The Caucasus War

The Caucasian War. As far back as the 16th Century, Russia viewed the Caucasus, the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, as being of strategic advantage. The Caucasian War was a series of military confrontations that occurred during the 1800s between Russia and various rebel groups, including Chechens and Circassians. The origins of the off-and-on war lie in the geopolitical anomaly that was created after the Christian kingdom of Georgia successfully asked Russia to protect it from its Muslim neighbours to the south, namely Persia and Turkey. When Georgia was formally incorporated into the Empire in 1801, many disapproved of Russia’s presence in the region and pockets of resistance formed particularly in the thick forests and rugged mountains of the northern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains. Russia had cordoned off areas with military posts but concerns increased dramatically with the emergence in the 1830s of the Muslim leader Shamil, who united the hill tribes. Leo Tolstoy joined the war in 1851. By then the Russian Army was conducting systematic raids against the rebels with the help of the Russian Cossacks living in the area. The army flushed out the fighters by relocating whole tribes and conducting lighting raids aimed at destroying their villages, kidnapping their animals and clearing the forests. Many times they were ambushed themselves, however. Shamil was captured in 1859 and the end of the Caucasian War was finally declared in 1864. (www.answers.com/topic/caucasian-war)