Russian-Circassian War

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Russian-Circassian War
Part of The Caucasian Wars
Date 1763 – 2 June [O.S. 21 May] 1864 Location Circassia Result Russian victory, annexation of Circassia, mass deportation
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Circassia  Ottoman Empire Caucasian Imamate
Commanders
Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Aleksey Yermolov, Mikhail Vorontsov, Aleksandr Baryatinskiy	Sheikh Mansur Ghazi Mollah Gamzat-bek Muhammad-Amin, naib of Imam Shamil[1]
Strength
150,000 – 200,000[2]	20,000 regulars[3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	300,000 – 4,000,000[4]

The Russian-Circassian War was the period of hostilities between the Russian Empire and the inhabitants of Circassia during the Russian invasion and occupation of the Circassian region. Circassia, (also known as Cherkessia in Russian) was a region in Caucasia which consisted of the coastline and most of the interior of the current territory of Krasnodar Krai and Adygea.^[5] The historical region, now mainly North Ossetia-Alania, was named after the traditional inhabitants, the Circassians, Adyghe or Adiga, along with a number of smaller ethnic groups and tribes.^[6] The Russian-Circassian conflict began with the initial arrival of Russian occupation forces in 1763, and ended with the signing of several Russian loyalty oaths by Circassian leaders on June 2, 1864 (May 21, O.S.).

While the Russian-Circassian War began as an isolated conflict, Russian expansion through the entire region soon brought it into conflict with a number of other nations in what later became known as the Caucasian War, and of which the Russian-Circassian War became a part. Both came to an end with the signing of the loyalty oaths to Russia, and with the total occupation of the region by Russian forces, which involved the mass migration^[1][7][5] of millions of indigenous Circassians to areas of the Ottoman Empire (modern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Kosovo),^[5] with some Circassian historians citing that up to 4,000,000 civilians perished during the exodus.^[8]

Contents 1 Previous hostilities 2 Opportunity for Russia 3 Events of the war 3.1 Occupation of eastern Circassia 3.2 Forays into western Circassia 3.3 Invasion of western Circassia 3.4 The beginning of the end 4 Consequences of the conflict 4.1 Civilian casualties 4.2 Migration 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] Previous hostilities

The date of the outbreak of the Russian-Circassian conflict is difficult to define,^[1][9] as the earliest recorded hostilities between Russia and the Circassians began in 885 when Russian forces under Prince Sviatoslav,^{[dubious – discuss]} invaded the region.^[1] The date of the outbreak of the Russian-Circassian War is thus debated by a number of historians.^[5] Despite the long lasting hostilities, historians such as A. A. Gaspari in 1904 have argued that the conflict began in 1817 with the arrival of Russian General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov,^{[1][unreliable source?]} who took command of the Russian forces occupying the whole region of the Caucasus. This start date is the same as that of the larger Caucasian War. A number of historians, however, agree that the conflict with Circassia alone began in 1763 with the arrival of Russian occupation forces in the Circassian region itself.^[1][10]

Following the invasion under Prince Sviatoslav^{[dubious – discuss]}, hostilities again broke out in 1022, when Prince Mstislav of Tamatarkha invaded the region. In 1561, Ivan IV of Russia, through marriage, brought the Eastern Circassia territory under his control and constructed a series of Cossack forts, at Tumen, Sunja, and Andreevo, which were completed by 1579. Although Ivan also annexed several other territories, including Siberia, his successor Tsar Feodor I of Russia gave himself the title “The ruler of the Iberian land, Georgian Tsars, Kabarda, Circassians, and mountaineer princes.”^[1] illustrating Russian control over the entire Circassian region. May 13, 1711 saw another Russian invasion of Circassia under the command of Araksin, Governor of Astrakhan, who was in turn under the orders of Tsar Peter Alexeyevich Romanov, or “Peter the Great”. 30,000 Russian soldiers captured towns and pillaged villages for 86 km along the Kuban River in Circassia.^[11] Circassian cavalry, 7,000 strong, were defeated by the invasion forces on September 6. This style of conflict continued from 1716 to 1763, with 43,247 Circassians, 39,200 horses, 190,000 cattle, and 227,000 sheep being killed or driven away.^[1][5]

