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Caucasian War

(Redirected from Caucasus War)
This article is about the 19th-century Russian invasion. For the World War I military campaign, see Caucasus Campaign. For the World War II military campaign, see Battle of the Caucasus.

The Caucasian War (Russian: Кавказская война, romanized: Kavkazskaya voyna) or the Caucasus War was a 19th-century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. It consisted of a series of military actions waged by the Russian Imperial Army and Cossack settlers against the native inhabitants such as the Adyghe, Abaza-Abkhazians,[10] Ubykhs, Chechens, and Dagestanis as the Tsars sought to expand.[11]

Caucasian War
Part of the Russo-Caucasian conflict and Russian conquest of the Caucasus

Franz Roubaud's A Scene from the Caucasian War
Date1817 – 21 May 1864
Location
North Caucasus
Result Russian victory
Territorial
changes		 North Caucasus annexed by Russia
Belligerents

Russian Empire Russia

Principality of Abkhazia[1][2][3]

Caucasian Imamate

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish volunteers
Commanders and leaders
Russian Empire Tsar Alexander I
Russian Empire Tsar Nicholas I
Russian Empire Tsar Alexander II
Russian Empire Michael Nikolaevich
Russian Empire Grigory Zass
Russian Empire Ivan Paskevich
Russian Empire Aleksey Yermolov
Russian Empire Mikhail Vorontsov
Russian Empire Dmitry Milyutin
Russian Empire Aleksandr Baryatinsky
Russian Empire Ivan Andronnikov
Russian Empire Grigory Rosen
Russian Empire Yevgeny Golovin
Russian Empire Nikolay Muravyov-Karsky
Russian Empire Nikolay Yevdokimov
Russian Empire Robert Segercrantz [ru]		 Ghazi Mullah †
Hamzat Bek
Shamil of Gimry Surrendered
Tashaw-Hadji
Shuaib-Mulla of Tsentara
Hadji Murad
Isa of Ghendargen
Baysangur of Beno
Talkhig Shelar
Eska of Noiber
Umalat-bek of Boynak
Irazi-bek of Kazanysh
Idris of Endirey
Beibulat Taimiev
Kizbech Tughuzoqo
Qerandiqo Berzeg
Seferbiy Zanuqo
Muhammad Amin Asiyalo
Jembulat Boletoqo
Keysin Keytiqo
Aslan-Bey Sharvashidze-Chachba
Esho Marshan
Shabat Marshan
Ismail Adjapua
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland James Stanislaus Bell
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Teofil Lapinski
Strength
1817–1864:
1819: 50,000[4]
1857: 200,000
1862: 60,000[5]		 1817–1864:
The Abkhazian Principality:
25,000[1][6][3]
Caucasian Imamate:
15,000–25,000[7]
Circassia:
35,000–40,000[7]
Casualties and losses
Russian Empire Unknown Civilian dead: 700,000 [8][9]
Total dead: High
Total dead: High
Total dead: High

Russian control of the Georgian Military Road in the center divided the Caucasian War into the Russo-Circassian War in the west and the conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan in the east. Other territories of the Caucasus (comprising contemporary eastern Georgia, southern Dagestan, Armenia and Azerbaijan) were incorporated into the Russian Empire at various times in the 19th century as a result of Russian wars with Persia.[12] The remaining part, western Georgia, was taken by the Russians from the Ottomans during the same period.

History

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Main article: Russian conquest of the Caucasus

The war took place during the administrations of three successive Russian Tsars: Alexander I (reigned 1801–1825), Nicholas I (1825–1855), and Alexander II (1855–1881). The leading Russian commanders included Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov in 1816–1827, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov in 1844–1853, and Aleksandr Baryatinskiy in 1853–1856. The famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who gained much of his knowledge and experience of war for his book War and Peace from these encounters, took part in the hostilities. The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin referred to the war in his Byronic poem The Prisoner of the Caucasus (Кавказский пленник, Kavkazskiy plennik), written in 1821. Mikhail Lermontov, often referred to as "the poet of the Caucasus", participated in the battle near the river Valerik which inspired him to write the poem of the same name of the river dedicated to this event. In general, the Russian armies that served in the Caucasian wars were very eclectic; as well as ethnic Russians from various parts of the Russian empire they included Cossacks, Armenians, Georgians, Caucasus Greeks, Ossetians, and even soldiers of Muslim background like Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Uyghurs, Turkmen and even some Caucasian Muslim tribes who sided with the Russians against fellow Muslims of Caucasus. Muslim soldiers of Imperial Russian Army had played some parts on religious discussion and wooing allies for Russia against their fellow Muslim brethren in the Caucasus.

The Russian invasion encountered fierce resistance. The first period of the invasion ended coincidentally with the death of Alexander I and the Decembrist Revolt in 1825. It achieved surprisingly little success, especially compared with the then recent Russian victory over the "Grande Armée" of Napoleon in 1812.

Between 1825 and 1833, little military activity took place in the Caucasus against the native North Caucasians as wars with Turkey (1828/1829) and with Persia (1826–1828) occupied the Russians. After considerable successes in both wars, Russia resumed fighting in the Caucasus against the various rebelling native ethnic groups in the North Caucasus, and that was the start of the Caucasian genocide committed by Russians, most of the terminated people were from the Circassian nation. Russian units again met resistance, notably led by Ghazi Mollah, Hamzat Bek, and Hadji Murad. Imam Shamil followed them. He led the mountaineers from 1834 until his capture by Dmitry Milyutin in 1859. In 1843, Shamil launched a sweeping offensive aimed at the Russian outposts in Avaria. On 28 August 1843, 10,000 men converged, from three different directions, on a Russian column in Untsukul, killing 486 men. In the next four weeks, Shamil captured every Russian outpost in Avaria except one, exacting over 2,000 casualties on the Russian defenders. He feigned an invasion north to capture a key chokepoint at the convergence of the Avar and Kazi-Kumukh rivers.[13] In 1845, Shamil's forces achieved their most dramatic success when they withstood a major Russian offensive led by Prince Vorontsov.

