Caucasian War 1830 1864. Caucasian War (1817-1864) - Battles and engagements, campaigns - History - Catalog of articles - Native Dagestan

The armed struggle of Russia for the annexation of the mountainous territories of the North Caucasus in 1817-1864.

Russian influence in the Caucasus increased in the 16th-18th centuries. In 1801-1813. Russia annexed a number of territories in Transcaucasia (parts of modern Georgia, Dagestan and Azerbaijan) (see Kartli-Kakheti kingdom, Mingrelia, Imereti, Guria, Treaty of Gulistan), but the way there went through the Caucasus, inhabited by warlike tribes, most of them professing Islam . They carried out raids on Russian territories and communications (Georgian Military Road, etc.). This caused conflicts between Russian citizens and residents of mountainous regions (highlanders), primarily in Circassia, Chechnya and Dagestan (some of whom formally accepted Russian citizenship). To protect the foothills of the North Caucasus since the 18th century. The Caucasian line was formed. Relying on it under the leadership of A. Ermolov, Russian troops began a systematic advance into the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus. Rebellious areas were surrounded by fortifications, hostile villages were destroyed along with the population. Part of the population was forcibly relocated to the plain. In 1818, the Grozny fortress was founded in Chechnya, designed to control the region. There was an advance into Dagestan. Abkhazia (1824) and Kabarda (1825) were “pacified”. The Chechen uprising of 1825-1826 was suppressed. However, as a rule, pacification was not reliable, and apparently loyal highlanders could later act against Russian troops and settlers. Russia's advance to the south contributed to the state-religious consolidation of some of the highlanders. Muridism became widespread.

In 1827, General I. Paskevich became the commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps (created in 1820). He continued cutting clearings, laying roads, relocating rebellious mountaineers to the plateau, and building fortifications. In 1829, according to the Treaty of Adrianople, the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus passed to Russia, and the Ottoman Empire renounced the territories in the North Caucasus. For some time, resistance to Russian advance was left without Turkish support. To prevent foreign relations between the mountaineers (including slave trade), in 1834 a line of fortifications began to be built along the Black Sea beyond the Kuban. Since 1840, Circassian attacks on coastal fortresses intensified. In 1828, an imamate in the Caucasus was formed in Chechnya and mountainous Dagestan, which began to wage war against Russia. In 1834 it was headed by Shamil. He occupied the mountainous regions of Chechnya and almost the entire Avaria. Even the capture of Akhulgo in 1839 did not lead to the death of the imamate. The Adyghe tribes also fought, attacking Russian fortifications on the Black Sea. In 1841-1843 Shamil expanded the Imamate more than twice, the mountaineers won a number of victories, including in the Battle of Ichkerin in 1842. The new commander M. Vorontsov undertook an expedition to Dargo in 1845, suffered heavy losses and returned to the tactic of compressing the Imamate with a ring of fortifications. Shamil invaded Kabarda (1846) and Kakheti (1849), but was pushed back. The Russian army continued to systematically push Shamil into the mountains. A new round of mountaineer resistance occurred during the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Shamil tried to rely on the help of the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain. In 1856, the Russians concentrated an army of 200,000 in the Caucasus. Their forces became more trained and mobile, and the commanders knew the theater of war well. The population of the North Caucasus was ruined and no longer supported the fight. Tired of the war, his comrades began to leave the imam. With the remnants of his troops, he retreated to Gunib, where on August 26, 1859 he surrendered to A. Baryatinsky. The forces of the Russian army concentrated in Adygea. On May 21, 1864, her campaign ended with the capitulation of the Ubykhs in the Kbaada tract (now Krasnaya Polyana). Although isolated pockets of resistance remained until 1884, the conquest of the Caucasus was completed.

Historical sources:

Documentary history of the formation of the multinational Russian state. Book 1. Russia and the North Caucasus in the 16th - 19th centuries. M.. 1998.

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 Russian-Caucasian War» .

Ermolov - Conquest of the Caucasus

But the tasks facing Ermolov in the North Caucasus required precisely his energy and intelligence. The Georgian Military Road divides the Caucasus into two stripes: to the east of it are Chechnya and Dagestan, to the west is Kabarda, extending to the upper reaches of the Kuban, and then the Trans-Kuban lands inhabited by Circassians. Chechnya with Dagestan, Kabarda and finally Circassia constituted the three main theaters of struggle, and special measures were required in relation to each of them.

Background

History of Dagestan
Dagestan in the ancient world
Dagestan in the Middle Ages
Dagestan in modern times
Caucasian War
Dagestan within the USSR
Dagestan after the collapse of the USSR
History of Dagestan Peoples of Dagestan Portal "Dagestan"

History of Chechnya
History of Chechnya in the Middle Ages
Chechnya and the Russian Empire
Caucasian War
Chechnya in the Civil War
Chechnya in the USSR
Chechnya after the collapse of the USSR
Portal "Chechnya"

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 Irakli with a handful of his entourage fled to the mountains. At the end of the same year, Russian troops entered Georgia and. The Dagestan rulers expressed their submission, except for Surkhai Khan II of Kazikumukh, and the Derbent Khan Sheikh Ali. On May 10, 1796, the Derbent fortress was taken despite stubborn resistance. In June Baku was occupied. The commander of the troops, Lieutenant General Count Valerian Zubov, 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 military operations. Gudovich was again appointed commander of the Caucasian Corps. Russian troops were withdrawn from Transcaucasia, except for two battalions left in Tiflis.

Annexation of Georgia (1800-1804)

Russo-Persian War

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 the printing house, and sought the right for Georgian youth to receive education in higher educational institutions of Russia.

Uprising in South Ossetia (1810-1811)

Philip 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 leadership of Paulucci, Alexander I received statements from the Bishop of Gori and the vicar of the Georgian Dosifei, the leader of the Aznauri Georgian feudal group, raising the issue of the illegality of granting the Eristavi princes feudal estates in South Ossetia; The Aznaur group still hoped that, having ousted the Eristavi representatives 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.

