, resorted to the same policy. It was precisely the areas of mass internal migrations during wartime - Kabarda and Trans-Kubania, Ossetia and Ingushetia - that subsequently became centers of muhajirdom.

The Adygs (Circassians) were faced with a choice: either remain on lands controlled by Russian troops, or move to Turkish possessions. The initiative for mass emigration (Muhajirism) most often came from the Adyghe nobility. With the abolition of serfdom in Russia, local Tfokotli princes were faced with the prospect of freeing their dependent tribesmen. They understood that they would have to give freedom to their fellow tribesmen from the dependent classes and give them land.

The Muslim clergy of the Circassians also advocated emigration, not wanting to be in the power of the Orthodox king. In addition, alarming rumors were spreading among the local population that the Russians would introduce conscription, which will make it impossible to perform Islamic rituals. This religious aspect was of particular importance in Dagestan (mainly among the Avars and Dargins), where muhajirism also began - albeit to a much lesser extent than in the north-west of the Caucasus. The impetus for it was also given by the resettlement of Imam Shamil’s naibs (governors) to Turkey.

The authorities of both Russia and Turkey were interested in the resettlement of the mountain peoples of the Caucasus and in preventing their re-emigration. Muhajirism became part of the ongoing Russian-Turkish rivalry in the Middle East, complicated by the actions of Western powers trying to weaken Russia. Representatives of the Ottoman government actively promoted the resettlement. From the very beginning of the resettlement, emissaries of the Turkish government sought to convince the mountaineers that Turkey was a “paradise land”, the patroness of all Muslims, and the Sultan was their head.

Showing interest in the resettlement of highlanders from the North Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire pursued its own strategic goals: 1) to increase the share of Muslims in the areas where the Christian population lived in the rebellious Balkans, as well as in Asia Minor; 2) use the Circassians as a punitive force to suppress the liberation movement of peoples Ottoman Empire; 3) replenish the Turkish army with settlers to increase its combat effectiveness and conduct military operations against Russia. During the war of 1877-1878, when Russian troops temporarily abandoned Sukhumi, Turkish military authorities forcibly evicted the inhabitants of Abkhazia to the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish authorities allocated places for the settlers that, due to their climatic and other conditions, turned out to be disastrous for them. For example, in the Kars vilayet they were given an almost uninhabitable rocky area without forest or water. Thus, most of the highlander settlers were abandoned to their fate on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Official messages Ottoman authorities They said that the mountaineers were given free land, livestock, arable tools, and houses were built for them. More than once during the 1860-1870s. deputations of Muhajirs disillusioned with the “Turkish paradise” turned to the Russian authorities with requests to allow them to return to their homeland or settle in other regions of Russia.

In the first two decades after the end of the Caucasian War, the Russian authorities did not prevent the exodus of the highlanders, counting on the departure of potential rebels. Mass emigration, high level mortality during resettlement in Russian and Turkish transit camps is undoubtedly a huge tragedy in the history of the Adyghe people. However, the tsarist government did not at all set the goal of exterminating the Circassians (Circassians). The main objective of his policy in the Caucasus was to secure Black Sea coast, to establish itself on the new borders of the empire. It is well known that many representatives of the Adyghe peoples (especially Kabardians) took the side of Russia, received an education, and became officers and officials. Many Muhajirs subsequently wished to return to their homeland, but the Russian authorities limited this return movement for fear of destabilizing the situation in the region and the penetration of foreign agents. The peoples who remained in the Caucasus, living today as part of Russia, were able to preserve their religion, identity, language, and culture.

The actions of the Russian side, which resulted in muhajirism, can in no way be regarded as genocide in a strictly legal sense, i.e. (in accordance with the 1948 UN Convention) as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such,” since the purpose of these actions was not the extermination of the population, but its reduction to submission through the organization of semi-forced relocations. The Russian authorities did not and could not have the intention to exterminate the Caucasian peoples. In addition, it seems unlawful to apply modern legal norms and definitions in relation to the events of the 19th century.

Today, the descendants of Caucasian highlander settlers live in Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and other countries. Many of them were subjected to assimilation in a foreign land, which became their new homeland, and for the most part lost native language and cultural and everyday traditions (by the way, those representatives of the Adyghe peoples who remained within Russia preserved all this). Nevertheless, historical memory about Muhajirism is alive both in the Circassian diaspora abroad and in the Western Caucasus. It is actively used for political purposes by those who are interested in weakening Russia and inciting ethnic and religious hatred in the Caucasus region. The “Circassian issue” became especially aggravated in connection with the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Inciting anti-Russian sentiments, the Georgian authorities took upon themselves the role of the main defenders of the interests of the Adyghe peoples. On May 20, 2011, the Georgian parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Circassians by the Russian Empire in the Caucasian War.

