How many emperors ruled during the Caucasian War of 1817. Caucasian War briefly

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 Murad
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
Ross's total combat losses. 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 joining Russian Empire mountainous regions of the North Caucasus.

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 raids 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 becomes 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. Treaty of 1739, concluded with 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 Zasunzhensky 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) it was introduced in Georgia Russian rule. 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, carried out 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 education. educational institutions 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 Safarbeya 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 years 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 to establish peaceful relations with existing conditions absolutely impossible. 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 course 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 proclaim 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 in the Russian detachment, which suffered heavy losses, there was severe disadvantage 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 on May 31 a very strong position mountaineers on the Adzhiakhur Heights, 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 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 Nikolaev 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, they were cut off from Russian forces long-submissive mountain societies 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 highlanders, 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 tsarist army several large detachments invaded the Imamate. 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; talked about coming soon Turkish troops to Balkaria, Georgia and Kabarda and about the need to act decisively against the Russians, supposedly weakened by the sending of most of the 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 built 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 Andian Koisu; all of Ichkeria declared submission to Russia. After the capture of Veden, three detachments headed concentrically 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, acted 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. Led the final conquest of the Caucasus 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 in 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 clear the coastal strip and prepare it for occupancy. 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.

The concept of “Caucasian war” was introduced by the publicist and historian R. Fadeev.

In the history of our country, it refers to the events associated with the annexation of Chechnya and Circassia to the empire.

The Caucasian War lasted 47 years, from 1817 to 1864, and ended with the victory of the Russians, giving rise to many legends and myths, sometimes very far from reality.

What are the reasons for the Caucasian war?

As in all wars - in the redistribution of territories: three powerful powers- Persia, Russia and Turkey - fought for dominion over the “gates” from Europe to Asia, i.e. over the Caucasus. At the same time, the attitude of the local population was not taken into account at all.

In the early 1800s, Russia was able to defend its rights to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan from Persia and Turkey, and the peoples of the North and Western Caucasus went to it as if “automatically”.

But the mountaineers, with their rebellious spirit and love of independence, could not come to terms with the fact that Turkey simply ceded the Caucasus to the king as a gift.

The Caucasian War began with the appearance of General Ermolov in this region, who suggested that the Tsar take active action with the aim of creating fortress settlements in remote mountainous areas where Russian garrisons would be located.

The mountaineers resisted fiercely, having the advantage of the war on their territory. But nevertheless, Russian losses in the Caucasus until the 30s amounted to several hundred per year, and even those were associated with armed uprisings.

But then the situation changed dramatically.

In 1834, Shamil became the head of the Muslim mountaineers. It was under him that the Caucasian war took on its greatest scope.

Shamil led a simultaneous struggle both against the tsarist garrisons and against those feudal lords who recognized the power of the Russians. It was on his orders that the only heir of the Avar Khanate was killed, and the captured treasury of Gamzat Bek made it possible to significantly increase military spending.

In fact, Shamil’s main support was the murids and the local clergy. He repeatedly raided Russian fortresses and renegade villages.

However, the Russians also responded with the same measure: in the summer of 1839, a military expedition captured the residence of the imam, and the wounded Shamil managed to move to Chechnya, which became a new arena of military action.

General Vorontsov, who became the head of the tsarist troops, completely changed the situation by stopping expeditions to mountain villages, which were always accompanied by large material and human losses. The soldiers began to cut clearings in the forests, build fortifications, and create Cossack villages.

And the mountaineers themselves no longer trusted the imam. And at the end of the 40s of the 19th century, the territory of the imamate began to shrink, resulting in a complete blockade.

In 1848, the Russians captured one of the strategically important villages - Gergebil, and then Georgian Kakheti. They managed to repel the attempts of the murids to destroy the fortifications in the mountains.

The despotism of the imam, military exactions, and repressive policies pushed the mountaineers away from the muridism movement, which only intensified internal confrontation.

With its end, the Caucasian War entered its final stage. General Baryatinsky became the tsar's deputy and commander of the troops, and the future minister of war and reformer Milyutin became the chief of staff.

The Russians switched from defense to offensive actions. Shamil found himself cut off from Chechnya in Mountainous Dagestan.

At the same time, Baryatinsky, who knew the Caucasus well, as a result of his rather active policy of establishing peaceful relations with the mountaineers, soon became very popular in the North Caucasus. The mountaineers were inclined towards the Russian orientation: uprisings began to break out everywhere.

By May 1864, the last center of resistance of the murids was broken, and Shamil himself surrendered in August.

On this day the Caucasian War ended, the results of which were reaped by contemporaries.

History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 20th century Nikolaev Igor Mikhailovich

Caucasian War (1817–1864)

Caucasian War (1817–1864)

Russia's advance into the Caucasus began long before the 19th century. So, Kabarda back in the 16th century. accepted Russian citizenship. In 1783, Irakli II concluded the Treaty of Georgievsk with Russia, according to which Eastern Georgia accepted the patronage of Russia. At the beginning of the nineteenth century. all of Georgia became part of the Russian Empire. At the same time, Russia continued its advance in Transcaucasia and Northern Azerbaijan was annexed. However, Transcaucasia was separated from the main territory of Russia Caucasus mountains, inhabited by warlike mountain peoples who raided lands that recognized Russian power and interfered with communications with Transcaucasia. Gradually, these clashes turned into a struggle of the mountaineers who converted to Islam under the flag of ghazavat (jihad) - a “holy war” against the “infidels.” The main centers of resistance of the mountaineers in the east of the Caucasus were Chechnya and Mountainous Dagestan, in the west - the Abkhazians and Circassians.

