The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the systematic mass killing, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion of between 95% and 97% of the Circassian people during the final stages of the Russian invasion of Circassia in the 19th century. It resulted in the deaths of between 625,000 and 1.5 million and the destruction of Circassia, which was then annexed by the Russian Empire. Those planned for extermination were mainly the Circassians, who are predominantly Muslims, but other Muslim Caucasian peoples were also affected, as part of the Caucasian War. Notable killing methods used by the Imperial Russian Army in Circassia included impalement and tearing open the bellies of pregnant women in order to intimidate the Circassians and devastate their morale. Many Russian generals, such as Grigory Zass, described the Circassians as "subhuman filth" and a "lowly race" to justify and glorify their wholesale slaughter[page needed] and their use as human test subjects in unethical scientific experiments. Russian soldiers were also permitted to rape Circassian women.
Circassia was largely emptied of the native Circassian population during the genocide, and those who were not killed were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Only a small percentage of Circassians, namely those who accepted Russification and made agreements with Russian troops, were completely spared. Starvation was used as a tool of war against Circassian villages, many of which were subsequently burned down. Russian writer Leo Tolstoy reported that Russian soldiers would frequently attack village houses at night. British diplomat William Palgrave, who witnessed the genocide, recalled that "their [the Circassians] only crime was not being Russian." Seeking a credible military intervention against Russia, Circassian officials signed and sent "A Petition from Circassian Leaders to Her Majesty Queen Victoria" in 1864, but were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to solicit aid from the British Empire. That same year, the Imperial Russian Army launched a campaign of mass deportation to get rid of the bulk of Circassia's surviving population. By 1867, a large portion of the Circassians had been expelled from their ancestral homeland; many died from epidemics or starvation among the crowds of deportees and were reportedly eaten by dogs after their death, while others were killed when their ships sank during storms. (Full article...)