The Caucasian War () or the Caucasus War was a 19th-century military conflict between the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the

Russian conquest of the Caucasus The Russian conquest of the Caucasus mainly occurred between 1800 and 1864. The Russian Empire sought to control the region between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. South of the mountains was the territory that is modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georg ...

. It consisted of a series of

military action A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

s waged by the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

and Cossack settlers against the native inhabitants such as the Adyghe,

Abazins The Abazin, Abazinians or Abaza ( Abaza and Abkhaz: Абаза; Circassian: Абазэхэр; ; ; ) are an ethnic group of the Northwest Caucasus, closely related to the Abkhaz and Circassian peoples. Today, as a result of atrocities committ ...

, Ubykhs,

Chechens The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kistin, Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. ...

, and Dagestanis as the Tsars sought to expand. Russian control of the

Georgian Military Road The Georgian Military Road or Georgian Military Highway; , Гуржий никъ, romanized: Gurzhiy niqh; ; is the historic name for a major route through the Caucasus from Georgia (country), Georgia to Russia. Alternative routes across the m ...

in the center divided the Caucasian War into the

Russo-Circassian War The Russo-Circassian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Circassia, was the 101-year-long invasion of Circassia by the Russian Empire. The conflict started in 1763 ( O.S.) with Russia assuming authority in Circassia, followed by Circa ...

in the west and the conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan in the east. Other territories of the Caucasus (comprising contemporary eastern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, southern Dagestan,

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

) were incorporated into the Russian Empire at various times in the 19th century as a result of Russian wars with

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. The remaining part, western Georgia, was taken by the Russians from the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

during the same period.

History

The war took place during the administrations of three successive Russian

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

s: 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 Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (; ) was a Russian nobleman and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic Wars and most famous for his participation in the Caucasian War from 1844 to 1853. Early life Vorontsov was born on ...

in 1844–1853, and

Aleksandr Baryatinskiy Prince Aleksandr Ivanovich Baryatinsky (, tr. ; – 9 March 1879) was a Russian General and Field Marshal (from 1859), Prince, governor of the Caucasus. Early life and background He was born into the aristocratic Baryatinsky family, a s ...

in 1853–1856. The famous

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

writer

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, 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 Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

referred to the war in his Byronic poem '' The Prisoner of the Caucasus'' (), written in 1821.

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

, 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. In general, the Russian armies that served in the Caucasian wars were very eclectic. They included ethnic Russians from various parts of the empire, as well as

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...

, Caucasus Greeks,

Ossetians The Ossetians ( or ; ),Merriam-Webster (2021), s.v"Ossete" also known as Ossetes ( ), Ossets ( ), and Alans ( ), are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the northern and southern side ...

, and even soldiers of Muslim background like

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

Bashkirs The Bashkirs ( , ) or Bashkorts (, ; , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a Republics of Russia, republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of B ...

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (Kazakh language, Kazakh: , , , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They share a common Culture of Kazakhstan, culture, Kazakh language, language and History of Kazakhstan, history ...

Uyghurs The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the ti ...

, Turkmen. Some Caucasian Muslim tribes also sided with the Russians against fellow Muslims of the Caucasus. Muslim soldiers of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

had played a role in religious discussion and wooing allies for Russia against their Muslim counterparts in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. The Russian invasion encountered fierce resistance. The first period of the invasion ended coincidentally with the death of Alexander I and the

Decembrist Revolt The Decembrist revolt () was a failed coup d'état led by liberal military and political dissidents against the Russian Empire. It took place in Saint Petersburg on , following the death of Emperor Alexander I. Alexander's brother and heir ...

in 1825. It achieved surprisingly little success, especially compared with the then recent Russian victory over the "Grande Armée" of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

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

(1826–1828) demanded the Empire's attention. After considerable successes in both wars, Russia resumed fighting in the Caucasus against the various rebelling native ethnic groups in the North Caucasus. This marked the beginning of what is now referred to as the Circassian genocide. Russian units again met resistance, notably led by Ghazi Mollah, Hamzat Bek, and Hadji Murad.