Conventionally, we can distinguish five main periods of the Caucasian War in the 19th century. The first - from 1817 to 1827, associated with the beginning of large-scale military operations by the governor in the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Russian troops, General A.P. Ermolov; the second – 1827–1834, when the formation of a military-theocratic state of the highlanders in the North Caucasus was underway and resistance to Russian troops intensified; the third - from 1834 to 1855, when the movement of the highlanders was led by Imam Shamil, who achieved a number of major victories over the tsarist troops; fourth - from 1855 to 1859 - the internal crisis of the Shamil Imamate, the strengthening of the Russian offensive, the defeat and capture of Shamil; fifth – 1859–1864 – end of hostilities in the North Caucasus.

With the end of the Patriotic War and the foreign campaign, the Russian government intensified military operations against the highlanders. The hero of the Patriotic War and very popular in the army, General A.P., was appointed governor in the Caucasus and commander of the troops. Eromolov. He abandoned individual punitive expeditions and put forward a plan to advance deep into the Northern and Eastern Caucasus with the goal of “civilizing” the mountain peoples. Ermolov pursued a tough policy of ousting the rebellious mountaineers from the fertile valleys into the highlands. For this purpose, construction began on the Sunzha line (along the Sunzha River), which separated the breadbasket of Chechnya from the mountainous regions. The long and exhausting war became fierce on both sides. The advancement of Russian troops in the highlands, as a rule, was accompanied by the burning of rebellious villages and the resettlement of Chechens under the control of Russian troops. The mountaineers made constant raids on villages loyal to Russia, seized hostages, livestock and tried to destroy everything that they could not take with them, constantly threatening Russian communications with Georgia and Transcaucasia. The advantage of Russian troops in weapons and military training was compensated by difficult natural conditions. Impenetrable mountain forests served as good protection for the mountaineers, who were well versed in familiar terrain.

From the second half of the 20s. XIX century Muridism, a doctrine that preached religious fanaticism and “holy war with the infidels” (gazavat), was spreading among the peoples of Dagestan and the Chechens. On the basis of muridism, a theocratic state - the imamate - began to form. The first imam in 1828 was Gazi-Magomed, who sought to unite all the peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya in this state to fight the “infidels.”

At the same time (1827), General Ermolov, who managed to significantly stabilize the situation in the Caucasus, was replaced by I.F. Paskevich. The new commander decided to consolidate Ermolov's success with punitive expeditions. The actions of the latter and the formation of the theocratic state of the mountaineers again led to an intensification of the struggle. The government of Nicholas I relied mainly on military force, constantly increasing the number of Caucasian troops. The mountain nobility and clergy, on the one hand, with the help of muridism, tried to strengthen their power and influence among the mountain peoples; on the other hand, muridism made it possible to mobilize the mountain people to fight the newcomers from the North.

The Caucasian War took on a particularly fierce and stubborn character after Shamil came to power (1834). Having become an imam, Shamil, who had military talent, organizational skills and strong will, managed to establish his power over the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya and organize stubborn and effective resistance to Russian troops for 25 years.

The turning point in the struggle came only after the end of the Crimean War (1856). The Caucasian Corps was transformed into the Caucasian Army, numbering 200 thousand people. The new commander-in-chief A.I. Baryatinsky and his chief of staff D.A. Milyutin developed a plan for waging a continuous war against Shamil, moving from line to line in summer and winter. Shamil’s Imamate also experienced depletion of resources and a serious internal crisis. The denouement came in August 1859, when Russian troops blocked the last fortification of Shamil - the village of Gunib.

However, for another five years the resistance of the mountaineers of the North-Western Caucasus - Circassians, Abkhazians and Circassians - continued.

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the struggle of the Russian Empire for the annexation of the North Caucasus to Russia.

The North Caucasus was inhabited by many peoples, differing in language, customs, morals and level of social development. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. The Russian administration concluded agreements with the ruling elite of tribes and communities on their entry into the Russian Empire.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish and Russian-Iranian wars of the late 20s. 19th century Georgia, Eastern Armenia, and Northern Azerbaijan joined Russia. (Cm. historical map"Territory of the Caucasus, ceded to Russia by the 1830s")

However, the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus remained beyond control. Therefore, after annexing Transcaucasia and the Black Sea coast during the wars with Persia (Iran) and Turkey, Russia was faced with the task of ensuring a stable situation in the North Caucasus. Under Alexander I, General A.P. Ermolov began advancing deep into Chechnya and Dagestan, building military strongholds. The resistance of the mountain peoples resulted in a religious and political movement - muridism, implying religious fanaticism and an irreconcilable struggle against the “infidels,” which gave it a nationalistic character. In the North Caucasus it was directed exclusively against Russians and became most widespread in Dagestan. A unique state based on religion—the Imamate—has emerged here. (See historical map “Caucasus in 1817 – 1864”)

In 1834, Shamil became the imam - the head of state. He created a strong army and concentrated administrative, military and spiritual power in his hands. Under his leadership, the struggle against the Russians intensified in the North Caucasus. It continued with varying success for about 30 years. In the 1840s. Shamil managed to expand the territories under his control, establishing connections with Turkey and some European states.