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 the 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

Ermolovsky period (-)

In September 1816, Ermolov arrived at the border of the Caucasus province. In October he arrived on the Caucasian Line in the city of Georgievsk. From there he immediately went to Tiflis, where the former Commander-in-Chief, Infantry General Nikolai Rtishchev, was waiting for him. On October 12, 1816, by the highest order, Rtishchev was expelled from the army.

"Opposite the center of the line lies Kabarda, once populous, whose inhabitants, considered the bravest among the mountaineers, often, due to their large population, desperately resisted the Russians in bloody battles.
...The pestilence was our ally against the Kabardians; for, having completely destroyed the entire population of Little Kabarda and wreaked havoc in 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 in weak parts over a large area, could be in danger. 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. Ermolov during the administration of Georgia)

«… Downstream of the Terek live the Chechens, the worst of the bandits who attack the line. Their society is very sparsely populated, but has increased enormously in the last few years, for the villains of all other nations who leave their land due to some kind of crime were received in a friendly manner. Here they found accomplices, immediately ready to either avenge them or participate in robberies, and they served as their faithful guides in lands unknown to them. Chechnya can rightly be called the nest of all robbers..." (from the notes of A.P. Ermolov during the administration of Georgia)

« I have seen many peoples, but such rebellious and unyielding people as the Chechens do not exist on earth, and the path to the conquest of the Caucasus lies through the conquest of the Chechens, or rather, through their complete destruction».

« Sovereign!.. The mountain peoples, by example of their independence, give rise to a rebellious spirit and a love of independence in the very subjects of your Imperial Majesty" From the report of A. Ermolov to Emperor Alexander I on February 12, 1819.

In the spring of 1818, Ermolov turned to Chechnya. In 1818, the Grozny 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 Sunzha and Terek, but in fact it was the beginning of a new war with Chechnya.

Ermolov 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, laying roads and destroying rebellious villages.

The highlanders who threatened Tarkovsky’s Shamkhalate annexed to the empire were pacified. In 1819, the Vnezapnaya fortress was built to keep the mountaineers submissive. An attempt to attack it 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 to 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.

Map of the Caucasus. 1824.

Central part of the Caucasus. 1824.

Its result was the consolidation of Russian power in Kabarda and the Kumyk lands, in the foothills and plains. The Russians advanced gradually, methodically cutting down the forests in which the mountaineers were hiding.

The beginning of gazavat (-)

The new commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Corps, Adjutant General Paskevich, abandoned a systematic advance with the consolidation of 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 helped maintain external calm, but muridism spread more and more. In December 1828, Kazi-Mulla (Ghazi-Muhammad) was proclaimed imam. He was the first to call for gazavat, seeking to unite the disparate 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 the Dagestan village of Gimry to the Belokan Lezgins.

In the Western Caucasus, a detachment of General Velyaminov penetrated to the mouths of the Pshada and Vulana rivers in the summer of 2009 and laid down 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 major sacrifices, Russian troops were still far from lasting results in pacifying the region. General Golovin was appointed to replace Baron Rosen.

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, the highlanders captured Fort Lazarev and destroyed all its defenders; On February 29, the same fate befell the Velyaminovskoye fortification; 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 Nikolaev fort; but their enterprises against the Navaginsky fort and the Abinsky fortification were unsuccessful.

On the left flank, the premature attempt to disarm the Chechens caused extreme anger among them. In December 1839 and January 1840, General Pullo conducted punitive expeditions in Chechnya and destroyed several villages. During the second expedition, the Russian command demanded the surrender of one gun from 10 houses, as well as one hostage from each village. Taking advantage of the discontent of the population, Shamil raised the Ichkerinians, Aukhovites and other Chechen societies against the Russian troops. Russian troops under the command of General Galafeev limited themselves to searching in the forests of Chechnya, which cost many people. It was especially bloody on the river. Valerik (July 11). While General Galafeev was walking around Lesser Chechnya, Shamil with Chechen troops subjugated Salatavia to his power and in early August invaded Avaria, where he conquered several villages. With the addition of the elder of the mountain societies in the Andean Koisu, the famous Kibit-Magoma, his strength and enterprise increased enormously. By the fall, all of Chechnya was already on Shamil’s side, and the means of the Caucasian line turned out to be insufficient to successfully fight him. The Chechens began to attack the tsarist troops on the banks of the Terek and almost captured Mozdok.

On the right flank, by the fall, a new fortified line along the Labe was secured by forts Zassovsky, Makhoshevsky and Temirgoevsky. The Velyaminovskoye and Lazarevskoye fortifications were restored on the Black Sea coastline.

The failures of the Russian troops spread in the highest government spheres the conviction that offensive actions were futile and even harmful. 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 Grabbe’s detachment from the Ichkerin forests. Impressed by this catastrophe, he convinced the tsar to sign a decree prohibiting all expeditions to the city and ordering them to limit themselves to defense.

This forced inaction of the Russian troops emboldened the enemy, and attacks on the line became more frequent again. On August 31, 1843, Imam Shamil captured the fort at the village. Untsukul, destroying 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, 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 societies 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 of the defenders remained alive. Detachments of highlanders, scattering in all directions, interrupted almost all communications 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.

Battle of Dargo (Chechnya, May 1845)

In May 1845, the tsarist army invaded the Imamate in several large detachments. At the beginning of the campaign, 5 detachments were created for actions in different directions. Chechen was led by General Liders, Dagestan by Prince Beibutov, Samur by Argutinsky-Dolgorukov, Lezgin by General Schwartz, Nazranov by General Nesterov. The main forces moving towards the capital of the Imamate were headed by the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Caucasus, Count M. S. Vorontsov.

Without encountering serious resistance, the 30,000-strong detachment passed through mountainous Dagestan and on June 13 invaded Andia. At the time of leaving Andia for Dargo, the total strength of the detachment was 7940 infantry, 1218 cavalry and 342 artillerymen. The Battle of Dargin lasted from July 8 to July 20. According to official data, in the Battle of Dargin, the tsarist troops lost 4 generals, 168 officers and up to 4,000 soldiers. Many future famous military leaders and politicians took part in the 1845 campaign: governor in the Caucasus in 1856-1862. and Field Marshal Prince A.I. Baryatinsky; Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District and chief commander 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. Heyden; military governor, killed in Kutaisi in 1861, Prince A.I. Gagarin; commander of the Shirvan regiment, Prince S. I. Vasilchikov; adjutant general, diplomat in 1849, 1853-1855, Count K. K. Benckendorff (seriously wounded during 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 his trip 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 forts Raevsky (May 24) and Golovinsky (July 1), but were repulsed.

