Russian-Circassian War
Encyclopedia
The Russian–Circassian War (1763? - 1864) (sometimes Russo-Circassian War) refers to a series of battles and wars in Circassia
, the northwestern part of the Caucasus, which were part of the Russian Empire
's conquest of the Caucasus
lasting approximately 150 years, starting under the reign of Tsar Peter the Great and being completed in 1864. Although the conquest of the Caucasus started at least as early as the Russo-Persian War, the term Caucasian War
commonly refers only to the period 1817-1864. Those who use the term Russian–Circassian War take its starting date as 1763, when the Russians began establishing forts, including at Mozdok
, to be used as springboards for conquest.
The Caucasian War ended with the signing of loyalty oaths by Circassian leaders on 2 June 1864 (21 May, O.S.). Afterwards, the Ottoman Empire
offered to harbour the Circassians that did not wish to accept the rule of a Christian monarch, and many emigrated to Anatolia
, the heart of the Ottoman Empire
and ended up in modern Turkey
, Syria
, Jordan
, Israel
, Iraq
and Kosovo
. Various Russian, Caucasus, and Western historians agree on the figure of ca. 500,000 inhabitants of the highland Caucasus being deported by Russia in the 1860s. A large fraction of them died in transit from disease. Those that remained loyal to Russia, were settled into the lowlands, the left-bank of the Kuban River
.
Circassia (Cherkessia in Russian) refers to a region the majority of whose inhabitants before 1860s were the Adygey (Adyghey, Adyghe) ethnic group, known to the West as Circassians. This region consisted for the most part of the region between the westward flowing Kuban River
to the north and the Caucasus mountain range to the south, although the Kuban River constituted only part of the northern boundary. The Circassians were never politically united. The western bulk of Circassia, they belonged to any of about ten tribes, living in communities headed by chieftains. In the east of Circassia were two feudal polities, Greater Kabardá and Lesser Kabardá. In the late 1550s, the ruler of one of the Kabardás, Temryuk
(or Temriuk), struck a politico-military alliance with Tsar Ivan IV of Russia
(“Ivan the Terrible”), for mutual assistance against expansionist attacks by the Persian and Ottoman Empires. In this period of history, the Circassians were Christians; Islam did not begin to penetrate Circassia until the following century. In the 1560s Ivan and Temryuk directed forts to be constructed, including Tumnev
at the western end of Circassian lands and along the upper reaches of the Sunzha river, at the eastern end of Circassian lands.
During the mid 18th century, the Circassian region was a key strategic location to the power struggle between the surging British
and French
empires, the emerging Russian Empire, and the declining Ottoman Empire
. Russia had set its sights on expansion along the Black Sea
, while Britain and France sought to reduce Russia’s ability to take advantage of the declining Ottoman Empire, a foreign policy known as the answer to the Eastern Question
.
Peter the Great’s plans for expansion into India
and the Black Sea included engaging both Turkey
and Persia. To facilitate the fall of Persia, Russia would require shipyards on the Black Sea, which made Circassia, with its coastline, a target.
On a number of occasions, the Russian army took advantage of unrest and difficulty both within and between the Persian potentates, illustrated on 22 June 1806 when — during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)
— the Caspian Sea town of Derbend
fell to the Russian forces without a shot being fired. The ruler of Derbend, Shaykh Ali, was so unpopular with his people that upon the arrival of the Russian army, they revolted and allowed the Russians to take over.
In 1804, the subjugated Kabardians, as well as the remaining Western Circassians and neighbouring Balkars, Karachays, Abazins
, Ossetins, Ingushes, and Chechens, united in a military uprising. The rebels demanded the destruction of the Kislovodsk Russian fort and of the Cordon line. This was one of three defensive lines, all of which consisted of chains of forts, which were built during the whole conflict: the Caucasian line in 1780, the Chernomorski Cordon line in 1793, and the Sunja line in 1817. With the refusal of these demands, and despite threats of bloodshed from Russian commander, General Pavel Tsitsianov
, the rebel forces began threatening the Kislovodsk fort. Kabardian forces pushed Russian forces commanded by General Glazenap back to Georgievsk and then besieged them, but the attackers were in turn eventually pushed back, and 80 Kabardian villages were torched as a reprisal. In October 1809, rebel forces attacked the Caucasian Line. Between 1809 and 1810, Russian reinforcements began arresting Kabardian princes for resisting colonial rule, which led many of the princes to submit to Russian control and some resistance forces to abandon the war. 1810, a Russian army under General Bulgakov destroyed 200 Circassian and Balkar villages and drove away 20,000 cattle.