The conquest of the highlanders of the North Caucasus and the protracted war brought significant human and material losses to Russia. During this entire period, up to 80 thousand soldiers and officers of the Caucasian corps died, were captured, or went missing. The maintenance of the military contingent cost 10-15 million rubles. annually. Undoubtedly, it worsened Russia's financial situation. However, prolonged resistance undermined the strength of the highlanders. By the end of the 50s. 19th century the situation got worse for them. The internal decomposition of Shamil's state began. The peasantry and other segments of the population, tortured by the war, countless military exactions, and severe religious restrictions, began to move away from muridism. In August 1859, Shamil’s last refuge, the village of Gunib, fell. The Imamat ceased to exist. In 1863 – 1864 The Russians occupied the entire territory along the northern slope of the Caucasus ridge and suppressed the resistance of the Circassians. The Caucasian War is over.

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CAUCASIAN WAR (1817-1864)

The war of the Russian Empire against the Muslim peoples of the North Caucasus with the aim of annexing this region.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish and Russian-Iranian wars, the North Caucasus was surrounded by Russian territory. However, the imperial government failed to establish effective control over it for many decades. The mountain peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan have long lived largely by raiding the surrounding lowland territories, including Russian Cossack settlements and soldier garrisons. In 1819, almost all the rulers of Dagestan united in an alliance to fight against the Russians. In 1823, the Kabardian princes rose up against Russian rule, and in 1824, an uprising in Chechnya was launched by Beybulat Taymazov, who had previously served as an officer in the Russian army. In 1828, the fight of the highlanders was led by the Avar Gazi-Magomed, who received the title of imam (spiritual leader) of Chechnya and Dagestan. He fought against other Avar khans who sided with Russia, but was unable to capture the Avar capital Khunzakh, to whose aid Russian troops came. The mountaineers acted against them in small mounted partisan detachments, which quickly dispersed in the mountains if the enemy had significant superiority in men and artillery.

Until 1827, the fight against the mountaineers, who called themselves murids ("seekers of the path of salvation" in the holy war against the infidels - gazavat), was led by the commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps, General Ermolov, and later by General Paskevich. Ermolov built fortresses, laid roads between them, cut down forests and dug deeper into the mountain territory. Paskevich began to lay a road along the Black Sea coast. Russian troops established control over Pitsunda, Gagra and Sukhumi, but were actually blocked in these settlements by detachments of Dzhigets, Ubykhs, Shapsugs and Natukhais. Thousands of Russian soldiers died from malaria and typhus.

On October 17, 1832, in one of the battles near the village of Gimry, Gazi-Magomed was killed. His successor was Gamzat-bek, who two years later was hacked to death by the Avars in a mosque in retaliation for the murder of the Avar khans. In 1834, Shamil, Gazi-Magomed’s closest friend, was elected imam. He was the first of the imams to organize the mountaineers into a regular army, consisting of tens and hundreds. Hundreds, in turn, united into more large detachments of different numbers. He introduced Sharia law in the subject territory and established iron discipline in the army. The slightest disobedience was punishable by corporal punishment or death. Shamil equipped his troops with artillery, both from captured cannons and from new ones, which Dagestan craftsmen learned to cast. However, he also experienced serious failures. In 1839, the Russians, after a three-month siege, stormed the fortified residence of the imam - the village of Akhulgo. Died during the assault younger son Shamilya Sagid and many other relatives of the imam. Shamil was forced to give his youngest 7-year-old son Jamalut-din as a hostage to the Russian Tsar. But eight months later, the imam led a new uprising in Chechnya. His supporters also managed to capture several Russian fortifications on the Black Sea coast in 1840. In 1845, Shamil defeated an expeditionary force led by the governor in the Caucasus, Prince Mikhail Vorontsov. At the same time, the highlanders captured rich booty.

In 1848, the Trans-Kuban highlanders united around Shamil's comrade-in-arms Magomed-Emin, who became the ruler of the North-West Caucasus. During the Crimean War, in the summer of 1854, Shamil's son Gazi-Magomed made a raid into Georgia, hoping to unite with Turkish troops. But the Russian Caucasian army did not allow the Turks into Georgia, and the warriors of Gazi-Magomed were forced to limit themselves to rich booty. They captured about 900 prisoners, among whom were representatives of noble Georgian families. More than a thousand Georgian militias and civilians died. Princesses Chavchavadze and Orbeliani were exchanged for the son of Shamil Jamalutdin, who returned from St. Petersburg, where he served as a lieutenant in the Uhlan Guards Regiment. A large ransom was also paid for the remaining captives. After this, a cash crisis occurred in Georgia, and in Chechnya and Dagestan, the silver coin, on the contrary, depreciated.

