Abstract: Caucasian War. Caucasian War Caucasian War of the 19th century reasons

The territory of the Caucasus, located between the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, covered with high mountain ranges and inhabited by numerous peoples, has attracted the attention of various conquerors since ancient times. The Romans were the first to penetrate there in the second century BC, and after the collapse of the Roman Empire the Byzantines came. It was they who spread Christianity among some peoples of the Caucasus.

By the beginning of the eighth century, Transcaucasia was captured by the Arabs, who brought Islam to its population and began to displace Christianity. The presence of two hostile religions sharply aggravated inter-tribal feuds that had previously existed for centuries and caused numerous wars and conflicts. In a fierce, bloody battle, at the behest of foreign politicians, some states arose in the Caucasus and others disappeared, cities and villages were built and destroyed, orchards and vineyards were planted and cut down, people were born and died...

In the thirteenth century, the Caucasus was subjected to a devastating invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, whose rule in its northern part was established for centuries. Another three centuries later, Transcaucasia became the scene of a fierce struggle between Turkey and Persia, which lasted for three hundred years.

Since the second half of the 16th century, Russia has also shown interest in the Caucasus. This was facilitated by the spontaneous advance of the Russians to the south into the steppes, which marked the beginning of the formation of the Don and Terek Cossacks, and the entry of some Cossacks into the Moscow border and city service. According to available data, already in the first half of the 16th century, the first Cossack villages appeared on the Don and in the upper reaches of the Sunzha; Cossacks participated in the protection and defense of the southern borders of the Moscow state.

The Livonian War at the end of the 16th century and the Troubles and other events of the 17th century diverted the attention of the Moscow government from the Caucasus. However, Russia’s conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate and the creation of a large military-administrative center in the lower reaches of the Volga in the mid-17th century contributed to the creation of a springboard for the Russian advance into the Caucasus along the coast of the Caspian Sea, where the main “silk” routes from the North to the Middle East and India passed.

During the Caspian campaign of Peter I in 1722, Russian troops captured the entire Dagestan coast, including the city of Derbent. True, Russia failed to retain these territories in subsequent decades.

At the end of the 18th century, first the rulers of Kabarda, and then the Georgian king, turned to Russia for help and with an offer to take their possessions under their protection. This was largely facilitated by the skillful actions of Russian troops on the coast of the Caspian Sea, their capture of Anapa in 1791, the annexation of Crimea and the victories of the Russian army over the Turks in the second half of the 18th century.

In general, several stages can be distinguished in the process of Russia’s conquest of the Caucasus.

1 First stage

At the first stage, from the end of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century, the process of creating bridgeheads for Russia’s attack on the Caucasus took place. The beginning of this process was laid by the formation and strengthening of the Terek Cossack army, its acceptance into military service by the Russian Empire. But already within the framework of this process, major armed conflicts took place between the Cossacks and the Chechens in the North Caucasus. Thus, on the eve of the Bulavin uprising in 1707, a large Chechen uprising occurred, associated with the then unfolding anti-government movement in Bashkiria. It is characteristic that the Terek schismatic Cossacks then joined the Chechens.

The rebels took and burned the city of Terki, and were then defeated by the Astrakhan governor Apraksin. The next time the Chechens rebelled in 1785 under the leadership of Sheikh Mansur. Extremely characteristic of these two Chechen performances is the pronounced religious overtones of the movement. The uprisings unfold under the slogan of ghazavat (holy war against infidels). A feature during the second uprising of the Chechens was also their unification with the Kumyks and Kabardians, and in Kabarda at that time the princes also spoke out against Russia. The Kumykh nobility took a hesitant position and was ready to join whoever was stronger. The beginning of the strengthening of Russia in Kabarda was laid by the foundation in 1780 of the fortifications of the Azov-Mozdok line (Konstantinovsky fortification in the area of ​​​​present-day Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk fortification).

2 Second stage

At the second stage, from the end of the 18th century to the first decade of the 19th century, Russia conquered part of the lands in Transcaucasia. This conquest was carried out in the form of campaigns on the territory of the Caucasian state formations and the Russian-Persian (1804–1813) and Russian-Turkish (1806–1812) wars. In 1801, Georgia was annexed to Russia. Then the annexation of the southern and eastern khanates began. In 1803, the rulers of Mingrelia, Imereti and Guria took the oath of allegiance to Russia. In parallel with the conquest of new lands, a struggle was waged aimed at suppressing anti-Russian protests of their peoples.

3 Third stage

At the third stage, which lasted from 1816 to 1829, an attempt was made by the Russian administration to conquer all the tribes of the Caucasus and subject them to the authority of the Russian governor. One of the governors of the Caucasus during this period, General Alexei Ermolov, stated: “The Caucasus is a huge fortress, defended by a garrison of half a million. We must storm it or take possession of the trenches.” He himself spoke out for a siege, which he combined with an offensive. This period is characterized by the emergence of a strong anti-Russian movement (muridism) among the peoples of the North Caucasus and Dagestan and the emergence of the leaders of this movement (sheikhs). In addition, events in the Caucasus unfolded within the framework of the Russian-Persian War (1826–1928) and the Russian-Turkish War (1828–1829)

4 Fourth stage

At the fourth stage, from 1830 to 1859, Russia's main efforts were concentrated in the North Caucasus to combat muridism and the imamate. This period can be conditionally considered the heyday of the military art of Russian troops in the special conditions of mountainous terrain. They ended in the victory of Russian weapons and Russian diplomacy. In 1859, the powerful imam of Chechnya and Dagestan, Shamil, stopped resistance and surrendered to the Russian commander. A significant background to the events of this period was the Eastern (Crimean) War of 1853–1855.

5 Fifth stage

At the fifth stage, from 1859 to 1864, the Russian Empire conquered the Western Caucasus. At this time, mass relocation of highlanders from the mountains to the plain and forced relocation of highlanders to Turkey were practiced. The captured lands were populated by Kuban and Black Sea Cossacks.

6 Stage six

At the sixth stage, which lasted from 1864 to 1917, the government of the Russian Empire tried by all means to normalize the situation in the Caucasus, to make this region an ordinary province of a huge state. All levers of pressure were used: political, economic, religious, military, police, legal, subjective and others. This activity has generally yielded positive results. At the same time, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878. revealed large hidden contradictions between the Russian authorities and the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus, which sometimes resulted in open military resistance.

Thus, the Caucasian problem was for more than a hundred years one of the most pressing problems of the Russian Empire. The government tried to solve it through diplomatic and economic means, but these ways often turned out to be ineffective. The problem of conquering and pacifying the Caucasus was solved more effectively with the help of military force. But this path most often brought only temporary success.

7 Stage seven

The seventh was the period of the First World War, when the south of the Caucasus once again turned into a zone of active military and diplomatic play between Russia, Turkey and Persia. As a result of this struggle, Russia emerged victorious, but it could no longer take advantage of the fruits of this victory.

8 Eighth stage

The eighth stage was associated with the events of the Civil War of 1918–1922. The collapse of the Russian Caucasian Front at the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918. turned into a tragedy not only for the Russian army, but also for the local population. In a short time, Transcaucasia was occupied by the Turks and turned into an arena of terrible genocide against the indigenous population. The civil war in the North Caucasus was also extremely brutal and protracted.

The establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus did not solve the problems of the region, especially the North Caucasus. Therefore, it is right to consider the ninth stage of the history of the Caucasus to be the period of the Great Patriotic War, when the fighting reached the foothills of the Greater Caucasus Range. For political reasons, the Soviet government in 1943 evicted a number of Caucasian peoples to other parts of the country. This only angered the Muslim mountaineers, which affected the Russian population after their return during the years of Khrushchev’s “thaw”.

The collapse of the Soviet Union gave impetus to new actions by the peoples of the Caucasus and opened the tenth page of its history. Three independent states were formed in Transcaucasia, which get along little with each other. In the North Caucasus, which remained under the jurisdiction of Russia, active protests began against Moscow. This led to the beginning of the First Chechen War, and then the Second Chechen War. In 2008, a new armed conflict arose on the territory of South Ossetia.

Experts believe that Caucasian history has deep and ramified roots, which are very difficult to identify and trace. The Caucasus has always been in the sphere of interests of big international politics and domestic politics of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Individual Caucasian state formations (republics) and their rulers have always sought to play their own personal political game. As a result, the Caucasus turned into a huge, tangled labyrinth, from which it turned out to be very difficult to find a way out.

For many years, Russia tried to solve the Caucasus problem in its own way. She tried to study this region, its people, customs. But this also turned out to be a very difficult matter. The peoples of the Caucasus have never been united. Often, villages located several kilometers from each other, but separated by a ridge, gorge or mountain river, did not communicate with each other for decades, adhering to their own laws and customs.

Researchers and historians know that without knowing and taking into account all factors and features, it is impossible to correctly understand the past, evaluate the present, and predict the future. But instead of identifying, studying and analyzing all the accompanying factors in shaping the history of the Caucasus region, first the Russian Empire, then the USSR and finally the Russian Federation, attempts were often made to chop down the roots of what seemed like weeds. These attempts in practice were very painful, bloody and not always successful.

Russian politicians also took an “axe” approach to solving the Caucasus problem in the 90s of the 20th century. Having ignored centuries of historical experience, relying only on force, they did not take into account many objective factors, as a result of which they opened one of the most painful wounds on the body of the state, quite dangerous for the life of the entire organism. And only after taking such a rash step did they begin to talk about other ways to solve the problem...

For more than fifteen years, the “Caucasian syndrome” has existed in the minds of the Russian people, viewing this once beautiful region as a theater of endless military operations, and its population as potential enemies and criminals, many of whose representatives live in all cities of Russia. Hundreds of thousands of “refugees” from the once fertile land have flooded our cities, “privatized” industrial facilities, retail outlets, markets... It’s no secret that today in Russia the overwhelming number of people from the Caucasus live much better than the Russians themselves, and high in the mountains and In remote villages, new generations of people who are hostile to Russia are growing up.

The Caucasian labyrinth has not been completed to this day. There is no way out of it in a war that only brings ruin and sets people against each other. There is no way out of interethnic hostility, which turns people into ferocious animals, acting not on the basis of reason, but obeying instincts. It is impossible to solve the Caucasian problem the way it was solved in 1943, when many peoples were forcibly evicted from their homes to foreign lands.

Some researchers believe that the main reason for the bleeding Caucasian wound lies in a virus that is deeply ingrained in the brains of some politicians, and the name of this virus is power and money. Combining these two terrible forces can always put pressure on a sore spot in the form of economic, territorial, religious, cultural or other problems of any region. As long as this virus is alive, the wound will not be able to heal; as long as this wound is open, the virus will always find a favorable habitat for itself, which means that a way out of the Caucasian labyrinth will not be found for a long time.