In 1811, petitions were sent to St. Petersburg in Russia, appealing for the rights of Kabardian aristocrats in the occupied areas. While many other points were quickly agreed to, requests for the return of land occupied by Russian fortresses were deliberated over. Russia encouraged the loyalty of defeated Kabardian nobles with donations to the Circassian government and honorary military ranks for the aristocracy in the Russian army. Meanwhile, on the military front, Russian forces in the Circassian region were consolidated into a new Caucasian corps in 1816 under the command of newly arrived General Aleksey Yermolov. In May 1818, the village of Tramov was surrounded, burnt, and its inhabitants killed by Russian forces under the command of General Delpotso, who took orders from Yermolov and who then wrote to the rebel forces: “This time, I am limiting myself on this. In the future, I will have no mercy for the guilty brigands; their villages will be destroyed, properties taken, wives and children will be slaughtered." The Russians also constructed several more fortifications during that year.
Military forces were sent into Kabardia, killing cattle and causing large numbers of inhabitants to flee into the mountains, with the land these inhabitants had once lived on being acquired for the Kuban Cossacks
. The entirety of Kabardia (eastern Circassia) was now declared Russian territory.
Yermolov accelerated his efforts, with the month of March 1822 alone seeing fourteen Kabardian villages being displaced as Yermolov led expeditions into western Circassia. The construction of new defensive lines in Kabardia led to renewed uprisings, which were eventually crushed. To discourage further uprisings, the Russians granted freedom to the serfs of the lords who had led the latest uprisings. Circassia was placed under Russian military rule in 1822, with a Temporary Kabardian Court also being established.
Minor Kabardia, or western Circassia, was targeted for a new offensive by General Stal, who was given command of the Caucasian Line in 1819. In September 1820, Stal and his forces began to forcibly resettle inhabitants of western Circassia. Throughout the conflict, Russia had employed a tactic of divide and rule, and following this, Yermolov instructed Stal on 1 July 1821 to encourage the Ingushes and Taugur tribes, who had previously been subjugated by the Circassians, to rise up and join the Russian efforts.
s, Ubykhs
, Shapsughs, and Natkhuagias
. The first of these were particularly involved in raiding Russian outposts in former eastern Circassia, or Kabardia.
These raids continued for several years, while the Russians continued to fortify their position; constructing the Labinski defensive front in 1840, and beginning to develop a new form of scout, known as a plastun
, for scouting Circassian held territory beyond such defensive positions. Russian and Circassian forces clashed repeatedly, particularly on the Kuban plains
, where cavalry from both sides could manoeuvre freely.
Trade with Circassia could not be prevented, however, and both the Turks and the British supplied Circassia with firearms and ammunition with which to fight the Russians. Britain also supplied several advisors, while Turkey attempted to persuade Circassia to start a Holy War
, which would draw support from other nations. In 1836, the Russian navy captured a British merchant ship supplying ammunition to the Circassians.
At this time, the current Russian Tsar, Nicholas I
, ordered construction to begin on the coastline, by building fortresses at every point on the captured Black Sea coast that was able to accommodate Russian naval vessels. Cape Adler was one of these locations. On 3 June 1837, Russian naval forces under the command Rear-Admiral Esmont, with troops commanded by General Volkhovski, began to head towards Cape Adler, arriving on 6 June. A Russian commander, Baron Rosen, sent a scout ship to locate a place for landing, but it was driven back by Circassian defenders.
On 7 June 1837, General Volkhovski landed at Cape Adler and entered a nearby forest, through which Circassian defenders had retreated after being bombarded by the Russian ships. In the dense forest, however, the Circassian defenders quietly approached the Russian positions and attacked. They were driven back, but the pursuing Russian forces ran into more Circassian defenders, and the messengers sent back for instructions were found by Circassian parties and killed. The Russians were then engaged in hand-to-hand combat with their enemy, and only after the late arrival of reinforcements managed to push the Circassians back and secure Cape Adler. Later that year, Nicholas I visited the area to see the situation for himself.