Oddly enough, a successful raid into Georgia brought the end of the fight against the highlanders closer. Realizing that they would not be able to capture such loot a second time, the warriors demanded peace, provided that no one would force them to return the loot. The new governor in the Caucasus, Prince Alexander Baryatinsky, a personal friend of Emperor Alexander II, used a flexible policy, attracting local feudal lords (naibs) to his side with the promise of keeping their possessions and privileges intact.

The three-year offensive in the mountains of southern Chechnya ended with the encirclement of Shamil in the high-mountain village of Gunib. Superiority in artillery and small arms had an effect. The new rifled rifles of the 1856 model were superior to the highlanders' guns in range and rate of fire. On September 7, 1859, Shamil, at the head of 400 defenders of Gunib, surrendered to Baryatinsky’s army of thousands. At the same time, the proud imam told Baryatinsky: “I fought for thirty years for the faith, but now my peoples have betrayed me, and the naibs have fled. I myself am tired. I am sixty-three years old, I am already old and gray, although my beard is black. Congratulations on your the conquest of Dagestan. Let the sovereign emperor rule the mountaineers for their benefit."

After Shamil, it was Magomed-Emin’s turn. The troops landed from the ships captured Tuapse - the only port through which the highlanders of the North-West Caucasus were supplied with weapons and ammunition. On December 2, 1859, Magomed Emin and the elders of the Abadzekhs swore allegiance to the Russian Empire. However, the appearance of Russian settlers in the Caucasus led to discontent among the local population and the uprising of the peoples of Abkhazia in 1862. It was suppressed only in June 1864. After this, individual partisan detachments in the Caucasus fought against the Russians until 1884, but large-scale fighting ended 20 years earlier.

During the Caucasian War, the Russian army lost 25 thousand people killed and more than 65 thousand wounded. About 120 thousand soldiers and officers died from disease. There is no exact data on the losses of the armed highlanders, but there is no doubt that they were several times smaller than the Russians, especially in terms of those who died from disease. In addition, a certain number of the civilian mountain population became victims of Russian punitive operations. But as a result of the mountain raids, there were losses among the civilians of the Cossack villages and fortifications and among the Christian population of Georgia. There are no exact data on this matter.

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Background

According to the agreement concluded in Georgievsk on July 24, Tsar Irakli II was accepted under the protection of Russia; In Georgia, it was decided to maintain 2 Russian battalions with 4 guns. It was, however, impossible for such weak forces to protect the country from the continuously repeated raids of the Lezgins - and the Georgian militias were inactive. Only in the fall of the year was it decided to undertake an expedition to the village. Jary and Belokan, to punish the raiders, who were overtaken on October 14, near the Muganlu tract, and, having been defeated, fled across the river. Alazan. This victory did not bring significant fruit; Lezgin invasions continued, Turkish emissaries traveled throughout Transcaucasia, trying to incite the Muslim population against the Russians and Georgians. When Umma Khan of Avar (Omar Khan) began to threaten in Georgia, Heraclius turned to the commander of the Caucasian line, General. Potemkin with a request to send new reinforcements to Georgia; this request could not be respected, since the Russian troops were at that time busy suppressing the unrest caused on the northern slope of the Caucasus ridge by the preacher of the holy war, Mansur, who had appeared in Chechnya. A fairly strong detachment sent against him under the command of Colonel Pieri was surrounded by Chechens in the Zasunzha forests and almost exterminated, and Pieri himself was killed. This increased Mansur's authority among the mountaineers; the unrest spread from Chechnya to Kabarda and Kuban. Although Mansur’s attack on Kizlyar failed and soon after he was defeated in Malaya Kabarda by a detachment of Colonel Nagel, the Russian troops on the Caucasian line continued to remain in a tense state.

Meanwhile, Umma Khan, with Dagestan hordes, invaded Georgia and devastated it without meeting any resistance; on the other hand, the Akhaltsikhe Turks raided it. The Georgian troops, representing nothing more than a crowd of poorly armed peasants, turned out to be completely untenable; Colonel Vurnashev, who commanded the Russian battalions, was constrained in his actions by Irakli and his entourage. In the city, in view of the impending rupture between Russia and Turkey, our troops located in the Transcaucasus were recalled to the line, for the protection of 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 Tekelli, and the Caucasian Corps, under the command of Lieutenant General Potemkin. In addition, a settled or zemstvo army was established, consisting of Ossetians, Ingush and Kabardians. General Potemkin, and then General Tekelli undertook successful expeditions beyond the Kuban, but the situation on the line did not change significantly, and the raids of the mountaineers continued uninterruptedly. Communications between Russia and Transcaucasia almost ceased: Vladikavkaz and other fortified points on the way to Georgia were abandoned by Russian troops in the year. Tekelli's campaign against Anapa (city) was unsuccessful. In the city, the Turks, together with the highlanders, moved to Kabarda, but were defeated by the general. Herman. In June 1791, Chief General Gudovich took Anapa, and Mansur was also captured. Under the terms of the Treaty of Yassi concluded in the same year, Anapa was returned to the Turks. With the end of the Turkish War, they began to strengthen the K. line with new fortifications and to establish new Cossack villages, and the coasts of the Terek and upper Kuban were populated mainly by Don people, and the right bank of the Kuban, from the Ust-Labinsk fortress to the shores of the Azov and Black Seas, was designated for settlement Black Sea Cossacks. Georgia was at that time in the most deplorable state. Taking advantage of this, Aga Mohammed Khan of Persia, in the second half of the year, invaded Georgia and on September 11 took and ravaged Tiflis, from where the king, with a handful of entourage, fled to the mountains. Russia could not be indifferent to this, especially since the rulers of the regions neighboring Persia always leaned towards the stronger side. At the end of the year, Russian troops entered Georgia and Dagestan. The Dagestan rulers declared their submission, except for the Derbent Khan Sheikh Ali, who locked himself in his fortress. On May 10, the fortress was taken, after stubborn defense. Derbent, and in June it was occupied without resistance by Baku. The commander of the troops, Count Valerian Zubov, was appointed instead of Gudovich as the chief commander of the Caucasus region; but his activities there (see The Persian Wars) soon came to an end with the death of Empress Catherine. Paul I ordered Zubov to suspend military operations; Following this, Gudovich was again appointed commander of the Caucasian corps, and the Russian troops who were in Transcaucasia were ordered to return from there: it was only allowed to leave 2 battalions in Tiflis for a while, due to the increased requests of Heraclius.