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

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

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

Historical sources:

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

Caucasian War 1817-1864
	Territorial and political expansion of Russia
	Victory for Russia
Territorial changes:	Conquest of the North Caucasus by the Russian Empire
Opponents
	Greater Kabarda (until 1825)
Gurian Principality (until 1829)
Principality of Svaneti (until 1859)	North Caucasian Imamate (from 1829 to 1859)
	Kazikumukh Khanate
	Mehtuli Khanate
Kyura Khanate	Kaitag utsmiystvo
Ilisu Sultanate (until 1844)	Ilisu Sultanate (in 1844)
	Abkhazian rebels
	Mehtuli Khanate
	Vainakh free societies
Commanders
Alexey Ermolov
Alexander Baryatinsky	Kyzbech Tuguzhoko
Nikolay Evdokimov	Gamzat-bek
Ivan Paskevich	Ghazi-Muhammad
Mamia V (VII) Gurieli	Baysangur Benoevsky
Davit I Gurieli	Hadji Murat
Georgy (Safarbey) Chachba	Muhammad-Amin
Dmitry (Omarbey) Chachba	Beybulat Taimiev
Mikhail (Khamudbey) Chachba	Haji Berzek Kerantukh
Levan V Dadiani	Aublaa Akhmat
David I Dadiani	Daniyal-bek (from 1844 to 1859)
Nicholas I Dadiani	Ismail Adjapua
Sulaiman Pasha
Abu Muslim Tarkovsky
Shamsuddin Tarkovsky
Ahmed Khan II
Ahmed Khan II
Daniyal-bek (until 1844)
Strengths of the parties
Large military group, number. cat. on the close stage of the war reached more than 200 thousand people.
Military losses
Total combat losses of Ross. army for 1801-1864. comp. 804 officers and 24,143 killed, 3,154 officers and 61,971 wounded: “The Russian army has not known such a number of casualties since the Patriotic War of 1812.”

Caucasian War (1817—1864) — military actions related to the annexation of the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus to the Russian Empire.

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

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

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

Name

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

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

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

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

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

Background

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

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

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

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

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

Since the beginning of the first, under Catherine II, war against Turkey, Russia maintained continuous relations with Georgia; Tsar Irakli II even helped the Russian troops, who, under the command of Count Totleben, crossed the Caucasus ridge and entered Imereti through Kartli.

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

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

Russo-Turkish War

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

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

Russo-Persian War (1796)

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

Annexation of Georgia (1800–1804)

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

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

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

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

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

In 1803, Mingrelia became part of the Russian Empire.

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

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

Russo-Persian War

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

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

In 1805 - Karabakh and Sheki, Jehan-Gir Khan of Shahagh and Budag Sultan of Shuragel. Feth Ali Shah again opened offensive operations, but at the news of Tsitsianov’s approach, he fled across the Araks.

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

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

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

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

Uprising in South Ossetia (1810–1811)

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

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

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

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

On February 16, 1812, General Nikolai Rtishchev was appointed Commander-in-Chief in Georgia and Chief Administrator for Civil Affairs. In Georgia, he faced the question of the political situation in South Ossetia as one of the most pressing. Its complexity after 1812 lay not only in the irreconcilable struggle of Ossetia with the Georgian tavads, but also in the far-reaching confrontation for the conquest of South Ossetia, which continued between the two Georgian feudal parties.

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

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

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

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

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

Events of 1814-1816

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, long-term service, advanced age and illness forced Rtishchev to ask for dismissal from his position. On April 9, 1816, General Rtishchev was dismissed from his posts. However, he ruled the region until the arrival of A.P. Ermolov, appointed in his place. In the summer of 1816, by order of Alexander I, Lieutenant General Alexei Ermolov, who had won respect in the wars with Napoleon, was appointed commander of the Separate Georgian Corps, manager of the civil sector in the Caucasus and Astrakhan province. In addition, he was appointed ambassador extraordinary to Persia.

Ermolovsky period (1816-1827)

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

After surveying the border with Persia, he went in 1817 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the court of the Persian Shah Feth-Ali. Peace was approved, and for the first time, agreement was expressed to allow the presence of the Russian charge d'affaires and the mission with him. Upon his return from Persia, he was most mercifully awarded the rank of infantry general.

Having familiarized himself with the situation on the Caucasian line, Ermolov outlined a plan of action, which he then adhered to unswervingly. Considering the fanaticism of the mountain tribes, their unbridled willfulness and hostile attitude towards the Russians, as well as the peculiarities of their psychology, the new commander-in-chief decided that it was completely impossible to establish peaceful relations under existing conditions. Ermolov drew up a consistent and systematic plan of offensive action. Ermolov did not leave a single robbery or raid of the mountaineers unpunished. He did not begin decisive actions without first equipping bases and creating offensive bridgeheads. Among the components of Ermolov’s plan were the construction of roads, the creation of clearings, the construction of fortifications, the colonization of the region by Cossacks, the formation of “layers” between tribes hostile to Russia by relocating pro-Russian tribes there.

Ermolov moved the left flank of the Caucasian line from the Terek to the Sunzha, where he strengthened the Nazran redoubt and laid out the fortification of Pregradny Stan in its middle reaches in October 1817.

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

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

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

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

Ermolov moved from individual punitive expeditions to a systematic advance deep into Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan by surrounding mountainous areas with a continuous ring of fortifications, cutting clearings in difficult forests, laying roads and destroying rebellious villages.

In Dagestan, the highlanders who threatened Tarkovsky’s Shamkhalate annexed to the empire were pacified. In 1819, the Vnezapnaya fortress was built to keep the mountaineers submissive. An attempt to attack it by the Avar Khan ended in complete failure.

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

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

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

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

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

To completely pacify Kabarda, in 1822 a series of fortifications were built at the foot of the mountains from Vladikavkaz to the upper reaches of the Kuban. Among other things, the Nalchik fortress was founded (1818 or 1822).

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

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

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

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

The Kuban coast began again to be raided by large parties of Shapsugs and Abadzekhs. The Kabardians became worried. In 1826, a series of campaigns were carried out in Chechnya, with deforestation, clearing, and pacification of villages free from Russian troops. This ended the activities of Ermolov, who was recalled by Nicholas I in 1827 and sent into retirement due to suspicion of connections with the Decembrists.

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

The beginning of gazavat (1827-1835)

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the Eastern Caucasus, after the death of Gamzat-bek, Shamil became the head of the murids. The new imam, who had administrative and military abilities, soon turned out to be an extremely dangerous enemy, uniting part of the hitherto scattered tribes and villages of the Eastern Caucasus under his despotic power. Already at the beginning of 1835, his forces increased so much that he set out to punish the Khunzakh people for killing his predecessor. Temporarily installed as the ruler of Avaria, Aslan Khan Kazikumukhsky asked to send Russian troops to defend Khunzakh, and Baron Rosen agreed to his request due to the strategic importance of the fortress; but this entailed the need to occupy many other points to ensure communications with Khunzakh through inaccessible mountains. The Temir-Khan-Shura fortress, newly built on the Tarkov plane, was chosen as the main stronghold on the route of communication between Khunzakh and the Caspian coast, and the Nizovoye fortification was built to provide a pier to which ships approached from Astrakhan. The communication between Temir-Khan-Shura and Khunzakh was covered by the Zirani fortification near the Avar Koisu River and the Burunduk-Kale tower. For direct communication between Temir-Khan-Shura and the Vnezapnaya fortress, the Miatlinskaya crossing over Sulak was built and covered with towers; the road from Temir-Khan-Shura to Kizlyar was secured by the fortification of Kazi-Yurt.

Shamil, more and more consolidating his power, chose the Koisubu district as his residence, where on the banks of the Andean Koisu he began to build a fortification, which he called Akhulgo. In 1837, General Fezi occupied Khunzakh, took the village of Ashilty and the fortification of Old Akhulgo and besieged the village of Tilitl, where Shamil had taken refuge. When Russian troops captured part of this village on July 3, Shamil entered into negotiations and promised submission. I had to accept his offer, since the Russian detachment, which had suffered heavy losses, was severely short of food and, in addition, news was received of an uprising in Cuba. The expedition of General Fezi, despite its external success, brought more benefit to Shamil than to the Russian army: the retreat of the Russians from Tilitl gave Shamil a pretext for spreading the belief in the mountains about the clear protection of Allah.

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

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

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

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

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

The highlanders, showing apparent submission, were in fact preparing another uprising, which over the next 3 years kept the Russian forces in the most tense state.

Meanwhile, Shamil arrived in Chechnya, where, from the end of February 1840, there was a general uprising under the leadership of Shoip-mullah Tsontoroevsky, Javatkhan Dargoevsky, Tashu-haji Sayasanovsky and Isa Gendergenoevsky. After a meeting with the Chechen leaders Isa Gendergenoevsky and Akhverdy-Makhma in Urus-Martan, Shamil was proclaimed imam (March 7, 1840). Dargo became the capital of the Imamat.

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

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

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

In 1841, riots broke out in Avaria, instigated by Hadji Murad. A battalion with 2 mountain guns was sent to pacify them, under the command of General. Bakunin, failed at the village of Tselmes, and Colonel Passek, who took command after the mortally wounded Bakunin, only with difficulty managed to withdraw the remnants of the detachment to Khunza. The Chechens raided the Georgian Military Road and stormed the military settlement of Aleksandrovskoye, and Shamil himself approached Nazran and attacked the detachment of Colonel Nesterov located there, but had no success and took refuge in the forests of Chechnya. On May 15, generals Golovin and Grabbe attacked and took the position of the imam near the village of Chirkey, after which the village itself was occupied and the Evgenievskoye fortification was founded near it. Nevertheless, Shamil managed to extend his power to the mountain societies of the right bank of the river. Avar Koisu and reappeared in Chechnya; the murids again captured the village of Gergebil, which blocked the entrance to Mekhtulin’s possessions; Communications between Russian forces and Avaria were temporarily interrupted.

In the spring of 1842, the expedition of General. Fezi somewhat improved the situation in Avaria and Koisubu. Shamil tried to agitate Southern Dagestan, but to no avail.

Battle of Ichkera (1842)

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

Taking advantage of their absence, on May 30, Adjutant General P. Kh. Grabe with 12 infantry battalions, a company of sappers, 350 Cossacks and 24 cannons set out from the Gerzel-aul fortress towards the capital of the Imamat, Dargo. The ten-thousand-strong royal detachment was opposed, according to A. Zisserman, “according to the most generous estimates, up to one and a half thousand” Ichkerin and Aukhov Chechens.