On 13 April 1838, Russian forces engaged the Circassian army in the estuary of River Sochi
, and on 12 May 1838 the Russians landed at Tuapse
. The majority of engagements during this part of the conflict took place in the form of either amphibious landings on coastal towns in accordance with the Tsar's directive to secure possible ports, or by routing out Circassian forces entrenched in mountain strongholds. At Tuapse, one of the fiercest battles of the conflict, the Russian landing had begun at 10:00 in the morning, and the Circassians were not beaten back from their positions until 5:00 in the afternoon, with the Russians suffering heavy casualties. On the following day, 13 May, when arriving to request permission to remove their dead from the battlefield, the Circassians were lectured on the benefits of staying under Russian control by the Russian commanders, Colonel Olshevski and Lieutenant Colonel Baron Grach.
visited the Russian forces. The fall of Gunib and capture of Imam Shamil
(or Schamyl), a rebel religious leader, by Dmitry Milyutin
in 1859, marked the final conquest of the eastern part of the North Caucasus (specifically, of Chechnya and Dagestan). This freed the Russian forces that had fought there to join the hostilities in Circassia. Between 1856 and 1859, two defensive lines were built to contain the remaining hostile tribes, the Adagumski Line and the Belorechenski Line. In May 1859, elders from the Bjedughs negotiated a peace with Russia and submitted to the Tsar, with the oath of loyalty to the Tsar being taken at assembly points beyond the Kuban River. The surviving Circassian leaders saw little chance in resisting against the economic and military superiority of Russia. Many of the remaining tribes soon submitted to the Russians, including the Abadzekhs on 20 November 1859. The remaining Ubykhs
were killed or forced to flee into the Ottoman Empire
. The Caucasian War, which had grown out of the Russian–Circassian War, ended on 2 June 1864 (21 May 1864 (O.S.)), in Kbaada
, a village populated by the Akhchipsou
tribe of Abazins
, as declared by the Tsar's manifesto. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia
, overall commander of Russian forces in the region, recognized this as the “conquest of the Western Caucasus and the end of the Caucasian War.”
. This policy was enforced by mobile columns of Russian riflemen and Cossack cavalry. "In a series of sweeping military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864 . . . the northwest Caucasus and the Black Sea coast were virtually emptied of Muslim villagers. Columns of the displaced were marched either to the Kuban [River] plains or toward the coast for transport to the Ottoman Empire . . . . One after another, entire Circassian tribal groups were dispersed, resettled, or killed en masse" Such tactics had been in use for a number of years. Count Leo Tolstoy, the future author of War and Peace, saw action in the war in 1850-51. He described how "It had been the custom to rush the auls [mountain villages] by night, when, taken by surprise, the women and children had no time to escape, and the horrors that ensued under the cover of darkness when the Russian soldiers made their way by twos and threes into the houses were such as no official narrator dared describe" Similar atrocities committed in the final campaign of 1859-1864 were recorded by contemporary Russian observers and British consuls. A consul Dickson recounted in an 1864 dispatch: "A Russian detachment having captured the village of Toobah on the Soobashi river, inhabited by about a hundred Abadzekh [a tribe of Circassians], and after these had surrendered themselves prisoners, they were all massacred by the Russian Troops. Among the victims were two women in an advanced state of pregnancy and five children. The detachment in question belongs to Count Evdokimoff's Army, and is said to have advanced from the Pshish valley. As the Russian troops gain ground on the [Black Sea] Coast, the natives are not allowed to remain there on any terms, but are compelled either to transfer themselves to the plains of the Kouban or emigrate to Turkey".
This expulsion, along with the actions of the Russian military in acquiring Circassian land, has given rise to a movement among descendants of the expelled ethnicities for international recognition that genocide was perpetrated. In 1840, Karl Friedrich Neumann
estimated the Circassian casualties to be around one and a half million. Some sources state that hundreds of thousands of others died during the exodus. Several historians use the term 'Circassian massacres' for the consequences of Russian actions in the region.
Circassian historians cite casualty figures that lie near the four million mark, while official Russian figures are near 300,000. If Neumann's estimations were correct, it would make it the largest civilian death toll of the 19th century, and indeed the Russian census of 1897 records only 150,000 Circassians, one tenth of the original number, still remaining in the now conquered region. In reference to the actions of the Russian army during the conflict, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
stated in May 1994 that resistance
to the tsarist forces was legitimate; however, he did not recognize "the guilt of the tsarist government for the genocide
."