In the city, George XII ascended the Georgian throne, who persistently asked Emperor Paul 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. When Umma Khan Avar invaded Georgia in the city, General Lazarev with a Russian detachment (about 2 thousand) and part of the Georgian militia (extremely poorly armed), defeated him on November 7, on the banks of the Yora River. 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, Russian administration was introduced in Georgia; Gen. was appointed commander-in-chief. Knorring, and the civil ruler of Georgia was Kovalensky. Neither one nor the other was well acquainted with the morals, customs and views of the people, and the officials who arrived with them indulged in various abuses. All this, combined with the machinations of the party who were dissatisfied with Georgia’s entry into Russian citizenship, led to the fact that unrest in the country did not stop, and its borders were still subject to raids by neighboring peoples.

At the end, Mr. Knorring and Kovalensky were recalled, and Lieutenant General was appointed commander-in-chief in the Caucasus. book Tsitsianov, well acquainted with the region. He sent most of the members of the former Georgian royal house to Russia, rightly considering them the main culprits of unrest and unrest. 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 a detachment of the general. Gulyakov, and the region itself was annexed to Georgia. In the city of Mingrelia, and in 1804 Imereti and Guria entered into Russian citizenship; in 1803 the Ganja fortress and the entire Ganja Khanate were conquered. The attempt of the Persian ruler Baba Khan to invade Georgia ended in the complete defeat of his troops near Etchmiadzin (June). In the same year, the Khanate of Shirvan accepted Russian citizenship, and in the city - the khanates of Karabakh and Sheki, Jehan-Gir Khan of Shahagh and Budag Sultan of Shuragel. Baba Khan again opened offensive operations, but at the mere news of Tsitsianov’s approach, he fled beyond the Araks (see Persian Wars).

On February 8, 1805, Prince Tsitsianov, who approached the city of Baku with a detachment, was treacherously killed by the local khan. Count Gudovich, who was well acquainted with the state of affairs on the Caucasian line, but not in Transcaucasia, was again appointed in his place. The recently conquered rulers of various Tatar regions, having ceased to feel Tsitsianov’s firm hand over them, again became clearly hostile to the Russian administration. Although the actions against them were generally successful (Derbent, Baku, Nukha were taken), the situation was complicated by the invasions of the Persians and the break with Turkey that followed in 1806. In view of the war with Napoleon, all fighting forces were drawn to the western borders of the empire; Caucasian troops were left without strength. Under the new commander-in-chief, gen. Tormasov (from the city), 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; at the same time, the fortresses of Poti and Sukhum were taken. It was also necessary to pacify the uprisings in Imereti and Ossetia. Tormasov's successors were Gen. Marquis Pauducci and Rtishchev; at the latter, thanks to the victory of the gene. Kotlyarevsky near Aslanduz and the capture of Lenkoran, the Treaty of Gulistan was concluded with Persia (). A new uprising that broke out in the fall of the year in Kakheti, instigated by the fugitive Georgian prince Alexander, was successfully suppressed. Since the Khevsurs and Kists (mountain Chechens) took an active part in this disturbance, Rtishchev decided to punish these tribes and in May undertook an expedition to Khevsuria, little known to the Russians. The troops sent there under the command of Major General Simonovich, despite incredible natural obstacles and the stubborn defense of the mountaineers, reached the main Khevsur village of Shatil (in the upper reaches of the Arguni), captured it and destroyed all the enemy villages lying on their way. The raids into Chechnya undertaken by Russian troops around the same time were not approved by Emperor Alexander I, who ordered General Rtishchev to try to restore calm on the Caucasian line with friendliness and condescension.