Led by the talented Chechen commander Shoaip-Mullah Tsentoroevsky, the Chechens were preparing for battle. Naibs Baysungur and Soltamurad organized the Benoevites to build rubble, ambushes, pits, and prepare provisions, clothing and military equipment. Shoaip instructed the Andians guarding the capital of Shamil Dargo to destroy the capital when the enemy approached and take all the people to the mountains of Dagestan. The Naib of Greater Chechnya, Javatkhan, who was seriously wounded in one of the recent battles, was replaced by his assistant Suaib-Mullah Ersenoevsky. The Aukhov Chechens were led by the young Naib Ulubiy-Mullah.

Stopped by fierce resistance from the Chechens at the villages of Belgata and Gordali, on the night of June 2, Grabbe’s detachment began to retreat. A detachment of Benoevites led by Baysungur and Soltamurad inflicted enormous damage on the enemy. The tsarist troops were defeated, losing 66 officers and 1,700 soldiers killed and wounded in the battle. The Chechens lost up to 600 people killed and wounded. 2 guns and almost all of the enemy's military and food supplies were captured.

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

Shoaip-Mullah Tsentoroevsky and Ulubiy-Mullah Aukhovsky for their services in the Battle of Ichkera were awarded two trophy banners embroidered with gold and orders in the form of a star with the inscription “There is no strength, there is no fortress, except for God alone.” Baysungur Benoevsky received a medal for bravery.

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

The failures of the Russian troops spread in the highest government spheres the conviction that offensive actions were futile and even harmful. This opinion was especially supported by the then Minister of War, Prince. Chernyshev, who visited the Caucasus in the summer of 1842 and witnessed the return of Grabbe’s detachment from the Ichkerin forests. Impressed by this catastrophe, he convinced the tsar to sign a decree prohibiting all expeditions for 1843 and ordering them to limit themselves to defense.

This forced inaction of the Russian troops emboldened the enemy, and attacks on the line became more frequent again. On August 31, 1843, Imam Shamil captured the fort at the village. Untsukul, destroying the detachment that was going to the rescue of the besieged. In the following days, several more fortifications fell, and on September 11, Gotsatl was taken, which interrupted communication with Temir Khan-Shura. From August 28 to September 21, the losses of Russian troops amounted to 55 officers, more than 1,500 lower ranks, 12 guns and significant warehouses: the fruits of many years of effort were lost, long-submissive mountain societies were cut off from Russian forces and the morale of the troops was undermined. On October 28, Shamil surrounded the Gergebil fortification, which he managed to take only on November 8, when only 50 of the defenders remained alive. Detachments of mountaineers, scattering in all directions, interrupted almost all communications with Derbent, Kizlyar and the left flank of the line; Russian troops in Temir Khan-Shura withstood the blockade, which lasted from November 8 to December 24.

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

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

Battle of Dargo (Chechnya, May 1845)

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

Without encountering serious resistance, the 30,000-strong detachment passed through mountainous Dagestan and on June 13 invaded Andia. The old people say: the tsarist officers boasted that they were taking mountain villages with blank shots. They say that the Avar guide told them that they had not yet reached the wasp’s nest. In response, the angry officers kicked him. On July 6, one of Vorontsov’s detachments moved from Gagatli to Dargo (Chechnya). At the time of leaving Andia for Dargo, the total strength of the detachment was 7940 infantry, 1218 cavalry and 342 artillerymen. The Battle of Dargin lasted from July 8 to July 20. According to official data, in the Battle of Dargin, the tsarist troops lost 4 generals, 168 officers and up to 4,000 soldiers. Although Dargo was captured and the commander-in-chief M.S. Vorontsov was awarded the order, in essence it was a major victory for the rebel highlanders. Many future famous military leaders and politicians took part in the campaign of 1845: governor in the Caucasus in 1856-1862. and Field Marshal Prince A.I. Baryatinsky; Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District and chief commander of the civilian unit in the Caucasus in 1882-1890. Prince A. M. Dondukov-Korsakov; Acting commander-in-chief in 1854 before arriving in the Caucasus, Count N.N. Muravyov, Prince V.O. Bebutov; famous Caucasian military general, chief of the General Staff in 1866-1875. Count F. L. Heyden; military governor, killed in Kutaisi in 1861, Prince A.I. Gagarin; commander of the Shirvan regiment, Prince S. I. Vasilchikov; adjutant general, diplomat in 1849, 1853-1855, Count K. K. Benckendorff (seriously wounded in the campaign of 1845); Major General E. von Schwarzenberg; Lieutenant General Baron N.I. Delvig; N.P. Beklemishev, an excellent draftsman who left many sketches after his trip to Dargo, also known for his witticisms and puns; Prince E. Wittgenstein; Prince Alexander of Hesse, Major General, and others.

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

Since 1846, actions were carried out on the left flank aimed at strengthening control over the occupied lands, erecting new fortifications and Cossack villages and preparing further movement deep into the Chechen forests by cutting down wide clearings. Victory of the book Bebutov, who wrested from the hands of Shamil the inaccessible village of Kutish, which he had just occupied (currently included in the Levashinsky district of Dagestan), resulted in a complete calming of the Kumyk plane and the foothills.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1854, the head of the Turkish Anatolian Army entered into communication with Shamil, inviting him to move to join him from Dagestan. At the end of June, Shamil and the Dagestan highlanders invaded Kakheti; The mountaineers managed to ravage the rich village of Tsinondal, capture the family of its ruler and plunder several churches, but upon learning of the approach of Russian troops, they fled. Shamil's attempt to take possession of the peaceful village of Istisu was unsuccessful. On the right flank, the space between Anapa, Novorossiysk and the mouths of the Kuban was abandoned by Russian troops; The garrisons of the Black Sea coastline were taken to Crimea at the beginning of the year, and forts and other buildings were blown up. Book Vorontsov left the Caucasus back in March 1854, transferring control to the general. Read, and at the beginning of 1855, General was appointed commander-in-chief in the Caucasus. Muravyov. The landing of the Turks in Abkhazia, despite the betrayal of its ruler, Prince. Shervashidze, had no harmful consequences for Russia. At the conclusion of the Peace of Paris, in the spring of 1856, it was decided to use the troops operating in Asian Turkey and, strengthening the Caucasian Corps with them, to begin the final conquest of the Caucasus.

Baryatinsky

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

On the Lezgin line, as a result of deforestation, predatory raids gave way to petty theft. On the Black Sea coast, the secondary occupation of Gagra marked the beginning of securing Abkhazia from incursions by Circassian tribes and from hostile propaganda. The actions of 1858 in Chechnya began with the occupation of the Argun River gorge, which was considered impregnable, where Evdokimov ordered the construction of a strong fortification, called Argunsky. Climbing up the river, he reached, at the end of July, the villages of the Shatoevsky society; in the upper reaches of the Argun he founded a new fortification - Evdokimovskoye. Shamil tried to divert attention by sabotage to Nazran, but was defeated by the detachment of General Mishchenko and barely managed to leave the battle without being ambushed (due to the large number of tsarist troops) and went to the still unoccupied part of the Argun Gorge. Convinced that his power there had been completely undermined, he retired to Vedeno, his new residence. On March 17, 1859, the bombardment of this fortified village began, and on April 1 it was taken by storm. Shamil went beyond the Andean Koisu; all of Ichkeria declared submission to Russia. After the capture of Veden, three detachments concentrically headed to the Andean Koisu valley: Dagestan (consisting mostly of Avars), Chechen (former naibs and wars of Shamil) and Lezgin. Shamil, who temporarily settled in the village of Karata, fortified Mount Kilitl, and covered the right bank of the Andean Koisu, opposite Conkhidatl, with solid stone rubble, entrusting their defense to his son Kazi-Magoma. With any energetic resistance from the latter, forcing the crossing at this point would cost enormous sacrifices; but he was forced to leave his strong position as a result of the troops of the Dagestan detachment entering his flank, who made a remarkably courageous crossing across the Andiyskoe Koisu at the Sagytlo tract. Shamil, seeing the danger threatening from everywhere, went to his last refuge on Mount Gunib, having with him only 47 people of the most devoted murids from all over Dagestan, together with the population of Gunib (women, children, old people) amounted to 337 people. On August 25, Gunib was taken by storm by 36 thousand tsarist soldiers, not counting those forces that were on the way to Gunib, and Shamil himself, after a 4-day battle, was captured during negotiations with Prince Baryatinsky. However, the Chechen naib of Shamil, Baysangur Benoevsky, refusing captivity, went to break through the encirclement with his hundred and went to Chechnya. According to legend, only 30 Chechen fighters managed to break out of encirclement with Baysangur. A year later, Baysangur and the former naibs of Shamil Uma Duev from Dzumsoy and Atabi Ataev from Chungaroy raised a new uprising in Chechnya. In June 1860, a detachment of Baysangur and Soltamurad defeated the troops of the Tsarist Major General Musa Kundukhov in a battle near the town of Pkhachu. After this battle, Benoy regained its independence from the Russian Empire for 8 months. Meanwhile, Atabi Ataev’s rebels blocked the Evdokimovskoye fortification, and Uma Duev’s detachment liberated the villages of the Argun Gorge. However, due to the small number (the number did not exceed 1,500 people) and poor armament of the rebels, the tsarist troops quickly suppressed the resistance. This is how the war in Chechnya ended.

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

The capture of Gunib and the capture of Shamil could be considered the last act of the war in the Eastern Caucasus; but the western part of the region, inhabited by highlanders, was not yet completely under Russian control. It was decided to conduct actions in the Trans-Kuban region in this way: the highlanders had to submit and move to the places indicated to them on the plain; otherwise, they were pushed further into the barren mountains, and the lands they left behind were populated by Cossack villages; finally, after pushing the mountaineers back from the mountains to the seashore, they could either move to the plain, under the supervision of the Russians, or move to Turkey, in which it was supposed to provide them with possible assistance. To quickly implement this plan, Prince. Baryatinsky decided, at the beginning of 1860, to strengthen the troops of the right wing with very large reinforcements; but the uprising that broke out in the newly calmed Chechnya and partly in Dagestan forced us to temporarily abandon this. In 1861, on the initiative of the Ubykhs, a Majlis (parliament) “Great and Free Meeting” was created near Sochi. The Ubykhs, Shapsugs, Abadzekhs, Akhchipsu, Aibga, and coastal Sadzes sought to unite the mountain tribes “into one huge rampart.” A special delegation of the Majlis, headed by Izmail Barakai-ipa Dziash, visited a number of European states. Actions against the small armed formations there dragged on until the end of 1861, when all attempts at resistance were finally suppressed. Only then was it possible to begin decisive operations on the right wing, the leadership of which was entrusted to the conqueror of Chechnya, Evdokimov. His troops were divided into 2 detachments: one, Adagumsky, operated in the land of the Shapsugs, the other - from the Laba and Belaya; a special detachment was sent to operate in the lower reaches of the river. Pshish. In autumn and winter, Cossack villages are established in the Natukhai district. The troops operating from the direction of Laba completed the construction of villages between Laba and Belaya and cut through the entire foothill space between these rivers with clearings, which forced the local communities to partly move to the plane, partly to go beyond the pass of the Main Range.