Circassians have attempted to attract global media attention to the Circassian Genocide and its relation to the city of Sochi (where the Olympics will be held in 2014, on the official anniversary of the genocide) by holding mass protests in Vancouver, Istanbul and New York during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
On October 2006, the Adyghe (Circassian) organizations of many countries in North America, Europe and the Middle East sent the president of the European Parliament
a letter requesting recognition the genocide.
On March 20, 2010, a Circassian Genocide Congress was held in Tbilisi
, Georgia. The congress passed a resolution, urging Georgia to recognize the Circassian Genocide.
Some sources state that three million Circassians were evicted from Circassia in a period lasting until 1911. Other sources cite upwards of two million Circassian refugees fleeing Circassia by 1914 and entering nations and regions such as the Balkans
, Turkey
, what was the Ottoman Empire
in what was known as the Muhajir
, Syria
, Lebanon
, what is now Jordan
, Kosovo
, Egypt
(Circassians had been part of the Mamluk
armies since the Middle Age
s), Palestine
(in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rikhaniya, since 1880) and as far afield as upstate New York
and New Jersey
. A map here depicts the routes taken by Circassian refugees and the recipient countries.
According to historians who support the concept of a Circassian genocide, 90 percent of people with Circassian descent now live in other countries, primarily in Turkey, Jordan and other countries of the Middle East
, with only 300,000–400,000 remaining in what is now Russia
. The depopulated Circassian lands were resettled by numerous ethnic groups, including Russians, Ukrainians
and Georgians
. Friction developed between the latter group and the remaining indigenous people
in Abkhazia, a factor later contributing to friction between the two ethnic groups and the resulting War in Abkhazia.
/Circassians consider 21 May each year a sorrow day to remember the fall of Circassia, the Tsars genocide against their ancestors in addition the Tsars deportation of the majority of the Circassians nation to the middle eastern countries, as well as to honor and appreciate the Circassians immortals (hero
s and Abrek
s) who fought and sacrifice their selves to keep Circassia
independent in the battles and war with the Russian Empire
army and their mercenaries. During the Circassians resistance by elegies
.
Circassia
Circassia was an independent mountainous country located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia and was the largest and most important country in the Caucasus. Circassia was located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea...
, the northwestern part of the Caucasus, which were part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
's conquest of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
lasting approximately 150 years, starting under the reign of Tsar Peter the Great and being completed in 1864. Although the conquest of the Caucasus started at least as early as the Russo-Persian War, the term Caucasian War
Caucasian War
The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...
commonly refers only to the period 1817-1864. Those who use the term Russian–Circassian War take its starting date as 1763, when the Russians began establishing forts, including at Mozdok
Mozdok
Mozdok is a town and the administrative center of Mozdoksky District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania in southern Russia, located on the left shore of the Terek River, north of Vladikavkaz, the republic's capital. The name of the town literally means "dense forest" in the Kabardian language...
, to be used as springboards for conquest.
The Caucasian War ended with the signing of loyalty oaths by Circassian leaders on 2 June 1864 (21 May, O.S.). Afterwards, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
offered to harbour the Circassians that did not wish to accept the rule of a Christian monarch, and many emigrated to Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, the heart of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and ended up in modern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
. Various Russian, Caucasus, and Western historians agree on the figure of ca. 500,000 inhabitants of the highland Caucasus being deported by Russia in the 1860s. A large fraction of them died in transit from disease. Those that remained loyal to Russia, were settled into the lowlands, the left-bank of the Kuban River
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....
.
Early relations between Russia and Circassians
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....
to the north and the Caucasus mountain range to the south, although the Kuban River constituted only part of the northern boundary. The Circassians were never politically united. The western bulk of Circassia, they belonged to any of about ten tribes, living in communities headed by chieftains. In the east of Circassia were two feudal polities, Greater Kabardá and Lesser Kabardá. In the late 1550s, the ruler of one of the Kabardás, Temryuk
Temryuk
Temryuk is the largest town and the administrative center of Temryuksky District of Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Taman peninsula on the right bank of the Kuban River not far from its entry into the Temryuk Bay, amid a field of mud volcanoes. The seaport of Temryuk is situated from the...