Ermolovsky period (-)

“... Downstream of the Terek live the Chechens, the worst of the robbers who attack the line. Their society is very sparsely populated, but has increased enormously in the last few years, for the villains of all other nations who leave their land due to some kind of crime were received in a friendly manner. Here they found accomplices, immediately ready to either avenge them or participate in robberies, and they served as their faithful guides in lands unknown to them. Chechnya can rightly be called the nest of all robbers...” (from the notes of A.P. Ermolov during the administration of Georgia)

The new (since the year) commander of all the tsarist troops in Georgia and on the Caucasian line, A.P. Ermolov, however, convinced the sovereign of the need to subdue the highlanders solely by force of arms. It was decided to carry out the conquest of the mountain peoples gradually, but urgently, occupying only those places that could be retained and not going further until what had been acquired was strengthened.

Ermolov, in the city, began his activities on the line from Chechnya, strengthening the Nazranovsky redoubt located on the Sunzha and establishing the Grozny fortress on the lower reaches of this river. This measure stopped the uprisings of the Chechens living between Sunzha and Terek.

In Dagestan, the highlanders who threatened Shamkhal Tarkovsky, captured by Russia, were pacified; To keep them in bondage, the Sudden fortress was built. The attempt against her by the Avar Khan ended in complete failure. In Chechnya, Russian troops destroyed villages and forced the indigenous inhabitants of these lands (Chechens) to move further and further from Sunzha; A clearing was cut through the dense forest to the village of Germenchuk, which served as one of the main defensive points of the Chechen army. In the city, the Black Sea Cossack army was assigned to a separate Georgian corps, renamed a separate Caucasian corps. The Burnaya fortress was built in the city, and the crowds of the Avar Khan Akhmet, who tried to interfere with Russian work, were broken up. On the right flank of the line, the Trans-Kuban Circassians, with the help of the Turks, began to disturb the borders more than ever; but their army, which invaded the land of the Black Sea army in October, suffered a severe defeat from the Russian army. In Abkhazia, the book. Gorchakov defeated the rebellious crowds near Cape Kodor and brought the prince into possession of the country. Dmitry Shervashidze. In the city, to completely pacify the Kabardians, a number of fortifications were built at the foot of the Black Mountains, from Vladikavkaz to the upper reaches of the Kuban. In and years The actions of the Russian command were directed against the Trans-Kuban highlanders, who did not stop their raids. In the city, the Abkhazians, who rebelled against the successor of the prince, were forced to submit. Dmitry Shervashidze, book. Mikhail. In Dagestan, in the 20s, a new Mohammedan teaching, muridism, began to spread, which subsequently created a lot of difficulties and dangers. Ermolov, having visited the city of Kuba, 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 proclaim the proximity of gazavat, that is, a holy war against the infidels. In 1825, there was a general uprising of Chechnya, during which the highlanders managed to capture the post of Amir-Adzhi-Yurt (July 8) and tried to take the fortification of Gerzel-aul, rescued by a detachment of Lieutenant General. Lisanevich (July 15). The next day Lisanevich and the gene who was with him. The Greeks were killed by one Chechen intelligence officer. From the very beginning of the city, the coast of the Kuban again began to be subject to raids by large parties of Shapsugs and Abadzekhs; The Kabardians were also worried. A number of expeditions to Chechnya were carried out in the city, cutting down clearings in dense forests, laying new roads and destroying villages free from Russian troops. This ended the activities of Ermolov, who left the Caucasus in the city.

The Yermolov period (1816-27) is considered one of the bloodiest for the Russian army. Its results were: on the northern side of the Caucasus ridge - the strengthening of Russian power in Kabarda and the Kumyk lands; the capture of many societies that lived in the foothills and plains against the lion. flank line; For the first time, the idea of ​​the need for gradual, systematic action in a country similar, according to the correct remark of Ermolov’s associate, Gen. Velyaminov, to a huge natural fortress, where it was necessary to seize each redoubt sequentially and, only having firmly established itself in it, conduct further approaches. In Dagestan, Russian power was supported by the betrayal of the local rulers.

The beginning of gazavat (-)

The new commander-in-chief of the Caucasian corps, adjutant general. Paskevich, at first, was busy with wars with Persia and Turkey. The successes he achieved in these wars contributed to maintaining external calm in the country; but Muridism spread more and more, and Kazi-Mulla sought to unite the hitherto scattered tribes of the east. The Caucasus into one mass hostile to Russia. Only Avaria did not succumb to his power, and his attempt (in the city) 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 his residence, the Dagestan village of Gimry, to the Belokan Lezgins. In April, Count Paskevich-Erivansky was recalled to command the army in Poland; In his place, they were temporarily appointed commanders of the troops: in Transcaucasia - General. Pankratiev, on the line - Gen. Velyaminov. Kazi-Mulla transferred his activities to the Shamkhal possessions, where, having chosen as his residence the inaccessible tract Chumkesent (in the 13th century, to the 10th 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 he plundered Kizlyar and attempted, but unsuccessfully, to take possession of Derbent. Attacked, December 1, regiment. Miklashevsky, he had to leave Chumkesent and went to Gimry. The new chief of the Caucasian corps, Baron Rosen, took Gimry on October 17, 1832; Kazi-Mulla died during the battle. His successor was Gamzat-bek (q.v.), who invaded Avaria in the city, treacherously took possession of Khunzakh, exterminated almost the entire khan’s family and was already thinking about conquering all of Dagestan, but died at the hands of a murderer. Soon after his death, on October 18, 1834, the main hangout of the murids, the village of Gotsatl (see the corresponding article), was taken and destroyed by a detachment of Colonel Kluki-von Klugenau. 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 proclamations hostile to us among the local tribes and delivered military supplies. This forced the bar. Rosen to entrust the gene. Velyaminov (summer 1834) a new expedition to the Trans-Kuban region, to establish a cordon line to Gelendzhik. It ended with the construction of the Nikolaevsky fortification.