[edit] Opportunity for Russia

The Circassian region was a key strategic location amidst the power struggle between the emerging Russian Empire, established England and France, and the failing Ottoman Empire during the mid 18th century. Russia had set her sights on expansion along the Black Sea, while England 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 the Turks and Persia, the latter in particular in order to open trade routes to Syria. To facilitate the fall of Persia, Russia would require shipyards on the Black Sea, which made Circassia, with its coastline, a target.

Tsar Alexander II was told by his advisors that:

“

The East must belong to us by right. We should not relax our activities in that direction for one moment. Constantinople has no knowledge of our real intentions. Having taken possession of it, we shall acquire the most important point of the world, and these gates to Asia should forever remain in our hands. Britain is the mistress of the seas since time immemorial. Leaning on the might we have achieved on land, we must have the same on the sea. We must take over the Black Sea coast, Bosphorus, and Dardanelles. The Black Sea ought to become the place for our manoeuvres... It is imperative to complete the war with the peoples of the Caucasus, which will still demand substantial expenses and a great perseverance.[1]

”

[edit] Events of the war

The Russian-Circassian war lasted 101 years, and was divided into three chronological periods based on the military activities of the Russian occupation forces. The Circassia of the time was divided into two geographic and ethnic regions, both occupied by a large number of warlike tribes and ruled by royal aristocracies. Eastern Circassia, also known as Kabardia, was inhabited by the Kabardians, a semi-nomadic eastern branch of what was once the Adyghe tribal fellowship that was the ethnic root of the majority of the Circassian population as a whole.^[5] The first period of the conflict was concerned with the invasion and subjugation of this region, and took place from 1763 onwards. During the second period of the conflict, between the occupation of eastern Circassia and the year of 1822, Russian armies periodically raided western Circassia and forcibly relocated many inhabitants. During the third period from 1822 onwards, the Russian army invaded and occupied western Circassia and eventually procured the loyalty of the tribes settling there.^[1]

[edit] Occupation of eastern Circassia

In 1763, Russian forces in the Russian-occupied eastern fringes of Circassia began fortifying towns, to which the inhabitants objected. On August 21, 1765, the citizens of Circassia were instructed by Russian General De-Medem, to accept Russian control or face the Russian army.^[1]

With hostilities growing throughout the period, Russia dispatched several military expeditions, starting in 1779 under the command of General Yakobi. Kabardia, near the Balka River, was attacked on September 29, 1779, by Russian forces under the command of General Yakobi, and taken with the loss of the Kabardian defenders as well as 2,000 horses, 5,000 cattle, and 5,000 sheep.^[1] On a number of occasions, the Russian army took advantage of unrest and difficulty both within and between the Persian potentates,^[12] illustrated on 22 June 1806 when - during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) - the 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.^[13] In 1804, the subjugated Kabardians, as well as the remaining Western Circassians and neighbouring Balkars, Karachays, Abazins, Ossetins, Ingushs, and Chechens, united in a military uprising.^[5] 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 Cord line in 1793, and the Sunja line in 1817. With the refusal of these demands, and despite threats of bloodshed from Georgian commander General Tsitsianov, the rebel forces began threatening the Kislovodsk fort.^[14]

Russian forces commanded by General Glazenap were pushed back to Georgievsk and then put under siege there, however the attacking Kabardian forces were eventually pushed back, and 80 Kabardian villages were torched as a reprisal.^[1] 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 to some resistance forces abandoning the war, and many of the princes submitting to Russian control. Later in 1810, a Russian army under General Bulgakov destroyed 200 Circassian and Balkar villages and drove away 20,000 cattle.^[15]

