How did Russia gradually bring Chechens into rule?

Although the source is unknown, as one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Caucasus, Chechens have lived in this region for thousands of years before Russia entered the Caucasus.

However, as the saying goes, everyone is innocent, but he is guilty. Located on the border of Eurasia, the Caucasus has always been a battleground for military strategists because of its extremely important strategic position.

Map of Chechnya

This land was once ruled by Arabs, Mongols, Persians, Ottomans and other nationalities. Therefore, although the people's national consciousness of independence has long been formed, all ethnic groups in the North Caucasus, including Chechens, have never been able to meet the opportunity to establish a unified nation-state.

Then, how did Russia catch up and annex the Caucasus, including Chechnya, step by step?

Ivan IV, Russia's first czar? Peaceful conquest? plan

/kloc-At the end of 0/5, Moscow Principality, located in the northwest of Eastern Europe, finally got rid of Mongolia's rule and established an independent country. Ivan IV was crowned czar and became the 1 th ruler of Russia. However, although the Mongols who bullied themselves for hundreds of years have just been driven away, Russia has never felt the same way about other oppressed peoples.

The Caucasus region where Chechnya is located

During the reign of Ivan IV, with the strengthening of Russian national strength and military progress, Russians began to show a strong desire for foreign aggression and expansion. The Russians began to invade along the Volga River. They successively occupied Kazan khanate and Astrakhan khanate, and greatly expanded Russian territory.

After completely occupying the Volga River basin and reaching the Caspian Sea coast, Russia's tentacles approached the North Caucasus at 1 time. For all ethnic groups in the North Caucasus, including Chechens, Russians have changed from distant small countries in Eastern Europe to big countries in the north, and Russia has also become the biggest threat to the ethnic groups in the North Caucasus.

However, although the Russians at this time are only a stone's throw away from the Caucasus, with the continuous expansion, Russia's national strength is not enough to support the Russians to further carry out armed aggression in the Caucasus. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian dynasty were in their heyday, and Russia, which had just become independent, was no match for the Ottoman Empire that oppressed the whole of Europe.

A map of the heyday of the Ottoman Empire

What's more, although the Caucasus area is small, all ethnic groups are typical cockroaches, and their resistance will and military combat effectiveness are not weak. So for the very pragmatic Russians at this time, they have neither the will nor enough strength to occupy the North Caucasus.

At this time, the Russian government hoped to gain control and suzerainty over the region by signing a contract, taking advantage of the psychology that the aristocratic groups in the Caucasus wanted to be sheltered by the Russian army. After Russia obtains the Caucasus, it can also be used as a base to resist the attacks of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate and safeguard the security of Russia's southern border.

However, in order to get the chance of survival and development, some ethnic groups in the Caucasus between the three powerful empires began to tend to Russians with peace plans. In A.D. 1552, many Caucasian princes and nobles, including Chechnya, went to Moscow and concluded similar alliances with the Russian government. In order to win over these ethnic groups, Ivan IV even married a princess of a principality in the North Caucasus.

Ivan iv

Even so, Ivan IV's plan to conquer the North Caucasus peacefully has not been realized. Because, at this time, the powerful Ottoman Empire was very dissatisfied with Russia's behavior of extending its tentacles to the North Caucasus. The Ottoman Empire finally sent troops, defeated the Russian army, destroyed the castles built by the Russians locally, and drove the Russians out of the North Caucasus.

Peter the Great's Military Conquest Plan

Although the greedy appetite has never shrunk, before Peter the Great, the limited national strength and backward productivity made Russia's plans for foreign conquest frustrated repeatedly. But now, this situation has changed a lot since Peter the Great succeeded to the throne. In A.D. 1682, Peter the Great became czar of Russia.

Under the leadership of Peter the Great, Russia has changed the backward situation in the past. Through a series of reforms, Russia's national strength has been greatly improved, especially its military strength. After defeating Sweden, Russia also became a real northern power.

In this situation, the Caucasus in the south has become the strategic focus of Russia. Because, once the Caucasus is conquered, Russia can not only stop the Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire from attacking northward, but also seize the estuary of the Black Sea and even use the Caucasus as a base for expeditions to Central Asia.

Peter the Great

In this situation, Peter the Great began a military plan to conquer the Caucasus by force. After defeating Sweden in July 1722 and 18, Peter the Great made and implemented a plan for an expedition to Iran.

The wise Russian czar personally led 654.38+ 10,000 troops to form an expeditionary force, entered the North Caucasus, and began 654.38+0 Russian military conquest of the Caucasus. However, the Russian army's consistent poor military discipline and Russia's greed caused the Russian invasion to cause fierce resistance from all Caucasian peoples, including Chechens.

The Chechens, who were brave and good at fighting, fought fiercely, and they also dealt a great blow to the Russian army. But Caucasians, including Chechens, were too weak, and their resistance was finally suppressed. The Russian Expeditionary Force successfully achieved the strategic goal set by Peter the Great. They defeated Iran, which once ruled Transcaucasia, and forced Iran to sign an armistice with Russia. Iran was forced to cede the Xili Sea and its coastal areas to Russia.

Principality of Moscow

It was after this war that Russia began to really enter the Caucasus. Since then, the Caucasus, which was originally divided equally between the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire, has become the hegemony between Russia, the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.

However, this situation is not stable. After the death of Peter the Great, Russia fell into civil strife and the Russian army was forced to stop its conquest of the Caucasus. Around the Caucasus, three large-scale wars broke out in Russia, Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire in the18th century. For example,1In the 1930s, the newly powerful Persian Empire launched a war, defeated the Russian army and regained all the Caucasus occupied by Russia.

However, I have to say that the Russians are really lucky. /kloc-In the second half of the 8th century, Russians once again welcomed a new outstanding and ambitious ruler, namely Catherine II, who ruled Russia as a woman for decades.

Catherine II

Under the leadership of Catherine II, after the civil strife, Russia's national strength has made great progress, laying a good foundation for Russia's aggression and expansion again. Catherine II, who also inherited Russia's greedy appetite, decided to continue to realize Peter the Great's territorial expansion plan, and conquering the Caucasus was naturally within the scope of Catherine II's goal.

Through military attacks, building military defense lines, building a large number of castles, constantly emigrating to the Caucasus and wooing local nobles, Catherine II successfully achieved control over the Caucasus.

Especially after the 1 Russia-Turkey War, Russia, which gained strategic advantage, overcame the interference of other big countries and conquered the Caucasus calmly. In the end, under the various means of Catherine II, the Caucasus was brought into the rule of Russia.

However, Russia's rule over the Caucasus is not once and for all. With the entry of Russian forces, especially the arrival of a large number of Russian Cossack immigrants and the construction of castles, there have been fierce conflicts between Chechens and Russians. The mountain people in the North Caucasus also set off a struggle against the rule of the czar again and again.

Autonomous Republic of Chechnya. Also known as Chechen Republic

Faced with the resistance of local residents, the Russians took strong measures to suppress it. In this case, the resistance of the local people intensified, and eventually a large-scale uprising led by religious leader Mansour broke out. This is the famous Mansour Uprising.

Although the uprising was finally suppressed by Russia, the Russian army still paid a heavy price. Obviously, at this time, although Russia included the North Caucasus in its rule, Russia's rule over the local area was not stable.

All ethnic groups in the Caucasus, including Chechens, do not believe in the rule of the czar. Their resistance to Russia never stopped until the Soviet period. The unruly Chechens also became the root of the two Chechen wars after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.