Imam Shamil

Imam Shamil

In the eastern Caucasus, after the death of Gamzat-bek, Shamil became the head of the murids. The new imam, gifted with outstanding administrative and military abilities, soon turned out to be an extremely dangerous adversary, uniting all the hitherto scattered tribes of the Eastern Caucasus under his despotic power. Already at the beginning of the year, his forces increased so much that he set out to punish the Khunzakhs for killing his predecessor. Aslan Khan-Kazikumukhsky, who was temporarily appointed by us as the ruler of Avaria, asked to occupy Khunzakh with Russian troops, and Baron Rosen agreed to his request, in view of the strategic importance of the named point; 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. Shura's communication with Khunzakh was covered by the fortification of Zirani, near the river. Avar Koisu, and the Burunduk-kale tower. For direct communication between Shura and the Vnezapnaya fortress, the Miatlinskaya crossing over Sulak was built and covered with towers; the road from Shura to Kizlyar was secured by the fortification of Kazi-Yurt.

Shamil, more and more consolidating his power, chose the Koisubu district as his stay, 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, on July 3, we took possession of part of this village, Shamil entered into negotiations and promised submission. We had to accept his offer, since our 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 us: the retreat of the Russians from Tilitl gave him 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 the year, penetrated to the mouths of the Pshad 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, we were still far from lasting results in the pacification of the region. General Golovin was appointed to replace Baron Rosen. In the city, on the Black Sea coast, the fortifications of Navaginskoye, Velyaminovskoye and Tenginskoye were built and the construction of the Novorossiysk fortress, with a military harbor, began.

In the city, actions were carried out in various areas by three detachments. The first landing detachment of General Raevsky erected new fortifications on the Black Sea coast (forts Golovinsky, Lazarev, Raevsky). The second, Dagestan detachment, under the command of the corps commander himself, captured, on May 31, a very strong position of the highlanders on the Adzhiakhur heights, 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. It fell on August 22, but Shamil himself managed to escape.

The mountaineers apparently submitted, but in fact they were preparing an uprising, which kept us in the most tense state for 3 years. Military operations began on the Black Sea coast, where our hastily built forts were in a dilapidated state, and the garrisons were extremely weakened by fevers and other diseases. On February 7, 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 enemy penetrated the Mikhailovskoye fortification, the rest of the garrison of which exploded into the air, along with the enemy crowds. In addition, the highlanders captured (April 2) the Nikolaev fort; but their enterprises against the Navaginsky fort and the Abinsky fortification were unsuccessful.

On the left flank, a premature attempt to disarm the Chechens caused extreme anger among them, taking advantage of which Shamil raised the Ichkerians, Aukhovites and other Chechen societies against us. Russian troops under the command of General Galafeev limited themselves to searching the forests of Chechnya, which cost many people. It was especially bloody on the river. Valerik (July 11). While gen. Galafeev walked around M. Chechnya, Shamil subjugated Salatavia to his power and at the beginning of 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 K. line were insufficient to successfully fight him. The Chechens extended their raids to the Terek and almost captured Mozdok. On the right flank, by the fall, the new line along the Labe was secured by the forts of 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 captured 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. Avarsky-Koisu and reappeared in Chechnya; the murids again captured the village of Gergebil, which blocked the entrance to Mekhtulin’s possessions; our communications with Avaria were temporarily interrupted.

In the spring of the year, the expedition of Gen. Fezi improved our affairs in Avaria and Koisubu. Shamil tried to agitate southern Dagestan, but to no avail. General Grabbe moved through the dense forests of Ichkeria, with the goal of capturing Shamil’s residence, the village of Dargo. However, already on the 4th day of movement, our detachment had to stop and then begin a retreat (always the most difficult part of operations in the Caucasus), during which it lost 60 officers, about 1,700 lower ranks, one gun and almost the entire convoy. The unfortunate outcome of this expedition greatly raised the spirit of the enemy, and Shamil began to recruit troops, intending to invade Avaria. Although 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 our garrison remained in Khunzakh alone. The overall result of the actions of 1842 was far from satisfactory; in October, Adjutant General Neidgardt was appointed to replace Golovin. The failures of our weapons spread in the highest spheres of government the conviction that offensive actions were futile and even harmful. The then Minister of War, Prince, especially rebelled against this kind of action. Chernyshev, who had visited the Caucasus the previous summer and witnessed the return of Grabbe’s detachment from the Ichkerin forests. Impressed by this catastrophe, he requested the Highest Command, which prohibited all expeditions to the city and ordered that the city be limited to defense.