In 1811, petitions were sent to St. Petersburg in Russia, appealing for the rights of Kabardian aristocracy in the occupied areas. While many other points were agreed, requests for the return of land occupied by Russian fortresses was deliberated over. Russia encouraged the loyalty of subjugated 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 united under the newly organised Caucasian corps in 1816 under the command of newly arrived General Aleksey Yermolov. A year later, 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."^[1] The Russians also constructed several more fortifications during that year. During the whole period from 1779 to 1818, 315,000 of the 350,000 Kabardinians had reportedly been killed by the Russian armies.^[1]

[edit] Forays into western Circassia

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,^[16] and following this, Yermolov instructed Stal on July 1, 1821 to encourage the Ingushs and Taugur tribes, who had previously been subjugated by the Circassians, to rise up and join the Russian efforts.^[1] 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 property of the Russian government.^[17]

Yermolov accelerated his efforts, with the month of March 1822 alone seeing fourteen Kabardian villages being displaced as Yermolov led expeditions into western Circassia.^[1] The construction of new defensive lines in Kabardia led to renewed uprisings, which were eventually crushed and the rebellious lords had their much needed peasant work forces freed by the Russian forces in order to discourage further uprisings. Circassia was placed under Russian military rule in 1822, with a Temporary Kabardian Court also being established.

[edit] Invasion of western Circassia

While eastern Circassia was being occupied, Russia was also engaged in a war with the Turks in order to free Black Sea coastline from Turkish control, and sporadic wars had also flared up with other neighbours, including the Chechens. In western Circassia, which Russia had previously been merely foraying into, a number of tribes were dominant; the Besleneys, Abadzekhs, Ubykhs, Shapsughs, and Natkhuagias, portrayed by Russian propaganda as savages in a possible attempt to curry favour from the international community.^[1] 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 line 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.^[18]

Trade with Circassia could not be prevented, however, and both the Turkish and the English supplied Circassia with firearms and ammunition with which to fight the Russians. England also supplied several advisors, while Turkey attempted to persuade Circassia to start a Holy War, which would draw support from other nations.^[1] In 1836, the Russian navy captured an English merchant ship supplying ammunition to the Circassians. This merchant ship was part of an ongoing effort to bring supplies to the Circassians, supplies which also served to inspire more resistance.^[19][20]

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.^[21] Cape Adler was one of these locations. On June 3, 1837, Russian naval forces under the command Rear-Admiral Esmont, with troops commanded by General Volkhovski, began to head towards Cape Adler, arriving on June 6. A Russian commander, Baron Rosen, sent a scout ship to locate a place for landing, but it was driven back by Circassian defenders.^[1]

On June 7, 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.^[1]

On April 13, 1838, Russian forces engaged the Circassian army in the estuary of River Sochi, and on May 12, 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 directive laid out by the Tsar 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.^[22][23] On the following day, May 13, 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.^[1][24]

In 1839, Russian forces landed at Subash and began construction of a fort, where they faced charges by Ubykh forces who were eventually driven back by shellfire from the Russian navy. Over 1000^[1] soldiers then charged the Russian positions, however they were outflanked and overrun as they attempted to retreat. This pattern of attack by the Russian forces went on for several years.^[25]

On February 7, 1840, Circassian forces surrounded the Russian fort of Lazarev, stormed it and massacred the defenders. This victory was inspirational to them, and they went on to capture the Veliaminovski fortress and then attack the Mikhailovski fortress with an army of 11,000 men. At this bastion, Russian Staff Captain Liko, Lieutenant Kraumzgold and Ensign Gaevski commanded a handful of companies as a defence force. Liko, upon learning of the fall of the other two fortresses, and knowing that the size of the attack force was far greater than that of his own small command, attempted to increase his chances by choosing to only defend half of the fortress, the half that he most suspected would be attacked.^[26] Staff Captain Liko was badly wounded and other officers were killed at dawn when the attack came, and command fell to an officer cadet named Miroslavski. With the Mikhailovski fortress ablaze and under the control of the Circassians, a Russian soldier ran with a blazing torch into the ammunition cellar, destroying the fort, the surviving defenders, and a significant portion of the Circassian army. The wounded Staff Captain Liko, another second lieutenant, a Russian Orthodox Chaplain, and 80 other soldiers were taken prisoner.^[1] The remaining Circassian forces moved on to attack the fort of Golovinski, but were beaten back by the Russian defenders there.^[1]