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

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

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

Memory

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

Caucasian War 1817-1864

“It is just as difficult to enslave the Chechens and other peoples of the region as it is to smooth out the Caucasus. This task is accomplished not with bayonets, but with time and enlightenment. So<….>They will make another expedition, knock down several people, defeat a crowd of unsettled enemies, build some kind of fortress and return home to wait for autumn again. This course of action could bring great personal benefits to Ermolov, but none to Russia.<….>But at the same time, there is something majestic in this continuous war, and the Temple of Janus for Russia, as for ancient Rome, will not be lost. Who, besides us, can boast that they have seen eternal war?" From a letter from M.F. Orlov to A.N. Raevsky. 10/13/1820

There were still forty-four years left before the end of the war. Isn't it something reminiscent of the current situation in the Russian Caucasus?

Formally, the beginning of this undeclared war between Russia and the mountain peoples of the northern slope of the Caucasus can be dated back to 1816, to the time of the appointment of Lieutenant General Alexei Petrovich Ermolov, the hero of the Battle of Borodino, as commander-in-chief of the Caucasian army.

In fact, Russia’s penetration into the North Caucasus region began long before and proceeded slowly but persistently. Back in the 16th century, after Ivan the Terrible captured the Astrakhan Khanate, the Tarki fortress was founded on the western bank of the Caspian Sea at the mouth of the Terek River, which became the starting point for penetration into the North Caucasus from the Caspian Sea, the birthplace of the Terek Cossacks.

In the kingdom of Grozny, Russia acquires, although more formally, a mountainous region in the Center of the Caucasus - Kabarda. The main prince of Kabarda, Temryuk Idarov, sent an official embassy in 1557 with a request to take Kabarda “under the high hand” of powerful Russia for protection from the Crimean-Turkish conquerors. On the eastern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov, near the mouth of the Kuban River, the city of Temryuk still exists, founded in 1570 by Temryuk Idarov, as a fortress to protect against Crimean raids.

From the time of Catherine, after the Russian-Turkish wars that were victorious for Russia, the annexation of Crimea and the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, the struggle for the steppe space of the North Caucasus began - for the Kuban and Terek steppes. Lieutenant General Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, appointed commander of the corps in the Kuban in 1777, led the capture of these vast spaces. It was he who introduced the practice of scorched earth in this war, when everything unruly was destroyed. The Kuban Tatars as an ethnic group disappeared forever in this struggle.

To consolidate the victory, fortresses are founded on the conquered lands, interconnected by cordon lines, separating the Caucasus from the already annexed territories. The natural border in the south of Russia is two rivers: one flowing from the mountains east to the Caspian Sea - Terek and the other flowing west to the Black Sea - Kuban. By the end of the reign of Catherine II, along the entire space from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, a distance of almost 2000 km. along the northern banks of the Kuban and Terek there is a chain of defensive structures - the “Caucasian Line”. For cordon service, 12 thousand Black Sea, former Cossacks Cossacks were resettled, who located their villages along the northern bank of the Kuban River (Kuban Cossacks).

The Caucasian line is a chain of small fortified Cossack villages surrounded by a ditch, in front of which there is a high earthen rampart, on which there is a strong fence made of thick brushwood, a watchtower, and several cannons. From fortification to fortification there is a chain of cordons - several dozen people each, and between the cordons there are small guard detachments “pickets”, ten people each.

According to contemporaries, this region was distinguished by unusual relationships - many years of armed confrontation and at the same time the mutual penetration of completely different cultures of the Cossacks and highlanders (language, clothing, weapons, women). “These Cossacks (Cossacks living on the Caucasian line) differ from the highlanders only in their unshaven heads... weapons, clothing, harness, grips - everything is mountainous.< ..... >Almost all of them speak Tatar, they are friends with the mountaineers, they are even related through their mutually abducted wives - but in the field they are implacable enemies." A.A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. Ammalate-bek. Caucasian reality. Meanwhile, the Chechens were no less afraid and suffered from the raids of the Cossacks than they were from them.

The king of the united Kartli and Kakheti, Irakli II, turned to Catherine II in 1783 with a request to accept Georgia into Russian citizenship and to protect it by Russian troops. The Treaty of Georgievsk of the same year established a Russian protectorate over Eastern Georgia - Russia's priority in Georgia's foreign policy and its protection from the expansion of Turkey and Persia.

The fortress on the site of the village of Kapkai (mountain gate), erected in 1784, receives the name Vladikavkaz - owning the Caucasus. Here, near Vladikavkaz, the construction of the Georgian Military Road begins - a mountain road through the Main Caucasus Range, connecting the North Caucasus with the new Transcaucasian possessions of Russia.

In 1801, Alexander I published a manifesto according to which Kartli and Kakheti, at the request of their other ruler - Tsar George, the heir of Erekle II, would be completely reunited with Russia. Artliysko-Kakheti kingdom no longer exists. The response from the neighboring countries of Georgia, Persia and Turkey, was unambiguous. Supported alternately by France and England, depending on events in Europe, they entered into a period of many years of wars with Russia, which ended in their defeat. Russia has new territorial acquisitions, including Dagestan and a number of khanates in northeastern Transcaucasia. By this time, the principalities of Western Georgia: Imereti, Mingrelia and Guria voluntarily became part of Russia, although maintaining their autonomy.

But the North Caucasus, especially its mountainous part, is still far from being subjugated. The oaths taken by some North Caucasian feudal lords were mainly declarative in nature. In fact, the entire mountainous zone of the North Caucasus was not subordinate to the Russian military administration. Moreover, dissatisfaction with the harsh colonial policy of tsarism of all layers of the mountain population (feudal elite, clergy, mountain peasantry) caused a number of spontaneous uprisings, sometimes of a massive nature. There is still no reliable road connecting Russia with its now vast Transcaucasian possessions. Movement along the Georgian Military Road was dangerous - the road was susceptible to attacks by mountaineers.

With the end of the Napoleonic wars, Alexander I accelerated the conquest of the North Caucasus. The first step on this path is the appointment to Lieutenant General A.P. Ermolov as commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps, managing the civilian unit in Georgia. In fact, he is the governor, the full-fledged ruler of the entire region (officially, the position of governor of the Caucasus will be introduced by Nicholas I only in 1845).

For the successful completion of a diplomatic mission to Persia, which prevented the Shah's attempts to return to Persia at least part of the lands that had gone to Russia, Ermolov was promoted to infantry general and, according to Peter the Great's "table of ranks", becomes a full general.

Ermolov began fighting already in 1817. “The Caucasus is a huge fortress, defended by a garrison of half a million. An assault will be expensive, so let’s wage a siege,” he said and moved from the tactics of punitive expeditions to a systematic advance deep into the mountains.

In 1817-1818 Ermolov advanced deep into the territory of Chechnya, pushing the left flank of the “Caucasian Line” to the line of the Sunzha River, where he founded several fortified points, including the Grozny fortress (since 1870, the city of Grozny, now the destroyed capital of Chechnya). Chechnya, where the most warlike of the mountain peoples lived, covered at that time with impenetrable forests, was a natural inaccessible fortress, and in order to overcome it, Ermolov cut down wide clearings in the forests, providing access to the Chechen villages.

Two years later, the “line” was moved to the foot of the Dagestan mountains, where fortresses were also built, connected by a fortification system to the Grozny fortress. The Kumyk plains are separated from the highlanders of Chechnya and Dagestan, driven into the mountains.

In support of the armed uprisings of the Chechens defending their land, the majority of the Dagestan rulers united in 1819 into a military Union. Persia, extremely interested in the confrontation between the mountaineers of Russia, behind which England also stood, provides financial assistance to the Union.

The Caucasian Corps was strengthened to 50 thousand people, the Black Sea Cossack Army and another 40 thousand people were given to help it. In 1819-1821, Ermolov launched a series of punitive raids into the mountainous regions of Dagestan. The mountaineers resist desperately. Independence for them is the main thing in life. No one expressed submission, not even women and children. It can be said without exaggeration that in these battles in the Caucasus every man was a warrior, every village was a fortress, every fortress was the capital of a warlike state. There is no talk about losses, the result is important - Dagestan, it would seem, has been completely conquered.

In 1821-1822 the center of the Caucasian line was advanced. The fortifications built at the foot of the Black Mountains closed the exits from the Cherek, Chegem, and Baksan gorges. Kabardians and Ossetians are pushed out of areas suitable for farming.

An experienced politician and diplomat, General Ermolov understood that it was almost impossible to put an end to the resistance of the mountaineers by force of arms alone, only by punitive expeditions. Other measures are also needed. He declared the rulers subject to Russia free from all duties and free to dispose of the land at their own discretion. For local princes and shahs who recognized the power of the tsar, rights over the former subject peasants were also restored. However, this did not lead to pacification. The main force opposing the invasion was not the feudal lords, but the mass of free peasants.

In 1823, an uprising broke out in Dagestan, raised by Ammalat-bek, which took Ermolov several months to suppress. Before the outbreak of war with Persia in 1826, the region was relatively calm. But in 1825, in Chechnya, which had already been conquered, a large uprising broke out, led by the famous equestrian and national hero of Chechnya - Bey Bulat, which engulfed the entire Greater Chechnya. In January 1826, a decisive battle took place on the Argun River, in which the forces of thousands of Chechens and Lezgins were scattered. Ermolov went through the whole of Chechnya, cutting down forests and cruelly punishing rebellious villages. The lines involuntarily come to mind:

But behold, the East raises its howl! ...

Drop your snowy head,

Humble yourself, Caucasus: Ermolov is coming! A.S. Pushkin. "Prisoner of the Caucasus"

How this war of conquest was waged in the mountains can best be judged in the words of the commander-in-chief himself: “The rebellious villages were devastated and burned, the gardens and vineyards were cut down to the roots, and after many years the traitors will not return to their primitive state. Extreme poverty will be theirs.” execution..." In Lermontov's poem "Izmail Bek" it sounds like this:

The villages are burning; they have no protection...

Like a predatory beast, into a humble abode

The winner bursts in with bayonets;

He kills old men and children,

Innocent maidens and mothers

He caresses with a bloody hand...

Meanwhile, General Ermolov is one of the most progressive major Russian military leaders of that time. An opponent of the Arakcheevsky settlements, drills and bureaucracy in the army, he did a lot to improve the organization of the Caucasian Corps, to make life easier for the soldiers in their essentially indefinite and powerless service.

The “December events” of 1825 in St. Petersburg also affected the leadership of the Caucasus. Nicholas I recalled, as it seemed to him, the unreliable “ruler over the entire Caucasus”, close to the Decembrist circles, Ermolov. He had been unreliable since the time of Paul I. For belonging to a secret officer circle opposed to the emperor, Ermolov served several months in the Peter and Paul Fortress and served exile in Kostroma.