(or Temriuk), struck a politico-military alliance with Tsar Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
(“Ivan the Terrible”), for mutual assistance against expansionist attacks by the Persian and Ottoman Empires. In this period of history, the Circassians were Christians; Islam did not begin to penetrate Circassia until the following century. In the 1560s Ivan and Temryuk directed forts to be constructed, including Tumnev
Temryuk
Temryuk is the largest town and the administrative center of Temryuksky District of Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Taman peninsula on the right bank of the Kuban River not far from its entry into the Temryuk Bay, amid a field of mud volcanoes. The seaport of Temryuk is situated from the...
at the western end of Circassian lands and along the upper reaches of the Sunzha river, at the eastern end of Circassian lands.
Opportunity for Russia
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
empires, the emerging Russian Empire, and the declining Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Russia had set its sights on expansion along the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
, while Britain and France sought to reduce Russia’s ability to take advantage of the declining Ottoman Empire, a foreign policy known as the answer to the Eastern Question
Eastern Question
The "Eastern Question", in European history, encompasses the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire. The expression does not apply to any one particular problem, but instead includes a variety of issues raised during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including...
.
Peter the Great’s plans for expansion into India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the Black Sea included engaging both Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Persia. To facilitate the fall of Persia, Russia would require shipyards on the Black Sea, which made Circassia, with its coastline, a target.
Annexation of eastern Circassia
Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)
The 1804-1813 Russo-Persian War, one of the many wars between the Persian Empire and Imperial Russia, began like many wars as a territorial dispute. The Persian king, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the northernmost reaches of his Qajar dynasty by securing land near the Caspian Sea's...
— the Caspian Sea town of Derbend
Derbent
Derbent |Lak]]: Чурул, Churul; Persian: دربند; Judæo-Tat: דארבּאנד/Дэрбэнд/Dərbənd) is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, close to the Azerbaijani border. It is the southernmost city in Russia, and it is the second most important city of Dagestan...
fell to the Russian forces without a shot being fired. The ruler of Derbend, Shaykh Ali, was so unpopular with his people that upon the arrival of the Russian army, they revolted and allowed the Russians to take over.
In 1804, the subjugated Kabardians, as well as the remaining Western Circassians and neighbouring Balkars, Karachays, Abazins
Abazins
The Abazins are a people who live mostly in Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea of Russia.An Abazin diaspora exists in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Egypt , and other Islamic countries, most of which are descendants of refugees from the Caucasian War...
, Ossetins, Ingushes, and Chechens, united in a military uprising. The rebels demanded the destruction of the Kislovodsk Russian fort and of the Cordon line. This was one of three defensive lines, all of which consisted of chains of forts, which were built during the whole conflict: the Caucasian line in 1780, the Chernomorski Cordon line in 1793, and the Sunja line in 1817. With the refusal of these demands, and despite threats of bloodshed from Russian commander, General Pavel Tsitsianov
Pavel Tsitsianov
Pavel Dmitriyevich Tsitsianov was the Georgian Imperial Russian military commander and infantry general from 1804. A member of the noble Georgian family Tsitsishvili , Tsitsianov participated in suppression of the Kościuszko Uprising and in the Russo-Persian War...
, the rebel forces began threatening the Kislovodsk fort. Kabardian forces pushed Russian forces commanded by General Glazenap back to Georgievsk and then besieged them, but the attackers were in turn eventually pushed back, and 80 Kabardian villages were torched as a reprisal. In October 1809, rebel forces attacked the Caucasian Line. Between 1809 and 1810, Russian reinforcements began arresting Kabardian princes for resisting colonial rule, which led many of the princes to submit to Russian control and some resistance forces to abandon the war. 1810, a Russian army under General Bulgakov destroyed 200 Circassian and Balkar villages and drove away 20,000 cattle.
Military forces were sent into Kabardia, killing cattle and causing large numbers of inhabitants to flee into the mountains, with the land these inhabitants had once lived on being acquired for the Kuban Cossacks
Kuban Cossacks
Kuban Cossacks or Kubanians are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are of descendants of two major groups who were re-settled in the Western Northern Caucasus during the Caucasus War in the late 18th century...
. The entirety of Kabardia (eastern Circassia) was now declared Russian territory.
