User:Benjamin Trovato/My sandbox5

==BCS.hist.20feb16 ==gamete.20feb16 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov held that the Urheimat was south of the Caucasus, specifically, “within eastern Anatolia, the southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia …. In the fifth to fourth millennia BC.” Their evidence was: PIE words for mountain, plant and animal names appropriate to the area, material culture implying contact with more advanced peoples to the south, Semitic loan-words in PIE, Kartvelian (Georgian) borrowings from PIE, some contact with Sumerian, Elamite and others. They have the Greeks moving west across Anatolia to their present location, a northward movement of some IE speakers that brought them into contact with the [1[Finno-Ugric languages]] and suggest that the kurgan area, or better “Black Sea and Volga steppe” was a secondary homeland from which the western IE languages emerged.

Persians Cry.11feb22

PerzCry.reply

11feb: The problem is that we have about 40 detail articles that cannot be properly understood without finding and reading all of them. An index article does not need its own source if it summarizes the detail articles and adds nothing new. I suppose that you can delete this draft. I may get back to it when I find the time.

voot

Safavid Empire

Persian crisis of 1722-1736 is an informal name for a set of events in the Iranian empire in the early eighteenth century. Around 1720 Russia and Turkey took advantage of Persian weakness to annex the northwestern part of the Persian empire. Nader Shah restored Persian power and by about 1736 the two invaders were back at their old borders. At the same time the Safavid dynasty came to an end. This is an overview article that ties together several dozen other articles.

Since about 1639 the area south of the Caucasus had been divided between Turkey and Persia along a line through the center of Georgia (Treaty of Zuhab). Iran also controlled Dagestan on the west side of the Caspian and part of Afghanistan facing the Mughal empire in India. These areas were ruled by local vassals who recognized Persian suzerainty.

Afghan invasion 1722

In the seventeenth century the Safavid dynasty was in decline. In 1694 Sultan Husayn became Shah and proved ineffective. His reign was relatively peaceful until 1709 when the Kandahar Afghans revolted, followed by the Herat Afghans seven years later. The Kandaharis established the Hotak dynasty which in 1717 came under the rule of Mahmud Hotak. In 1720 Mahmud Hotak captured Kerman. From March to October 1722 he besieged the Persian capital (Siege of Isfahan). Sultan Huseyn abdicated in favor of Mahmud. Huseyn’s son Tahmasp II escaped and organized a weak resistance. (Also, in 1721 Sunni rebels captured the capital of Shirvan, killed some Russian merchants and asked for Turkish help (Sack of Shamakhi). This was one pretext for the Russian invasion.)

Russian and Turkish invasions 1722

Mop1

Herat

Kandahar

Kerman

Isfahan

Shirvan

Resht

Mazandran

Astarabad

Ardabil

Tabriz

Hamadan

Kermanshah

Meshhad

Baghdad

Shiraz

Zarghan

class=notpageimage|

Red=taken by Russia
Blue=taken by Turkey
Isfahan was taken by the Afghans

In 1717 Peter the Great sent Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky to capture the Khanate of Khiva north of Persia. He was completely defeated and only a few Russians lived to tell the tale. Although Khiva was not Persian territory this campaign was a prelude to the Russian invasion of 1722.

In July 1722, while Isfahan was under seige by the Afghans, Peter the Great invaded Dagestan (Russo-Persian War (1722–1723)). By 1723 Russia held the west and south coasts of the Caspian. In September 1723 Tahmasp’s ambassador recognized the conquest by the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1723) but in April 1724 Tahmasp did not confirm it.

Taking advantage of the Russian presence, in 1722 Vakhtang VI of Kartli, the vassal ruler of eastern Georgia, revolted. When Peter failed to help him he pulled his troops back. In May 1723 he was driven from his kingdom and went into Russian exile.

At about the same time the Ottomans invaded, taking everything south of the Caucasus and part of northwest Iran Including Ardabil, Tabriz, Hamadan and Kermanshah. Wikipedia does not have an adequate account of this campaign. In June 1724 Russia and Turkey recognized each other's conquests and agreed to force Tahmasp to accept them (Treaty of Constantinople (1724)). The border would be at the mouth of the Aras River. Russia held the Caspian coast and the Turkish conquests did not quite reach the Caspian.

Afghans driven out 1729

Mahmud could not control his new subjects, became increasingly violent and in April 1725 he was replaced by his cousin Ashraf Hotak. In 1726 Tahmasp and Nadir took Mashhad (Khorasan Campaign). The Turks went to war supporting Tahmasp against Ashraf (Ottoman–Hotaki War (1726–1727)). Ashraf won a battle and in October 1727 (Treaty of Hamedan) the Turks changed sides. They recognized Ashraf as Shah (both were Sunni) and Ashraf recognized the Turkish conquests. In July 1729 Nadir took Herat (Herat Campaign of 1729). From October to December 1729 Nadir drove the Afghans out the capital and restored Tahmasp to the throne. (see Restoration of Tahmasp II to the Safavid throne with links to the three battles.) In January 1730 Ashraf made his last stand at the Battle of Zarghan.

Mop2

Astrakhan

X-X-X-X-X-X-Terek River

Steppe Nomads

Free Mountaineers

Free Mountaineers

Sulak River

Tarki

Derbent

Baku

Shamakhi

Ganja

Yerevan

Tbilisi

Yeghvard

Tabriz

Kars

Trebizond

Erzurum

class=notpageimage|

Xes=Traditional Ottoman and Russian borders (approximate)
Red=taken by Russia
Blue=taken by Turkey
Tbilisi was the capital of Kartli and Shamakhi the capital of Shervan

voing

In March 1730, three months after the liberation of Isfahan, Nader started Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1735). During the Western Persia campaign of 1730 from March to August he regained the lost lands in Persia proper including Hamadan and Tabriz. In August he stopped fighting the Turks to deal with an Afghan revolt (Herat Campaign of 1731) which tied him down until February 1732. While Nader was away Tahmasp marched north and besieged Yerevan (Tahmasp's campaign of 1731). The Turks cut his supply line and he withdrew, the Turks regaining Hamadan and Tabriz. In January 1732 (Treaty of Ahmet Pasha) Tahmasp recognized he Turkish conquests except for some of northwest Iran. In September 1732 Nader took advantage of this defeat and deposed Tahmasp in favor of his infant son Abbas III.

The second phase of the war began in September 1732 when Nader marched south to Baghdad (Nader's Mesopotamian Campaign). He may have planned to trade Baghdad for northwest Persia, but this is not certain. The Siege of Baghdad (1733) began in February. In July (Battle of Samarra (1733)) he was defeated by a relieving Turkish army. In October he won the Battle of Kirkuk (1733). He then broke off the campaign to deal with Mohammad Khan Baluch's Rebellion near Shiraz.

The third phase began some time before August 1734 (Caucasus Campaign (1735)). In August Nader took Shirvan from the Turks. In November 1734 he besieged Ganja (Siege of Ganja (1734)) and moved west to surround Yerevan and Tbilisi. In June 1735 a Turkish army was completely defeated at the Battle of Yeghevārd. This led Ganja and Tbilisi to surrender in July. He then advanced to Kars and traded it for Yerevan (October 1735). The war was ended by the Treaty of Constantinople (1736) in September.

Russians withdraw 1735

As Persia grew stronger Russian occupation of the Caspian became impractical. In January 1732, before Nader's attack on Baghdad, Russia signed the Treaty of Resht in which she gave back the provinces along the south Caspian. In March 1735, while Nader was besieging Ganja, the two powers signed the Treaty of Ganja in which they allied against the Ottomans and Russia gave back the west Caspian coast.

Aftermath

In March 1736 Nader became Shah ending Safavid dynasty and founding the Afsharid dynasty. In 1738 Nader destroyed the last Hotakis at the Siege of Kandahar. He then invaded India and took Delhi. Between 1741 and 1742 he tried to subdue Dagestan (Nader's Dagestan campaign). He next fought an indecisive war against Turkey (Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746)). In 1747 he was assassinated. In 1735, just as the Persian crisis was ending, Russia started the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739). Russia now had a Persian alliance against Turkey and complained that Turkey’s Crimean vassals had raided Russia and crossed Russian territory to fight Persia. Russia took Azov and invaded the Crimean Peninsula for the first time.

Sources

• This is an index article. Sources are to be found in the linked articles.

[[Cat?? [[1Categor

Canada and Siberia 26aug16

Both Canada and Siberia were explored by Europeans mainly by river. Both regions have many navigable rivers with short portages between them. There are no serious barriers to water-borne travel east of the Rockies or from the Urals almost to the Pacific. The fur trade drove and financed both expansions (mostly beaver furs in Canada, sable and many others in Siberia). In both areas incomers obtained furs from the natives and exported them to Europe. In Siberia a band of armed Cossacks would enter a native village and demand yasak or tribute. In Canada furs were obtained by honest trade.

Russian expansion into Siberia began with the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582. In 1639 they reached the Pacific near Okhotsk. European settlement of Canada began in 1605 and 1608 (Port Royal, Nova Scotia and Quebec City). Canada-based Europeans reached the Arctic Ocean in 1789 and the Pacific in 1793, both expeditions led by Alexander Mackenzie). For details of Siberian travel see Siberian River Routes.

North Caucas Line.09may16

[1[File:Terek.png|thumb|right|The Terek drains the northeast Caucasus into the Caspian Sea. The Malka is its northwest tributary and the Sunzha River is inside the great bend of the Terek]] [1[file:Kouban-fr.svg|right|thumb|The Kuban drains the northwest Caucasus rivers into the Sea of Azov. The Laba is the fourth river from the left.]] The North Caucasus Line was a line of Russian forts and Cossack settlements along the north side of the [1[Caucasus Mountains]]. Originating in the mid 16th century with a few free Cossacks near the Caspian Sea, from the mid 18th century the line was pushed west and used as a base to conquer the mountains to the south and to populate the steppes to the north.

Geography

The Cossack settlements were determined by three roughly parallel lines. The first was the line between the Caucasus foothills and the lowlands. The second was the line between forest and steppe. It is difficult to trace this line since much of the forest has been cleared for agriculture. What is clear is that a belt of forest-steppe extended north of the foothills onto the plain. The third, and most important, line was marked by three, and later five, rivers. In the east the [1[Terek River]] catches the rivers that flow north from the Caucasus and drains them into the Caspian. In the west the [1[Kuban River]] drains the Caucasus rivers west into the Sea of Azov. In the center the [1[Malka River]] catches the mountain rivers and itself flows east into the Terek. The Terek, Malka and Kuban made a natural military line. Later two other rivers became important. The Terek first flows north, turns somewhat west and makes a great bend before flowing east. Inside this bend the [1[Sunzha River]] flows northeast into the Terek and catches most of the mountain rivers. Once the Terek was controlled it became the next military line. In the west the Kuban also flows north before swinging west. Inside this curve the north-flowing [1[Laba River]] was the next military line.

In the east along the Terek the soil is poor and rainfall low. Dense peasant settlement only became possible when the line was pushed west to the Stavropol highland in the center in the late 18th century.

Around 1500 Russia was just beginning to push south from its heartland in Muscovy. Everything south to the Black Sea and Caucasus was controlled by the Nogai nomads. In 1556 Russia moved down the Volga and captured Astrakhan at the north end of the Caspian sea. South of the Terek along the Caspian Sea the land was controlled by various khanates nominally subject to Persia. The northernmost was what later became the [1[Shamkhalate of Tarki]].

Who were the Caucasus Cossacks?

[1[File:345 Changes in uniforms and armament of troops of the Russian Imperial army.jpg|thumb|right||A Terek Cossack about 1860. His uniform copies 1[1[Burka (Caucasus)|native dress]]: papakha, cherkeska with gazerei and kinzhal]] Cossacks lived all along the southern Russian frontier. They were originally runaway serfs and adventurers who went to the frontier to live a free life. They were gradually brought under government control by being hired as mercenaries. By the later period the Cossack was basically a fighting farmer who supported himself but was available for military call-up. Their usual duties were guarding villages against raiders, protecting convoys, especially along the Georgian Military Highway and serving as auxilliaries to the regular army. Most seem to have been of non-Russian ancestry. Since runaways and adventurers are mostly male, their wives, and therefore mothers and grandmothers were usually local. Cossack villages attracted locals who were slowly absorbed into the Cossack community. Georgians and Armenians moved to the north side of the mountains and some became Cossacks. In 1829 vagrants (brodyagi) were rounded up and made to work in Cossack villages for three years, after which they might become Cossacks. Although they normally had to be Orthodox, a number of Cossacks, including officers, were Muslim. They adopted local dress and economic methods. Horses and weapons were often bought from the mountaineers. In 1828 Cossacks were forbidden to approach peasants working in the fields because they could not be distinguished from native raiders. There was a good bit of raiding between Cossacks and natives. The local people also raided each other, but we do not hear of Cossacks raiding other Cossacks. When they were not raiding each other there was a good deal of economic and personal interaction. Especially in the early period there were many free Cossacks of whom the government knew little. In 1744 the Greben Cossacks had 450 men, but could round up 1500 more if they were paid. Free Cossacks usually appear in the records as “criminal fugitive Cossacks” when they engaged in raiding or piracy. Before the Russian state began a serious attempt at conquest in the early 19th century the Caucasus Cossacks were almost another local tribe.

c 1550-1711: Early Settlements

to Astrakhan

Shamkhalate of Tarki

Kizlyar 1735

TerskyGorod 1588

SvyatoyKrest 1722

Sunzha Ostrog
1567

Grozny

class=notpageimage|

Early forts on a map of Dagestan
= Terek River with delta
= Sunzha River

Free Cossacks were living on the lower Terek by the first half of the 16th century. The usual dates are 1520 and 1563, but the matter is very obscure . To the west of the Terek Cossacks lived the Greben Cossacks . They were first formally distinguished in 1736. Before that date a distinction between Greben and Terek Cossacks is questionable. Since the whole point of being a free Cossack was to be out of the reach of the government there are few records. The few records we have from this period usually relate to raiding or warfare.