In his place, Nicholas I appointed cavalry general I.F. Paskevich. During his command there was a war with Persia in 1826-27 and with Turkey in 1828-29. For the victory over Persia, he received the title of Count of Erivan and the epaulets of a field marshal, and three years later, having brutally suppressed the uprising in Poland in 1831, he became the Most Serene Prince of Warsaw, Count Paskevich-Erivan. A rare double title for Russia. Only A.V. Suvorov had this double title: Prince of Italy, Count Suvorov-Rymniksky.

From about the mid-twenties of the 19th century, even under Ermolov, the struggle of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya acquired a religious overtones - muridism. In the Caucasian version, muridism proclaimed that the main path to getting closer to God lies for every “truth seeker - murid” through fulfilling the covenants of the ghazavat. Execution of Sharia without ghazavat is not salvation.

The wide spread of this movement, especially in Dagestan, was based on the unity of the multilingual masses of the free mountain peasantry on religious grounds. Judging by the number of languages ​​existing in the Caucasus, it can be called a linguistic “Noah’s Ark”. Four language groups, more than forty dialects. Dagestan is especially variegated in this regard, where there were even single-aul languages. The success of muridism was also greatly facilitated by the fact that Islam penetrated Dagestan back in the 12th century and had deep roots here, while in the western part of the North Caucasus it began to take hold only in the 16th century, and two centuries later the influence of paganism was still felt here.

What the feudal rulers: princes, khans, beks failed to unite the Eastern Caucasus into a single force, the Muslim clergy succeeded in combining the religious and secular principles in one person. The Eastern Caucasus, infected with the deepest religious fanaticism, became a formidable force, which it took Russia with its two hundred thousand strong army almost three decades to overcome.

At the end of the twenties, Mullah Gazi-Muhammad was proclaimed the imam of Dagestan (imam translated from Arabic as standing in front). A fanatic, a passionate preacher of gazavat, he managed to excite the mountain masses with promises of heavenly bliss and, no less important, promises of complete independence from any authorities other than Allah and Sharia. The movement covered almost all of Dagestan. The only opponents of the movement were the Avar khans, who were not interested in the unification of Dagestan and acted in alliance with the Russians. Gazi-Muhammad, who carried out a number of raids on Cossack villages, captured and devastated the city of Kizlyar, died in battle while defending one of the villages. His ardent follower and friend, Shamil, wounded in this battle, survived.

Avar bey Gamzat was proclaimed imam. An opponent and killer of the Avar khans, he himself died two years later at the hands of the conspirators, one of whom was Hadji Murat, the second figure after Shamil in Gazavat. The dramatic events that led to the death of the Avar khans, Gamzat, and Hadji Murad himself formed the basis of L. N. Gorskaya Tolstoy’s story “Hadji Murad.”

After the death of Gamzat, Shamil, having killed the last heir of the Avar Khanate, becomes the imam of Dagestan and Chechnya. A brilliantly gifted person who studied with the best teachers of grammar, logic and rhetoric of the Arabic language in Dagestan, Shamil was considered an outstanding scientist in Dagestan. A man with an unyielding, strong will, a brave warrior, he knew how not only to inspire and arouse fanaticism in the mountaineers, but also to subjugate them to his will. His military talent and organizational skills, restraint, and ability to choose the right moment to strike created many difficulties for the Russian command during the conquest of the Eastern Caucasus. He was neither an English spy, nor much less anyone’s protege, as Soviet propaganda once portrayed him. His goal was one - to preserve the independence of the Eastern Caucasus, to create his own state (theocratic in form, but, in fact, totalitarian)

Shamil divided the areas under his control into “naibstvos”. Each naib had to come to war with a certain number of warriors, organized into hundreds and dozens. Understanding the importance of artillery, Shamil created a primitive production of cannons and ammunition for them. But still, the nature of the war for the mountaineers remains the same - partisan.

Shamil moved his residence to the village of Ashilta, away from Russian possessions in Dagestan, and from 1835-36, when the number of his followers increased significantly, he began to attack Avaria, ruining its villages, most of which swore allegiance to Russia.

In 1837, a detachment of General K.K. was sent against Shamil. Fese. After a fierce battle, the general took and completely destroyed the village of Ashilta. Shamil, surrounded at his residence in the village of Tilitle, sent envoys to express his submission. The general went to negotiations. Shamil put up three amanats (hostages), including his sister's grandson, and swore allegiance to the king. Having missed the opportunity to capture Shamil, the general extended the war with him for another 22 years.

Over the next two years, Shamil made a series of raids on villages subject to Russian rule, and in May 1839, upon learning of the approach of a large Russian detachment led by General P.Kh. Grabbe, takes refuge in the village of Akhulgo, which he turned into an impregnable fortress for that time

The battle for the village of Akhulgo, one of the most fierce battles of the Caucasian War, in which no one asked for mercy, and no one gave it. Women and children, armed with daggers and stones, fought equally with men or committed suicide, preferring death to captivity. In this battle, Shamil loses his wife, son, his sister, nephews, and over a thousand of his supporters die. Shamil's eldest son, Dzhemal-Eddin, is taken hostage. Shamil barely escapes captivity, hiding in one of the caves above the river with only seven murids. The battle also cost the Russians almost three thousand people killed and wounded.

At the All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896, in a specially built cylinder-shaped building with a circumference of 100 meters with a high half-glass dome, the battle panorama “Storm of the village of Akhulgo” was exhibited. The author is Franz Roubaud, whose name is well known to Russian lovers of fine art and history from his two later battle panoramas: “The Defense of Sevastopol” (1905) and “The Battle of Borodino” (1912).

The time after the capture of Akhulgo, the period of Shamil’s greatest military successes. An unreasonable policy towards the Chechens, an attempt to take away their weapons lead to a general uprising in Chechnya. Chechnya joined Shamil - he is the ruler of the entire Eastern Caucasus.

His base is in the village of Dargo, from where he carried out successful raids into Chechnya and Dagestan. Having destroyed a number of Russian fortifications and partly their garrisons, Shamil captured hundreds of prisoners, including even high-ranking officers, and dozens of guns. The apogee was his capture at the end of 1843 of the village of Gergebil, the main stronghold of the Russians in Northern Dagestan. Shamil's authority and influence increased so much that even Dagestan beks in the Russian service, who had high ranks, went over to him.

In 1844, Nicholas I sent Count M.S. to the Caucasus as commander of the troops and governor of the emperor with emergency powers. Vorontsov (since August 1845 he was a prince), that same Pushkin “half-my-lord, half-merchant”, one of the best administrators of Russia at that time. His chief of staff of the Caucasian Corps was Prince A.I. Baryatinsky is a childhood and youth friend of the heir to the throne, Alexander. However, at the initial stages, their high titles do not bring success.

In May 1845, the governor himself took command of the formation aimed at capturing the capital of Shamil - Dargo. Dargo is captured, but Shamil intercepts the transport with food and Vorontsov is forced to retreat. During the retreat, the detachment was completely destroyed, losing not only all its property, but also over 3.5 thousand soldiers and officers. The attempt to recapture the village of Gergebil was also unsuccessful for the Russians, the assault on which cost very heavy losses.

The turning point begins after 1847 and is associated not so much with partial military successes - the capture of Gergebil after the secondary siege - but with the decline in Shamil’s popularity, mainly in Chechnya. There are many reasons for this. This is dissatisfaction with the harsh Sharia regime in relatively rich Chechnya, blocking predatory raids on Russian possessions and Georgia and, as a consequence, a decrease in the income of the naibs, and rivalry between the naibs. The liberal policy and numerous promises to the mountaineers who expressed their submission, especially those inherent in Prince A.I., had a significant influence. Baryatinsky, who in 1856 became the commander-in-chief and viceroy of the Tsar in the Caucasus. The gold and silver they distributed had no less powerful effect than the “tubes” - guns with rifled barrels - the new Russian weapon.

Shamil's last major successful raid occurred in 1854 against Georgia during the Eastern (Crimean) War of 1853-1855. The Turkish Sultan, interested in joint actions with Shamil, awarded him the title of Generalissimo of the Circassian and Georgian troops. Shamil gathered about 15 thousand people and, breaking through the cordons, descended into the Alazani Valley, where, having destroyed several of the richest estates, he captured the Georgian princesses: Anna Chavchavadze and Varvara Orbeliani, the granddaughters of the last Georgian king.

In exchange for the princesses, Shamil demands the return of his son Dzhemal-Eddin, captured in 1839; by that time he was already a lieutenant of the Vladimir Uhlan regiment and a Russophile. It is possible that under the influence of his son, but rather because of the defeat of the Turks near Karsk and in Georgia, Shamil did not take active actions in support of Turkey.

With the end of the Eastern War, active Russian activities resumed, primarily in Chechnya. Lieutenant General N.I. Evdokimov, the son of a soldier and a former soldier himself, is the main associate of the prince. Baryatinsky on the left flank of the Caucasian line. His capture of one of the most important strategic objects, the Argun Gorge, and the governor’s generous promises to the obedient mountaineers decide the fate of Greater and Lesser Chechnya. Shamil has only wooded Ichkeria in his power in Chechnya, in the fortified aul of which Vedeno he concentrates his forces. With the fall of Vedeno, after its assault in the spring of 1859, Shamil lost the support of all of Chechnya, his main support.

The loss of Vedeno also became for Shamil the loss of the naibs closest to him, who, one after another, went over to the side of the Russians. The expression of submission by the Avar Khan and the surrender of a number of fortifications by the Avars deprived him of any support in Avaria. The last place of stay of Shamil and his family in Dagestan is the village of Gunib, where with him there are about 400 more murids loyal to him. After taking the approaches to the village and its complete blockade by troops under the command of the governor himself, Prince. Baryatinsky, on August 29, 1859, Shamil surrendered. General N.I. Evdokimov receives the title of Russian count from Alexander II and becomes an infantry general.

The life of Shamil with his entire family: wives, sons, daughters and sons-in-law in the Kaluga golden cage under the watchful supervision of the authorities is already the life of another person. After repeated requests, he was allowed in 1870 to travel with his family to Medina (Arabia), where he died in February 1871.

With the capture of Shamil, the Eastern zone of the Caucasus was completely conquered. The main direction of the war moved to the western regions, where, under the command of the already mentioned General Evdokimov, the main forces of the 200,000-strong Separate Caucasian Corps were moved.

The events that unfolded in the Western Caucasus were preceded by another epic.

The result of the wars of 1826-1829. There were agreements concluded with Iran and Turkey, according to which Transcaucasia from the Black to the Caspian Sea became Russian. With the annexation of Transcaucasia, the eastern coast of the Black Sea from Anapa to Poti is also the possession of Russia. The Adjara coast (Principality of Adjara) became part of Russia only in 1878.

