Russia and the Caucasian Wars
The Caucasian Wars of Russia is a huge chapter in our storieswhich is not completed yet. Considering the events of the last almost three decades in the Caucasus, it is obvious that this region is still one of the “powder magazine” of the planet. There is an underground war in Dagestan, Ingushetia and other Caucasian republics. The extremely negative process of de-Russification of the Caucasus continues, leading to the further archaization of the region. Thanks to the long connivance of local and central authorities, radical forms of Islam have been revived, emissaries of Muslim countries prepared and continue to prepare the region for separation from Russia and for war with the “infidels” (including loyal Muslims). Already whole generations have been brought up in the spirit of hatred and enmity towards the Russian "occupiers" (tsarist, Soviet and federal). Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries are happy to host Muslim youth from Russia. Turks and Arabs assist in the opening of various educational, cultural and religious centers in Russia.The fact that the Caucasian peoples who remained, like other citizens of Russia, without a state in which there is an integral Development Program and Target, began to look for an alternative, was completely overlooked. And they found her. Turkey and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, all sorts of radical Muslim organizations gave them this alternative - the construction of a world caliphate. And it will be built (already built), including at the expense of our territories, resources and lives. That is why we see how this “tumor” has struck Moscow, Tatarstan, Bashkiria and even Siberia. This is the real war. The question is about our future.
At the same time, we see that after the withdrawal of Russia from the South Caucasus, new hotbeds of war were born. This is a conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the possibility of a full Georgian state (in particular, the issue of separating Ajaria). This is a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, with the involvement of Turkey. This is drawing Azerbaijan into the conflict with Iran on the side of the West and Israel, voicing plans to build "Great Azerbaijan" at the expense of Iranian territories. With the withdrawal of Russia from the South Caucasus, peace in this region ended. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia are arming themselves vigorously, preparing for a forceful resolution of controversial issues. It should be noted that even now, when Russia has lost most of its influence in the region, it is a restraining factor, preventing the war of Armenia against Azerbaijan and Georgia against Abkhazia and South Ossetia to break out. In the strategic and long-term perspective, it is clear that all three Transcaucasian states are not viable and are doomed to takeover and assimilation by Turkey and Iran. As soon as the old global political system collapses completely, their “days” will be numbered. Currently, these states exist only because they were allowed to exist, it was beneficial to the United States, the Western world as a whole and Turkey.
So, we see that the history of the Caucasian Wars is far from over. The current weakness of the Russian state, the “Great Depression-2” and the growing ambitions of the states of the region (including plans to build a Caliphate, the New Ottoman Empire and the Great Azerbaijan) will surely lead to new wars in the Caucasus. We need to take into account that the Caucasian Front is one of the fronts of the new world war. The war has already been unleashed and is going on - these are Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, the underground war in the North Caucasus, the de-Russification of the region, the growing popularity of the ideas of nationalism and radical Islam, in fact, the “manual control” regime in the North Caucasus republics.
The situation is so critical that it’s time to talk about the new accession of the Caucasus to Russia and its “pacification”. The separation of the Caucasian regions from Russia is unacceptable. First, the North Caucasus is the same part of Russia as Kamchatka, or Sakhalin. To give part of Russia to the power of radical Islamists and Russophobic nationalists is a recognition of the complete incapacity and actual betrayal of the hard work of many generations of our ancestors. It will be a betrayal of thousands and thousands of Russians who have laid down their heads, turning the lands of the Caucasus into peaceful areas where any person can live and work in peace. It will be a betrayal of those who, through their labor, carried a high civilization to these lands, built cities, enterprises, schools, health resorts.
Secondly, such a move will only further worsen the military-strategic, geopolitical, social and economic position of the Russian Federation. The consequences of secession of the North Caucasus will be disastrous. Suffice it to say that we will get directly at the border (which will still need to be identified and equipped) an aggressive, criminal enclave, like Kosovo on the Balkan Peninsula. There is another inferno zone on the planet where sales will flourish. weapons, slave trade, production and transit of drugs. Will begin raids "Highlanders" in the Russian region. On a smaller scale, we observed these negative processes during the existence of “Ichkeria”. Western countries or Turkey will get a legal opportunity to place their bases there. Russia will survive a new mass wave of migration, the flight of hundreds of thousands of Russians and representatives of the Caucasian peoples who do not want to live in the “independent” North Caucasus. Huge money will be required for additional measures of a military, police, economic and social nature. Russia will be overwhelmed by a new wave of criminal revolution and social conflicts.