From the city on the left flank, actions were carried out aimed at strengthening control over the occupied lands, erecting new fortifications and Cossack villages and preparing further movement deep into the Chechen forests by cutting down wide clearings. Victory of the book Bebutov, who wrested from the hands of Shamil the inaccessible village of Kutish, which he had just occupied (currently included in the Levashinsky district of Dagestan), resulted in a complete calming of the Kumyk plane and the foothills.

On the Black Sea coastline there are up to 6 thousand Ubykhs. On November 28, they launched a new desperate attack on the Golovinsky fort, but were repulsed with great damage.

In the city, 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 significant 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 action.

The troops of Daniel Bek invaded the Jaro-Belokan district, but on May 13 they were completely defeated at the village of Chardakhly.

In mid-November, Dagestan mountaineers invaded Kazikumukh and briefly captured several villages.

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

In the city, the siege of the village of Chokha, undertaken by Prince. Argutinsky, cost the Russian troops great losses, but was not successful. From the Lezgin line, General Chilyaev carried out a successful expedition into the mountains, which ended in the defeat of the enemy near the village of Khupro.

In the city, 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 the city. 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 the hostile Abadzekhs.

In 1817, the Caucasian War began for the Russian Empire, which lasted for almost 50 years. The Caucasus has long been a region into which Russia wanted to expand its influence, and Alexander 1, against the backdrop of successes in foreign policy, decided on this war. It was assumed that success could be achieved in a few years, but the Caucasus has become a big problem for Russia for almost 50 years. The interesting thing is that this war was fought by three Russian emperors: Alexander 1, Nicholas 1 and Alexander 2. As a result, Russia emerged victorious, however, the victory was achieved with great effort. The article offers an overview of the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, its causes, course of events and consequences for Russia and the peoples of the Caucasus.

Causes of the war

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire actively directed efforts to seize lands in the Caucasus. In 1810, the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom became part of it. In 1813, the Russian Empire annexed the Transcaucasian (Azerbaijani) khanates. Despite the announcement of submission by the ruling elites and consent to annexation, the regions of the Caucasus, inhabited by peoples mainly professing Islam, declare the beginning of the struggle for liberation. Two main regions are being formed in which there is a sense of readiness for disobedience and armed struggle for independence: Western (Circassia and Abkhazia) and North-Eastern (Chechnya and Dagestan). It was these territories that became the main arena of hostilities in 1817-1864.

Historians identify the following main reasons for the Caucasian War:

1. The desire of the Russian Empire to gain a foothold in the Caucasus. And not just to include the territory into its composition, but to fully integrate it, including by extending its legislation.
2. The reluctance of some peoples of the Caucasus, in particular the Circassians, Kabardians, Chechens and Dagestanis, to join the Russian Empire, and most importantly, the readiness to conduct armed resistance to the invader.
3. Alexander 1 wanted to rid his country of the endless raids of the peoples of the Caucasus on their lands. The fact is that since the beginning of the 19th century, numerous attacks by individual detachments of Chechens and Circassians on Russian territories for the purpose of robbery have been recorded, which created big problems for border settlements.

Progress and main stages

The Caucasian War of 1817-1864 is a vast event, but it can be divided into 6 key stages. Let's look at each of these stages next.

First stage (1817-1819)

This is the period of the first partisan actions in Abkhazia and Chechnya. The relationship between Russia and the peoples of the Caucasus was finally complicated by General Ermolov, who began to build fortified fortresses to control the local peoples, and also ordered the resettlement of the highlanders to the plains around the mountains, for stricter supervision over them. This caused a wave of protest, which further intensified the guerrilla war and further escalated the conflict.

Map of the Caucasian War 1817 1864

Second stage (1819-1824)

This stage is characterized by agreements between the local ruling elites of Dagestan regarding joint military actions against Russia. One of the main reasons for the unification was that the Black Sea Cossack Corps was relocated to the Caucasus, which caused mass discontent in the Caucasus. In addition, during this period, fighting took place in Abkhazia between the army of Major General Gorchakov and local rebels, who were defeated.

Third stage (1824-1828)

This stage begins with the uprising of Taymazov (Beibulat Taymiev) in Chechnya. His troops tried to capture the Grozny fortress, but near the village of Kalinovskaya the rebel leader was captured. In 1825, the Russian army also won a number of victories over the Kabardians, which led to the so-called pacification of Greater Kabarda. The center of resistance completely moved to the northeast, to the territory of the Chechens and Dagestanis. It was at this stage that the current of “muridism” emerged in Islam. Its basis is the duty of gazavat - holy war. For the mountaineers, war with Russia becomes an obligation and part of their religious belief. The stage ends in 1827-1828, when a new commander of the Caucasian corps, I. Paskevich, was appointed.

Muridism is an Islamic teaching about the path to salvation through an associated war - ghazavat. The basis of Murism is the obligatory participation in the war against the “infidels”.

Historical reference

Fourth stage (1828-1833)

In 1828, a serious complication occurred in relations between the highlanders and the Russian army. Local tribes create the first independent mountain state during the war years - the Imamate. The first imam is Ghazi-Muhamed, the founder of muridism. He was the first to declare gazavat to Russia, but in 1832 he died during one of the battles.

Fifth stage (1833-1859)

The longest period of the war. It lasted from 1834 to 1859. During this period, the local leader Shamil declares himself an imam and also declares the gazavat of Russia. His army establishes control over Chechnya and Dagestan. For several years, Russia completely loses this territory, especially during participation in the Crimean War, when all military forces were sent to participate in it. As for the hostilities themselves, they were carried out for a long time with varying degrees of success.