Prologue: Russian Forays into western Circassia
The invasion
While eastern Circassia was being occupied, Russia was also engaged in a war with the Turks in order to free the Black Sea coastline from Turkish control, and sporadic wars had also flared up with other neighbours, including the Chechens. In western Circassia, a number of tribes were dominant; the Besleneys, AbadzekhAbadzekh
Abadzekhs are a people of Adyghe branch.A significant part of them live in diaspora, which are descendants of refugees from the Caucasian War with the Russian Empire. Their dominant religion is Sunni Islam...
s, Ubykhs
Ubykh people
The Ubykh are a group who spoke the Northwest Caucasian Ubykh language, until other local languages displaced it and its last speaker died in 1992....
, Shapsughs, and Natkhuagias
Natukhai people
Natukhai are a people of the Adyghe branch, whom are the original dwellers of the far north west of historical Circassia, and their areas historically extended from Anapa in the North to Tsemez in the south, currently Novorossiysk in the Russian Federation....
. The first of these were particularly involved in raiding Russian outposts in former eastern Circassia, or Kabardia.
Plastun
A Plastun or plastoon was a Cossack foot scouting and sentry military unit. Originally they were part of the Black Sea Cossack Host and then later in the 19th and 20th centuries Kuban Cossack Host.-Early History:...
, for scouting Circassian held territory beyond such defensive positions. Russian and Circassian forces clashed repeatedly, particularly on the Kuban plains
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....
, where cavalry from both sides could manoeuvre freely.
Trade with Circassia could not be prevented, however, and both the Turks and the British supplied Circassia with firearms and ammunition with which to fight the Russians. Britain also supplied several advisors, while Turkey attempted to persuade Circassia to start a Holy War
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
, which would draw support from other nations. In 1836, the Russian navy captured a British merchant ship supplying ammunition to the Circassians.
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
, ordered construction to begin on the coastline, by building fortresses at every point on the captured Black Sea coast that was able to accommodate Russian naval vessels. Cape Adler was one of these locations. On 3 June 1837, Russian naval forces under the command Rear-Admiral Esmont, with troops commanded by General Volkhovski, began to head towards Cape Adler, arriving on 6 June. A Russian commander, Baron Rosen, sent a scout ship to locate a place for landing, but it was driven back by Circassian defenders.
On 7 June 1837, General Volkhovski landed at Cape Adler and entered a nearby forest, through which Circassian defenders had retreated after being bombarded by the Russian ships. In the dense forest, however, the Circassian defenders quietly approached the Russian positions and attacked. They were driven back, but the pursuing Russian forces ran into more Circassian defenders, and the messengers sent back for instructions were found by Circassian parties and killed. The Russians were then engaged in hand-to-hand combat with their enemy, and only after the late arrival of reinforcements managed to push the Circassians back and secure Cape Adler. Later that year, Nicholas I visited the area to see the situation for himself.
On 13 April 1838, Russian forces engaged the Circassian army in the estuary of River Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
, and on 12 May 1838 the Russians landed at Tuapse
Tuapse
Tuapse is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the northeast shore of the Black Sea, south of Gelendzhik and north of Sochi. It serves as the administrative center of Tuapsinsky District, although administratively it is separate from it...
. The majority of engagements during this part of the conflict took place in the form of either amphibious landings on coastal towns in accordance with the Tsar's directive to secure possible ports, or by routing out Circassian forces entrenched in mountain strongholds. At Tuapse, one of the fiercest battles of the conflict, the Russian landing had begun at 10:00 in the morning, and the Circassians were not beaten back from their positions until 5:00 in the afternoon, with the Russians suffering heavy casualties. On the following day, 13 May, when arriving to request permission to remove their dead from the battlefield, the Circassians were lectured on the benefits of staying under Russian control by the Russian commanders, Colonel Olshevski and Lieutenant Colonel Baron Grach.
The beginning of the end
Later that year, the Russian Tsarevich Alexander IIIAlexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
visited the Russian forces. The fall of Gunib and capture of Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
(or Schamyl), a rebel religious leader, by Dmitry Milyutin
Dmitry Milyutin
Count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin was Minister of War and the last Field Marshal of Imperial Russia...
in 1859, marked the final conquest of the eastern part of the North Caucasus (specifically, of Chechnya and Dagestan). This freed the Russian forces that had fought there to join the hostilities in Circassia. Between 1856 and 1859, two defensive lines were built to contain the remaining hostile tribes, the Adagumski Line and the Belorechenski Line. In May 1859, elders from the Bjedughs negotiated a peace with Russia and submitted to the Tsar, with the oath of loyalty to the Tsar being taken at assembly points beyond the Kuban River. The surviving Circassian leaders saw little chance in resisting against the economic and military superiority of Russia. Many of the remaining tribes soon submitted to the Russians, including the Abadzekhs on 20 November 1859. The remaining Ubykhs
Ubykh people
The Ubykh are a group who spoke the Northwest Caucasian Ubykh language, until other local languages displaced it and its last speaker died in 1992....