Imam Shamil Imam Shamil (; ; ; ; ; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim ...

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. 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 The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

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 The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe (Adyghe language, Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in t ...

(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 people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

s of the North Caucasus (especially the Circassians), was Muhajirism, or

population transfer Population transfer or resettlement is a type of mass migration that is often imposed by a state policy or international authority. Such mass migrations are most frequently spurred on the basis of ethnicity or religion, but they also occur d ...

of the Muslim population to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Aftermath

Many

were forced to emigrate and leave their home to the

, 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. According to another version, in 1790 the population was 200,000 people and in 1830 30,000 people. 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%.Кабузан В.М. Население Северного Кавказа в XIX - XX веках. - СПб., 1996. С.145.

Gallery

File:Karte des Kaukasischen Isthmus - Entworfen und gezeichnet von J-Grassl - 1856.jpg, ''Map of the Caucasus isthmus''. Created and drawn by J. Grassl, 1856. File:Georgianroad.jpg, Construction of the

through disputed territories was a key factor in the eventual Russian success File:Sturm aul Gimry 1891.jpg, ''Assault of Gimry'', by Franz Alekseyevich Roubaud File:Штурм аула Салта.jpg, Caucasian tribesmen fight against the

, 1847 File:Storm of the fortress of Akhty 1848.jpg, Storm of the fortress of Akhty in 1848 File:Theodor Horschelt Tscherkessen.jpg, Circassians by Theodor Horschelt File:Battle in the mountains (1890).jpg, Battle in the mountains, by '' Franz Roubaud'', 1890. File:Pyotr Nikolayevich Gruzinsky - The mountaineers leave the aul.jpg, ''Mountaineers leave the aul'', by Pyotr Gruzinsky File:Russian medal for subjugation of Western Caucasus 1859-1864.PNG, Russian medal for subjugation of Western Caucasus 1859–1864 File:Мюрид с наибским знаменем.jpg, Murid with the naib banner, by Theodor Horschelt 1858–1861. File:Feldwebel Vasily Ivanov.jpg, ''Officer of the Separate Caucasian сorps by A. L. Zisserman'' File:Артиллерист фейервейкер Отдельного кавказского корпуса.jpg, ''Artillery fireworker of the Separate Caucasian сorps'' File:Oskar Schmerling. Caucasian Soldier Riding at a Gallop.jpg, Caucasian horseman warrior, by Oskar Schmerling 1893. File:Бой с Чеченцами под Акбулат-Юртом.jpg, Fight with the сhechens under Akbulat-Urt, by D. Koenig (1849) File:Наибы Шамиля.jpg, Naibs of Imam Shamil, by Giorgio Corradini 19th century. File:Черкес стреляет из винтовки с коня на скаку.jpg, Circassian warrior, by Alfred Kowalski, 1895. File:Caucasian rider in fight with russian soldier (1892).jpg, Caucasian rider in fight with Russian soldier, by Roubaud. F. (1892) File:Виллевальде, Богдан Павлович. Охотники Ширванского полка на Гунибе.jpg, Soldiers of the Shirvan regiment on Gunib, by Bogdan Willewalde (1870). File:Pyotr Nikolayevich Gruzinsky. Assault of Gunib.jpg, Assault of Gunib, by Pyotr Gruzinsky 1862. File:Теодор Горшельт. Штурм укреплений Гуниба. 1867.jpg, Battle of Ghunib, painting by Theodor Horschelt 1867. File:Horschelt. Surrender of Shamil. 1863.jpg, ''Capture of Shamil'', painting by Theodor Horschelt 1859. File:The illustrated London News December 24 1859. Schamyl (front page).png, Shamil (front page).

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

of December 24, 1859. File:British News on the Russo circassian war.pdf, Article of Illustrated London News about

Notes

References

Bibliography