The turning point came only in 1859, after Shamil was captured near the village of Gunib. This was a turning point in the Caucasian War. After his capture, Shamil was taken around the central cities of the Russian Empire (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv), arranging meetings with the top officials of the empire and veteran generals of the Caucasian War. By the way, in 1869 he was released on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, where he died in 1871.

Sixth stage (1859-1864)

After the defeat of the Shamil Imamate from 1859 to 1864, the final period of the war occurs. These were small local resistances that could be eliminated very quickly. In 1864, they managed to completely break the resistance of the highlanders. Russia ended a difficult and problematic war with victory.

Main results

The Caucasian War of 1817-1864 ended in victory for Russia, as a result of which several problems were solved:

1. The final seizure of the Caucasus and the spread of its administrative structure and legal system there.
2. Increasing influence in the region. After the capture of the Caucasus, this region becomes an important geopolitical point for increasing influence in the East.
3. The beginning of the settlement of this region by Slavic peoples.

But despite the successful conclusion of the war, Russia acquired a complex and turbulent region that required increased resources to maintain order, as well as additional protection measures due to Turkish interests in this area. This was the Caucasian War for the Russian Empire.

200 years ago, in October 1817, the Russian fortress Pregradny Stan (now the village of Sernovodskoye in the Chechen Republic) was built on the Sunzha River. This event is considered the beginning of the Caucasian War, which lasted until 1864.

Why did the highlanders of Chechnya and Dagestan declare jihad on Russia in the 19th century? Can the resettlement of Circassians after the Caucasian War be considered genocide? Was the conquest of the Caucasus a colonial war of the Russian Empire? Vladimir Bobrovnikov, candidate of historical sciences, senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, spoke about this.

An Atypical Conquest

“Lenta.ru”: How did it happen that first the Russian Empire annexed Transcaucasia and only then the North Caucasus?

Bobrovnikov: Transcaucasia had great geopolitical significance, which is why it was conquered earlier. The principalities and kingdoms of Georgia, the khanates on the territory of Azerbaijan and Armenia became part of Russia at the end of the 18th - first quarter of the 19th century. The Caucasian War was largely caused by the need to establish communications with Transcaucasia, which had already become part of the Russian Empire. Shortly before it began, the Georgian Military Road was built, connecting Tiflis (the name of the city of Tbilisi until 1936 - approx. "Tapes.ru") with a fortress built by the Russians in Vladikavkaz.

Why did Russia need Transcaucasia so much?

This region was very important from a geopolitical point of view, so Persia, the Ottoman and Russian empires fought over it. As a result, Russia won this rivalry, but after the annexation of Transcaucasia, the unreconciled North Caucasus, as they said then, prevented the establishment of communications with the region. Therefore, we had to conquer it too.

Painting by Franz Roubaud

A well-known publicist of the 19th century justified the conquest of the Caucasus by the fact that its inhabitants are “natural predators and robbers who have never left and cannot leave their neighbors alone.” What do you think - was this a typical colonial war or a forced pacification of “wild and aggressive” mountain tribes?

Danilevsky’s opinion is not unique. Great Britain, France, and other European colonial powers described their new colonial subjects in similar ways. Already in late Soviet times and in the 1990s, the historian from North Ossetia Mark Bliev tried to revive the rationale for the Caucasian War in the fight against the raids of the mountaineers and created an original theory of the raiding system, due to which, in his opinion, the mountaineer society lived. However, his point of view was not accepted in science. It also does not stand up to criticism from the point of view of sources indicating that the mountaineers obtained their livelihood from cattle breeding and agriculture. The Caucasian war for Russia was a colonial war, but not entirely typical.

What does it mean?

It was a colonial war with all the cruelties that accompanied it. It can be compared with the conquest of India by the British Empire or the conquest of Algeria by France, which also dragged on for decades, if not half a century. The participation of Christian and partly Muslim elites of Transcaucasia in the war on the side of Russia was atypical. Famous Russian political figures emerged from them - for example, Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov from the Armenians of Tiflis, who rose to the post of head of the Terek region, later appointed Governor-General of Kharkov and, finally, head of the Russian Empire.

After the end of the Caucasian War, a regime was established in the region that cannot always be described as colonial. Transcaucasia received an all-Russian provincial system of government, and different regimes of military and indirect government were created in the North Caucasus.

The concept of “Caucasian War” is very arbitrary. In fact, it was a series of military campaigns of the Russian Empire against the highlanders, between which there were periods of truce, sometimes long. The term “Caucasian War”, coined by the pre-revolutionary military historian Rostislav Andreevich Fadeev, who wrote the book “Sixty Years of the Caucasian War” at the request of the Caucasian governorship in 1860, became established only in late Soviet literature. Until the mid-twentieth century, historians wrote about the “Caucasian wars.”

From adat to sharia

Was the Sharia movement in Chechnya and Dagestan a reaction of the mountaineers to the onslaught of the Russian Empire and the policies of General Ermolov? Or, on the contrary, did Imam Shamil and his murids only spurred Russia to more decisive actions in the Caucasus?

The Sharia movement in the North-Eastern Caucasus began long before Russia’s penetration into the region and was associated with the Islamization of public life, life and the rights of the mountaineers in the 17th-18th centuries. Rural communities were increasingly inclined to replace mountain customs (adat) with the legal and everyday norms of Sharia. Russian penetration into the Caucasus was initially perceived loyally by the mountaineers. Only the construction of the Caucasian line across the entire North Caucasus, which began from its northwestern part in the last third of the 18th century, led to the displacement of the highlanders from their lands, retaliatory resistance and a protracted war.

Quite soon, resistance to Russian conquest took the form of jihad. Under his slogans, at the end of the 18th century, there was an uprising of the Chechen Sheikh Mansur (Ushurma), which the Russian Empire hardly suppressed. The construction of the Caucasus Line in Chechnya and Dagestan contributed to the beginning of a new jihad, in the wake of which an imamate was created that resisted the empire for more than a quarter of a century. Its most famous leader was Imam Shamil, who ruled the state of jihad from 1834 to 1859.

Why did the war in the northeast Caucasus end earlier than in the northwest?