[edit] The beginning of the end

Later that year, the Russian Alexander III of Russia visited the Russian forces. The fall of Gunib and capture of Imam Shamil (or Schamyl^[27]), a rebel religious leader, by Dmitry Milyutin in 1859, marked the final conquest of the eastern Circassia lands. 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. In 1840 alone, the Russian estimate for artillery cartridge expenditure was 11,344, and for musket cartridges 1,206,575.^[28] Many of the remaining tribes soon submitted to the Russians, including the Abadzekhs on November 20, 1859.^[29]

The Natkhuagias also swore loyalty to the Tsar after they were defeated in January 1860 in battle against Colonel Babich, where their leader was killed. In 1861, the remaining tribes formed a new government called “The Mejlis of Free Circassia".^[1]

At this time, due to the pacification of Daghestan and Chechnia in the wider theatres of what was now the much larger Caucasian War, fresh Russian troops were available and were sent into western Circassia, and the remaining Ubykhs were killed or forced to flee into the Ottoman Empire.^[30] With the capture of and later loyalty pledge by Imam Shamil,^[31] the Caucasian War, which the Russian-Circassian War grew to be a part of, ended on June 2, 1864 (May 21, 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.”^[1]

[edit] Consequences of the conflict

[edit] Civilian casualties

Main article: Circassian ethnic cleansing

Towards the end of the conflict, Russian General Yevdokimov was tasked with forcing the remaining Circassian inhabitants to relocate outside of the region, primarily in the Ottoman Empire. This policy was enforced by mobile columns of Russian riflemen and Cossack cavalry, and Ottoman Empire figures show nearly 1.75 million migrants entering their land by 1879. Other sources show that as many as 3 million Circassians were forced to flee in total.^[32][33][34]

This migration, along with the actions of the Russian military in acquiring Circassian land,^[7] has brought about questions of genocide regarding the Russian-Circassian War from a number of Circassian groups and societies.^[35] Karl Friedrich Neumann, professor at Munich University in 1839, estimated the Circassian casualties to be around 1.5 million,^[36] with other sources stating that hundreds of thousands of others died during the exodus.^[7] Other historians, such as Mark Levene, makes several references to the 'Circassian massacres'^[37] and the consequences of Russian actions in the region.^[38]

Circassian historians cite casualty figures that lie near the 4 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,^[39] 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.^[40][33] 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."^[41]

In October 2006, the Adyghe public organizations of Russia, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Syria, the USA, Belgium, Canada and Germany sent the president of the European Parliament a letter with the request to recognize the genocide against the Adyghe people, one of the ethnic groups in Circassia.^[41][42]

[edit] Migration

Main article: Muhajir (Caucasus)

The war also had extensive consequences in the form of mass migration, both forced and voluntary.^[43] Some sources state that 3,000,000 Circassians were evicted from Circassia up until 1911.^[44] Other sources cite upwards of 2,000,000 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, Jordan, Kosovo, Egypt (Circassians were part of the Mamluk armies since the Middle Ages), Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rikhaniya, since 1880)^[5] and as far afield as upstate New York and New Jersey. In 1911, 216,950 Circassians were recorded in Armenia during a census.^[5][45] 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.^[7] The depopulated Circassian lands were resettled by numerous ethnic groups, including Russians, Ukrainians and Georgians.^[5][7] Friction developed between the latter group and the remaining Circassians (the Abkhaz ethnic groups), a factor later contributing to friction between the Georgian and Abkhazian ethnic groups and the resulting War in Abkhazia.^[7]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References