were killed or forced to flee into the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The Caucasian War, which had grown out of the Russian–Circassian War, ended on 2 June 1864 (21 May 1864 (O.S.)), in Kbaada
Krasnaya Polyana
Krasnaya Polyana is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia:*Krasnaya Polyana, Krasnodar Krai, an urban locality in Krasnodar Krai...
, a village populated by the Akhchipsou
Akhchipsou
The Ahchipsou was a Sadz tribe, lived on Caucasus Major, near the modern border of Krasnodar Krai and Abkhazia. They lived at the upper Mzymta, and its inflow Achipse, modern Krasnaya Polyana, Adlersky City District, Sochi, Russia...
tribe of Abazins
Abazins
The Abazins are a people who live mostly in Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea of Russia.An Abazin diaspora exists in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Egypt , and other Islamic countries, most of which are descendants of refugees from the Caucasian War...
, as declared by the Tsar's manifesto. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia was the youngest son of Emperor Alexander III of Russia.At the time of his birth, his paternal grandfather was still the reigning Emperor of All the Russias. Michael was fourth-in-line to the throne following his father and elder brothers Nicholas and...
, overall commander of Russian forces in the region, recognized this as the “conquest of the Western Caucasus and the end of the Caucasian War.”
Civilian casualties
Towards the end of the conflict, the Russian General Yevdokimov was tasked with driving the remaining Circassian inhabitants out of the region, primarily into the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. This policy was enforced by mobile columns of Russian riflemen and Cossack cavalry. "In a series of sweeping military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864 . . . the northwest Caucasus and the Black Sea coast were virtually emptied of Muslim villagers. Columns of the displaced were marched either to the Kuban [River] plains or toward the coast for transport to the Ottoman Empire . . . . One after another, entire Circassian tribal groups were dispersed, resettled, or killed en masse" Such tactics had been in use for a number of years. Count Leo Tolstoy, the future author of War and Peace, saw action in the war in 1850-51. He described how "It had been the custom to rush the auls [mountain villages] by night, when, taken by surprise, the women and children had no time to escape, and the horrors that ensued under the cover of darkness when the Russian soldiers made their way by twos and threes into the houses were such as no official narrator dared describe" Similar atrocities committed in the final campaign of 1859-1864 were recorded by contemporary Russian observers and British consuls. A consul Dickson recounted in an 1864 dispatch: "A Russian detachment having captured the village of Toobah on the Soobashi river, inhabited by about a hundred Abadzekh [a tribe of Circassians], and after these had surrendered themselves prisoners, they were all massacred by the Russian Troops. Among the victims were two women in an advanced state of pregnancy and five children. The detachment in question belongs to Count Evdokimoff's Army, and is said to have advanced from the Pshish valley. As the Russian troops gain ground on the [Black Sea] Coast, the natives are not allowed to remain there on any terms, but are compelled either to transfer themselves to the plains of the Kouban or emigrate to Turkey".
This expulsion, along with the actions of the Russian military in acquiring Circassian land, has given rise to a movement among descendants of the expelled ethnicities for international recognition that genocide was perpetrated. In 1840, Karl Friedrich Neumann
Karl Friedrich Neumann
Karl Friedrich Neumann , German orientalist, was born, under the name of Bamberger, at Reichsmannsdorf, near Bamberg....
estimated the Circassian casualties to be around one and a half million. Some sources state that hundreds of thousands of others died during the exodus. Several historians use the term 'Circassian massacres' for the consequences of Russian actions in the region.
Circassian historians cite casualty figures that lie near the four million mark, while official Russian figures are near 300,000. If Neumann's estimations were correct, it would make it the largest civilian death toll of the 19th century, and indeed the Russian census of 1897 records only 150,000 Circassians, one tenth of the original number, still remaining in the now conquered region. In reference to the actions of the Russian army during the conflict, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
stated in May 1994 that resistance
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
to the tsarist forces was legitimate; however, he did not recognize "the guilt of the tsarist government for the genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
."