Early forts: In 1556 Russia occupied Astrakhan at the head of the Caspian Sea and began interacting with [1[Kabardia]] in the center of the north Caucasus. In 1567 Sunzha Ostrog (1567-1579) was built at the mouth of the Sunzha at the east end of Kabardian territory. It was too far advanced, moved several times, abandoned under Turkish pressure in 1571, rebuilt in 1578 and abandoned the following year. In 1588 Tersky Gorod (1588-1722) was founded in the Terek delta. In 1623 it had 500 Cosascks on the government payroll. By the late 17th century it is said to have had a population of 20,000, mostly non-Russian. In 1708 it was burned by “Kuban Tatars.” It was abandoned in 1722. In 1635 Sunzha Ostrog (1635-1653) was restored. In 1653 Persia forced its abandonment (the so-called [1[Russo-Persian War (1651-1653)]]).

Early Wars: Russian relations with Kabardia were more diplomatic than military. In 1560, four years after the capture of Astrakhan, Cheremisinov attacked Tarki, burned it and withdrew. In 1594 Prince Khvorostinin led 5000 Terek, Astrakhan and Yaik Cossacks south to attack Tarki and was soundly defeated. In 1604-05 Ivan Buturlin attacked Tarki and was defeated. In the last two cases the Dagestanis allowed the Russians to take the town, surrounded and harassed them and attacked when they were forced to retreat. The first war was requested by the Kabardians and the last two by the Georgian kings who did nothing to help. In 1605 the rebel Illya Muromets was on the Terek. In 1614 some Terek Cossacks helped attack [1[Ivan Zarutsky]] at Astrakhan. In the 1680s 1500 Don Cossack Old Believers settled on the [1[Kuma River]].

1711- 1763 The Russian state gains control of the Cossacks

Around 1711 the Greben Cossacks moved to a more defensible position on the north bank of the Terek. In 1717 some 500 of them participated in [1[Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky]]’s campaign against the Khanate of Khiva. Only two came back. In 1720 the Greben Cossacks were placed under the governor of Astrakhan and in the following year, under the War Collage. In 1722 Peter the Great tried to [1[1Russo-Persian War (1722–23)|conquer the west side]] of the Caspian Sea. The entire garrison of Tersky Gorod was moved 130 miles south to Svyatoy Krest (Holy Cross) Fort (1722-1736) on the lower [1[Sulak River]]. Tersky Gorod was abandoned and only the Greben Cossacks remained on the Terek. In 1723-24 1000 families of Don Cossacks were moved to the Sulak and its Agrakhan branch forming the Agrakhan Cossack Host. Svyatoy Krest was too far advanced and even more unhealthy than the lower Terek. When it was abandoned in 1735-36 only 200 of its garrison were alive to be moved to the new fort at Kizlyar. The Cossacks who moved back north became the Terek-Semeinoe Host between the Greben Cossacks and Kizlyar and the Terek-Kizlyar Host east of Kizlyar on the lower Terek. The Terek-Kizlyar Host had the worst land and less than 200 men on active duty. About a third of them were converted natives. The Terek-Semeinoe Host had about 450 men for most of the period and was mostly descended from Don Cossacks. They were merged with the Greben Cossacks in 1745 and separated again in 1755. Kizlyar (1735-present) was founded on the Terek when Svyatoy Krest was abandoned and remained the largest Russian town in the Caucasus until it was surpassed by Stavropol in the early 19th century. In 1773 it had a garrison of 1277 and a civilian and Cossack population of 4197. Only 8% of the population was Russian. It had three Orthodox churches, one monastery, four mosques and one Armenian church.

1763-1864: Westward expansion, massive peasant colonization and war in the mountains

By the mid 18th century there were only 1,162 active-duty Cossacks in the north Caucasus. By 1851 there were 86,538.

Westward expansion was associated with the annexation of Georgia south of the mountains. In 1769 [1[Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben|Totleben]] crossed the mountains to fight the Turks. In 1783 eastern Georgia became a Russian protectorate and in 1800 it was annexed. Since the only good road south was through [1[Darial Pass]] the Russians now had to hold what became the [1[Georgian Military Highway]]. [1[Mozdok, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania|Mozdok]] (1763-present) at the north end of the highway was founded in 1763. In 1770 it became a fortress independent of Kizliar. It quickly attracted a large native population, many of whom were fugitive serfs from the mountains. In 1765 the Mozdok Mountain Command was formed from converted natives. They were used mostly for convoy duty along the Military Highway. Ossets were encouraged to settle along the highway and efforts were made to re-convert them (many had formerly been Christians). There was a gap of about 65 miles between Mozdok and the westernmost Greben Cossacks. From 1770 to 1799 this area was settled by Don and Volga Cossacks. [1[Vladikavkaz]] at the north end of the pass was founded in 1784. It was partly abandoned at the time of [1[Sheikh Mansur]] and was reestablished in 1803.

In 1777 Russia began building a line of forts between Mozdok and Azov. In that year [1[Stavropol]] and [1[Georgievsk]] were founded along this line. (Georgievsk was the seat of the [1[Caucasus Governorate]] from 1802 to 1822.) In the same year the Volga regiment was formed from Volga Cossacks on the eastern part of this line. Each new fort became a magnet for both legal and illegal settlers. 68000 peasants were settled in 1781-84 and 68000 more by the end of the century.

Far to the west, in 1708, the [1[Nekrasov Cossacks]] settled on the Kuban. They were refugees from the Bulavin Rebellion and lived in Crimean-Nogai territory. They seem to have gradually broken up and merged with other groups. In 1783, the same year that Georgia became a Russian vassal, Russia annexed the [1[Khanate of Crimea]] and thereby inherited its claim over the Nogai nomads. In 1787 the [1[Black Sea Cossack Host]] was given the land between Azov and the Kuban. By 1794 25000 people had settled along the Kuban. 1[1[Krasnodar]] was founded in 1794. The Kuban line became the base for the [1[Russo-Circassian War]]. The line was pushed west to the [1[Laba River]].

In the center the line was pushed south from the Terek to the Sunzha. [1[Grozny]] was founded in 1818. In 1824 Ermolov created the Mountain Cossack regiment between the Volga and Mozdok regiments. These new "Cossacks" were created by decree, the government declaring that various Cossacks, state peasants and natives were now Cossacks. During the [1[Murid War]] Chechens were driven north or south of the two rivers. The Sunzha Regiment was founded in 1845.

During the [1[Russo-Circassian War]] (until 1864) in the west and the [1[Murid War]] (1830-1859) in the east, the line was the northern base for the conquest of the mountains. When the fighting ended the Cossacks were no longer needed for local fighting, but they remained and remain a rather distinct community. 1 A proper account of peasant settlement north of the line on the [1[Black Sea-Caspian Steppe]] would require census figures which do not seem to exist.

See also

• [1[Russian conquest of the Caucasus]]
• [1[Terek Cossacks]]
• [1[Kuban Cossacks]]
• [1[Caucasus Line Cossack Host]]

Кавказская линия

References and notes

• Thomas M. Barrett, At the Edge of Empire: The Terek Cossacks and the North Caucasus Frontier 1700-1860, 1999
• Arthur Tsutsiev, Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, 2014

[1[Category:History of the Caucasus]] [1[Category:Cossack hosts]] [1[Category:Russian Cossacks]] [1[Category:Caucasian War]]

BSC.20feb16

KC

KB

Oss

In

Ch

Krasnodar Krai

Adygea

Stavropol Krai

Rostov Oblast

Volgograd Oblast

Astrakhan Oblast

Kalmykia

Dage-
stan

class=notpageimage|

Administrative divisions in the Black Sea-Caspian area.
*Smaller areas along the north Caucasus are: Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya
*Yellow is the Southern Federal District and Pink is the North Caucasus Federal District

Vladakavaz

Volgograd

Astrakhan

Rostov-on-Don

Krasnodar

Stavropol

Don River

Don River

Volga River

Volga

Terek
River

Kuban River

class=notpageimage|

Landmarks

The Black Sea-Caspian Steppe is an informal name for that part of the [1[Eurasian Steppe]] that extends south between the Black and Caspian Seas. It is usually treated as part of the [1[Pontic-Caspian steppe]] which includes the area north of the Black and Caspian Seas, but there is some reason to treat it as a distinct place. Its natural boundaries are the Sea of Azov and Black Sea on the west, the Caucasus Mountains on the south and the Caspian Sea on the east. Its northern boundary may be taken as the triangle formed by the lower [1[Don River (Russia)|Don River]] and [1[Volga River]] which are about 60km apart to the west of Volgograd. This article excludes the north slope of the Caucasus which is not steppe and has a distinct geography and geography.

Geography

Administratively it comprises (clockwise) the [1[Astrakhan Oblast]] along the Volga, [1[Kalmykia]] (west of Astrakhan oblast and reaching the Caspian in the south of the Volga), Northern [1[Dagestan]], the [1[Stavropol Krai]] in the center-south, [1[Krasnodar Krai]] in the west with its inclave of [1[Adygea]], southern [1[Rostov Oblast]] in the northwest and the southern [1[Volgograd Oblast]] in the north-center. The largest towns are [1[Rostov-on-Don]], [1[Volgograd]] and [1[Astrakhan]] in the north and [1[Krasnodar]] and [1[Stavropol]] in the south. Main roads are Rostov southeast to Stavropol and beyond, Volgograd south to Stavropol, and Astrakhan south to Dagestan. There are railroads approximately parallel to both coasts.

The region is about 900km at its widest and about 500km from north to south. Low rainfall makes the whole area grassland. Rainfall decreases to the east and north (20-30 inches in the west, 13 in Volgograd and 9 in Astrakhan). Most of the area is less than 500 feet in altitude, rising to over 1000 feet in the Stavropol Highland. The Manych Depression is not much more than 65 feet above sea level and the area around Astrakhan and part of Kalmykia is [1[Caspian Depression| below sea level]].

Relief Map
Note Tsimylansk Reservoir on the lower Don (center), Volga-Don watershed, Stavropol Highland and eastern area below sea level

Manych River and Manych Depression from space
Upper left is the eastern tip of the Sea of Azov and lower right is the Caspian Sea

Through the center runs the northwest-tending [1[Kuma-Manych Depression]]. This was once a strait connecting the Black and Caspian Seas and is now marked by the [1[Manych River]] which is basically a chain of lakes. It will probably be the route of the [1[Eurasia Canal]] if that great engineering work is ever built. In the south the rivers that flow north from the Caucasus are caught by the west-flowing [1[Kuban River]] and the east-flowing [1[Terek River]]. Between these the rivers are caught by the [1[Malka River]] which is an east-flowing tributary of the Terek. In the west, since the Caucasus Mountains run parallel and close to the Black Sea coast, no significant rivers from our area reach the Black Sea. The western point is the [1[Taman Peninsula]]. North of the Taman Peninsula the Kuban River, the [1[Beysug River]] and the [1[Yeya River]]s reach the Sea of Azov, and the long [1[Manych River]] and the shorter [1[Sal River (Russia)|Sal River]] reach the lower Don. In the north much of the lower Don is under the [1[Tsimlyansk Reservoir]] and the Volga has a broad flood plain and a [1[Volga Delta|large delta]]. North of the Manych Depression the low Ergeni Highland forms the watershed between the Don and Volga. It drops off quickly to the [1[Caspian Depression]]. To the east of this the Sarpinsky Lakes are a chain of lakes in Kalmykia that would be a north-flowing river if there were more rainfall. On the east the only important rivers that reach the Caspian are the Volga, [1[Kuma River (Russia)|Kuma River]] and the Terek. In the center the [1[Yegorlyk River]] and [1[Kalaus River]] flow north to the Manych and the Kuma River flows northeast to the Caspian. In the east there are many shallow lakes. Since the land is flat and the rainfall barely sufficient for agriculture there are important irrigation canals, most leading from the Caucasus peidmont to the Manych Depression. The [1[Great Stavropol Canal]] leads northeast from the Kuban to the Kalaus and beyond and the [1[Nevinnomyssk Canal]] runs from the Kuban to the Egorlyk. The 1[1[Kuma-Manych Canal]] feeds water from the Kuma to the East Manych and Chyornozemsky Canal irrigates the interior of Kalmykia. There numerous canals around the lower Terek.