In order to understand the problems of the modern Caucasus, it is necessary to become familiar with the history of the Caucasian Wars. This work will open a series of articles on the history of the Caucasian Wars. In the history of the Russian state, they are associated with almost three centuries: from the Persian campaign 1722-1723, the Caucasian war 1817-1864. before the First World War 1914-1917, the Civil War in Russia and the Chechen Wars 1990-s.
I must say that the history of the Caucasian Wars has its own rather long prehistory, which goes back to the depths of the centuries, during the existence of the Khazar Kaganate and the Ancient Russian state. In particular, the modern well-known historian Lev Prozorov in his work “The Caucasian Frontier of Rus,” notes that the Slavs have long been present in the Caucasus. So, the Slavs were participants in the wars in the Caucasus, the war between the Khazars and the Arabs, were a significant part of the population of Khazaria (its power extended to the North Caucasus). The Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich defeated the Khazars and incorporated its territories into the sphere of influence of Russia, subjecting themselves to the Yasov and Kasoghs (the ancestors of the Ossetians and the Circassians). Therefore, the development of the Caucasus by the Slavs and Russia began long before not only the 19 century, but also the baptism of Russia. This gives grounds for Prozorov to assert that our Slavic ancestors are one of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus, and the Caucasus itself to be called from ancient times on Russian soil. Therefore, it is obvious that any demands to abandon the North Caucasus, to separate it from the Russian Federation, this is the most real betrayal of the interests of the Russian people and the Russian statehood. Your land should be protected, protected, cleaned from all sorts of "garbage" (including in human form), and not given to the aggressor.
Some wars in the Caucasus, having broken out, ended in essence with only one summer campaign. Others stretched for many years and even decades. So, the most famous part of the history of the Caucasian Wars is the Caucasian War of 1817 — 1864. However, all these wars demanded a lot of effort and resources from Russia. And most importantly, the lives of many thousands of Russians, whose memory we are now offered to betray.
With these wars, Russia in its difficult struggle with Persia, the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasian feudal lords defended their own statehood, national dignity, defended and spread the Russian limits. At the cost of hard efforts and the blood of thousands of Russian soldiers, many of the ethnic groups of the Caucasus were able to retain their peculiarity without becoming "Turks" or "Persians." With the arrival of the Russians in the Caucasus, civilians were able to live without bloody civil strife, without the threat of becoming a slave. The mountain region gained peace and the rule of law, not strength, gained hope for a cultural, scientific and educational takeoff and economic prosperity. I must say that these hopes were justified. The decades of the Caucasus as part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union have completely transformed this region. Unfortunately, after the collapse of the USSR, the Caucasus began to quickly return to its original state.
The glorious pages of the military chronicles of Russia, which are devoted to the Caucasian wars, are trying to erase from our history in order not to raise heavy questions, not to insult small nations, to belittle and blacken the power and glory of the Russian people. Often, these pages are simply rewritten for the sake of the new political elite, when Russians are turned into “invaders” and accused of colonialism, suppression of the people's liberation movements and even the genocide of the Caucasian peoples. This is a very convenient tool in the information war waged by Western and some Eastern states against Russian civilization. At the same time, the revisionists completely turn a blind eye to the fact that many Caucasian peoples themselves called upon the Russians to save them from the yoke of the Turks (in particular, the Georgians). Or the fact that the Russian state was forced to "pacify" the North Caucasus "in response to the raids of the Highlanders in order to seize people for the sale of slavery and robbery. They forget that the level of security and well-being of the Caucasian peoples, from joining Russia, has increased dramatically. One of the consequences of this was a significant increase in the population of the Caucasus, which, before joining Russia, was sparsely populated.
Russia in the wars in the Caucasus was forced to face very serious opponents. They were the Ottoman Empire and Shah Persia in the prime of its military power, the movement of the Highlanders under the leadership of the stubborn Imam Shamil. At the same time, the opponents of the Russian state were always supported, morally, politically, financially, financially and by the instructions of the great Western powers, and above all the main geopolitical opponent of Russia in the region - England. In some conflicts, the Western powers supported Russia's enemies openly. So, in the Eastern (Crimean) War 1853-1856. on the side of the Turkish ports were England, France and Sardinia. In addition, some other European countries were ready to attack Russia.