Calls from irresponsible populist politicians interfering in internal affairs Russian Federation, it is impossible to restore “historical justice” in relation to the descendants of the Muhajirs. Firstly, many of the descendants of Caucasian settlers took root in the Middle East, socially and culturally integrated into local communities, lost their native language and are not eager to return to their ancestral homeland. Secondly, the ethno-demographic and socio-economic situation in the North Caucasus has changed too much over the past century and a half. Any attempt to sharply violate it by organizing mass relocations, as well as revising administrative-territorial boundaries and land-property relations may entail new conflict with dire consequences.

Valery Tishkov
Scientific director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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Caucasian War (briefly)

Brief description of the Caucasian War (with tables):

Historians usually call the Caucasian War a long period of military actions between the North Caucasian Imamate and the Russian Empire. This confrontation was fought for the complete subjugation of all the mountainous territories of the North Caucasus, and was one of the most fierce in the nineteenth century. The war period covers the time from 1817 to 1864.

Close political relations between the peoples of the Caucasus and Russia began immediately after the collapse of Georgia in the fifteenth century. After all, starting from the sixteenth century, many states of the Caucasus range were forced to ask for protection from Russia.

As the main reason for the war, historians highlight the fact that Georgia was the only Christian power that was regularly attacked by nearby Muslim countries. More than once Georgian rulers asked for Russian protection. Thus, in 1801, Georgia was formally included in Russia, but was completely isolated from the Russian Empire by neighboring countries. IN in this case there is an urgent need to form integrity Russian territory. This could be realized only if other peoples of the North Caucasus were subjugated.

Such Caucasian states as Ossetia and Kabarda became part of Russia almost voluntarily. But the rest (Dagestan, Chechnya and Adygea) put up fierce resistance, categorically refusing to submit to the empire.

In 1817, the main stage of the conquest of the Caucasus by Russian troops under the command of General A. Ermolov began. It is interesting that it was after Ermolov’s appointment as army commander that the Caucasian War began. In the past, the Russian authorities treated the peoples of the North Caucasus rather softly.

The main difficulty in conducting military operations during this period was that at the same time Russia had to participate in the Russian-Iranian and Russian-Turkish war.

The second period of the Caucasian War is associated with the emergence of a common leader in Dagestan and Chechnya - Imam Shamil. He was able to unite disparate peoples dissatisfied with the empire and start a war of liberation against Russia. Shamil managed to quickly form a powerful army and wage successful military operations against Russia for more than thirty years.

After a series of failures in 1859, Shamil was captured and then exiled with his family to a settlement in the Kaluga region. With his removal from military affairs, Russia managed to win a lot of victories, and by 1864 the entire territory of the North Caucasus became part of the empire.

In 1817, the Caucasian War began for the Russian Empire, which lasted 50 years. The Caucasus has long been a region into which Russia wanted to expand its influence, and Alexander 1 decided on this war. This war was fought 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; It is not the desire of some peoples of the Caucasus to join Russia Russia's desire to protect its borders from raids by mountaineers.
	The predominance of guerrilla warfare among the highlanders. The beginning of the tough policy of the governor in the Caucasus, General A.P. Ermolov to pacify the mountain peoples through the creation of fortresses and the forcible relocation of the mountain people to the plain under the supervision of Russian garrisons
	The unification of the rulers of Dagestan against the tsarist troops. The beginning of organized military action on both sides
	The uprising of B. Taymazov 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. Ermolov (1816-1827) was appointed General I.F. Paskevich (1827-1831)
	Creation of a mountain Muslim state - imamate. Gazi-Muhammad is the first imam to successfully fight against Russian troops. In 1829 he declared gazavat to the Russians. 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. Shamil’s creation of an imamate, which included the lands of Chechnya and Dagestan. Active hostilities between warring parties. August 25, 1859 - capture of Shamil in the village of Gunib by the troops of General A.I. Baryatinsky
	The final suppression of the resistance of the mountaineers (collapse of the Imamate)
Results of the war:	Establishment of Russian power in the Caucasus; Inclusion of the peoples of the North Caucasus into the Russia; Settlement of conquered territories by Slavic peoples; Expanding Russian influence in the East.