History

pending

References

There appears to be no book in English about this region. Sources can be found in the linked articles. [1[Category:Geography of Southern Russia]] [1[Category:Eurasian Steppe]]

BCS.History.20feb16

From about 700BC the dominant peoples on the western steppe were the Scythians, Sarmatians and then Alans. Turkic-speakers arrived about 600AD and gradually replaced the original Iranian languages. The Mongols took over about 1240 and their western lands became the Golden Horde which about 1500 broke up and became the Nogai Horde. In the nineteenth century the Nogai nomads were pushed southeast and the area populated by Russian agriculturists.

Horse-based [1[Pastoral nomadism]] appeared in our area some time between 4000 and 1000 BC. There is not enough data to be more specific. It is thought that the [1[Northwest Caucasian languages]] are related to the ancient 1[1[Hattite]] language and the [1[Northeast Caucasian languages]] are related to [1[Hurrian]] and [1[Urartian]]. This implies that the mountaineers of the Caucasus have been in their present location for a very long time. According to the [1[Kurgan hypothesis|most common theory]] the Indo-European languages originated on the steppes north of the Caucasus and Black Sea. Some time before 3000 BC the [1[Maikop culture]] appeared in Circassia and Kabardia. It is noted for its excellent gold and silver work. North on the steppe was the [1[Yamnaya culture]] which was probably Indo-European. Around 1000 BC there was a bronze-age [1[Koban culture]] in the Kabardian area which may have been proto-Chechen. Iron appeared in the eighth century BC.

The small western area around the Taman peninsula had a distinct history since it was in contact with the literate civilizations of the Mediterranean basin. From the eighth century Greeks founded colonies around the Black Sea and we begin to have written reports. [1[Maeotians]] was the Greek name for the peoples around the Sea of Azov. The Hellenized [1[Sindi people]] appeared with a possible capital or seaport at Anapa. Both were perhaps ancestors of the Circassians. The Greek colonies exported grain and slaves to Byzantium and beyond – a system that continued until the Russian conquest. They formed a state called the [1[Bosporian Kingdom]] which lasted in various forms until Roman times. The Byzantines spread Christianity into the mountains. Around 1000 AD the Rus’ held [1[Tmutarakan]] on the Taman peninsula. At this time we hear of [1[Kassogs]] who were probably ancestral Circassians. As Byzantium declined the ports were taken over by the Genoese who held them until they were captured by the Turks around 1480. The Turks spread Islam producing a mountain religion the was basically Islamic but with many Christian and pagan survivals. In the east Persian power held mountain Dagestan but did not reach the steppes.

stoop

Steppe: Since the Don and Volga are not significant barriers the history of most of our area is part of the general history of the [1[Pontic-Caspian steppe]]. Since our area is far from the centers of literate civilization it is hard to know the details of what happened. Variations in dates below represent early ancestors, late survivals and other irregularities.

The pre-Scythian inhabitants of the steppe may have been [1[Cimmerians]] who may have been a Thracians-Iranian mix with an Iranian elete. From around the ninth century BC the nomads of the western steppe are described as [1[Scythians]] (800BC-100BC). They spoke an Iranian language and may have been the first to develop horse nomadism. Herodotus said that Scythians drove the [1[Cimmerians]] from north of the Caucasus into Anatolia (about 700 BC), but this has been questioned. From around the second century BC the [1[Sarmatians]] (c500BC-400AD?) replaced the closely-related Scythians, either as an ethnonym or ruling group. The [1[Siraces]] (300BC-200AD) were a group of Hellenized Sarmatians who lived along the Kuban. To their east and north were the [1[Aorsi]] (100BC-100AD), also a Sarmatian group. In the first and second centuries AD the [1[Alans]] (100AD-1239) came from the east and took over from the Sarmatians. Since the Sythians, Sarmatians and Alans spoke similar languages the names may represent different dominant groups ruling similar people. From about 370 AD the [1[Huns]] (376-469) overthrew the Alans, but many Alans continued to live in the area and later re-emerged. As a result of the Hun attack many Alans moved west and joined the Huns and Goths in attacking the Roman Empire. Around 600AD the [111[Western Turkic Kaganate]] took over the lower Volga – perhaps the first appearance of Turkic languages in our area. The obscure [1[Sabir people]] (c460-700s), who may have been Turkic, lived near the Caspian. After 630 the [1[Khazars]] (c630-969), who had a Turkic-speaking ruling class, formed a state mainly on the lower Volga which lasted until it was destroyed by the Rus’ about 969. Around 635 the Turkic [1[Bulgars]] (c480-1014) were established west of the Khazars. The Alans [1[Alania|re-formed a state]] (c700-1240) in Kabardia which was Christianized by the Byzantines. The rise of Islam led to the [1[Arab-Khazar Wars]] (642-737) and in 737 Arabs briefly reached the the lower Volga. The [1[Pechenegs]] (c800-1100) moved from north of the Caspian into our area perhaps around 850. They pushed or were pushed westward and were eventually broken up in wars with the Byzantines. Behind them came the [1[Cumans]] – [1[Kipchaks]] (?-1241), two peoples that are hard to distinguish. Like the Pechenegs they continued west and fought the Rus’ and Byzantines. The appearance of the Kipchaks may mark the final establishment of Turkic languages north of the Black Sea.

After the Mongols conquered the eastern side of the Caspian [1[Subutai]] found himself in what is now Azerbaijan. In 1223 he crossed the Caucasus (via Derbent?), defeated the Cumans and nearly everyone else, defeated [1[Battle of the Kalka River|the Rus’]] near the Don and returned east. In 1236-1241 the Mongols conquered Russia and part of Eastern Europe, so they must have taken our area about this time. It was perhaps at this time that the Turkic [1[Karachay]] and Balkars and the Iranian 1[1[Ossets]] (Alans) left the steppe and sought refuge in the Caucasus mountains where they remain today. The Mongol Empire broke into four parts before 1300 and the western part became known as the [1[Golden horde]]. The conquerors quickly adopted the Kipchak Turkish language of their subjects so that the Golden Horde was also called the Kipchak Khanate. They adopted Islam at some point, perhaps [1[Nogai Khan|the 1250s]] or [1[Uzbeg Khan|just before 1313]]. [1[Nogai Khan]] and [1[Tokhtamysh]] fought major battles on the Terek River.

When the Golden Horde broke up about 1500 the steppe nomads came to be called the [1[Nogai Horde]]. They were to some degree subjects of the [1[Crimean Khanate]] which was in turn a semi-independent vassal of the Ottoman Empire. In 1557 the Nogais east of Azov broke off and formed the [1[Lesser Nogai Horde]], a name that gradually went out of use. Around 1630 the [1[Kalmyks]] migrated west from Dzungaria and occupied the land around the north end of the Caspian Sea, driving the Nogais south and west. In 1771 a significant part of them returned to Dzungaria and the Nogais returned east and north.

voot

[1[Terek Cossacks|A few Russians]] were on the lower Terek by about 1520 and Cossacks were somewhere on the Don by 1550. In 1556 Russia took Astrakhan and interacted with [1[Kabardia]] for a few years before loosing interest in the area south of the Volga and Don. Russian peasant colonization of the steppe continued to expand southward toward the north of our area. Russia took and lost Azov several times before gaining it permanently in 1774. In 1783 Russia annexed Crimea and thereby took over the Crimeans’ claim to rule the Nogais. Russian settlement began mainly on the North Caucasus Lane along the Kuban and Terek Rivers between the mountains and steppe. This was used as a base for the [1[Russian conquest of the Caucasus|conquest of the mountains]]. In 1792 [1[Black Sea Cossacks]] (former Zaporozhians) were settled on the lower Kuban and the area between the Yeya and Kuban Rivers became the Black Sea Host Territory. In 1794 some 1[1[Don Cossacks]] settled on the great bend of the Kuban. The Terek Cossacks were pushed west and became the [1[Caucasus Line Cossack Host]]. In 1825 [1[Volga Cossacks]] arrived in the center. Further north Cossack and peasant settlements were mixed. in the northeast the Kalmyks retained most of their land while the Nogais were pushed southeast to land south of the Kalmyks. In what is now the [1[Nogaysky District, Republic of Dagestan|Nogai Raion]] of Dagestan.

sicks,may2016

Six Basic Measures

Measure	Unit	Change	Dimensions	Calculus
distance	Meter	*	m	*
speed	Meters per second	distance divided by time	m/s	Derivative of distance
acceleration	Meters per second per second	speed divided by time	m/s2	Derivative of speed
force	Newton	acceleration times mass	Kg*m/s2	*
work or energy	Joule	force times distance	Kg*m2/s2	*
power	Watt	work divided by time	Kg*m2/s3	Derivative of work

CowUrly.02jan16

Russians first appeared in the Caucasus region in the 9th century when some Rus’ went down the Volga to trade around the shores of the Caspian Sea. This evolved into two great raids in 913 and 943. The last raid seems to have been in 1041. See [1[Caspian expeditions of the Rus']]. Also at this time the Rus’ held [1[Tmutarakan]] on the Taman Peninsula.

From about 1520 there was an isolated group of Cossacks on the Terek River and by around 1550 Cossacks were established on the Don River. Astrakhan was conquered in 1556 giving Russia a base at the north end of the Caspian Sea. They soon made an alliance with [1[Kabardia]] and built a fort at the mouth of the [1[Sunzha River]]. After about 1580 Russia disengaged from the Caucasus region for about 200 years, holding Astrakhan and slowly pushing settlement south toward the Black Sea.

During the so-called [1[Russo-Persian War (1651–53)]] Persian subjects fought Cossacks on the Sunzha River. In 1688 [1[Stenka Razin]] raided the Caspian coast. During the [1[Russo-Persian War (1722–23)]] Peter the Great conquered the west and south shore of the Caspian, but the land was soon returned when Persia grew stronger. In 1775, after a [1[Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin|Russian explorer]] had died in captivity, Catherine sent a punitive expedition which briefly captured Derbent. During the [1[Persian Expedition of 1796]] Russia again conquered the west coast of the Caspian, but the expedition was withdrawn when Catherine died.

Underlying all of this was the slow and steady expansion of Russian population southward from its original heartland in Muscovy. By around 1800 Russia was in a position to push soldiers and colonists into the Caucasus region.

KonkCowStep.30dec15

In the nineteenth century the steppe nomads north of the Caucasus were gradually replaced by Russian colonists. At the same time and a little before the North Caucasus Line was formed along the north side of the mountains. This was used as a base to attack the mountaineers and was a center from which Russian population expanded.

• ===steppe===

Note: There does not appear to be a good history of this region in English. When the Golden Horde broke up about 1500 the steppe nomads came to be called the [1[Nogai Horde]]. They were to some degree subjects of the [1[Crimean Khanate]] which was in turn a semi-independent vassal of the Ottoman Empire. In 1557 the Nogais east of Azov broke off and formed the [1[Lesser Nogai Horde]], a name that gradually went out of use. Around 1630 the [1[Kalmyks]] migrated west from Dzungaria and occupied the land around the north end of the Caspian Sea, driving the Nogais south and west. In 1771 a significant part of them returned to Dzungaria and the Nogais expanded east and north. In 1777 [1[Alexander Suvorov]] was appointed to the western or Kuban half of the Line, Jakobi taking the east half. In 1783 Russia annexed Crimea and thereby took over the Crimeans’ claim to rule the Nogais.

According to Baddeley, one of the Potemkins formed a plan to move the Nogais east of the Volga. Suvarov called a great meeting at [1[Yeysk]] on the Sea of Azov and announced that sovereignty over the Nogais had been transferred from the Crimean Khan to the Russian Czar. The Nogais seemed to accept this, but they soon learned of the resettlement plan and fighting broke out. When they attacked the Russian detachment they were slaughtered. Later other groups of Nogais were defeated.

After this English sources become sparse. Tsutsiev’s atlas for 1829-1839 shows a group of Nogai south of the great bend of the Kuban which soon disappeared, another group north of Pyatigorsk and another group (“Karanogai”) south of the [1[Kuma River (Russia)|Kuma River]]. By 1886-1890 there were two small groups on the upper Kuban north of Cherkesk (one of these became the [1[Nogaysky District, Karachay-Cherkess Republic]] in 2007), three small areas northwest of Pyatigorsk and the large area south of the Kuma. Today the Nogais have the [1[Nogaysky District, Republic of Dagestan]] south of the Kuma River in the far southeast. According to the 2010 census there were 103,660 Nogais in rhe Russian Federation, 29,556 in the Dagestan raion and 11,851 in the Karachay raion.