The actual owners of the coast are the highlanders: Circassians, Ubykhs, Abkhazians, for whom the coast is vitally important. Through the coast they receive help from Turkey and England with food, weapons, and emissaries arrive. Without owning the coast, it is difficult to subdue the mountaineers.

In 1829, after signing a treaty with Turkey, Nicholas I, in a rescript addressed to Paskevich, wrote: “Having thus completed one glorious task (the war with Turkey), you are faced with another, in my eyes just as glorious, and in reasoning there will be much direct benefit more important is the pacification of the mountain peoples forever or the extermination of the rebellious.” It's that simple - extermination.

Based on this command, in the summer of 1830 Paskevich made an attempt to seize the coast, the so-called “Abkhaz expedition”, occupying several settlements on the Abkhaz coast: Bombara, Pitsunda and Gagra. Further advance from the Gagrin gorges was defeated by the heroic resistance of the Abkhaz and Ubykh tribes.

Since 1831, the construction of protective fortifications of the Black Sea coastline began: fortresses, forts, etc., blocking the access of the mountaineers to the coast. The fortifications were located at the mouths of rivers, in valleys or in ancient settlements that previously belonged to the Turks: Anapa, Sukhum, Poti, Redut-Kale. Advancing along the seashore and building roads against the desperate resistance of the mountaineers cost countless victims. It was decided to establish the fortifications by landing troops from the sea, and this required a considerable number of lives.

In June 1837, the fortification of the “Holy Spirit” was founded on Cape Ardiler (in Russian transcription - Adler). During the landing from the sea, ensign Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, a poet, writer, publisher, ethnographer of the Caucasus, and an active participant in the events of “December 14,” died and went missing.

By the end of 1839, there were already defensive structures in twenty places along the Russian coast: fortresses, fortifications, forts that made up the Black Sea coastline. Familiar names of the Black Sea resorts: Anapa, Sochi, Gagra, Tuapse - places of former fortresses and forts. But the mountainous regions are still unruly.

Events related to the founding and defense of strongholds on the Black Sea coastline are perhaps the most dramatic in the history of the Caucasian War. There is no land road along the entire coast yet. The supply of food, ammunition and other things was carried out only by sea, and in the autumn-winter period, during storms and storms, there was practically no supply. The garrisons from the Black Sea line battalions remained in the same places throughout the existence of the “line”, virtually without change and as if on islands. On one side there is the sea, on the other there are mountaineers on the surrounding heights. It was not the Russian army that held back the highlanders, but they, the highlanders, kept the garrisons of the fortifications under siege. Yet the biggest scourge was the damp Black Sea climate, disease and, above all, malaria. Here’s just one fact: in 1845, 18 people were killed along the entire “line,” and 2,427 died from disease.

At the beginning of 1840, a terrible famine broke out in the mountains, forcing the mountaineers to look for food in Russian fortifications. In February-March they launched raids on a number of forts and captured them, completely destroying the few garrisons. Almost 11 thousand people took part in the assault on Fort Mikhailovsky. Private Tenginsky regiment Arkhip Osipov blows up a powder magazine and dies himself, taking another 3,000 Circassians with him. On the Black Sea coast, near Gelendzhik, there is now a resort town - Arkhipovoosipovka.

With the beginning of the Eastern War, when the situation of the forts and fortifications became hopeless - supplies were completely interrupted, the Russian Black Sea fleet was flooded, the forts were between two fires - the highlanders and the Anglo-French fleet, Nicholas I decided to abolish the "line", withdraw the garrisons, blow up the forts, which and was urgently completed.

In November 1859, after the capture of Shamil, the main forces of the Circassians, led by Shamil's emissary, Mohammed-Emin, capitulated. The land of the Circassians was cut off by the Belorechensk defensive line with the Maykop fortress. The tactics in the Western Caucasus are Yermolov’s: deforestation, construction of roads and fortifications, pushing the highlanders into the mountains. By 1864, the troops of N.I. Evdokimov occupied the entire territory on the northern slope of the Caucasus Range.

No wild liberty love! A.S. Pushkin. "Prisoner of the Caucasus".

The first uprising broke out in pacified Chechnya almost a year after its conquest by Prince. Baryatinsky. Then they were repeated more than once. But these are just riots of the subjects of His Highness the Sovereign Emperor, who only demanded pacification, and were pacified.

And yet, historically, the annexation of the North Caucasus to Russia was inevitable - such was the time. But there was logic in Russia’s most brutal war for the Caucasus, in the heroic struggle of the mountaineers for their independence.

All the more senseless is the attempt to restore the Sharia state in Chechnya at the end of the twentieth century, as well as Russia’s methods of countering this. A thoughtless, endless war of ambitions - countless victims and suffering of peoples. A war that turned Chechnya, and not only Chechnya, into a testing ground for Islamic international terrorism.

Caucasian War of the 19th century

The 19th century began in the Caucasus with numerous uprisings. In 1802 the Ossetians rebelled, in 1803 - the Avars, in 1804 - the Georgians.

In 1802, the Georgian prince in Russian service P.D. was appointed commander of the troops of the Caucasian fortified line. Tsitsianov. In 1803, a successful military expedition of General Gulyakov was carried out - the Russians reached the Dagestan coast from the south. In the same year, Mingrelia passed into Russian citizenship, and in 1804, Imereti and Türkiye. Most members of the Georgian royal house by Prince P.D. Tsitsianov was deported to Russia. The remaining Tsarevich Alexander, the main contender for the Georgian throne, took refuge in Ganja, with the local khan. Ganja belonged to Azerbaijan, but this did not stop Prince Tsitsianov. Ganja was taken by storm by Russian troops, under the pretext that it had once been part of Georgia. Ganja became Elizavetpol. The march of Russian troops to Erivan-Yerevan and the capture of Ganja served as the reason for the Russian-Iranian war of 1804–1813.

In 1805, the Shuragel, Sheki, Shirvan, and Karabakh khanates came under Russian citizenship. And although Prince Tsitsianov was treacherously killed near Baku, the uprising of Khan Sheki was suppressed and the detachment of General Glazenap took Derbent and Baku - the Derbent, Kuba and Baku khanates went to Russia, which caused the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812. It was the alliance of Iran and Turkey that prevented the Russians, who had captured Nakhichevan, from taking Erivan.

The Persian troops that entered the Yerevan Khanate and Karabakh were defeated by the Russians on the Araks, Arpachai and near Akhalkalaki. In Ossetia, General Lisanevich’s detachment defeated the troops of the Cuban Khan Shikh-Ali. On the Black Sea coast, Russian troops took the Turkish fortresses of Poti and Sukhum-Kale. In 1810, Abkhazia became part of Russia. Dagestan also announced the adoption of Russian citizenship.

In 1811, Russian troops of the commander in the Caucasus, Marquis Pauluchi, took the Akhalkalaki fortress. The detachment of General I. Kotlyarevsky defeated the Persians in 1812 at Aslanduz, and a year later took Lankaran. Russia's wars with Iran and Turkey ended almost simultaneously. And although, according to the Peace of Bucharest of 1812, Poti, Anapa and Akhalkalaki were returned to Turkey, according to the Peace of Gulistan of 1813, Persia lost the Karabakh Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Kuba, Baku, Talyshin khanates, Dagestan, Abkhazia, Georgia, Imereti, Guria, Mingrelia. Most of Azerbaijan with Baku, Ganja, Lankaran became part of Russia.

The territories of Georgia and Azerbaijan, annexed to Russia, were separated from the empire by Chechnya, Mountainous Dagestan and the North-West Caucasus. The Battle of the Mountains began with the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

In 1816, the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, General A.P., was appointed commander of a separate Caucasian corps. Ermolov, who was aware of the difficulties of repelling the raids of the highlanders and mastering the Caucasus: “The Caucasus is a huge fortress, defended by a garrison of half a million. We must storm it or take possession of the trenches.” A.P. himself Ermolov spoke out in favor of a siege.

The Caucasian Corps numbered up to 50 thousand people; A.P. The 40,000-strong Black Sea Cossack army was also subordinate to Ermolov. In 1817, the left flank of the Caucasian fortified line was moved from the Terek to the Sunzha River, in the middle reaches of which the Pregradny Stan fortification was founded in October. This event marked the beginning of the Caucasian War.

A line of fortifications erected along the Sunzha River in 1817–1818 separated the flat fertile lands of Chechnya from its mountainous regions - a long siege war began. The fortified line was intended to prevent raids by the highlanders into the regions occupied by Russia; it cut off the highlanders from the plain, blocked the mountains and became a support for further advance into the depths of the mountains.

The advance into the depths of the mountains was carried out by special military expeditions, during which “rebellious villages” were burned, crops were trampled, gardens were cut down, and the mountaineers were resettled on the plain, under the supervision of Russian garrisons.

The occupation of the Beshtau-Mashuk-Pyatigorye region by Russian troops at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries caused a series of uprisings that were suppressed in 1804–1805, in 1810, 1814 and even at the beginning of 1820. Under General Ermolov, a system of forest cutting was first introduced - creating clearings the width of a rifle shot - to penetrate into the depths of the Chechen lands. To quickly repel an attack by the mountaineers, mobile reserves were created and fortifications were built in clearings. The Sunzha fortified line was continued by the Grozny fortress, built in 1818.

In 1819, part of the Chechen and Dagestan highlanders united and attacked the Sunzhenskaya line. Having defeated one of the Russian detachments, the attackers were thrown back into the mountains in a series of battles, and in 1821 the Sheki, Shirvan, and Karabakh khanates were liquidated. The Sudden fortress, built in 1819 in the Kumyk lands, blocked the Chechens’ path to Dagestan and the lower Terek. In 1821, Russian troops founded the Burnaya fortress - present-day Makhachkala.

The fertile lands of Transkuban were occupied by the Black Sea Cossacks. The raids were repulsed - in 1822, the expedition of General Vlasov, which crossed the Kuban, burned 17 villages. The general was removed from command, tried and acquitted.

Fighting also took place in Dagestan, where General Madatov’s detachment defeated the last khan, the Avar Sultan-Ahmed, in 1821. General A.P. Ermolov wrote in an order to the troops, “There are no more peoples in Dagestan opposing us.”

