Valerik (russian: Валери́к, ce, Валарта
/Valargthe) is a little river in
Chechnya, a tributary of the
Sunzha
Sunzha (russian: Сунжа, Sunzha; inh, Шолжа-Пхье, Šolža-Pꜧe; is a town and the administrative center of the Sunzhensky District of the Republic of Ingushetia Russia. Before 2016 it was called Ordzhonikidzevskaya ( inh, Орд� ...
. The river's lower stream becomes dry in summer. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .
Etymology
The name of the river means "river of the dead" in
Chechen. Possibly this river was a border between the
Vainakh
The Nakh peoples, also known as ''Vainakh peoples'' (Chechen/Ingush: , apparently derived from Chechen , Ingush "our people"; also Chechen-Ingush), are a group of Caucasian peoples identified by their use of the Nakh languages and other cult ...
s and the
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities.
The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separat ...
who lived in the steppe, and a place of bloody battles. A neighbouring river is named Mardan, which means 'river of the dead' in Ossetic languages.
Battles
In 1840 two battles were fought at the banks of the river between
Caucasian Imamate
The Caucasian Imamate, also known as the Caucasus Imamate ( ar, إمامة القوقاز, translit=Imamat Al-Qawqaz), was a state established by the imams in Dagestan and Chechnya during the early-to-mid 19th century in the North Caucasus, ...
murid
In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, ''pir'' or '' shaykh''. A ''sālik'' or Suf ...
s and the
Russian Imperial Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian A ...
advancing towards inner Chechnya.
The Russians under
Apollon Galafeyev (
first battle) and
Pavel Grabbe (second battle) defeated the army of
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil ( av, Шейх Шамил, Şeyx Şamil; ar, الشيخ شامل; russian: Имам Шамиль; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in ...
on 11 July and 30 October respectively. After this battle Shamil withdrew from Chechnya and retreated to
Caucasian Avaria
The Avar Khanate, the Avar Nutsaldom ( av, Avar Nutsallhi; russian: Аварское ханство), also known as Khundzia or Avaria, was a long-lived Avar state, which controlled mountainous parts of Dagestan (in the North Caucasus) from the ...
.
/ref>
The first battle of the Valerik River is described in Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasu ...
's poem "Valerik". Lermontov was a participant in both battles and gained recognition as a hero, but due to Nicolas I
, house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp
, father = Paul I of Russia
, mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire
, death_date =
...
's personal negative attitude towards Lermontov, he was not awarded a medal.battle of Komsomolskoye
The Battle of Komsomolskoye took place in March 2000 between Russian federal forces and Chechen separatists in the Chechen village of Komsomolskoye (Saadi-Kotar), Chechnya. It was the largest Russian victory during the Second Chechen War. Seve ...
was referred as a "Valerik of the late 20th century".Валерик конца ХХ века
/ref>
References
{{reflist
Rivers of Chechnya