• ===North Caucasus Line===

pending

KabHist.22dec15

Circassians

Kabardians

Abkhaz

Chechens

Nogai Steppe Nomads

Georgians

class=notpageimage|

The Kabardians and their neighbors

Kabardia (Kabardian: Къэбэрдей) was a historical region in the North Caucasus corresponding partly to the modern [1[Kabardino-Balkaria]]. It had better political organization than its neighbors and a somewhat ‘feudal’ social structure. It existed as a political community from the fifteenth century or earlier until it came under Russian control in the early nineteenth century.

11111=4=Geography and Peoples4== The [1[Kabardians]] were the eastern branch of the [1[Circassians]], to use this word in its broadest sense. They occupied the central third of the [1[North Caucasus]] piedmont. To the north were the [1[Nogais|Nogai]] steppe nomads. To the south, and deeper in the mountains, were, from west to east, the [1[Karachay]]s, [1[Balkars]], [1[Ossets]], [1[Ingush people|Ingush]] and [1[Chechens]]. They interacted with these peoples because the mountaineers usually drove their livestock to the lowlands for winter pasture. The first three of these seem to have been originally steppe-dwellers who sought refuge in the mountains during the Mongol wars, while the Ingush and Chechens have inhabited the Caucasus for as long as anyone knows. To the west were the [1[Abazin]]s, the [1[Besleney]], a branch of the Kabardians, and the [1[Circassians]] proper. In the east the Kabardians were sometimes in contact with the [1[Kumyks]]. The country's boundaries fluctuated, as did its political unity and degree of control over outlying areas. The core of Kabardia was Great Kabardia which extended from somewhat east of the north-flowing part of the [1[Kuban River]] to somewhat east of the north-flowing part of the [1[Terek River]]. To the east was Lesser Kabardia between the Kuban and [1[Sunzha River]]s in what is now Chechen country. According to the Russian historian V. I. Potto, in the eighteenth century the Kabardians were greatly admired and copied by their neighbors, such that the phrase “he dresses, or rides, like a Kabardian” was an expression of high praise. [1[Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov|Yermolov]] said that the Kabardians were the best fighters in the Caucasus but in his day they were much weakened by plague.

111=1=History=1= The Kabardians and their western relatives, the Circassians, have inhabited the north flank of the Caucasus as far back as anyone knows. Kabardia is said to have been founded by the semi-legendary [1[Prince Inal]]. Without a native tradition of written history, most of what we know of their history comes from their contacts with the Russians. This contact dates from 1475 then the Turks captured the Genoese ports on the Black sea and the part-Circassian Zakkaria Gizolfi appealed unsuccessfully to Moscow. When the Golden Horde broke up about 1500 the steppe nomads became organized as the [1[Nogai Horde]]. They and the Crimeans began or continued to raid the north Caucasus. Richmond reports raids for the years : ‘no later than 1476’, 1491, 1498, circa 1500 ‘every spring’, 1521, 1518, a 10-year break after 1519, 1539, 1547, 1554, 1567, 1578, 1606-1635 “seven times’, 1670s, 1708, 1720, 1735, 1740s, 1760-61 and 1777.

A brief alliance around 1560: Since the Crimeans were also raiding Russia (see [1[Crimean–Nogai raids into East Slavic lands]]) the two peoples were natural allies. There had been an isolated group of Cossacks on the [1[Terek Cossacks|lower Terek]] from perhaps 1520. In 1552 a Kabardian embassy reached Moscow. In 1556 Kabardians and Cossacks took the Turkish Fort Temryuk on the Taman peninsula. When Astrakhan was captured in 1556 Russia had a base 250 miles northeast of Kabardia. A few Kabardians entered Russian service. Temryuk came to power some time before 1558 and in 1561 [1[Maria Temryukovna|his daughter]] married Ivan the Terrible. In 1567 Russia founded Tersk at the junction of the Terek and Sunzha in Lesser Kabardia. In 1569, after [1[Russo-Turkish War (1568–70)|the Turks failed to take Astrakhan]], their retreating troops were killed by the Kabardians. In 1570 Temryuk was killed fighting the Crimeans. In 1588 there was another treaty of alliance. With the death of Temryuk and losses in the Livonian War Russia disengaged from the Caucasus for about 200 years. Tersk was abandoned in 1571, rebuilt in 1578 and abandoned a year later.

1600-1753: In 1645 a regiment was moved to Tersk (it has been re-established early in the century). Kabardia split into two factions, the pro-Russian Baksan and pro-Crimean Kashkatau (originally the alliances were opposite, but they switched sides some time after 1722.). One side brought in Russians from Astrakhan and in 1722 Russia established Holy Cross Fort on the [1[Kuma River (Russia)|Kuma River]] north of Kabardia. Cossacks began settling north on the Kuban about 1711. More Cossacks settled on the Terek and Kizlyar was founded in 1736. In 1739 Kabardia was declared a buffer state between the Russian and Ottoman empires. In 1744 Koltsov and 400 Cossacks arrived to support the Baksan faction. Another force was sent in 1753.

Conquest: Kabardia came under Russian control between about 1769 and 1830. They moved west from the Terek country, southwest from Astrakhan and to a lesser degree southeast from Azov. From 1769 Russia intervened in Georgia south of the mountains. This required them to hold the [1[Georgian Military Highway]] which passed through Kabardia. Georgia was annexed in 1800.

Mozdok was established in 1763 and in 1769 Russia attacked Kabardia for the first time. The 1774 [1[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]] declared Kabardia a vassal of the Crimean Khanate . In 1777 the Mozdok line was begun which was to run from Mozdok northwest to Azov. From 1779 a line of forts was run west along the [1[Malka River]] cutting off Kabardian pastures. In 1779 von Shtrandman was sent to the north Caucasus and fought 1500 Kabardians at a place called Fort Pavolosk. There was a major battle on the Malka River and later 3000 Kabardians were defeated in the Baksan country. This led to a treaty but there was more fighting in 1780. By 1783 the [1[Georgian Military Highway]] had been improved sufficiently to be used by wheeled traffic. In 1785-91 [1[Sheikh Mansur]] attempted to lead an anti-Russian holy war in the north Caucasus. In 1787 General Teleki raided the Temirgois and Besleney, apparently the first Russian attack on the Circassians proper. During the [1[Russo-Turkish War (1787–92)]] Russian forces thrice crossed Circassian territory attempting to take the Black Sea fort of Anapa. Late in this war Batal Pasha invaded the north Caucasus and was defeated. In 1791 Ustlabinsk was established in Circassia at the junction of the Kuban and Laba Rivers. By 1793 25000 Cossacks were settled along the Mozdok line.

In the early nineteenth century a plague struck the north Caucasus which lasted until the 1830s. It is estimated that Kabardia lost 90% of its population, falling from 200,000 in 1790 to 30,000 in 1830. In 1804 there was a general uprising all over the north Caucasus. The Russians won at least three battles mainly because of their artillery. One involved 13000 men on both sides and another involved 7000 Kabardians. Around 1810 Russia destroyed 200 villages. In 1822 new forts were built on the North Caucasus Line. In the 1820s Yermolov led a campaign which is said to have completely depopulated Lesser Kabardia. After about 1830 the Kabardians had been subdued by plague and war and the Russians turned their attention to the [1[Murid War]] in the east and the [1[Russo-Circassian War]] in the west.

11111=1=Sources=1= Walter Richmond, The Northwest Caucasus, 2008

[8[Category:Historical regions in Russia]] [1[Category:History of the Caucasus]] [1[Category:Kabardino-Balkaria]]

SirSok.11dec15

Society was organized by adyghe khabze, or Circassian custom. Many of these customs had equivalents throughout the mountains. It should be noted that the seemingly disorganized Circassians resisted the Russians just as effectively as the organized theocracy of [1[Imam Shamil]]. The aristocracy was called warq. Some aristocratic families held the rank of pshi or prince and the eldest member of this family was the pshi tkhamade who was the tribal chief. Below the warq was the large class to tfokotl, roughly yeomen or freemen, who had various duties to the warq. They were divided into clans of some sort. Below them were three classes approximating serfs or slaves. Of course, these Circassian social terms do not exactly match their European equivalents. Since everything was a matter custom, much depended on time, place, circumstances and personality. The three ‘democratic’ tribes, Natukhai, Shapsugs and Abadzeks, managed their affairs by assemblies called khase or larger ones called zafes. Decisions were made by general agreement and there was no formal mechanism to inforce decisions. The democratic tribes, who were perhaps the majority, lived mainly in the mountains where they were relatively protected from the Russians. They seem to have retained their aristocrats, but with diminished powers. In the remaining ‘feudal’ tribes power was theoretically in the hands of the pshi-tkhamade, although his power could be limited by khases or other influential families.

In addition to the vertical relations of class there were many horizontal relations between unrelated persons. There was a strong tradition of hospitality similar to the Greek [1[xenia (Greek)|xenia]]. Many houses would have a kunakskaya or guest room. The duty of a host extended even to abreks or outlaws. Two men might be sworn brothers or kunaks. There were brotherhoods of unrelated individuals called tleuzh who provided each other mutual support. It was common for a child to be raised by an atalyk or foster father. Criminal law was mainly concerned with reconciling the two parties. Adyghe khabze is sometimes called [1[adat]] when it is contrasted to the kind of [1[Islamic law]] advocated by people like [1[Imam Shamil]].

Sir.Tribulatiom.02dec15

Circassians

Kabardians

Abaza

Abkhaz

Chechens

class=notpageimage|

Relation of Kabardians to other Circassians

The Circassian tribes can be grouped and compared in various ways. The term ‘Circassian’ sometimes excludes the Kabardians, Abazas and Ubyks and sometimes includes them. The Abkhazians are usually excluded for some reason. Linguists divide the [1[Northwest Caucasian]] languages into Ubyk, Abkhaz-Abaza and all the others, including Kabardian. The three language groups are mutually unintelligible. The Ubyks lived on the Black Sea coast north of Abkhazia. The Abkhazians lived on the coast between the Ubyks and the Georgians, were organized as the [1[Principality of Abkhazia]] and were involved with the Georgians to some degree. Their relatives the Abazas lived north of the mountains and were involved with Circassia proper. They extended from the mountain crest northeast onto the steppe and separated the Kabardians from the Circassians proper. [1[Sadz]] were either northern Abkhazians or eastern Abazas, depending on the source. The Kabardians occupied about a third of the north Caucasus piedmont from east of Circassia proper eastward to the Chechen country. To their north were the Nogai nomads and to the south, deeper in the mountains, were from west to east, the Karachais, Balkars, Ossets, Ingush, and Chechens. They were fairly advanced, interacted with the Russians from the sixteenth century and were much reduced by plague in the early nineteenth century.

Temirgoys

Tem

Adam

Yeg

Makh

Baslaney

Tapanta

Hat

Bzhedugs

Adale

Shegak

Zhaney

Natukhai

nat

Shapsugs

L.Shapsugs

Abadzekhs

Abad

Ubykh

Mam

Abazins

Abkhaz

Nogai steppe nomads

Anapa--------------

Novorossisk---------------

Gelendzhik--------------

Tuapse--------

Sochi--------

Gagra--------

class=notpageimage|

Approximate location of Circassian tribes. From Tsutsiev's Atlas
Mouseover for abbreviations and links

As for the Circassians proper, apparently called Kiakhs, some writers speak of twelve tribes and some do not.

• The narrow Black Sea coast was occupied, from north to south by the 1[1[Natukhai]], [1[Shapsugs]], Ubyks, Sadz and Abkhazians. The main part of the Natukhais and Shapsugs lived north of the mountains. The Natukhais were enriched by trade since their coast was not backed by high mountains and opened onto the steppe.
• The north slope was inhabited, from north to south, by the Natukhai, Shapsugs, Abadzeks and Abazas. They seem to have been the most populous tribes after the Kabardians and their inland location gave then some protection from Nogai and Cossack raiding.
• In the far west were three small tribes that were absorbed into the Natukhai and disappeared. These were the Adeley ([1[:ru:Адале]]) on the Taman peninsula and the Shegaks and Chebsins ([1[:ru:Хегайки]] and [1[:ru:Чебсин]]) near Anapa.
• Along the Kuban were the Natukhai, Zdaney, Bzhedugs, Hatukai and Temirgoy.
• On the east, between the Laba and Belaya, from north to south, were the Temergoy, Yergurquay ([1[:Ru:Егерукаевцы]]), Makhosh ([1[:ru:Махошевцы]]) and [1[Baslaney]] and Abaza. The Baslaney were a branch of the Kabardians. The Tapanta ([1[:ru:Тапанта]]), a branch of the Abaza, lived between the Baslaney and Kabardians on the upper Kuban. Along the Belaya River were the Temirgoy, the ill-documented Adamei ([1[:ru:Адамийцы]]) and then the [1[Mamkhegh]]s near the modern [1[Maikop]].
• The Guaye ([1[:ru:Гуайе]]) are poorly documented. The Tchelugay lived west of the Mokhosh. The Hakuch lived on the coast south of the Natukhai. Other groups are mentioned without much documentation. There are reports of tribes migrating from one place to another, again without much documentation. Some sketch maps show a group of [1[Karachais]] on the upper Laba without any explanation.