In the North-Eastern Caucasus, where the center of resistance to Russia was located for a long time (mountainous Chechnya and Dagestan), the war ended thanks to the successful policy of the governor of the Caucasian prince, who blocked and captured Shamil in the Dagestan village of Gunib in 1859. After this, the imamate of Dagestan and Chechnya ceased to exist. But the mountaineers of the North-Western Caucasus (Trans-Kuban Circassia) practically did not obey Shamil and continued to wage partisan warfare against the Caucasian army until 1864. They lived in inaccessible mountain gorges near the Black Sea coast, through which they received help from the Ottoman Empire and Western powers.

Painting by Alexey Kivshenko “Surrender of Imam Shamil”

Tell us about the Circassian Muhajirdom. Was it a voluntary resettlement of the mountaineers or their forced deportation?

The resettlement of the Circassians (or Circassians) from the Russian Caucasus to the territory of the Ottoman Empire was voluntary. It was not for nothing that they likened themselves to the first Muslims, who in 622 voluntarily left with the Prophet Muhammad from pagan Mecca to Yathrib, where they built the first Muslim state. Both of them called themselves muhajirs who migrated (hijra).

No one deported Circassians inside Russia, although entire families were exiled there for criminal offenses and disobedience to authorities. But at the same time, Muhajirism itself was a forced expulsion from the homeland, since its main reason was the expulsion from the mountains to the plain at the end of the Caucasian War and after it. The military authorities of the northwestern part of the Caucasian line saw in the Circassians elements harmful to the Russian government and pushed them to emigrate.

Didn’t the Circassian-Adygs originally live on the plain, around the Kuban River?

During the Russian conquest, which lasted from the late 18th century to the mid-1860s, the place of residence of the Circassians and other indigenous inhabitants of the Northwestern and Central Caucasus changed more than once. Military operations forced them to seek refuge in the mountains, from where they, in turn, were evicted by the Russian authorities, forming large settlements of Circassians on the plain and in the foothills within the Caucasian line.

Caucasian muhajirs

But were there plans to evict the highlanders from the Caucasus? Let us at least recall the project of “Russian Truth” by Pavel Pestel, one of the leaders of the Decembrists.

The first mass migrations took place during the Caucasian War, but they were limited to the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia. The Russian military authorities resettled entire villages of pacified mountaineers within the Caucasian line. The imams of Dagestan and Chechnya pursued a similar policy, creating villages of their supporters from the plains in the mountains and relocating rebellious villages. The exodus of the highlanders beyond the Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire began at the end of the war and continued until the fall of the tsarist regime, mainly in the second third of the 19th century. It especially affected the North-West Caucasus, the vast majority of the indigenous population of which left for Turkey. The impetus for muhajirism was forced relocations from the mountains to the plain, surrounded by Cossack villages.

Why did Russia drive only Circassians to the plains, and pursue a completely different policy in Chechnya and Dagestan?

Among the Muhajirs there were also Chechens and Dagestanis. There are many documents about this, and I personally know their descendants. But the overwhelming majority of emigrants were from Circassia. This is due to differences in the military administration of the region. Supporters of the eviction of the highlanders to the plain and further to the Ottoman Empire prevailed in the Kuban region, created in 1861 on the territory of the present Krasnodar Territory. The authorities of the Dagestan region opposed the resettlement of the highlanders to Turkey. The heads of the Caucasian Line units, transformed into regions after the war, had broad powers. Supporters of the eviction of the Circassians were able to convince the Caucasian governor in Tiflis that they were right.

Relocations later affected the North-Eastern Caucasus: Chechens were deported from the Caucasus by Stalin in 1944, and the mass resettlement of Dagestanis to the plain occurred in the 1950s-1990s. But this is a completely different story that has nothing to do with muhajirism.

Why was the policy of the Russian Empire regarding the resettlement of highlanders so inconsistent? At first she encouraged the resettlement of the highlanders to Turkey, and then suddenly decided to limit it.

This was due to changes in the Russian administration of the Caucasus region. At the end of the 19th century, opponents of muhajirism came to power here, considering it inappropriate. But by this time, most of the highlanders of the Northwestern Caucasus had already left for the Ottoman Empire, and their lands were occupied by Cossacks and colonists from Russia. Similar changes in colonization policies can be found among other European powers, notably France in Algeria.

Tragedy of the Circassians

How many Circassians died during their migration to Turkey?

Nobody really counted. Historians from the Circassian diaspora talk about the extermination of entire peoples. This point of view appeared among contemporaries of the Muhajir movement. The expression of the pre-revolutionary Caucasus expert Adolphe Berger that “Circassians... were laid in the cemetery of peoples” became popular. But not everyone agrees with this, and the size of emigration is estimated differently. The famous Turkish explorer Kemal Karpat numbers up to two million Muhajirs, and Russian historians talk about several hundred thousand emigrants.

Why such a difference in numbers?

There were no statistics kept in the North Caucasus before its Russian conquest. The Ottoman side recorded only legal immigrants, but there were also many illegal immigrants. Nobody really counted those who died on the way from mountain villages to the coast or on ships. And there were also muhajirs who died during quarantine in the ports of the Ottoman Empire.

Painting “Storm of the village of Gimry” by Franz Roubaud

In addition, Russia and the Ottoman Empire were not immediately able to agree on joint actions to organize the resettlement. When Muhajirism faded into history, its study in the USSR was under an unspoken ban until late Soviet times. During the Cold War, cooperation between Turkish and Soviet historians in this area was practically impossible. Serious study of muhajirism in the North Caucasus began only at the end of the twentieth century.

So this question still remains poorly understood?

No, quite a lot has already been written about this and seriously over the past quarter century. But the field for a comparative study of archival data about the Muhajirs in the Russian and Ottoman empires still remains - no one has yet specifically carried out such a study. Any figures on the number of muhajirs and those killed during emigration that appear in the press and on the Internet must be treated with caution: they are either greatly underestimated, since they do not take into account illegal emigration, or are very overestimated. A small part of the Circassians later returned to the Caucasus, but the Caucasian War and the Muhajir movement completely changed the confessional and ethnic map of the region. The Muhajirs largely shaped the population of the modern Middle East and Turkey.