Of all the more or less significant subjects in the study of the events of the Caucasian War, only its tragic consequences received the greatest coverage. They are presented in the form of ordinary discussions about the conquest of the Caucasus, the reactionary machinations of tsarism, genocide and oppression of the highlanders, which are presented in a one-sided, unattractive light for Russia. Displaying the results only from the side of the winners or losers and keeping silent does not meet the precepts of objectivity.

It is necessary to dwell on some results of the Caucasian War, which researchers have not previously paid attention to. It should be noted in advance that facts confirming the futility of the struggle of some of the highlanders against Russia during the Caucasian War actually exist.

According to one of Shamil’s own revelations, “this war could have ended earlier,” back in 1838. It was then that he wanted to express his submission to Russia and stop hostile actions against it, but, unfortunately, he did not meet with understanding, faced accusations of “treason against Sharia” and threats to kill, and was forced to obey the oath he had once taken. By his own admission, he lost his people in the war with Russia. Shortly before the surrender, almost the entire population, once subject to the imam, expressed submission to her and, contrary to the murids, favorably greeted the Russian troops and their commander-in-chief, Prince A.I. Baryatinsky.

In accordance with the stereotypes prevailing in historical science, the circumstances of the surrender look different. The modern prominent Caucasian scholar V.G. Gadzhiev describes them as follows: “After the end of the Crimean War, the autocracy... transferred a significant part of its army... to the North-Eastern Caucasus. And this army, which far outnumbered the mountain peoples, surrounded the imam with a dense ring, forced Shamil to lay down his arms and surrender to the mercy of the victors.” Apparently, the author considers it possible not to take into account the factor of the cessation of support from the population, although in the memoirs, accurately conveyed in the notes of M. N. Chichagova, Shamil himself calls it as a determining factor when making a decision.

As for the connection between the end of the confrontation between part of the mountaineers in the North-East Caucasus and the Crimean War, negative changes in geopolitical situation in the region directly caused by this defeat. In one of his letters from Istanbul on November 15, 1858, P. A. Chikhachev reported that after Russia lost its fleet on the Black Sea, “...Turkey openly patronizes the vile trade in slaves.” Consul A. N. Moshnin notified repeatedly in 1860 about the mass sale of slaves, including quite a few Russian citizens. After the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty, prices for slaves began to decline sharply, which indicates that only Russia fought against this shameful trade, while the British, French and other representatives of European powers took part in it, along with the Turks.

Russia counteracted this even during the period when it was called nothing less than the “gendarme of Europe.” But the scale of the slave trade was such that measures gave only partial results. With the introduction of widespread Russian administration in the Caucasus after its complete inclusion in the empire, trade in living goods in the region completely ceased.

In an article written in 1859 shortly before the end of the war in the North-East Caucasus, N.A. Dobrolyubov explained what was happening like this: “Shamil has long been no longer a representative of freedom and nationality for the mountaineers. That’s why there were so many people capable of betraying him...” At the same time, those under Shamil’s rule saw, as N.A. Dobrolyubov notes in conclusion, that “... the life of peaceful villages... under the auspices of the Russians is much calmer and more abundant...”. This forced them to make the appropriate choice, “with the hope of peace and the convenience of everyday life.”

Hot on the heels of the events, the participants, even on the part of the rebellious mountaineers, noticed something that was later consigned to oblivion: the Caucasus submitted not only to the power of weapons, but also to the power of the moral authority of Russia. There were, of course, mutual destructions during the fighting, but tough measures were taken only after “... the very extreme forced it to happen.”

By order of A.P. Ermolov, only traitors and those who engaged in robbery, raiding the Russian and native population who had accepted the citizenship of the empire were subject to punishment. The general believed that severity could prevent many crimes, and the economic blockade measures would force, without shedding blood, those who engaged in raids to change their “robber lifestyle.” One can hardly agree with the statement of M. M. Bliev that the “raiding industry” in the region was “... the same sustainable occupation as cattle breeding and agriculture.”

Indeed, Russia, having become involved in the Caucasian War that spanned half a century, first of all opposed the raiding practice of the highlanders. During the war there were casualties on both sides, but there were also mountain societies taken under the protection of Russian troops from the tyranny of the murids, there were children saved in battles, to whom Russian officers were obliged to deduct a certain percentage of their salaries until they came of age, not to mention large one-time donations, and special shelters, “military orphan departments”, created at the expense of the treasury, for young children of “disturbers and traitors among the mountain peoples.”