The tribes along the Kuban and Laba rivers were exposed to Nogai and Cossack raiding while those in the interior has some protection. The three ‘democratic’ tribes were the Natukhai, Shapsugs and Abadzeks. They managed their affairs by assemblies while the other tribes were controlled by ‘princes’ or pshi. Tribes with remnants in the Caucasus are: Kabardians (the largest group), the Temirgoi and Bzedugh in Adygea and the Shapsugs near Tuapse and elsewhere. There are also Baslaney (a few villages), Abzakh (one village) and Natukhai (a few). The Temirgoi dialect is the basis of standard Adygean language.

SirWar.22nov15

Circassia is the northwest bulge of the Caucasus Mountains. Most of it is west-northwest of the snow-covered area in this image

The Russo-Circassian War was the western phase of the [1[Caucasus War]] during which Russia gained control of the free mountaineers of the Caucasus mountains. The eastern phase was the [1[Murid War]]. For background see [1[Russian conquest of the Caucasus]]. There does not appear to be a proper history of this war in any language. The best in English are Richmond and Henze (see references).

Fighting: There were no great battles or campaigns. The war consisted of hundreds of small raids and counter-raids. Both sides would drive away livestock and steal what they could. The Russians specialized in burning villages. In many cases a tribe or faction would make a nominal submission and then return to fighting when they chose. Groups of [1[Circassians]] would fight each other, individuals would desert to the other side and there was much trading with the enemy. Unlike the [1[Murid War]], there are, in English, no accounts of battles that would explain why the enormous Russian army could not overwhelm a few tens of thousands of disorganized mountaineers. This irregularity means either that a clear narrative is impossible or that the war has not yet found its historian.

Most Circassians lived south and west of [1[Kuban River

. The Russians held a siege line here from about 1792 until they began pushing inward in the 1840s.]]

Russian expansion to the Kuban: The war did not have a clear beginning. Instead fighting slowly increased as more and more Russians moved south. From about 1763 the Russians held a line from Mozdok northwest to Azov. Before 1800 the main Russian pressure was on the Kabardians near the southeast end of this diagonal. The first forts appeared along the western Kuban in 1778. The presence of Cossacks in former grazing lands slowly converted traditional raiding from a kind of ritualized sport into a serious military struggle. In 1785 [1[Sheikh Mansur]] appeared in Chechnya preaching holy war against the invaders. He moved west to Circassia where he was captured when Anapa fell in 1791. During the [1[Russo-Turkish War (1787–92)]] the Russians made three attempts to take Anapa by crossing Circassian territory. The second attempt was a disaster when the Circassians harassed the Russians going and coming. The Kuban Line took its basic form in 1792/93. [1[ Black Sea Cossack Host|Black Sea Cossacks]] (former Zaporozians) were settled north of the lower Kuban in 1792/93 and [1[Don Cossacks]] on the Kuban bend in 1794.

Kabardia: The Russian conquest of [1[Kabardia]] was almost a separate conflict from the conquest of Circassia proper. It both began and ended before the main conflict along the Kuban. Kabardia extended across the central third of the north Caucasus piedmont from east of Circassia proper to the Chechen country. [1[Mozdok, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania|Mozdok]] on the western Terek was founded in Kabardian territory and a line of forts was run down the Terek to [1[Kizlyar]]. In 1771 the Russians defeated the Kabardians on the [1[Malka River]] and subjugated some of Lesser Kabardia. In 1777/78 the line was extended from Mozdok northwest to Azov. In 1779 the Kabardians were defeated, losing 50 princes and 350 nobles and a frontier was established along the Malka and Terek. The establishment of the [1[Georgian Military Road]] (Mozdok-Vladikazkaz-Tiflis) effectively cut off Lesser Kabardia. About 1805 a major plague struck the north Caucasus and carried away a large part of the Kabardian population. (One source says the Kabardians were reduced from 350,000 ‘before the war’ to 50,000 in 1818. Another says has 200,000 in 1790 and 30,000 in 1830.) In 1805 Glazenap burned eighty villages. In 1810 about 200 villages were burned. In 1817 the frontier was pushed to the Sunzha River and in 1822 a line of forts was built from Vladikavkaz northwest through Nalchik to the Pyatigorsk area. After 1825 fighting subsided.

Freedom and the state: It might seem that the Circassians should have formed an organized state to resist the Russians, but the fact remains that the disorganized Circassians held out longer than the organized Murids. The Turks had a Wali at Anapa or Sujuk-Kale who tried to unite some of the tribes under Ottoman control. Sheik Mansur tried something similar at about the same time. Richmond says that in 1791 the Natukhai commoners peacefully took power from the aristocrats. A similar attempt among the Shapsugs led to a civil war which the commons won in 1803. Jaimoukha says that in 1770-90 there was a class war among the Abadzeks that resulted in the extermination of the princes and the banishment of most of the nobility. Henceforth the three west-central ‘democratic’ tribes, Natukhai, Shapsugs and Abedzeks, who were probably the majority of the Circassians, managed their affairs through assemblies with only informal powers. This made things difficult for the Russians since there were no chiefs who might lead their followers into submission. Sefer-Bei, the three Naibs and the English adventurers (below) all tried to organize the Circassians with limited success. About 1860 the Ubyks, Shapsugs and Abadzeks briefly formed a national assembly at Sochi.

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Temirgoys]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Baslaney]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Bzhedugs]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Natukhai]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Natukhai]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Shapsugs]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Shapsugs]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Abadzekhs]]

Abad

[1[Ubykh people

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Abazins]]

|link=|class=notpageimage]]

[1[Abkhaz]]

[1[Nogais

Anapa--------------

Sujuk-Kale---------------

Gelendzhik--------------

Tuapse--------

Sochi--------

Adler--------

Gagra--------

Pitsunda--------------

Sukhum-Kale

class=notpageimage|

Major tribes and the Black Sea ports
The Natukhais and Shapsugs along the narrow coastal plain were less numerous than their brothers north of the mountains.
The curved line from the Temirgoys to the Baslany is the [1[Laba River]], an inner tributary of the [1[Kuban River]].

[1[Kazbech Tuguzhoko

, Circassian resistance leader.]]

Black Sea Coast: Velyaminov described the Caucasus War as a great siege. The Russians had a line of forts along the Kuban River to the north and east, but the Black Sea coast was open. After they lost Crimea the Turks held fortified ports along the coast: [1[Anapa]], Sujuk-Kale ([1[Novorossisk]]) [1[Gelendzhik]], [1[Pitsunda]], [1[Sukhumi|Sukhum-Kale]] and possibly others. Anapa was the most important since the others were backed by mountains. Russia captured Anapa in 1790 and 1807 but returned it for diplomatic reasons. In the [1[Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829)]] it was taken and kept. The fate of the other ports is not clear. Turkey now had no bases on the northeast Black Sea, renounced its claim to the Circassian coast, but the diplomatic status of inland Circassia was unclear. About this time Russia began a rather ineffectual blockade of the coast, but some 120-150 boats regularly traded between Turkey and the [1[Circassian coast]]. In 1836 the Russians captured a British gun-runner ([1[Mission of the Vixen]]) and for the next few years there were several British adventurers in Circassia. Their exact relation to the British government is uncertain. The Russians strengthened the blockade by building forts along the coast which evolved into the Black Sea Defensive Line. Among these were Gelendzik (1831), Adler (1837), Novorossisk, Tuapse and Sochi (all 1838) and others. Soldiers stationed in them did not dare to venture far beyond the walls. In 1840 and 1841 several were captured by the mountaineers. During the Crimean War they were all abandoned and later re-established.

Sefer-Bei and the three Naibs: In November 1830 the Natukhais and Shapsugs sent a delegation to Turkey under Sefer-Bei Zanoko. The delegation returned with a few weapons and Sefer-Bei remained in Istanbul.

It seems obvious that the Circassians and Chechen-Dagestanis should have united or at least cooperated against the Russians, but this did not happen. Shamyl sent three naibs (deputies) to work with the Circassians, but his authoritarian Islam did not fit well with Circassian freedom and his rather egalitarian theocracy did not suit the Circassian nobility. The first Naib was Haji-Mohammad (1842-1844) who reached Circassia in May 1842. His plan was to build an Islamic state and not attack the Russians prematurely. By October he was accepted as leader by the Shapsugs and some of the Natukhais. Next February he moved south to Ubyk country but failed because he took sides in a civil conflict. By late 1843 he had the alliegance of the Natukhais, Shapsugs and the Beslanys and sent raiding parties as far as Stavropol. In the spring of 1844 he was defeated by the Russians, withdrew into the mountains and died there in May. The second naib was Suleiman Efendi (1845) who arrived among the Abadzeks in February 1845. His main goal was to rise a Circassian force and lead it back to Chechnya, but the Circassians did not want to lose their best fighters. After twice failing lead his recruits through the Russian lines he returned to Shamyl in August and ultimately joined the Russians. In the spring of 1846 Shamyl invaded Kabardia. The Kabardians failed to rise and he withdrew. The third naib, Muhammad Amin (1849-1859), arrived in spring of 1849 and was much more successful. He created a standing army, started the manufacture of gunpowder and built the first jails. By mid-1851 he was greatly weakened but by the spring of 1853 he had regained control. The Crimean War began in October 1853 and in the following spring Sefer-Bei (1854-1859) returned from Istanbul to Sukhum-Kale. Meeting no success he moved to Anapa where the Natukhais accepted him as leader. Amin went to Istanbul to sort things out. Receiving no support he returned to Circassia and the two would-be leaders began to fight, the Natukhais supporting Sefer-Bei and the Abadzeks and Bzhedugs supporting Amin. When the allies asked Sefer-Bei to turn over Anapa he replied that that it was sovereign Circassian territory, thereby breaking with his protectors. When the Crimean War ended in 1856 Russia had a free hand in Circassia and the two leaders continued to fight both the Russians and each other. They agreed that the Porte should appoint a single leader, Amin went to Istanbul, but Sefer-Bei stayed and worked against him. Amin returned, went again to Istanbul, was arrested at the request of the Russian ambassador, was sent to Syria, escaped and returned to Circassia by the end of 1857. On 20 November 1859, following the defeat of Shamyl, Amin submitted. He stayed in Shapsug country for a while and emmigrated to Istanbul. Sefir-Bei died in December of that year. His son Karabatyr took over but our sources do not say what happened to him.

The last holdout: Haji Kirantukh Berzeg

Defeat: Before 1830 Russia basically maintained a siege line along the Kuban River. There was constant raiding by both sides but no change in borders. In the late 1830s Russia gained increasing control of the coast. After 1845 Vorontsov may have eased the pressure on Circassia to concentrate on Shamyl. The Crimean War drew away resources but its end in 1856 and the defeat of Shamyl in 1859 allowed the shift of troops to the Circassian front. By 1860 the Russians had seventy thousand soldiers in the northwest Caucasus, but we do not seem to have figures for the earlier period. Cossack stanitsas appeared around Anapa from 1836. About 1838 an unsuccessful attempt was made to run a line from the Kuban to Gelendzhik. From 1841 Cossack settlements were pushed west to the [1[Laba River]] and by 1860 its valley was full of Cossack stanitsas. [1[Maikop]] was founded in 1857. By 1859 the Russians had pushed about a third of the way south from the Kuban. The last battle of the war occurred at Qbaada Meadow near Sochi on 27 May 1864 when the Russians defeated a group of Ubyks. On 2 June Evdokimov declared the war over and held a victory parade. In 1869 the place was settled by Russians and named [1[Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai|Krasnaya Polyana]].

Expulsion: The Circassian expulsion seems to have been first proposed by Miliutin in 1857. The decision was made at a meeting in Vladikazkaz in October 1860. The motion was proposed by Yevdokimov and supported by Baryatinsky and Miliutin, only Filipson objecting. The plan was approved by Alexander II in May 1862. The tribes were to be given to choice of emigrating to the Ottoman Empire or settling north to the Kuban. In practice most were simply driven to the coast. Over 100,000 [1[Crimean Tatars]] had previously left Crimea. 30,000 Nogais left in 1858-59, some wealthy Circassians in 1860 and 10,000 Kabardians in 1861. The drives seem to have started in 1861-62. In April 1862 15,000 Temirgois were driven to the coast and in May the pacified Natukhais. In May 1862 a commission was formed to organize the deportation. Each deported family was to be given 10 rubles. The number of people expelled was several hundred thousand with a large percent dying on the march, waiting on the beach, on overloaded boats or of plague after arrival on the Turkish shore. The future Kuban Oblast lost 94 percent of its population. Richmond estimates population changes in the northwest Caucasus as follows: (1835 and 1882, in thousands) Circassians: at least 571 to 36; Kabardians:15 to 15; Abazas: 70 to 10; Karachais: 24 to 17; Russians and Ukrainians: 110 to 926. The surviving Circassians were south of Krasnodar, inside the Laba bend and on the west side of the upper Kuban and [1[Shapsugsky National District|some Shapsugs]] around on the Black Sea coast.