Circassians have attempted to attract global media attention to the Circassian Genocide and its relation to the city of Sochi (where the Olympics will be held in 2014, on the official anniversary of the genocide) by holding mass protests in Vancouver, Istanbul and New York during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
On October 2006, the Adyghe (Circassian) organizations of many countries in North America, Europe and the Middle East sent the president of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
a letter requesting recognition the genocide.
On March 20, 2010, a Circassian Genocide Congress was held in Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, Georgia. The congress passed a resolution, urging Georgia to recognize the Circassian Genocide.
Migration
Some sources state that three million Circassians were evicted from Circassia in a period lasting until 1911. Other sources cite upwards of two million Circassian refugees fleeing Circassia by 1914 and entering nations and regions such as the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, what was the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in what was known as the Muhajir
Muhajir (Caucasus)
Circassians, the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Caucasus were cleansed from their homeland at the end of the Caucasian War by victorious Russia, which by its manner of suppression of the Caucasus directed at the Crimean Tartars and Circassians can be credited with "inventing the strategy of...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, what is now Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
(Circassians had been part of the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
armies since the Middle Age
Middle age
Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....
s), Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
(in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rikhaniya, since 1880) and as far afield as upstate New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. A map here depicts the routes taken by Circassian refugees and the recipient countries.
According to historians who support the concept of a Circassian genocide, 90 percent of people with Circassian descent now live in other countries, primarily in Turkey, Jordan and other countries of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, with only 300,000–400,000 remaining in what is now Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The depopulated Circassian lands were resettled by numerous ethnic groups, including Russians, Ukrainians
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Georgians
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
. Friction developed between the latter group and the remaining indigenous people
Abkhaz people
The Abkhaz or Abkhazians are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. A large Abkhazian diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as Muhajirism...
in Abkhazia, a factor later contributing to friction between the two ethnic groups and the resulting War in Abkhazia.
A Day To Remember
The AdygheAdyghe people
The Adyghe or Adygs , also often known as Circassians or Cherkess, are in origin a North Caucasian ethnic groupwho were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russian–Circassian War of 1862.Adyghe people mostly speak Adyghe and most...
/Circassians consider 21 May each year a sorrow day to remember the fall of Circassia, the Tsars genocide against their ancestors in addition the Tsars deportation of the majority of the Circassians nation to the middle eastern countries, as well as to honor and appreciate the Circassians immortals (hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
s and Abrek
Abrek
Abrek is a North Caucasian term. It originates from abræg, the Ossetian for a robber. Once it was used for a person who vowed to avoid any pleasures and to be fearless in fight. A vow could last for five years...
s) who fought and sacrifice their selves to keep Circassia
Circassia
Circassia was an independent mountainous country located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia and was the largest and most important country in the Caucasus. Circassia was located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea...
independent in the battles and war with the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
army and their mercenaries. During the Circassians resistance by elegies
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
.
Further reading
- Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 - Bell, James Stanislaus (English)
- The Annual Register. 1836. United Kingdom
- Butkov, P.G. 1869. Materials for New History of the Caucasus 1722–1803.
- Jaimoukha, A., The Circassians: A Handbook, London: RoutledgeCurzon; New York; Routledge and Palgrave, 2001.
- Khodarkovsky, Michael. 2002. Russia's steppe frontier : the making of a colonial empire, 1500-1800. Bloomington : Indiana University Press. Series: Indiana-Michigan series in Russian and East European studies.
- Leitzinger, Antero. 2000. The Circassian Genocide. In The Eurasian Politician, 2000 October 2000, Issue 2.
- Shapi Kaziev. Kaziev, ShapiKaziev ShapiShapi Magomedovitch Kaziev, is a Russian writer, playwright and script writer. He is the author of historical novels and other books.-Life and career:...
. Imam Shamil. "Molodaya Gvardiya" publishers. Moscow, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2010
External links
- Abzakh, Edris. 1996. Circassian History.
- Adanır, Fikret. 2007. Course syllabus with useful reading list.
- Hatk, Isam. 1992. Russian-Circassian War, 1763 - 21 May 1864. Al-Waha-Oasis, 1992, 51:10-15. Amman.
- Köremezli İbrahim. 2004. The Place of the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Circassian War (1830–1864). Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.
- A collection of cited reports on the conflict, collected by the Circassian World, translated by Nejan Huvaj, and found on this page retrieved on 11 March 2007