However, Shamil was not devoid of nobility. He allowed the Russian schismatics, who fled to the mountains, to freely attend divine services, erect chapels, and maintain scattered churches, without demanding taxes or duties for these rights. For their oppression, Shamil very strictly punished the perpetrators, and when the position of the village of Veden, in the vicinity of which there were several Old Believer hermitages, became precarious, he transferred them to Dagestan to ensure safety.

As an imam, he had enormous influence on the subject peoples, but at some stage the power of Russia's moral influence became greater, and Shamil was forced to admit this. Discrimination was allowed in the Imamate, for example, when collecting taxes from the subject population, as stated by N. I. Pokrovsky, “a Dagestani cattle breeder or gardener pays incomparably less...”.

This not least contributed to the fact that their mountain societies never became an organic part of the state created by Shamil, which ultimately did not overcome the barrier of a fragile ethnopolitical unification. Complex conflicts periodically arose in it and confrontation with the administrative apparatus did not stop. These are just small plot notes to the historiography of the issue; they clearly show the need to cleanse the stereotypes that have developed in it from the distortions that distort the truth. The truth is that the Caucasian War was not only a factor in a long-term confrontation, but also the state unification under the auspices of Russia of another more significant part of the native population.

It is necessary to note one more important detail of the consequences of the Caucasian War. After the completion of the last major military operations, a special control system was established for the indigenous peoples of the region, called the military-people's system. It was based on the preservation of the existing social system while providing the population with the opportunity to decide their internal affairs according to folk customs (adat). Legal proceedings and the usual methods of resolution have also remained unchanged. legal problems, including according to the canons of the professed Muslim religion (Sharia). And this was no exception. To perform administrative functions in the lower levels of the administrative apparatus, each people elected officials from among themselves, who only after that were confirmed in positions by the highest authorities.

As an imam, Shamil ruled the mountaineers much more harshly. He applied "merciless punishment" for any offenses, and subsequently viewed the previous cruelty as a "sad necessity" for maintaining socio-political stability. In this, the Russian government maintained continuity, but took into account existing features. Measures of firmness, it was assumed, would “give time and means” so that keeping the mountaineers in submission by military force would be replaced by dominion based on moral strength.

But maintaining external state order in such conditions required maintaining numerous administrative staff and military units on the North Caucasian outskirts, which led to the formation of a significant layer of officials and military personnel, in some areas it reached 7-8%. In this regard, expenses on the administrative apparatus reached 61% of the total, only partially reimbursed by tax collections from the subject population.

But it was precisely such a powerful state presence in this complex multi-ethnic region that forced even the Western European press to write that after the annexation of the region to Russia, for the first time in many centuries it “brought calm here,” laying the “beginning of peaceful prosperity.”

However, there is some exaggeration in these estimates. Complete peace in the region was not achieved at that time. From time to time, although on a much smaller scale, ethnic conflicts arose. But the size of the annexed population began to increase steadily. This indicates the beneficial and stabilizing significance of Russian state restrictions, and as established at the beginning of the 20th century by the fairly authoritative Austrian school of nationality, population growth is the most important indicator of ethnic development. Local peoples, after joining Russia, retained a “continuous Territory and traditional economic structure.”

The systemic combination of Russian restrictions in military-popular governance with guarantees of non-interference in internal affairs indicates that internal stabilization was achieved not through suppression, as is commonly thought, but through a political compromise offered to all mountaineers, despite the military defeat of the adamant followers of the theocratic doctrine. It was assumed that the majority of the mountaineers would eventually recognize Russia as their fatherland. It was civic inclusion that was the ultimate goal of this compromise.

His conditions, although not immediately, were accepted by the illustrious imam himself, the inspirer of the ghazavat with the heterodox Orthodox state. After Shamil’s surrender on August 25, 1859, the Russian government recognized all his services. All murids who had previously crossed over to the Russian side immediately “received complete forgiveness” and were accepted into service with confidence if they wished, and those who remained irreconcilable to the end were released to “live freely” in villages with personal weapons, so as not to humiliate their dignity , however, it was left to the imam and with it he appeared before the governor, and then before the Russian monarch.