Before the Olympics in Sochi, they tried to use this topic for political purposes. For example, in 2011, Georgia officially recognized “the mass extermination of the Circassians (Adygs) during the Russian-Caucasian War and their forced expulsion from their historical homeland as an act of genocide.”

Genocide is an anachronistic term for the 19th century and, most importantly, an overly politicized term, associated primarily with the Holocaust. Behind it is a demand for the political rehabilitation of the nation and financial compensation from the legal successors of the perpetrators of the genocide, as was done for the Jewish diaspora in Germany. This was probably the reason for the popularity of this term among activists from the Circassian diaspora and Circassians of the North Caucasus. On the other hand, the organizers of the Olympics in Sochi unforgivably forgot that the place and date of the Olympics are connected in the historical memory of the Circassians with the end of the Caucasian War.

Painting by Peter Gruzinsky “Abandonment of the village by the mountaineers”

The trauma inflicted on the Circassians during the Muhajir era cannot be hushed up. I cannot forgive this to the bureaucrats responsible for organizing the Olympics. At the same time, the concept of genocide also disgusts me - it is inconvenient for a historian to work with it, it limits the freedom of research and does not correspond much to the realities of the 19th century - by the way, no less cruel in the attitude of Europeans towards the inhabitants of the colonies. After all, the natives were simply not considered people, which justified any cruelty of conquest and colonial administration. In this regard, Russia behaved in the North Caucasus no worse than the French in Algeria or the Belgians in the Congo. Therefore, the term “muhajirism” seems to me much more adequate.

The Caucasus is ours

Sometimes you hear that the Caucasus has never been completely pacified and has forever remained hostile to Russia. It is known, for example, that even under Soviet rule in the post-war years it was not always calm there, and the last abrek of Chechnya was shot only in 1976. What do you think about this?

The eternal Russian-Caucasian confrontation is not a historical fact, but an anachronistic propaganda cliche, again in demand during the two Russian-Chechen campaigns of the 1990-2000s. Yes, the Caucasus survived the conquest of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Then the Bolsheviks conquered it a second time and no less bloodily in 1918-1921. However, the work of historians today shows that conquest and resistance did not determine the situation in the region. Much more important here was interaction with Russian society. Even chronologically, the periods of peaceful coexistence were longer.

The modern Caucasus is largely a product of imperial and Soviet history. As a region, it was formed precisely at this time. Already in the Soviet era, its modernization and Russification took place.

It is significant that even Islamic and other radicals opposing Russia often publish their materials in Russian. The words that the North Caucasus did not voluntarily become part of Russia and will not voluntarily leave it seem to me to be more consistent with the truth.

1. Prerequisites for the Caucasian War

The war of the Russian Empire against the Muslim peoples of the North Caucasus was with the goal of annexing this region. As a result of the Russian-Turkish (in 1812) and Russian-Iranian (in 1813) 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 largely by raiding the surrounding lowland territories, including Russian Cossack settlements and soldier garrisons. When the raids of the mountaineers on Russian villages became unbearable, the Russians responded with reprisals. After a series of punitive operations, during which Russian troops mercilessly burned down “offending” villages, the emperor in 1813 ordered General Rtishchev to change tactics again, “try to restore calm on the Caucasian line with friendliness and condescension.”

However, the peculiarities of the mentality of the mountaineers prevented a peaceful resolution of the situation. Peacefulness was seen as weakness, and the raids on the Russians only intensified. In 1819, almost all the rulers of Dagestan united in an alliance to fight against the Russians. In this regard, the policy of the tsarist government switched to establishing direct rule. In the person of General A.P. Ermolov, the Russian government found the right person to implement these ideas: the general was firmly convinced that the entire Caucasus should become part of the Russian Empire.

2. Caucasian War 1817-1864

Caucasian war

Caucasian War 1817-64, military actions related to the annexation of Chechnya, Mountainous Dagestan and the North-Western Caucasus by Tsarist Russia. After the annexation of Georgia (1801 10) and Azerbaijan (1803 13), their territories were separated from Russia by the lands of Chechnya, Mountainous Dagestan (although legally Dagestan was annexed in 1813) and the Northwestern Caucasus, inhabited by warlike mountain peoples who raided the Caucasian fortified line, interfered with relations with Transcaucasia. After the end of the wars with Napoleonic France, tsarism was able to intensify military operations in this area. General A.P., appointed commander-in-chief in the Caucasus in 1816. Ermolov moved from individual punitive expeditions to a systematic advance into the depths of 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. This forced the population either to move to the plane (plain) under the supervision of Russian garrisons, or to go into the depths of the mountains. Has begun first period of the Caucasian War with an order dated May 12, 1818 from General Ermolov to cross the Terek. Ermolov drew up a plan of offensive action, at the forefront of which was the widespread colonization of the region by the Cossacks and the formation of “layers” between hostile tribes by relocating loyal tribes there. In 1817 18 the left flank of the Caucasian line was moved from the Terek to the river. Sunzha in the middle reaches of which was in October 1817. The fortification of Pregradny Stan was laid, which was the first step in a systematic advance into the territories of the mountain peoples and actually marked the beginning of K.V. The Grozny fortress was founded in the lower reaches of the Sunzha. A continuation of the Sunzhenskaya line were the fortresses of Vnezapnaya (1819) and Burnaya (1821). In 1819, the Separate Georgian Corps was renamed the Separate Caucasian Corps and strengthened to 50 thousand people; The Black Sea Cossack army (up to 40 thousand people) in the North-West Caucasus was also subordinated to Ermolov. In 1818 a number of Dagestan feudal lords and tribes united in 1819. began the march to the Sunzhenskaya line. But in 1819 21. they suffered a series of defeats, after which the possessions of these feudal lords were either transferred to Russian vassals with subordination to Russian commandants (the lands of the Kazikumukh Khan to the Kyurinsky Khan, the Avar Khan to Shamkhal Tarkovsky), or became dependent on Russia (the lands of Utsmiya Karakaitag), or were liquidated with the introduction of Russian administration ( Mehtuli Khanate, as well as the Azerbaijani Khanates of Sheki, Shirvan and Karabakh). In 1822 26 A number of punitive expeditions were carried out against the Circassians in the Trans-Kuban region.