During this period, the Muridist sect that came from Sharvan began to operate in Southern Dagestan - the Muslim sect of the Naqshbandi tariqa, the second stage of religious improvement of a Muslim after Sharia). Murid – student, follower. The teachers of the murids and their leaders were called sheikhs, who put forward demands for the equality of all Muslims, which at the beginning of the 19th century were taken up by many simple mountaineers. The transfer of Muridism from Shirvan to Southern Dagestan is associated with the name of Kurali-Magoma. Initially, Ermolov limited himself to only ordering the Kurinsky and Ukhsky Aslan Khan to stop the activities of Kurali-Magoma. However, through the secretary of Aslan Khan Dzhemaleddin, who was elevated to sheikh by Kurali-Magoma, the tariqa penetrated into Mountainous Dagestan, in particular, into the Koysubulin society, which had long been a hotbed of the anti-feudal peasant movement. The Uzda elite significantly modified the tariqa, which became ghazavat - a teaching aimed at fighting the infidels. In 1825, a large anti-Russian uprising began in the Caucasus, led by the Chechen Bey-Bulat. The rebels took the fortification of Amir-Adji-Yurt, began the siege of Gerzel-aul, but were repulsed by the Russian garrison. Bey-Bulat attacked the Grozny fortress, was repulsed and General Ermolov suppressed the uprising, destroying several villages. In the same year, the expedition of General Velyaminov suppressed the incipient uprising in Kabarda, which never rebelled again.

In 1827, General A.P. Ermolov was replaced in the Caucasus by General I.F. Paskevich, who in the same year, during the outbreak of the Russian-Iranian War of 1826–1828, took Yerevan by storm. The Russians also won the war of 1828–1829 with the Turks. According to the Peace of Turkmanchay in 1828, Russia received the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates, and according to the Peace of Adrianople in 1829, the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus from the mouth of the Kuban to Poti. The strategic situation in the Caucasus has changed dramatically in favor of Russia. The center of the Caucasian fortified line passed at the headwaters of the Kuban and Malka rivers. In 1830, the Lezgin cordon line of Kvareli-Zagatala was built - between Dagestan and Kakheti. In 1832, the Temir-Khan-Shura fortress was built - the current Buinaksk.

In 1831, Count I.F. Paskevich was recalled to St. Petersburg to suppress the Polish uprising. In the Caucasus he was replaced by General G.V. Rosen. At the same time, a Muslim state, the Imamate, was formed in Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan.

In December 1828, in the village of Gimry, the Koisubulin Avar preacher Gazi-Magomed-Kazi-Mullah, who put forward the idea of ​​​​unifying all the peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan, was proclaimed the first imam. Under the banner of Gazavat, Kazi Mullah, however, failed to unite everyone - Shamkhal Tarkov, the Avar Khan, and other rulers did not submit to him.

In May 1830, Gazi-Magomed, with his follower Shamil, at the head of an 8,000-strong detachment, tried to take the capital of the Avar Khanate, the village of Khunzakh, but was repulsed. The Russian expedition of the imam to the village of Gimry also failed. The influence of the first imam increased.

In 1831, Gazi-Magomed with a 10,000-strong detachment went to the Tarkov Shamkhalate, in which there was an uprising against the Shamkhal. The imam defeated the tsarist troops at Atly Bonen and began the siege of the Burnaya fortress, which ensured continuity of communication with Transcaucasia along the shores of the Caspian Sea. Finding himself unable to take Burnaya, Gazi-Muhammad, however, prevented Russian troops from penetrating further than the coast. The growing uprising reached the Georgian Military Road. Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus G.V. Rosen sent a detachment of General Pankratov to Gerki to suppress the uprising. Gazi-Muhammad went to Chechnya. He captured and devastated Kizlyar, tried to take Georgia and Vladikavkaz, but was repulsed, as well as from the Sudden fortress. At the same time, the Tabasaran beks tried to take Derbent, but were unsuccessful. The imam did not live up to the hopes of the Caucasian peasantry, did practically nothing for them, and the uprising itself began to fade. In 1832, a Russian punitive expedition entered Chechnya; About 60 villages were burned. On October 17, Russian troops besieged the residence of the imam, the village of Gimry, which had several lines of defense built in tiers. Gimry was taken by storm, Gazi-Magomed was killed.

The Avar Chanka Gamzat-bek was elected as the successor of the murdered imam, who concentrated his efforts on taking the Avar Khanate of Pakhu-bike, but in 1834, during negotiations in the camp of Galuat-bek near the capital of the Avar Khanate Khunzakh, his murids killed the sons of Pakhu-bike Nutsal Khan and Umma Khan, and the next day Galuat Beg took Khunzakh and executed Pahu-bike. For this, the Khunzakh people, led by Khanzhi-Murat, organized a conspiracy and killed Galuat-bek, the village of Khunzakh was taken by a Russian detachment.

The third imam was the candidate of the Koisubulin brigade, Shamil. At the same time, in the Trans-Kuban region, Russian troops built fortifications Nikolaevskoye and Abinsk.

Shamil managed to unite the mountain peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan under his rule, destroying the rebellious beks. With great administrative abilities, Shamil was an outstanding strategist and organizer of the armed forces. He managed to field up to 20 thousand soldiers against the Russian troops. These were massive military militias. The entire male population from 16 to 50 years old was required to perform military service.

Shamil paid special attention to creating a strong cavalry. Among the cavalry, the best part militarily were the Murtazeks, who were recruited from one out of ten families. Shamil sought to create a regular army, divided into thousands (alphas), capable of mobile defense in the mountains. Knowing perfectly all the mountain paths and passages, Shamil made amazing treks in the mountains of up to 70 km per day. Thanks to its mobility, Shamil’s army easily left the battle and evaded pursuit; but it was extremely sensitive to the rounds that Russian troops usually used.

Shamil's talent as a commander was reflected in the fact that he was able to find tactics that suited the characteristics of his army. Shamil established his base in the center of the mountain system of the northeastern Caucasus. Two gorges lead here from the south - the valleys of the Avar and Andean Koisu rivers. At their confluence, Shamil built his famous fortification Akhulgo, surrounded on three sides by impregnable cliffs. The mountaineers covered the approaches to their strongholds with rubble, built fortified posts and entire tiers of defensive lines. The tactics were to delay the advance of the Russian troops, to wear them down in continuous skirmishes and unexpected raids, especially on the rearguards. As soon as the Russian troops were forced to retreat, it always took place in difficult conditions, since the incessant attacks of the highlanders eventually exhausted the strength of the retreating ones. Taking advantage of his central position in relation to the Russian troops scattered around, Shamil made formidable raids, unexpectedly appearing where he counted on the support of the population and the weakness of the garrison.

The significance of the high-mountain base for Shamil’s military operations will become even clearer if we consider that here he organized military, albeit simplified, production. Gunpowder was produced in Vedeno, Untsukul and Gunib; saltpeter and sulfur were mined in the mountains. The population of the villages that produced saltpeter were exempt from military service and received a special payment - one and a half silver rubles per family. Melee weapons were made by handicraftsmen; rifles were usually made in Turkey and Crimea. Shamil's artillery consisted of guns captured from Russian troops. Shamil tried to organize the casting of guns and the production of gun carriages and artillery boxes. Fugitive Russian soldiers and even several officers served as craftsmen and artillerymen for Shamil.

In the summer of 1834, a large Russian detachment was sent from the Temir-Khan-Shura fortress to suppress Shamil’s uprising, which on October 18 stormed the main residence of the murids - the villages of Old and New Gotsatl in Avaria - Shamil left the khanate. The Russian command in the Caucasus decided that Shamil was not capable of active action and until 1837 was limited to small punitive expeditions against “rebellious” villages. Shamil, in two years, subjugated the entire mountainous Chechnya and almost the entire Accident with the capital. The ruler of Avaria called the Russian army for help. At the beginning of 1837, a detachment of General K.K. Fezi, who left the most interesting memories, took Khunzakh, Untsukutl and part of the village of Tilitl, to which Shamil retreated. Having suffered heavy losses and lacking food, K. Fezi’s troops found themselves in a difficult situation. On July 3, a truce was concluded and the Russian troops retreated. This event, as always, was perceived as a defeat for the Russians, and to rectify the situation, a detachment of General P.H. Grabbe was sent to take possession of the residence of Shamil Akhulgo.

After an 80-day siege, as a result of a bloody assault on August 22, 1839, Russian troops took Akhulgo; the wounded Shamil with part of the murids managed to break into Chechnya. After three days of fighting on the Valerik River and in the Gekhin Forest area in July 1840, Russian troops occupied most of Chechnya. Shamil made the village of Dargo his residence, from where it was convenient to lead the uprising in both Chechnya and Dagestan, but Shamil was then unable to take serious action against the Russian troops. Taking advantage of Shamil's defeat, Russian troops intensified their offensive against the Circassians. Their goal was to surround the Adyghe tribes and cut them off from the Black Sea.

In 1830, Gagra was taken, in 1831, the Gelendzhik fortification was built on the Black Sea coast. At the beginning of 1838, a Russian landing force landed at the mouth of the Sochi River and built the Navaginsky fortification; the Taman detachment built the Vilyaminovskoe fortification at the mouth of the Tuapse River in May 1838; At the mouth of the Shapsugo River, the Russians built the Tengin fortification. On the site of the former Sudzhuk-Kale fortress at the mouth of the Tsemes River, a fortress was founded, the future Novorossiysk. In May 1838, all the fortifications from the mouth of the Kuban River to the border of Mingrelia were united into the Black Sea coastline. By 1940, the Black Sea coastline of Anapa - Sukhumi was supplemented by fortification lines along the Laba River. Subsequently, by 1850, fortifications were built along the Urup River, and by 1858 - along the Belaya River with the founding of Maykop. The Caucasian fortified lines were abolished as unnecessary in 1860.

In 1840, the Circassians took the forts of Golovinsky and Lazarev, the fortifications of Vilyaminovskoye and Mikhailovskoye. Soon Russian troops drove them out of the Black Sea coastline, but the movement of the highlanders intensified, and Shamil also became more active.

In September 1840, after fierce battles near the villages of Ishkarty and Gimry, Shamil retreated. Russian troops, exhausted by continuous fighting, retreated to winter quarters.

In the same year, Hadji Murat fled from under arrest on the denunciation of the Avar Khan Ahmed from Khunzakh to Shamil and became his naib. In 1841, Naib Shamil Kibit-Magoma practically completed the encirclement of the Avar Khanate, the strategic key to Mountainous Dagestan.

To hold the Avalanche, almost all of Russia's free troops in the Caucasus were brought in - 17 companies and 40 guns. At the beginning of 1842, Shamil took the capital of the Kazikumukh Khanate - the village of Kumukh, but was driven out of there.

A detachment of General P.H. Grabbe was sent in pursuit of Shamil - about 25 battalions - with the goal of occupying the residence of the imam, the village of Dargo. In the six-day battles in the Ichkerian forests, the detachment was badly battered by the imam’s soldiers and the Russians returned, having suffered heavy losses in killed and wounded - 2 generals, 64 officers, more than 2,000 soldiers. The retreat of P.H. Grabbe made such an impression on the Minister of War Chernyshev, who was at that moment in the Caucasus, that he obtained an order to temporarily suspend new military expeditions.