The theater of military operations in the region was the vast expanses of the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas. The banks of the Terek, Kuban, Kura and Araks rivers, lands of North Caucasian nationalities, Armenians, Georgians, Azeris, regions of Turkey and Northern Iran were washed with blood.
In these wars, the Russian warriors showed resilience and courage, an ability that enabled them to achieve a convincing victory in the Caucasus. The Caucasian Wars gave Russia a huge constellation of military leadership talents, military skills of officers and heroism of soldiers. Studying the pages of the Caucasian wars, we will find bloody battles in the open field, equally heavy assaults and defenses of forts, fortifications, long hikes of whole armies and deep raids of troops on enemy rear lines. Each war brought honor and glory to Russian weapons.
Unfortunately, in the 1920s, the militant "internationalists" decided to reset Russian history by starting to build a new state from scratch. They staged a pogrom "cursed Tsarism." Among the pages that were destroyed and forgotten, was the chronicle of the Caucasian Wars of Russia. Most of the Russian heroes of the Caucasian Wars were superfluous in Soviet Russia. They were either generally forgotten, or ranked as “oppressors”, “stranglers of freedom”, “hangers” and “punishers”. The glorious deeds of the Caucasian War and the names of Russian warriors, statesmen who honestly gave years of their life to serving the Fatherland, became known only to a narrow circle of specialists. In the future, this trend was not overcome and the Russian people actually deprived of one of the chapters of its history. After the collapse of the USSR, the situation in this area has deteriorated further. Researchers in the newly formed states, and the North Caucasian republics of the Russian Federation, were able to “correctly” highlight the events of the Caucasian Wars.
But the Russian people have someone to be proud of! The strategic plan of Peter I, who started the Persian campaign 1722 — 1723, was completely forgotten, was going to seize the Caspian Sea, restore the trade route from Central Asia and India to Europe, and go directly to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, challenging the British. With the success of his plan, the political map of the world and the course of history could change dramatically. Only the death of the emperor prevented the implementation of the titanic plan, his heirs were already political "pygmies".
Count Valerian Zubov in the 1796 year, led by the Caspian Corps, which quickly hit Derbent, occupied Cuba and Baku. In mid-November, the 35-thousandth Russian corps under the authority of the “Golden Foot” (the general was disabled) reached the confluence area of the Kura and Araks rivers, preparing for further advance into Iran. This gave a strategic opportunity to gain a foothold in northern Iran. Only the death of Catherine II destroyed the brilliant prospects. In 1791, Ivan Gudovich stormed, “Caucasian Ishmael” took the powerful fortress of Anapa. He established a reliable border along the Kuban line, attached to Russia a part of Dagestan and the Derbent khanate. Aleksey Yermolov - the pacifier of Chechnya, Gorny Dagestan and Cherkessia, the hero of the 1817-1864 Caucasian war. Ivan Paskevich - the hero of the Russian-Persian war 1826 — 1828. and the Russian-Turkish war 1828 — 1829 Conqueror of the Erivan and Nakhichevan Khanates. This series can be continued by many worthy and glorious names that took part in the conquest and pacification of the Caucasus, successfully beat the Persians and Turks, expelling them from the mountainous region.
It is possible from different positions to approach the historical justice of those or other events in the Caucasus, the need to use armed force in the conflict. Evaluate events from one side or the other. However, it is obvious that from the point of view of global politics, in strategic terms, the Russian state led a completely correct and fair policy. Globalization is a completely natural and inevitable phenomenon. Do not push the Russian borders of your state in the south to Kars and Araks, the Turks and Persians would surely complete the conquest of the Christian peoples of the Caucasus, Islamization, the assimilation of the region. The Turks would still stand at Azov, Kuban and Terek, and possibly north, up to the Middle Volga. Taking into account the policy of the Turks towards the conquered peoples, it is clear that many Caucasian peoples would simply disappear from the face of the planet, lose their peculiarity, becoming “Turks”. The entry of the Caucasus into Russia allowed the Caucasian peoples to preserve themselves, drastically increase the level of security, well-being, and multiply their numbers.
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