The result of Ermolov's actions was the subjugation of almost all of Dagestan, Chechnya and Trans-Kubania. General I.F., who replaced Ermolov in March 1827 Paskevich abandoned a systematic advance with the consolidation of occupied territories and returned mainly to the tactics of individual punitive expeditions, although under him the Lezgin Line was created (1830). In 1828, in connection with the construction of the Military-Sukhumi road, the Karachay region was annexed. The expansion of colonization of the North Caucasus and the cruelty of the aggressive policy of Russian tsarism caused spontaneous mass uprisings of the mountaineers. The first of them occurred in Chechnya in July 1825: the highlanders, led by Bey-Bulat, captured the Amiradzhiyurt post, but their attempts to take Gerzel and Grozny failed, and in 1826. the uprising was suppressed. At the end of the 20s. in Chechnya and Dagestan, a movement of mountaineers arose under the religious cover of muridism, an integral part of which was ghazavat (Jihad) “holy war” against the “infidels” (i.e., Russians). In this movement, the liberation struggle against the colonial expansion of tsarism was combined with opposition to the oppression of local feudal lords. The reactionary side of the movement was the struggle of the top of the Muslim clergy for the creation of a feudal-theocratic state of the imamate. This isolated supporters of Muridism from other peoples, incited fanatical hatred of non-Muslims, and most importantly, preserved backward feudal forms of social structure. The movement of the highlanders under the flag of Muridism was the impetus for expanding the scale of the KV, although some peoples of the North Caucasus and Dagestan (for example, Kumyks, Ossetians, Ingush, Kabardians, etc.) did not join this movement. This was explained, firstly, by the fact that some of these peoples could not be carried away by the slogan of Muridism due to their Christianization (part of the Ossetians) or the weak development of Islam (for example, Kabardians); secondly, the policy of “carrot and stick” pursued by tsarism, with the help of which it managed to attract part of the feudal lords and their subjects to its side. These peoples did not oppose Russian rule, but their situation was difficult: they were under the double oppression of tsarism and local feudal lords.

Second period of the Caucasian War- represent the bloody and menacing era of Muridism. At the beginning of 1829, Kazi-Mulla (or Gazi-Magomed) arrived in the Tarkov Shankhaldom (a state on the territory of Dagestan in the late 15th - early 19th centuries) with his sermons, while receiving complete freedom of action from the shamkhal. Gathering his comrades, he began to go around aul after aul, calling on “sinners to take the righteous path, instruct the lost and crush the criminal authorities of the auls.” Gazi-Magomed (Kazi-mullah), proclaimed imam in December 1828. and put forward the idea of ​​uniting the peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan. But some feudal lords (Avar Khan, Shamkhal Tarkovsky, etc.), who adhered to the Russian orientation, refused to recognize the authority of the imam. Gazi-Magomed's attempt to capture in February 1830 Avaria's capital, Khunzakh, was not successful, although the expedition of the tsarist troops in 1830 in Gimry failed and only led to the strengthening of the imam’s influence. In 1831 the murids took Tarki and Kizlyar, besieged Burnaya and Sudden; their detachments also operated in Chechnya, near Vladikavkaz and Grozny, and with the support of the rebel Tabasarans they besieged Derbent. Significant territories (Chechnya and most of Dagestan) came under the authority of the imam. However, from the end of 1831 The uprising began to decline due to the desertion of the peasantry from the murids, dissatisfied with the fact that the imam had not fulfilled his promise to eliminate class inequality. As a result of large expeditions of Russian troops in Chechnya, undertaken by the appointed in September 1831. Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, General G.V. Rosen, the detachments of Gazi-Magomed were pushed back to Mountainous Dagestan. The imam with a handful of murids took refuge in Gimry, where he died on October 17, 1832. during the capture of the village by Russian troops. Gamzat-bek was proclaimed the second imam, whose military successes attracted almost all the peoples of Mountain Dagestan, including some of the Avars, to his side; however, the ruler of Avaria, Hansha Pahu-bike, refused to speak out against Russia. In August 1834 Gamzat-bek captured Khunzakh and exterminated the family of Avar khans, but as a result of a conspiracy by their supporters, he was killed on September 19, 1834. In the same year, Russian troops, in order to stop the relations of the Circassians with Turkey, conducted an expedition to the Trans-Kuban region and laid down the fortifications of Abinsk and Nikolaevsk.