Vikie.14nov15

The story begins, oddly, in Egypt. As a result of [1[Muhammad Ali of Egypt]]'s semi-rebellion the Turks were driven to sign the [1[Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi]] with Russia (1833). This threatened to make the Ottoman Empire a Russian protectorate. Under a secret article the Turks would close the Dardanelles to British and French warships while allowing Russian warships into the Mediterranean. This led to an anti-Russian agitation in England. In 1834 [1[David Urquhart]] went to Circassia and made [1[Russo-Circassian War|contact with the rebels]]. In 1836 he was captured in the Vixen. From 1837 to 1840 or later James Stanislaus Bell, Edmond Spencer and J. A Longworth of the Times were also in Circassia. All three published memoirs. Their relation to the British government is uncertain. All four have been accused of inplying that they have more influence on the British government than they in fact had and offering the Circassians false hope of British support that would probably not happen.

Peeps

This gives ethnic locations about 1775 before the Russians came. All of these peoples were Sunni Muslims unless otherwise noted. In the mountains there were some pre-Islamic customs. NWCLS means [1[Northwest Caucasian]] Language speakers and NECLS means [1[Northeast Caucasian]] Language speakers. It should be noted that the linguistic nationalities that we now recognize are somewhat artificial. Two hundred years ago a man’s loyalty was to his friends, kin, village and chief and not primarily to his language group. The difference between steppe, mountain and plain was far more important than difference of language. Only the southern half had organized states, usually Persian or Turkish vassals and few, if any, of these states corresponded well to language groups.

<<<Kalmyks

Nogais

Nogais

Nogais

Cossacks

Circassians

Circassians

Circassians

Oset

GMH

In

Ks

Kv

Tu

Kists

Kabardians

Kr

Bk

Avars

Di

An

Laks

Dargins

Chechens

Kumyks

Ku

Ku

Lesgians

(Derbent)

Azeri

Tats

Tats

Talysh people

Tsk

Av

Udi

Azeris

Arm

Armenians

Arm

Az

Kurds

Georgians

Georgians

Georgians

Svaneti

Abkhazians

Laz

(Kars)

Turks

class=notpageimage|

Approximate location of peoples about 1775.
Abbreviations: mouseover for name

Northern Lowlands: The Turkic-speaking [1[Nogai|Nogai nomads]] occupied almost all of the steppe north of the Caucasus. In the nineteenth century they were pushed far southeast to their present location. Formerly part of the eastern steppe was occupied by [1[Kalmyks]] – Buddhist Mongols who migrated from [1[Dzungaria]] about 1618. In 1771 many returned to their original homeland and they contracted to their present location in the far northeast, Nogais temporarily taking their place. In the southeast were the isolated [1[Terek Cossacks]]. Their settlements later grew into the North Caucasus Line. There were a few [1[Turkmens]] in the center of the steppe.

North Slope: The western two thirds was occupied by [1[Circassians]] – NWCLS divided into twelve or so tribes. They long resisted the Russians and in 1864 several hundred thousand of them were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. To their east were the 1[1[Kabardians]] – NWCLS similar to the Circassians but with a different political organization. The term Lesser Kabardia refers to the eastern area in what is now Chechen country. South of the eastern Circassian-Kabardians were three groups that seem to have been driven into the high mountains about 500 years previously. The [1[Karachays]] and [1[Balkars]] spoke similar Turkic languages. East of the Balkars were the [1[Ossets]] – Iranian speakers descended from the ancient Alans who controlled the future [1[Georgian Military Highway]] and had a growing Christian minority. East of the future highway was a north-south band of [1[Ingush people|Ingush]] – NECLS similar to the Chechens. The numerous [1[Chechens]] to the east were later to wage the long [1[Murid War]] against the Russians. For the small groups south of the Ingush-Chechens see South Slope below. To the east along the coast were the Turkic [1[Kumyks]].

Mountain Dagestan: All the peoples of mountain Dagestan were NECLS except the Tats. In the northwest were a number of small language groups ([1[Tsez people]] (Dido) and [1[Andi people]]), similar to the Avars. To their southeast were the numerous [1[Avars (Caucasus)|Avars]] with a khanate at [1[Khunzakh]] who fought in the Murid War. Southeast were the [1[Dargwa people]] and west of them the [1[Laks (Caucasus)|Laks]] who held the Kumukh Khanate. Southeast along the [1[Samur River]] were the [1[Lezgian people]] with many subgroups and then the Iranian-speaking [1[Tats (Caucasus)|Tats]] down to Baku.

Caspian Coast: From Astrakhan to the Terek River there were the Buddhist [1[Kalmyks|Kalmykh]] nomads. Along the Terek were the isolated [1[Terek Cossacks]]. From the Terek to Derbent were the Turkic-speaking [1[Kumyks]] with a state at [1[Tarki]]. On the coastal plain south of Derbent was a mixed population, mostly Azeri, and further south to Baku were the Iranian-speaking [1[Tat people (Caucasus)|Tats]]. When Baku became a boom town the Tats retained a majority only in the mountains. The [1[Mountain Jews]], who had a number of villages inland from the coast, spoke a form of Tat. The lowlands south of Baku was held by [1[Azeris]], Turkic speaking Shiites. On both sides of the current Iranian border were the Iranian-speaking [1[Talysh people|Talysh]].

South Slope: Black Sea coast: In the northwest the mountains came down to the sea and the population was Circassian. Southward the coastal plain broadened and the population was 1[1[Abkhaz people|Abkhazian]] – similar to the Circassians but under Georgian influence.

South Slope proper: On the south side of the Caucasus the mountains fall quickly to the plains and there is only a small transition zone. The inhabitants were either Georgians with mountain customs or northern mountaineers who had moved south. The [1[Svans]] were Georgian mountaineers. In the center the Iranian [1[South Ossetia|Ossets]] had moved south and were surrounded on three sides by Georgians. East of the Ossets and south of the Ingush-Chechens were three groups of Georgian mountaineers on both sides of the mountain crest: [1[Khevi]], [1[Khevsureti|Khevsurs]], and [1[Tushetians]]. The [1[Bats people|Bats]] were NECLS entangled with the Tushetians and the [1[Kists]] were Chechens south of the mountains. Near the Georgian-Azeri linguistic border there were some Avars and [1[Tsakhur people|Tsakhurs]] (Lezgians) who had crossed the mountains. Associated with the Tsakhurs were the [1[Ingiloy]] or Georgian-speaking Muslims. In the north Azeri area were a few [1[Udi people|Udins]] or southern Lezgians and Lakhij or southern Tats.

Southern Lowlands: The western two thirds were occupied by [1[Georgians]] – an ancient Christian people with a unique language. The eastern third was [1[Azeri]] – a group of Turkic-speaking Shiites under Persian influence. On the fringe of the Georgian area were Georgian speakers who had either adopted Islam or mountain customs.

Further South the land becomes higher. In the west were the [1[Laz people]] or Georgian Muslims. In Kars province there were Turks, Kurds and Armenians. The [1[Armenians]] were somewhat concentrated in modern Armenia but were mostly spread out as a minority all over Asia Minor. There were groups of Azeris west of their main area who tended to blend with the Turks. The [1[Kurds]] were semi-nomadic shepherds with small groups in various places and concentratiosn in Kars province and Nakhchivan. In the far southeast were the Iranian Talysh.

crime.22oct15

[1[File:The Armenian Front During the Crimean War, 1853-56.gif|thumbnail|500px|Caucasus front during the Crimean War]]

Sukhum Kale

Anaklia

Ingur River

RedutKale

Poti

Marani

TskhenisDzqali

FortStNicholas

Cholok River

Batum

Akaltsike

Tiflis

Vladikazkaz

Circassians

Ab

Ab

class=notpageimage|

Georgian coast:
Ab= Abkhazia; Red=Turkish, Blue=Russian

As in the [1[Russo-Turkish Wars|previous wars]] the Caucasus front was secondary to what was happening in the west. Perhaps because of better communications western events sometimes influenced the east. The main events were the second capture of Kars and a landing on the Georgian coast. Several commanders on both sides were either incompetent or unlucky and few fought aggressively.

1853: There were four main events. 1. In the north the Turks captured the border fort of Saint Nicholas in a surprise night attack (27/28 October). They then pushed about 20000 troops across the [1[Choloki River|Cholok River]] border. Being outnumbered the Russians abandoned Poti and Redut Kale and drew back to Marani. Both sides remained immobile for the next seven months. 2. In the center the Turks moved north from Ardahan to within cannon-shot of Akhaltsike and awaited reinforcements (13 November). The Russians routed them. The claimed losses were 4000 Turks and 400 Russians. 3. In the south about 30000 Turks slowly moved east to the main Russian concentration at [1[Gyumri]] or Alexandropol (November). They crossed the border and set up artillery south of town. Prince Orbeliani tried to drive them off and found himself trapped. The Turks failed to press their advantage, the remaining Russians rescued Orbeliani and the Turks retired west. Orbeliani lost about 1000 men out of 5000. The Russians now decided to advance, the Turks took up a strong position on the Kars road and attacked. They were defeated, losing 6000 men, half their artillery and all their supply train. The Russians lost 1300, including Prince Orbeliani. This was Prince Ellico Orbeliani whose wife was later kidnaped by Shamyl at [1[Tsinandali]]. 4. At sea the Turks sent a fleet east which was destroyed by Admiral Nakhimov [1[Battle of Sinop|at Sinope]].

1854: The British and French declared war on 3 January. That spring the Anglo-French fleet appeared in the Black Sea and the Russians abandoned the Black Sea Defensive Line from Anapa south. N. A. Read, who replaced Vorontsov, fearing an Anglo-French landing in conjunction with Shamyl and the Persians, recommended withdrawal north of the Caucasus. For this he was replaced by Baryatinsky. When the allies chose a land attack on Sebastopol any plan for a landing in the east was abandoned.

In the north Eristov pushed southwest, fought two battles, forced the Turks back to Batum, retired behind the Cholok River and suspended action for the rest of the year (June). In the far south Wrangel pushed west, fought a battle and occupied Bayazit. In the center the main forces stood at Kars and Gyumri. Both slowly approached along the Kars-Gyumri road and faced each other, neither side choosing to fight (June-July). On 4 August Russian scouts saw a movement which they thought was the start of a withdrawal, the Russians advanced and the Turks attacked first. [1[Battle of Kurekdere|They were defeated]], losing 8000 men to the Russian 3000. 10000 irregulars deserted to their villages. Both sides withdrew to their former positions. About this time the Persians made a semi-secret agreement to remain neutral in exchange for the cancellation of the indemnity from the previous war.

1855:Kars: In the year up to May 1855 Turkish forces in the east were reduced from 120,000 to 75,000, mostly by disease. The local Armenian population kept Muravyev well-informed about the Turks at Kars and he judged they had about five months of supplies. He therefore decided to control the surrounding area with cavalry and starve them out. He started in May and by June was south and west of the town. A relieving force fell back and there was a possibility of taking Erzerum, but Muravyev chose not to. In late September he learned of the fall of Sevastopol and a Turkish landing at Batum. This led him to reverse policy and try a direct attack. [1[Siege of Kars|It failed]], the Russians losing 8000 men and the Turks 1500 (29 September). The blockade continued and Kars surrendered on 8 November.

1855: Georgian coast: 1Omar Pasha]], the Turkish commander at Crimea had long wanted to land in Georgia, but the western powers vetoed it. When they relented in August most of the campaigning season was lost. In September 8000 Turks landed at Batum, but the main concentration was at [1[Sukhumi|Sukhum Kale]]. This required a 100-mile march south through a country with poor roads. The Russians planned to hold the line of the [1[Inguri River|Ingur River]] which separates Abkhazia from Georgia proper. Omar crossed the Ingur on 7 November and then wasted a great deal of time, the Russians doing little. By 2 December he had reached the Tskhenis-dzqali, the rainy season had started, his camps were submerged in mud and there was no bread. Learning of the fall of Kars he withdrew to the Ingur. The Russians did nothing and he evacuated to Batum in February of the following year.

KonkCasCoast.10oct15

The west coast of the Caspian was held by a number of khanates nominally subject to Persia. After two abortive attempts the coast was taken by Russia in 1805 and 1806. The southernmost khanate, Talysh, was not taken until 1826.