During the Crimean War of 1853–1856, the Russians brokered a truce with Shamil, but hostilities resumed in 1855. Warfare in the Caucasus finally ended between 1856 and 1859, when a 250,000 strong army under General Baryatinsky broke the mountaineers' resistance.

The war in the Eastern part of the North Caucasus ended in 1859; the Russians captured Shamil, forced him to surrender, to swear allegiance to the Tsar, and then exiled him to Central Russia. However, the war in the Western part of the North Caucasus resumed with the Circassians (i.e. Adyghe, but the term is often used to include their Abaza kin as well) resuming the fight. A manifesto of Tsar Alexander II declared hostilities at an end on June 2 (May 21 OS), 1864. Among post-war events, a tragic page in the history of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus (especially the Circassians), was Muhajirism, or population transfer of the Muslim population to the Ottoman Empire.[14]

Aftermath

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Main article: Circassian genocide

Many Circassians were forced to emigrate and leave their home to the Ottoman Empire, and to a lesser degree Persia.

According to one source, the population in Greater and Lesser Kabarda decreased from 350,000, before the war, to 50,000 by 1818.[15] According to another version, in 1790 the population was 200,000 people and in 1830 30,000 people.[16] As a percentage of the total population of the North Caucasus, the number of the remaining Circassians was 40% (1795), 30% (1835) and 25% (1858). Similarly: Chechens 9%, 10% and 8.5%; Avars 11%, 7% and 2%; Dargins 9.5%, 7.3% and 5.8%; Lezghins 4.4%, 3.6% and 3.9% .[17]

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^
    • Бушуев 1941: "В организации борьбы за независимость ему приходилось по несколько раз принуждать одни и те же «вольные общества» Дагестана, а затем Чечни и Ингушетии, к борьбе против русского царизма."
    • Тезисы докладов и сообщений 1989, p. 106: "Известно, что оформление военно-теократического государства по праву называемого имаматом Шамиля, и его расцвет пришлись на 1840—1850-е гг. В этот период в состав имамата входили практически весь Нагорный Дагестан, вся Чечня (за исключением междуречья Терека и Сужни), большая часть Карабулака («вилайет Арштхой»), ряд обществ Ингушетии («вилайет Калай»), некоторые аулы цоринцев и галгаевцев."
    • Шамиль: Иллюстрированная энциклопедия 1997, p. 211: "Известно, что оформление военно-теократического государства по праву называемого имаматом Шамиля, и его расцвет пришлись на 1840—1850-е гг. В этот период в состав имамата входили практически весь Нагорный Дагестан, вся Чечня (за исключением междуречья Терека и Сужни), ряд обществ Ингушетии, некоторые аулы цоринцев и галгаевцев."
    • Дадаев 2006, p. 223: "Пятый многолюдный съезд был созван 26 сентября 1841 г. в столице Имамата Дарго, где обсуждался вопрос о мерах борьбы с русским царизмом. Это было время, когда началась блистатель­ная эпоха Шамиля, в состав Имамата вошли земли ликвидирован­ного Аварского ханства, множество союзов сельских общин гор­ного и предгорного Дагестана, почти вся Чечня, Ингушетия, от­дельные аулы Хевсуретии и Тушетии."

References

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  1. ^ a b "Станислав Лакоба. Двуглавый орел и традиционная Абхазия". apsnyteka.org (in Russian). 1953-11-23.
  2. ^ Георгий Анчабадзе. "Кавказская война. 1810-1864". apsnyteka.org. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  3. ^ a b "Станислав Лакоба. XIX-XXI вв. Глава II. Абхазия и Российская империя. Асланбей: мифы и факты". apsnyteka.org. Archived from the original on 2022-04-01. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  4. ^ Кроме того, командующему Отдельного Кавказского корпуса было подчинено Черноморское казачье войско — 40 тыс. чел.
  5. ^ На Западном Кавказе
  6. ^ Георгий Анчабадзе. "Кавказская война. 1810-1864". apsnyteka.org. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  7. ^ a b À la conquête du Caucase: epopée géopolitique et guerres d'influence
  8. ^ "Victimario Histórico Militar".
  9. ^ Richmond, Walter. The Circassian Genocide. ISBN 9780813560694.
  10. ^ "ТЕОФИЛ ЛАПИНСКИЙ". www.vostlit.info. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  11. ^ King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York City, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517775-6.
  12. ^ Dowling, Timothy C., ed. (2014). Russia at War. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 728–730. In 1801, Russia annexed the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli–Kakheti.
  13. ^ Robert F Baumann and Combat Studies Institute (U.S.), Russian-Soviet Unconventional Wars in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Afghanistan (Fort Leavenworth, Kan: Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, n.d.)
  14. ^ Yale University paper Archived December 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Jaimoukha, A., The Circassians: A Handbook, London: RoutledgeCurzon; New York; Routledge and Palgrave, 2001., page 63
  16. ^ Richmond, Walter. The Circassian Genocide, Rutgers University Press, 2013., page 56
  17. ^ Кабузан В.М. Население Северного Кавказа в XIX - XX веках. - СПб., 1996. С.145.

Bibliography

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