The meeting with Alexander II, which took place on September 15, 1859, during which the tsar treated him surprisingly generously and assured him that Shamil would not repent of surrendering, especially deeply touched the imam. He began to understand that he was “not in a hostile... but in a friendly country.” A house was built for him in Kaluga, and he was given a very decent allowance. And such treatment was not only with him. Shamil also saw other exiled highlanders who “walked free, also received maintenance from the sovereign, engaged in free work and lived in their own homes,” and he repented to the depths of his soul that he had not kept Russian prisoners in the right way. Shamil became convinced that no one was angry with him or wished harm, not even the boys, and in the Caucasus, according to him, in the same situation, “they would throw... mud at him,... beat him up... and even kill him...”. To the question asked by someone: “Why didn’t you give up so stubbornly?”, he sincerely answered: “Yes, I regret that I did not know Russia and that I had not previously sought its friendship.” After seven years of stay in Russia, on August 26, 1866, Shamil and his entire family, in full compliance with the norms and customs of the Sharia, swore allegiance to her, after which, like everyone who went through this ritual, including entire nations, he was already considered a compatriot. This was based on relevant legal norms contained in the code of laws of the Russian Empire.

Shamil really hoped that all his sons and sons-in-law, having taken the oath, would serve the new fatherland and its monarchs “faithfully and truly.” Shamil died in 1871 in Medina, blessing Russia and praying for its “magnanimous monarch.”

His fate reflects the fate of all mountain peoples, torn apart by conflicting sentiments “for” and “against” unification with Russia. Shamil's son Jamal-Eddin, given as a hostage to the Russians by his father in 1839, was raised in the Corps of Pages, the most prestigious military educational institution, ended up serving in one of the guards regiments and passionately fell in love with his second homeland. Shafi-Mohammed became a major general, and, apparently, was also a patriot of Russia. Kazi-Magomet violated his father’s will, did not return from abroad and joined the Turkish troops, as part of which he took part in various military campaigns against Russia, especially in 1877-1878.

Exactly the same contradictions manifested themselves in the integration processes with Russia among all North Caucasian peoples without exception. One, most often the most significant part of certain ethnic communities, came to realize their unity with Russia, while the other continued to maintain either neutral uncertainty towards it for the time being, or even open hostility.

This duality came to the surface especially clearly historical events V extreme situations. During periods of war, for example, some of the region’s Muslims prayed, like Imam Shamil once did, for Russia, and some indulged in religious fanaticism that had not had time to cool down during the years of Russian citizenship and fell under the influence of other political orientations. The formation of general civil ties occurred already with the entry of certain national communities into Russia and continued at subsequent stages. At the turn of the 20th century, this process became increasingly stable, but was not yet completed. It did not receive completion, as the modern conflict in Chechnya shows to this day.

The comparisons made allow us to see the presence of connections between the peoples inhabiting Russia that were by no means “violent, feudal, military,” as V.I. Lenin believed. The evolution that took place in the North Caucasus, for example, led to their gradual displacement by general civil ones, which was determined by the rapid processes of integration of local foreign communities into the system of Russian state relations. This can be confirmed by the emergence of a Russian identity among the North Caucasian tribes that became part of Russia, both voluntarily and as a result of coercion. This happened, of course, in the collision of multidirectional contradictory tendencies. However, in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, in Russian historical science, despite this, the point of view about the existence of violent ties between peoples in the Russian Empire was established and similar ideas are still preserved.

The line of compromise in the policy pursued in the North Caucasus, which ensured the gradual evolutionary integration of its indigenous population into the Russian state system, was still maintained in general terms at the beginning of the 20th century. In the context of the emerging political crisis of the autocratic form of government at the beginning of the 20th century, which affected all spheres of social and social relations, including on the North Caucasus outskirts, this compromise was less and less enriched with constructive ideas that adequately reflected new realities. Representatives of the authorities did not notice the integration of the majority of the local population into Russian civil society, the growing tendency for them to recognize Russia as their fatherland. In a number of critical situations that required government intervention, they acted inappropriately to the circumstances, relying only on coercive measures.

It should be noted that in Russian politics these relapses have appeared from time to time before, since different approaches have always collided in it. When the state’s traditional policy of maintaining balance, recognizing two state principles, Russian and foreign, and maintaining moral authority, which contributed to the unification over the centuries, became predominant various peoples, Russia achieved major successes, and when deviations from it were planned, it paid with instability and upheaval. Thus, the results of the Caucasian War - the conquest of this multinational region not only by force of arms, but also by the force of the moral authority of Russia, the political compromise and the civil inclusion of the indigenous population in it - remained unnoticed by science.