The east coast of the Caspian is mostly desert and need not concern us. From Astrakhan south to near Tarki the land is flat steppe or semi-desert and therefore nomad country. From near Tarki to near Baku there is a narrow coastal plain backed by the high plateau of mountain Dagestan. From Baku to the [1[Talysh Mountains]] the [1[Kur-Araz Lowland]] is dry steppe extending far inland. From about 1747 the area was controlled by a [1[Khanates of the Caucasus|number of khanates]] more or less subject to Persia.

From around 1520 there was an isolated group of Cossacks [1[Terek Cossacks|along the lower Terek River]]. In 1556 Russia conquered Astrakhan and the governor of Astrakhan gained some control over the Terek Cossacks. In 1722 Peter the Great took advantage of Persian weakness and temporarily took over the west and south sides of the Caspian ([1[Russo-Persian War (1722–23)]]). When Persia grew stronger Russia returned the south coast in 1732 and the west coast in 1735. About 1747, following the campaigns of [1[Nadir Shah]], the area became organized into a number of khanates nominally subject to Persia. In the [1[Russo-Persian War (1796)]] Russia conquered the west coast but quickly gave it up. Eastern Georgia was annexed in 1800 and in 1803-1806 Russia pushed east from Georgia and south from Astrakhan and the Terek and took over most of the khanates. Some were abolished and some were slowly absorbed. The northernmost khanate, Tarki, was absorbed between 1786 and 1867. The southernmost khanate, Talysh, was not annexed until 1826. From that date the Iranian border has not changed. In 1991 the coast was divided between Russian-controlled Dagestan and independent Azerbaijan.

Astrakhan

Derbent

Tarki

Quba

Kaitag

Sulak River

Samur River

Terek River

Terek River

class=notpageimage|

Khanates in Dagestan Coast

• [1[Terek River]]: The [1[Terek Cossacks]] were settled here from perhaps 1520. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries it was the nominal border between Russia and Persia, although neither empire had much control over the region.

• [1[Sulak River]]: Russia held the Holy Cross Fort in 1722-35.

• Tarki was closest to Russia and far from Persia. In 1594 Tarki was captured by Boyar Khvorostin in support of a Georgian king, but he was driven off. The [1[Kumyk]] [1[Shamkhalate of Tarki]] separated from Gazikumukh in 1642. In 1668 [1[Stenka Razin]] was defeated by the Shamkhal. In 1722 Peter the Great was admitted to Tarki. In 1786 it accepted nominal Russian sovereignty. In 1806 the Shamkhal supported the Russian attack on Derbent. In 1821 the Russians built Fort Burnaya on the rocks above Tarki. In 1831 the town was briefly occupied by Kazi Mulla. In 1839 Burnaya was moved downhill to Nezovoye and in 1844 or before the port of Petrovsk was built which grew into [1[Makhachkala]], the current capital of Dagestan. The Shamkhalate was abolished in 1867.

• Kaitag, Karakaitag or Qaytaq is not well documented in English. Its ruler was called the Utsmi and its chief towns Bashli and Kayakent. During Peter the Great’s invasion he sent 4 envoys to Kaitag. The Utsmi killed them and gathered 16000 men to resist. They were defeated at “Utemish a few miles inland from Kayakent” and all the prisoners were hanged in revenge for the murder of the envoys. Around 1774 the Utsmi captured [1[Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin]], who died in captivity. Catherine sent General Medem on a punitive expedition which also captured Derbent (March 1775). In 1818 Colonel Pestel tried to take Bashli and was driven back to Derbent with a loss of 500 men. Bashli was taken by [1[Valerian Madatov]], the Utsmi fled to Akusha, his subjects renounced him and they took an oath to the Czar.

• [1[Derbent]] is at a narrow point on the Caspian coast. This ancient walled city was long regarded as the northern gate of Persia. It had no natural harbor. The 1[1[Derbent Khanate]] lasted from 1747 to 1806. Its rulers were a branch of the Avars. In 1765-99 it was ruled by the larger [1[Quba Khanate]]. It was captured four times by the Russians: 1) 1722: It was controlled by Russia from 1722-35 following Peter the Great's campaign. 2) In 1775, in revenge for the death of [1[Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin]], Catherine the Great sent General Medem against the Utsmi of Karakaitag. The Utsmi was besieging Derbent. He was defeated, Derbent was occupied without much justification and then evacuated. 3) In 1796 it was captured by [1[Valerian Zubov]] after 2-month siege. The khan, Shaykh Ali was made prisoner, made a daring escape, went to Gazikumukh, defeated a Russian detachment near Alpani and raided the Russians until they withdrew in May 1797. 4) In 1806, to avenge the disaster at Baku, General Glazenap left the North Caucasus Line, crossed the [1[Aktash River|Aktash]] country to Tarki and gained the Shamkhal’s support. Shaykh Ali being unpopular with his subjects, the Shamkhal sent emissaries to stir up trouble. When the Russians crossed the border a rebellion broke out, the khan fled and Derbent was occupied without a shot (22 June 1806). From then on it was a Russian base and refuge when things were difficult in the interior.

Baku

Ganja

Quba

Shaki

Elisu

Belokan

Talysh

Karabagh

Nakhichevan

Erevan

Shirvan

Tabriz

Karadagh

Maku

Khoy

Kakheti

class=notpageimage|

Khanates on a map of Azerbaijan

• Quba: [1[Quba Khanate]], based inland, held much of the coast from Derbent to Baku. Its core was protected by rivers and forests and it exported food. Under [1[Fatali Khan]] (1758-89) it greatly expanded. It submitted to Zubov in 1796. About 1804 the Quba Khan broke an attempted siege of Baku. It submitted to Gazenap’s successor in 1806 and was annexed along with Baku.
• Baku: Baku was practically a city-state, had the only good harbor on the west coast and was the foremost commercial center in the western Caucasus. In 1723-35 it was held by Russia. The [1[Baku Khanate]] lasted from then until 1806. In 1768/72 it was ruled by Quba. In 1796 it was taken by Zubov. In summer 1805 the Caspian Flotilla besieged Baku but was driven off by the Khan of Quba. Tsitsianov was killed here while accepting a feigned surrender. (Both times there was a mass exodus from the city because of what happened in Ganja.) Russian honor was retrieved by Gazenap and Baku and Quba surrendered to his successor Bulgakov, the khan having fled (September 1806).

• The1Shirvan Khanate]] was based inland and held the land west of Baku and the coastline between Baku and Talysh. There had been [1[Shirvanshah|an important state here]] since the ninth century. It and Shaki had Sunni khans and there was a religious conflict early in the century. Submitted in 1723. Controlled by Quba in 1768-89. Submitted to Agha Mohammad in 1795. In 1796 Zubov seized the capital and the khan took shelter in a mountain stronghold. In late 1805 Tsitianov made it a Russian vassal while marching east to Baku. Persia recognized Russian rule in 1813. Yermolov abolished it in August 1820, the khan fleeing to Persia.

• The [1[Talysh Khanate]] (1747 to 1826) was on the lowland south of the Kura and Arax. In 1791 it was raided by Agha Mohammad who took booty and left. In 1809 Persia expelled the pro-Russian khan. Russia [1[Storming of Lankaran|took its capital]] in 1813. By the [1[Treaty of Gulistan]] (1813) Persia ceded everything north of Talysh. Its history from 1813 to 1826 is ill-documented. Russia kept part of its territory and the fortress of Lenkoran. The khanate existed but was hostile to Persia. It became a Russian province in 1826

Caspian Coast

pending

Black Sea Coast

pending

Mountains

See Caucasian War and center: Georgian Military Highway, east: Murid War, west:Russo-Circassian War

North of the Mountains

pending

References

• John F. Baddeley, Russian Conquest of the Caucasus, 1908
• Arthur Tsutsiev, Nora Seligman Favorov (translator), Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus,2014

Category:History of the Caucasus

RP War04

Vladikavkaz

Steppe Nomads

Free Mountaineers

Free Mountaineers

~1786 Tarki

1806 Quba

1806 Derbent

1806 Baku

Talysh Khanate

1805 Shaki Khanate

1805 Shirvan Khanate

1805 KarabakhKhanate

1804 Ganja Khanate

Khanate of Erevan

Nakhchivan Khanate

1800 Kartli

1800 Kakheti

1810 Imereti

1803 Mingrelia

1810 Guria

Ajaria

Kars

Akhaltsikhe

Akhalkalaki

Poti

Gyumri

A

B

S

Z

E

M

class=notpageimage|

Russo-Persian War 1804-1812
Blue=Georgia from Persia (square) or Turkey (circle)
Yellow=Khanate from Persia before or early in war
Black Diamond=Persian
Red=Turkish
A=Askeran, B=Shakh-Bulakh, S=Shamkir. Shusha is the yellow dot for Karabakh Khanate
Z=Aslanduz, E=Echmiadzin, M=Meghri.

1804-1806:Capture of the Khanates: During this period Russia was mainly dealing with the local khanates which were subject to Persia. Following the bloody capture of Ganja the khans could usually be bullied without too much fighting. The main Persian army intervened twice, once successfully and once unsuccessfully. Main events were: 1804: Capture of Ganja and failure to take Yerevan. 1805: push east almost to the Caspian. 1806: death of Tsitsianov, capture of the Caspian coast and start of the Russo-Turkish War.

In late 1803 [1[Pavel Tsitsianov]] demanded the submission of the [1[Ganja Khanate]] southeast of Georgia, over which Georgia had some nominal claims. He was now no longer unifying Georgia or liberating Christians but moving against territory that was clearly Muslim and Persian. On 3 January 1804 [1[Battle of Ganja (1804)|the town was taken]] with a good bit of slaughter. [1[Abbas Mirza]]’s army arrived too late and retired south. In June Tsitsianov and 3000 men marched south toward [1[Vagharshapat|Echmiadzin]] in the [1[Yerevan Khanate]]. They were driven back by Abbas Mirza and 18000 Persians (?). They then moved east and besieged Yerevan (July-September). The local khan held the citadel, the Russians held the town and the Persians held the surrounding countryside. Weakened by disease and fighting on half-rations, the Russians withdrew to Georgia, losing more men along the way.

In early 1805 the Shuragel Sultanate was taken. This was a small area at the junction of Georgia, the Yerevan Khanate and Turkey and included the militarily important town of [1[Gyumri]]. On 14 May the [1[Karabakh Khanate]] and on 21 May the [1[Shaki Khanate]] submitted. In response to the loss of Karabakh Abbas Mirza occupied the [1[Askeran Fortress]] at the mouth a valley that leads from the plain southwest to Shusha, the capital of Karabakh. The Russians responded by sending Koryagin to take the Persian fort of Shakh-Bulakh. Abbas Mirza marched north and besieged the place. On hearing of the approach of another army under Fath Ali Koryagin slipped out at night and headed for Shusha. He was caught at the Askeran gorge but not defeated. More Russian troops relieved the blockade of Koryagin and Shusha. Seeing that the main Russian force had pushed far to the southeast, Abbas Mirza made a wide swing north and besieged Ganja. On 27 July 600 Russian infantry routed his camp at Shamkir.

In September a naval attack on Baku failed. In November Tsitsianov marched east toward Baku, en route accepting the submission of the [1[Shirvan Khanate]] (27 December). On 8 February 1806 he was murdered while accepting the surrender of Baku. Russian honor was retrieved by Glazenap who marched from north of the mountains and took Derbent, Quba and Baku. (Strictly Baku surrendered to Bulgakov.) Gudovich replaced Tsitsianov as Viceroy. In December Turkey declared war on Russia.

1807-1811: Relative Quiet Troops were moved west to deal with the Turks, a truce was made and Nibolshin was left to guard the frontier. Fighting resumed in 1808 when Russia took Echmiadzrin. Abbas Mirza was defeated south of Lake Shirvan and Nakhichevan, or some part of it, was occupied. In September 1808 Gudovich attacked Yerevan. The assault failed, withdrawal became necessary and 1000 men, mostly sick and wounded, froze to death on the retreat. Escape was only possible because Nibolshin and Lissanevich defeated a ‘vast horde’ of Persians. Gudovich resigned and was replaced by [1[Alexander Tormasov]]. In 1809 Fath Ali was driven back from Gyumri and Abbas Mirza from Ganja. In 1810 Abbas Mirza tried to invade Karabakh but was defeated at [1[Meghri]] on the [1[Aras River]].