Shamil was proclaimed the third imam in 1834. The Russian command sent a large detachment against him, which destroyed the village of Gotsatl (the main residence of the murids) and forced Shamil’s troops to retreat from Avaria. Believing that the movement was largely suppressed, Rosen remained inactive for 2 years. During this time, Shamil, having chosen the village of Akhulgo as his base, subjugated part of the elders and feudal lords of Chechnya and Dagestan, brutally dealing with those feudal lords who did not want to obey him, and won wide support among the masses. In 1837 the detachment of General K.K. Fezi occupied Khunzakh, Untsukul and part of the village of Tilitl, where Shamil’s detachments withdrew, but due to heavy losses and lack of food, the tsarist troops found themselves in a difficult situation, and on July 3, 1837. Fezi concluded a truce with Shamil. This truce and the withdrawal of the tsarist troops were actually their defeat and strengthened the authority of Shamil. In the North-West Caucasus, Russian troops in 1837. They laid the fortifications of the Holy Spirit, Novotroitskoye, Mikhailovskoye. In March 1838 Rosen was replaced by General E.A. Golovin, under whom in the North-West Caucasus in 1838. fortifications Navaginskoye, Velyaminovskoye, Tenginskoye and Novorossiysk were created. The truce with Shamil turned out to be temporary, and in 1839. hostilities resumed. Detachment of General P.Kh. Grabbe after an 80-day siege on August 22, 1839. took possession of the residence of Shamil Akhulgo; The wounded Shamil and his murids broke through to Chechnya. On the Black Sea coast in 1839. the Golovinskoye and Lazarevskoye fortifications were laid and the Black Sea coastline from the mouth of the river was created. Kuban to the borders of Megrelia; in 1840 The Labinsk line was created, but soon the tsarist troops suffered a number of major defeats: the rebellious Circassians in February April 1840. captured the fortifications of the Black Sea coastline (Lazarevskoye, Velyaminovskoye, Mikhailovskoye, Nikolaevskoye). In the Eastern Caucasus, the Russian administration's attempt to disarm the Chechens sparked an uprising that spread throughout Chechnya and then spread to Mountainous Dagestan. After stubborn battles in the area of ​​​​the Gekhinsky forest and on the river. Valerik (July 11, 1840) Russian troops occupied Chechnya, the Chechens went to Shamil’s troops operating in Northwestern Dagestan. In 1840-43, despite the reinforcement of the Caucasian Corps by an infantry division, Shamil won a number of major victories, occupied Avaria and established his power in a large part of Dagestan, expanding the territory of the Imamate by more than doubling and increasing the number of his troops to 20 thousand people. In October 1842 Golovin was replaced by General A. I. Neigardt and 2 more infantry divisions were transferred to the Caucasus, which made it possible to somewhat push back Shamil’s troops. But then Shamil, again seizing the initiative, occupied Gergebil on November 8, 1843 and forced the Russian troops to leave Avaria. In December 1844, Neigardt was replaced by General M.S. Vorontsov, who in 1845 captured and destroyed Shamil's residence aul Dargo. However, the highlanders surrounded Vorontsov’s detachment, which barely managed to escape, having lost 1/3 of its personnel, all its guns and convoy. In 1846, Vorontsov returned to Ermolov’s tactics of conquering the Caucasus. Shamil’s attempts to thwart the enemy’s offensive were unsuccessful (in 1846, the failure of the breakthrough into Kabarda, in 1848, the fall of Gergebil, in 1849, the failure of the assault on Temir-Khan-Shura and the breakthrough in Kakheti); in 1849-52 Shamil managed to occupy Kazikumukh, but by the spring of 1853. his troops were finally driven out of Chechnya into Mountainous Dagestan, where the position of the mountaineers also became difficult. In the North-Western Caucasus, the Urup Line was created in 1850, and in 1851 the uprising of Circassian tribes led by Shamil's governor Muhammad-Emin was suppressed. On the eve of the Crimean War of 1853-56, Shamil, counting on the help of Great Britain and Turkey, intensified his actions and in August 1853. tried to break through the Lezgin line at Zakatala, but failed. In November 1853, Turkish troops were defeated at Bashkadyklar, and Circassian attempts to seize the Black Sea and Labinsk lines were repulsed. In the summer of 1854, Turkish troops launched an offensive against Tiflis; At the same time, Shamil’s troops, breaking through the Lezgi line, invaded Kakheti, captured Tsinandali, but were detained by the Georgian militia, and then defeated by Russian troops. Defeat in 1854-55. The Turkish army finally dispelled Shamil's hopes for outside help. By this time, what had begun in the late 40s had deepened. internal crisis of the Imamate. The actual transformation of Shamil's governors, the naibs, into self-interested feudal lords, whose cruel rule aroused the indignation of the mountaineers, exacerbated social contradictions, and the peasants began to gradually move away from Shamil's movement (in 1858, an uprising against Shamil's power even broke out in Chechnya in the Vedeno region). The weakening of the Imamate was also facilitated by devastation and heavy casualties in a long, unequal struggle in conditions of shortages of ammunition and food. Conclusion of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 allowed tsarism to concentrate significant forces against Shamil: the Caucasian Corps was transformed into an army (up to 200 thousand people). The new commanders-in-chief, General N. N. Muravyov (1854 56) and General A.I. Baryatinsky (1856 60) continued to tighten the blockade ring around the Imamate with a strong consolidation of the occupied territories. In April 1859, Shamil's residence, the village of Vedeno, fell. Shamil with 400 murids fled to the village of Gunib. As a result of the concentric movements of three detachments of Russian troops, Gunib was surrounded and on August 25, 1859. taken by storm; Almost all the murids died in battle, and Shamil was forced to surrender. In the Northwestern Caucasus, the disunity of the Circassian and Abkhazian tribes facilitated the actions of the tsarist command, which took away fertile lands from the mountaineers and handed them over to the Cossacks and Russian settlers, carrying out the mass eviction of the mountain peoples. In November 1859 The main forces of the Circassians (up to 2 thousand people) led by Muhammad-Emin capitulated. The lands of the Circassians were cut by the Belorechensk line with the Maykop fortress. In 1859 61 the construction of clearings, roads and the settlement of lands seized from the highlanders were carried out. In the middle of 1862 resistance to the colonialists intensified. To occupy the territory remaining with the mountaineers with a population of about 200 thousand people. in 1862, up to 60 thousand soldiers were concentrated under the command of General N.I. Evdokimov, who began advancing along the coast and deep into the mountains. In 1863, tsarist troops occupied the territory between the rivers. Belaya and Pshish, and by mid-April 1864 the entire coast to Navaginsky and the territory to the river. Laba (along the northern slope of the Caucasus ridge). Only the highlanders of the Akhchipsu society and the small tribe of Khakuchi in the valley of the river did not submit. Mzymta. Pushed to the sea or driven into the mountains, the Circassians and Abkhazians were forced either to move to the plain or, under the influence of the Muslim clergy, to emigrate to Turkey. The unpreparedness of the Turkish government to receive, accommodate and feed masses of people (up to 500 thousand people), the arbitrariness and violence of local Turkish authorities and difficult living conditions caused a high mortality rate among the displaced, a small part of whom returned to the Caucasus again. By 1864, Russian control was introduced in Abkhazia, and on May 21, 1864, tsarist troops occupied the last center of resistance of the Circassian Ubykh tribe, the Kbaadu tract (now Krasnaya Polyana). This day is considered the date of the end of K.V., although in fact military operations continued until the end of 1864, and in the 60-70s. Anti-colonial uprisings took place in Chechnya and Dagestan.