The concept of "Caucasian war" was introduced by the publicist and historian R. Fadeev.
In the history of our country, it means events related to the accession to the empire of Mountain Dagestan, Chechnya and Circassia.
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 causes of the Caucasian war?
As in all wars - in the redistribution of territories: three powerful powers - Persia, Russia and Turkey - fought for dominion over the "gate" from Europe to Asia, i.e. over the Caucasus. Moreover, 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 West Caucasus moved to it “automatically”.
But the mountaineers, with their rebellious spirit and love of independence, could not accept the fact that Turkey ceded the Caucasus to the tsar simply as a gift.
The Caucasian war began with the appearance in this region of General Ermolov, who suggested that the tsar move on to action with the goal of creating fortresses and settlements in mountainous remote areas where Russian garrisons would be located.
The Highlanders fiercely resisted, having the advantage of war on their territory. Nevertheless, the losses of Russians in the Caucasus up to the 30s amounted to several hundred a year, and even those were associated with armed uprisings.
But then the situation changed dramatically.
In 1834, Shamil became the head of the Muslim Highlanders. It was under him that the Caucasian war took on the greatest scope.
Shamil led a simultaneous struggle against the royal garrisons, as well as against those feudal lords who recognized the power of the Russians. It was on his orders that the only heir to the Avar Khanate was killed, and the seized treasury of Gamzat-bek made it possible to significantly increase military spending.
In fact, the main support of Shamil was the murids and the local clergy. He repeatedly raided Russian fortresses and apostate villages.
However, the Russians responded with the same measure: in the summer of 1839, a military expedition took possession of the imam’s residence, and the wounded Shamil managed to move to Chechnya, which became the new arena of military operations.
General Vorontsov, who stood at the head of the tsarist forces, completely changed the tactics of warfare, ending expeditions to mountain villages, which were always accompanied by heavy material and human losses. The soldiers began to cut logs in the forests, erect fortifications, create Cossack villages.
And the highlanders themselves no longer trusted the imam. And in the late 40s of the 19th century, the territory of the imamate began to decline, as a result of being completely blocked.
In 1848, the Russians captured one of the strategically important auls - Gergebil, and then Georgian Kakheti. They managed to repel the attempts of the murids to destroy the fortifications in the mountains.
The imam’s despotism, military requisitions, repressive policies repelled the Highlanders from the Muridism movement, which only intensified the internal confrontation.
The Caucasian war with the end of the Crimean War passed into its last stage. The deputy tsar and the commander of the troops was General Baryatinsky, and the future chief of the minister and reformer Milyutin became the chief of staff.
The Russians moved from defense to offensive operations. Shamil was cut off from Chechnya in Mountain 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 highlanders, soon became very popular in the North Caucasus. The highlanders were inclined toward the Russian orientation: uprisings began to flare up everywhere.
By May 1864, the last center of resistance of the Murids was broken, and Shamil surrendered in August.
On this day, the Caucasian War ended, the results of which are reaped by contemporaries.