The defeat in Chechnya worsened the already tense situation in Nagorno-Dagestan. The accident itself was lost, since Russian troops, even before Shamil’s appearance here, could fear an attack from the local population every minute. Inside Avaria and Nagorno-Dagestan, the Russians held several fortified villages - Gerbegil, Untsukul, 10 km south of the village of Gimry, Gotsatl, Kumukh, and others. The southern border of Dagestan on the Samur River was covered by the Tiflis and Akhta fortifications. It was based on these fortifications that the field armies operated, usually acting in the form of separate detachments. About 17 Russian battalions were scattered over a vast area. The confused Caucasian command did nothing to concentrate these forces scattered across small fortifications, which Shamil took advantage of with great skill. When he launched an attack on Avaria in mid-1843, most of the small Russian detachments were killed. The highlanders took 6 fortifications, captured 12 guns, 4,000 gun charges, 250 thousand cartridges. Only a Samur detachment hastily transferred to Avaria helped hold Khunzakh. Shamil occupied Gerbegil and blocked the Russian detachment of General Pasek in Khunzakh. Communication with Transcaucasia through Dagestan was interrupted. The assembled Russian troops in the battle near Bolshie Kazanischi threw back Shamil and Pasek’s detachment escaped from the encirclement, but Avaria was lost.

Shamil expanded the territory of the Imamate twice, having more than 20,000 soldiers under arms.

In 1844, Count M.S. was appointed commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps with emergency powers. Vorontsov. The king’s order read: “It will be possible to break up Shamil’s crowd, penetrating into the center of his dominion, and establish himself in it.”

The Dargin expedition began. Vorontsov managed to reach Dargo without encountering serious resistance, but when the empty aul, lit by the mountaineers, was occupied by Vorontsov, the detachment, surrounded by the mountaineers and cut off from the food supply, found itself trapped. An attempt to bring food under a strong escort failed and only weakened the detachment. Vorontsov tried to break through to the line, but the continuous attacks of the mountaineers disorganized the detachment so much that he, being already not far from the fortified line, was forced to stop his advance. Only the appearance of General Freytag’s detachment, operating in the Chechen forests, saved the expedition, which ended, in general, in failure, although Vorontsov received a princely title for it. But the uprising did not grow - the peasants received practically nothing and only endured the hardships of the war. The enormous funds spent on the war were only partly covered by military booty; extraordinary military taxes, in the collection of which the naibs showed complete arbitrariness, ruined the mountain population. Naibs - the heads of individual districts - widely practiced various extortions and fines, which they often appropriated to themselves. At the same time, they began to force the population to work for them for free. Finally, there are sources about the distribution of lands to naibs and persons close to Shamil. Detachments of murtazeks began to be used to suppress discontent with the naibs that arose here and there. The nature of military operations has also changed in significant ways.

The Imamat began to fence itself off from the enemy with a wall of fortified villages - the war was increasingly turning from a maneuver to a positional one, in which Shamil had no chance. Among the mountain population there was a saying: “It is better to spend a year in a pit-prison than to spend a month on a campaign.” Dissatisfaction with the exactions of the naibs is growing more and more. It is especially pronounced in Chechnya, which served as the main food supply for Nagorno-Dagestan. Large purchases of food, produced at low prices, the resettlement of Dagestani colonists to Chechnya, the appointment of Dagestanis as Chechen naibs, the settlement of Dagestanis in Chechnya - all this taken together created an atmosphere of constant fermentation there, which erupted in small uprisings against individual naibs, such as an uprising against Shamil in 1843 in Cheberloy.

The Chechens switched to defensive tactics against Russian troops, which directly threatened the ruin of the villages. Accordingly, with the change in the situation, the tactics of the Russian troops also changed. Military expeditions to the mountains cease and the Russians switch to trench warfare - Vorontsov compresses the Imamate with a ring of fortifications. Shamil tried several times to break through this ring.

In Dagestan, Russian troops systematically besieged fortified villages for three years. In Chechnya, where Russian troops encountered obstacles in their advance in dense forests, they systematically felled these forests; The troops cut wide clearings within the range of a rifle shot, and sometimes a cannon shot, and methodically fortified the occupied space. A long “siege of the Caucasus” began.

In 1843, Shamil broke through the Sunzha fortified line into Kabarda, but was repulsed and returned to Chechnya. Having tried to break through to the Dagestan coast, Shamil was defeated in the battle of Kutishi.

In 1848, after the secondary siege of M.S. Vorontsov took the village of Gergebil, but a year later he did not take the village of Chokh, although he repelled the attempt of Shamil’s mountaineers to enter Kakheti, having built the Urus-Martan fortification a year before in Lesser Chechnya.

In 1850, as a result of a military expedition to Inguschtia, the western part of the Imamate was transferred to the Karabulaks and Galashevites. At the same time, in Greater Chechnya, Russian troops took and destroyed the fortification built by Shamil - the Shalinsky trench. In 1851–1852, two campaigns of the imamate to Tabasaran were repulsed - Hadji Murad and Buk-Mukhamed, defeated near the village of Shelyagi. Shamil quarreled with Hadji Murat, who went over to the Russian side; Other naibs followed him.

In the western Caucasus, Circassian tribes stormed the Black Sea coastline. In 1849, Effendi Muhammad Emmin, who replaced Hadji Mohammed and Suleiman, became the head of the Circassians. In May 1851, the speech of the envoy Shamil was suppressed.

In Chechnya during 1852 there was a stubborn struggle between the detachments of Prince A.I. Baryatinsky and Shamil. Despite the stubborn resistance of the Imamate A.I. At the beginning of the year, Baryatinsky walked through the whole of Chechnya to the Kura fortification, which caused some of the villages to fall away from Shamil, who tried to retain Chechnya for himself, suddenly appearing either in the Vladikavkaz region or near Grozny; near the village of Gurdali he defeated one of the Russian detachments.

In 1853, a major battle took place on the Michak River, Shamil’s last stronghold. A. Baryatinsky, having 10 battalions, 18 squadrons and 32 guns, bypassed Shamil, who had collected 12 thousand infantry and 8 thousand cavalry. The highlanders retreated with heavy losses.

After the outbreak of the Crimean War of 1853–1856, Shamil announced that from now on the holy war with Russia would be waged jointly with Turkey. Shamil broke through the Lezgin fortified line and took the Zagatala fortress, but was again driven into the mountains by Prince Dolgorukov-Argutinsky. In 1854, Shamil invaded Kakheti, but was again repulsed. England and France sent only the Polish detachment of Laninsky to help the Circassians. And although, due to the threat of the Anglo-French fleet, Russian troops liquidated the Black Sea coastline, this did not have a significant impact on the course of the war. The Turks were defeated in battles on the Cholok River, on the Chingil Heights and at Kyuryuk-Dara, Kars was taken; The Turks were defeated in their campaign against Tiflis.

The Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 freed the hands of Russia, which concentrated a 200,000-strong army against Shamil, led by N.N., who replaced him. Muravyov Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, who also had 200 guns.

The situation in the Eastern Caucasus during this period was as follows: the Russians firmly held the fortified Vladikavkaz-Vozdvizhenskaya line, however, further to the east, up to the Kurinsky fortification, the Chechen plain was unoccupied. From the east, a fortified line ran from the Vnezapnaya fortress to Kurakha. Shamil moved his residence to the village of Vedeno. By the end of 1957, the entire plain of Greater Chechnya was occupied by Russian troops. A year later, General Evdokimov’s detachment captured Lesser Chechnya and the entire course of the Argun. Shamil tried to take Vladikavkaz, but was defeated.

In 1859, Russian troops took the village of Tauzen. Shamil tried to delay the offensive by taking a position with 12,000 troops at the exit from the Bas Gorge, but this position was bypassed. At the same time, Russian troops were advancing on Ichkeria from Dagestan.

In February 1859, General Evdokimov began the siege of Vedeno, where the mountaineers built 8 redoubts. After the defeat of the key Andean redoubt on April 1, Shaml with 400 murids escaped from the village. His naibs went over to the side of the Russians. The mountaineers began to be evicted en masse to the plain. Shaml retreated to the south, to Andia, where on the shore of the Andean Koisu he took a powerful fortified position - Mount Kilitl, at the same time occupying both banks of the Andean Koisu, which were fortified with stone rubble, on which 13 guns stood.

The Russian offensive was carried out by three detachments simultaneously: the Chechen General Evdokimov, moving south through the Andean ridge; the Dagestani General Wrangel, advancing from the east; Lezgins, advancing from the south along the Andean Gorge. The Chechen detachment, approaching from the north and descending into the Koisu valley, threatened Shamil’s old main position. A major role was played by the detour of the Dagestan detachment, which captured the right bank of the Koysu River and cut off Shamil from Avaria. Shamil abandoned the Andean position and went to his last refuge on the impregnable Mount Gunib. Two weeks later, Gunib was completely surrounded by Russian troops. On August 25, the Russians managed to climb, unnoticed by the besieged, from different sides to the considered impregnable Gunib-Dag and surround the village of Gunib, after which Shamil surrendered and was sent to Russia, to Kaluga.

After 1859, there was only one serious attempt to organize resistance of the Circassians, who created Medzhik. His failure marked the end of the active resistance of the Circassians.

The mountaineers of the northwestern Caucasus were evicted to the plain; they left and sailed en masse to Turkey, dying in thousands along the way. The captured lands were populated by Kuban and Black Sea Cossacks. The war in the Caucasus was completed by 70 battalions, a dragoon division, 20 Cossack regiments and 100 guns. In 1860, the resistance of the Natukhaevites was broken. In 1861–1862, the space between the Laba and Belaya rivers was cleared of mountaineers. During 1862–1863, the operation was moved to the Pshekha River, and roads, bridges, and redoubts were built as the troops advanced. The Russian army advanced deep into Abadzekhia, to the upper reaches of the Pshish River. The Abadzekhs were forced to fulfill the “peace conditions” prescribed to them. The Upper Abadzekhs on the crest of the Caucasus, the Ubykhs and part of the Shapsugs put up longer resistance. Having reached the Goytkh Pass, Russian troops forced the upper Abadzekhs to surrender in 1863. In 1864, through this pass and along the Black Sea coast, Russian troops reached Tuapse and began the eviction of the Shapsugs. The last to be conquered were the Ubykhs along the Shakh and Sochi rivers, who offered armed resistance.

Four Russian detachments moved from different sides against the Khakuchi into the valley of the Mzylta River. On May 21, 1864, Russian troops occupied the Kbaada tract (currently the Krasnaya Polyana resort), where the last Circassian base was located, ending almost half a century of the history of the Caucasian War. Chechnya, Mountainous Dagestan, the Northwestern Caucasus, and the Black Sea coast were annexed to Russia.

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