1812-1813: Decision in the south: In early 1812 Persia invaded Karabagh. They occupied Shakhbulakh which the Russians regained. They attacked a Russian battalion at ‘Sultan-Buda’ using European-style infantry and a few British officers. After a day of fighting the Russians surrendered. Russia responded to this unusual defeat by moving [1[Pyotr Kotlyarevsky]], the hero of Akhalkalaki, from the Turkish to the Persian front. In the summer of 1812, just as Napoleon was preparing to invade, Russia made peace with Turkey and its Caucasian troops turned to Persia. On 19 October Kotlyarevsky ignored the cautious Ritishchev’s orders, crossed the [1[Aras River]], and routed the Persians at the [1[Battle of Aslanduz]] . He then crossed the snow-covered [1[Mugan Plain]] and after a five-day siege [1[Storming of Lankaran|stormed]] the new-built fort of [1[Lenkaran]]. The Russians lost 1000 men, two thirds of their force. Of the 4000-man garrison, every survivor was bayonetted. Kotlyarevsky was found wounded among a heap of corpses. He was carried half-dead to Tiflis and survived for 39 more years, unfit for further service. A victory at ‘Karabezouk’ completed the discomfiture of the Persians (3 April 1813). News of Napoleon’s defeat reached Persia in the spring of 1813. Peace negotiations were already underway and an armistice was made in October. By the [1[Treaty of Gulistan]] Persia recognized Russian possession of all the Khanates it held and gave up all pretentions to Dagestan and Georgia. The border in the northern part of Talysh was left for later decision. Persia kept [1[Meghri]] in southwest Karabakh which the Russians had abandoned as unhealthy and inaccessible from the rest of Karabakh.

Thirteen years later, in the 1[1[Russo-Persian War (1826–28)]], Persia tried to regain its territory. It was defeated and lost the Khanates of Yerevan and Nakhichevan, roughly modern Armenia.

RT War04.12sep15

On the eastern front six years of war left the border unchanged. Fighting here was more serious than during the [1[Russo-Turkish War (1787–92)|previous war]], but it was still a sideshow. Russia now had crossed the Caucasus and annexed Georgia, the western half of which had been nominally Turkish. It also had taken the Persian vassal khanates along the Caspian coast and east of Georgia. The area around modern Armenia ([1[Yerevan Khanate]] and [1[Nakhichevan Khanate]]) was still Persian. Russian was also [1[Russo-Persian War (1804–13)|at war with Persia]] but the Turks and Persians did not help each other. A large part of the Russian army was tied up watching Napoleon. [1[Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)|Russian Viceroys]] were 1806: [1[Ivan Gudovich]], 1809: [1[Alexander Tormasov]], 1811:[1[Philip Osipovich Paulucci]], 1812:

Vladikavkaz

Steppe Nomads

Free Mountaineers

Free Mountaineers

Sukhum-Kale

Tarki

Quba

Derbent

Baku

Talysh Khanate

Shaki Khanate

Shirvan Khanate

Karabakh Khanate

Ganja Khanate

Khanate of Erevan

Nakhchivan Khanate

Nicholai Rtishchev.

Tiflis

Imereti

Mingrelia

Guria

Ajaria

Kars

Akhaltsikhe

Akhalkalaki

Poti

Anapa

Gymri

class=notpageimage|

Russo-Turkish War 1806-1812
Blue=Russian Georgia
Yellow=Khanate taken from Persia before the war
Black Diamond=Persian
Red=Turkish.

Fighting with Turkey began in 1807 with the easy capture of [1[Anapa]] by Admiral Pustoshkin. Gudovich led his main force toward [1[Akhaltsikhe]] but lost 900 men while trying to storm [1[Akhalkalaki]] and withdrew to Georgia. Secondary campaigns against [1[Kars]] and [1[Poti]] also failed. The Turks took the offensive, failed three times to take [1[Gyumri]] and then were completely defeated by Gudovich ([1[Battle of Arpachai]]). He was congratulated by the Shah, an interesting comment on the relations between the two Muslim empires. Gudovich was replaced by Count Tormasov who arrived about April 1809. In 1810 Poti on the coast was captured. A Turkish invasion was blocked by General Paulucci under the walls Akhalkalaki. In November 1810 a Russian attack on Akhaltsikhe failed due to an outbreak of plague. In 1811 Tormasov was recalled at his own request and replaced by Paulucci in Transcaucasia, Rtishchev taking over the Northern Line. In 1811 more troops were withdrawn to deal with the expected threat of Napoleon. Turks and Persians agreed on a joint attack toward [1[Gyumri]]. They met at ’Magasberd’ {location?} on 30Aug11. There a Kurd assassinated the Seraskar of Ezerum and this caused the forces to break up, according to Baddeley. Paulucci sent [1[Pyotr Kotlyarevsky]] against Akhalkalaki. He made a forced march over the snow-covered mountains, avoiding the main roads, attacked at night and had storming parties on the walls before the Turks knew they were there. By the morning of 10 December he held the fort with a loss of only 30 killed and wounded. For this he was promoted to Major-General at the age of 29. On 21 February 1812 5000 Turks failed to re-take Akhalkalaki. Three days later they were defeated at Parghita {location?}. Paulucci was sent to the face Napoleon and Rtishchev became commander of both sides to the mountains. Russia now decided to make peace. By the [1[Treaty of Bucharest (1812)]], signed in May just before the Napoleonic invasion, Turkey gave up Bassarabia in the west but regained nearly all it had lost in the east: Poti, Anapa and Akhalkalali. Russia retained [1[Sukhumi|Sukhum-Kale]] on the Abkhazian coast.

RT War87.10sep15

As in the [1[Russo-Turkish War (1768–74)|previous war]], fighting on the eastern front was a sideshow. Russia now had more troops in the area, but fighting was confined to the far northwest.

<1ref> This section from John F. Baddeley, The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus, 1908, Chapter III</ref>Before 1774 the Turks dominated the Crimean Khanate and the Crimeans dominated the Nogai nomads north of the Caucasus. The Turks also held some ports on the Black Sea coast and influenced the mountaineers in the interior. With the final loss of Crimea in 1783 the main Turkish base became [1[Anapa]] about 60km southeast of the Kerch Strait. With the help of French engineers they turned it into a first-class fort . The Russians weakly held a line along the [1[Kuban River]] and were fighting the mountaineers under [1[Sheikh Mansur]]. The main events in the war were the following. 1. In the autumn of 1788 Tekelli marched to Anapa, saw no hope of taking it and returned to the Kuban. 2. Next January Bibikov marched on Anapa, harassed all the way by the Cricassians. An attempted storm failed and he led a disastrous winter retreat. He lost between 1000 and 5000 of his 8000 men and they had to carry back 1000 sick and wounded, most of whom never recovered. 3. In 1790 Admiral [1[Fyodor Ushakov]] fought a Turkish flotilla [1[Battle of Kerch Strait (1790)|near the Kerch Strait]]. 4. In the autumn of 1789 Batal Pasha landed somewhere on the coast and marched inland, gathering the tribes. The Russian response was disorganized and the full weight fell on [1[Johann Hermann von Fersen|General Hermann]] who had 3600 men and six guns. It is claimed that he defeated 40000-50000 enemy with a loss of 150 men killed and wounded. Batal Pasha was captured and no prisoners were taken. The remnant of the beaten army was demolished by Baron Rosen. The site of the battle later became the Cossack stanitsa of [1[Cherkessk|Batalpashinsk]]<1ref>The sources are not very good here. Batalpashinsk is 150km from the Black Sea over 8000-foot mountains. He might have landed at Anapa and marched 400km east across flat and roadless country north of the mountains. Baddeley says that the Russians on the Laba River were unaware of his presence, which makes no sense unless he somehow crossed the mountains, which would be difficult.</ref>. 6. On 22 June 1790 [1[Ivan Gudovich]] stormed Anapa. The 15000-man garrison was annihilated and the Russians lost 4000 men, about half those engaged. They captured 83 cannon and, most importantly, Sheikh Mansur. Anapa was apparently returned by the [1[Treaty of Jassy]] since it had to be re-taken in 1807 and again in 1828.

The Giovanni Boetti Story.01sep15

Sometime after 1786 two anonymous manuscripts appeared in northern Italy which claimed the Sheikh Mansur was really an Italian monk named Giovanni Battista Boetti. Boetti was a real person. He was born in Piedmont in 1743, joined the Dominicans, went to Mosul as a missionary, quarreled with the local priests, was accused of fathering illegitimate child, went to Italy to clear his name, returned to the East without permission, returned to Italy and sought release from his vows. He is last heard of in July 1779. So far the manuscripts match reliable documents. The manuscripts go on to say that Boetti became Mansur, preached a reformed religion which was basically deism, gathered a large army, marched around eastern Turkey and northern Persia, defeated the king of Georgia and sacked Tiflis (sic). The manuscript stops in October 1786. There appears to be nothing other than the manuscripts to connect the Boteti/Mansur of the manuscripts with the documented Boetti, the documented Sheikh Mansur or the known history of the Caucasus. The only available book in English <1ref> Robert C. Melzi, The Conquering Monk: The Story of El Mansur, 2005</ref> is not scholarship, but does have translations of the two documents and a discussion of the mostly Italian sources.

sewerman.13aug15

W.g.mansewer.08aug15

Sheikh Mansur (Usharma)
Born	1760 (1760) [1[Aldi (Chechnya)
Died	April, 1794 (1794-04-29) (aged 33) [1[Shlisselburg]], [1[Russian Empire]]

Sheikh Mansur was a [1[Chechen]] religious and military leader who led resistance to Russian expansion in the Caucasus from 1785 to 1791. In this period Russia was expanding Cossack settlements along the [1[Terek River]] and had not yet moved south across the mountains to Georgia which happened in 1800. He is mainly remembered as a precursor of [1[Imam Shamil]] and the [1[Murid War]] which happened 40 years later.

Information on him is scanty and contradictory. This article follows Gammer, which seems to be the fullest English source. He was probably born about 1759/1760 in the village of Aldy just south of the modern [1[Grozny]] (Grozny was founded in 1818). His original name was Ushurum, Ushurma or Ucherman. When he began to preach he assumed the title Al-Imam al-Mansur al-Mutawakil ‘ala Allah (the victorious Imam who puts his trust in God), which the Russians converted into Sheikh Mansur. He was educated at home and in Dagestan and was given the title of Sheikh because of his outstanding scholarship. He was probably a member of the [1[Naqshbandi]] sect of Sufis, although this is not certain.

He began preaching in 1785 or before and his fame spread rapidly. The Russians saw him as a false prophet who was stirring up the natives. Colonel Pieri was sent to capture him alive. On 15-17 July, 1785 he and 4 to 5000 men (or 2000 according to the Russian wiki) marched to Aldy and burnt the town, but Mansur escaped. On their way back the Chechens attacked, killing Colonel Pieri and 300 men, wounding a large number and taking 200 prisoners and two cannon. One of the prisoners was a young adjutant named [1[Pyotr Bagration]]. Two days later Colonel Apraksin burned the village of Alkhan Yurt west of Grozny but did not dare cross the [1[Sunzha River]] toward Aldy. This attack led Mansur to preach a holy war, if he had not done so before. On 26 July he unsuccessfully attacked [1[Kizliar]], on 9 August Grigoripolis {somewhere in Lesser Kabardia which is approximately the great bend of the Terek} and on 30 August Kizliar again, this time with 12000 men according to the Russians. On 23 October he tried to attack Kizliar but was prevented by a Russian force that held the opposite bank of the Terek. In November he moved back to Lesser Kabardia and fought two inconclusive battles, the Russians being saved only by their artillery.

The second phase of his career lasted about 18 months. In December 1785 he moved from Aldi to [1[Shali, Chechen Republic|Shali]] deeper in the Chechen forests. His movement seemed to weaken, he was militarily inactive and spent much time organizing taxation, enforcing the Sharia and attempting to convert the semi-pagan Ingush and partly Christian Ossets. He appealed to the Ottomans without result. () In October 1786 he tried to make peace with the Russians but was rejected.

On 16 July 1787 he crossed the Kuban into Circassia. Two months later Russia and Turkey went to war. In cooperation with the Turks he led a force of Circassians, many of whom did not possess firearms, against the Russian Line (September-October 1787). His military results were negligible but his political importance was great because he embodied the idea that the many peoples of the Caucasus should unite under the banner of Islam to resist the Russians. In 1789 he sent an appeal to the Kazakhs to attack Astrakhan. In 1790 he was briefly back in Chechnya. He was weakened when [1[Johann Hermann von Fersen|General Herman]] defeated at Turkish-mountaineer force under Battal Pasha (10 October 1790). In July 1791 he was in [1[Anapa]] when that Turkish fort fell to the Russians. He fortified himself in a cellar and surrendered when the Russians threatened to blow it up. He was imprisoned [1[Shlisselburg]] fortress and died there in 1794.

• ===See also===

{1{portal|Chechnya}}

• [1[Murid War]]
• [1[Caucasian War]]

• ===References===
• Moshe Gammer, ‘The Lone Wolf and the Bear’, 2006, Chapter 3 (for Mansur specifically)
• John F. Baddeley, "The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus", 1908 (for general background)

ru.kaukrieg

From the Russian Wikipedia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==The Yermolov period ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Imam Shamil==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Main article: Crimean War

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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