This forced inaction emboldened the opponents, and raids on the line became more frequent again. On August 31, 1843, Imam Shamil captured the fort at the village. Untsukul, destroying the detachment that went 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 torn from our power and our moral charm was shaken. On October 28, Shamil surrounded the Gergebil fortification, which he managed to take only on November 8, when only 50 defenders remained. Gangs of mountaineers, scattering in all directions, interrupted almost all communications with Derbent, Kizlyar and Lev. flank of the line; our troops in Temir Khan-Shura withstood the blockade that lasted from November 8 to December 24. The Nizovoye fortification, defended by only 400 people, withstood attacks by a crowd of thousands of highlanders for 10 days, until it was rescued by a detachment of the general. Freytag. In mid-April, Shamil's forces, 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 Highlanders were defeated by Passek's detachment. On the Lezgin line, the Elisu khan Daniel Bek, who had been loyal to us 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 Dargeli district (Akusha and Tsudahar); then the construction of the forward 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 the year, a new commander-in-chief, Count M. S. Vorontsov, was appointed to the Caucasus. He arrived in the early spring of the year, and in June he moved with a large detachment to Andia and then to Shamil’s residence - Dargo (see). This expedition ended with the destruction of the said village and gave Vorontsov the princely title, but it cost us enormous losses. 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. From the city on the left flank, we began to strengthen our power in the already 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 the difficult-to-reach village of Kutishi (in central Dagestan) from the hands of Shamil, which had just been occupied by him, resulted in the complete calming of the Kumyk plane and the foothills. On the Black Sea coastline, the Ubykhs (up to 6 thousand people) launched a new desperate attack on the Golovinsky fort on November 28, but were repelled with great damage.

In the city, 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 significance of our siege weapons, held out until September 14, when it was cleared by the mountaineers. Both of these enterprises cost us about 150 officers and more than 2 1/2 tons of lower ranks who were out of action. The forces of Daniel Bek invaded the Jaro-Belokan district, but on May 13 they were completely defeated at the village of Chardakhly. In mid-November, crowds of Dagestan highlanders invaded Kazikumukh and managed to take possession, but not for long, of several villages.

An outstanding event in the city is 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 fortification of Akhty, on Samur, but he failed. In the city, the siege of the village of Chokha, undertaken by Prince. Argutinsky, cost us 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 the year, systematic deforestation in Chechnya continued with the same persistence and was accompanied by more or less heated affairs. This course of action, putting societies hostile to us in a hopeless situation, forced many of them to declare unconditional submission. It was decided to adhere to the same system in the city. On the right flank, an offensive was launched to the Belaya River, with the goal of moving our front line there and taking 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 Shamil’s agent, Mohammed-Emin, who collected large parties for raids on our Labin settlements, but was defeated on May 14.

G. was marked by brilliant actions in Chechnya, under the leadership of the head 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 Gurdali.

In the city, rumors about an upcoming break with Turkey aroused new hopes among the mountaineers. Shamil and Mohammed-Emin, 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 Georgia and Kabarda and about the need to act decisively against the Russians, who were allegedly weakened by the sending of 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-Emin, with a crowd of Trans-Kuban highlanders, was defeated by a detachment of General Kozlovsky. When the final break with Turkey followed, at all points in the Caucasus it was decided to maintain a predominantly defensive course of action on our part; however, the clearing of forests and the destruction of the enemy's food supplies continued, although to a more limited extent. In the city, 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 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 (q.v.) was unsuccessful. On the right flank, we left the space between Anapa, Novorossiysk and the mouths of the Kuban; 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 (see Eastern War of 1853-56). Book Vorontsov left the Caucasus back in March, transferring control to the general. Read, and at the beginning of the year General was appointed commander-in-chief in the Caucasus. N. I. Muravyov. The landing of the Turks in Abkhazia, despite the betrayal of its ruler, Prince. Shervashidze, had no harmful consequences for us. At the conclusion of the Paris Peace, in the spring of 1856, it was decided to take advantage of those operating in Az. Turkey with troops and, having strengthened the Caspian Corps with them, began 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 and years 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 built 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 city's actions 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 a detachment of General Mishchenko and barely managed to escape into the still unoccupied part of the Argun Gorge. Convinced that his power there had been completely undermined, he retired to Veden - his new residence. On March 17, the bombardment of this fortified village began, and on April 1 it was taken by storm.

Shamil fled beyond the Andean Koisu; all of Ichkeria declared its submission to us. After the capture of Veden, three detachments headed concentrically to the Andean Koisu valley: Chechen, Dagestan 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 danger threatening from everywhere, fled to his last refuge on Mount Gunib, having only 332 people with him. the most fanatical murids from all over Dagestan. On August 25, Gunib was taken by storm, and Shamil himself was captured by Prince Baryatinsky.

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 there still remained the western part of the region, inhabited by warlike tribes hostile to Russia. It was decided to conduct actions in the Trans-Kuban region in accordance with what had been learned in last years system. The native tribes had to submit and move to the places indicated to them on the plane; otherwise, they were pushed further into the barren mountains, and the lands they left behind were populated by Cossack villages; finally, after pushing the natives from the mountains to the seashore, they could either move to the plain, under our closest supervision, 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 the year, 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. Actions against the small gangs there, led by stubborn fanatics, dragged on until the end of the year, when all attempts at indignation 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 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