History of Chechnya since ancient times

The first Chechen states appeared in the Middle Ages. In the XIX century, after a long Caucasian war, the country became part of the Russian Empire. But in the future the history of Chechnya was full of contradictory and tragic pages.

Ethnogenesis

The Chechen people have been forming for a long time. The Caucasus has always been ethnically diverse, therefore, even in the scientific community, there is still no unified theory about the origin of this nation. The Chechen language belongs to the Nakh branch of the Nakh-Daghestani language family. It is also called the East Caucasian, according to the settlement of ancient tribes, who became the first bearers of these dialects.

The history of Chechnya began with the appearance of the Vainakhs (today this term refers to the ancestors of the Ingush and Chechens). In its ethnogenesis participated a variety of nomadic peoples: the Scythian, Indo-Iranians, Sarmatians, etc. Archaeologists attribute to the ancestors of Chechens the carriers of the Colchis and Koban cultures. Their tracks are scattered all over the Caucasus.

Ancient history

Due to the fact that the history of ancient Chechnya passed in the absence of a centralized state, it is extremely difficult to judge events until the Middle Ages. It is only known for certain that in the 9th century the Vainakhs were subordinated to their neighbors who created the Alanian kingdom, as well as the mountain Avars. The last in the VI-XI centuries lived in the state of Sarira with its capital in Tanusi. It is noteworthy that both Islam and Christianity were widespread there. However, the history of Chechnya developed in such a way that the Chechens became Muslims (unlike, for example, their Georgians neighbors).

In the thirteenth century, the Mongol invasions began. Since then, the Chechens have not left the mountains, fearing numerous hordes. According to one of the hypotheses (it also has opponents), then the first early feudal state of the Vainakhs was created. This education lasted for a short time and was destroyed during the invasion of Tamerlane at the end of the XIV century.

Tapes

For a long time, the flat areas at the foot of the Caucasian mountains were controlled by Turkic-speaking tribes. Therefore, the history of Chechnya has always been associated with the mountains. The way of life of its inhabitants was also formed in accordance with the conditions of the landscape. In isolated villages, where sometimes only one pass was conducted, teips appeared. These were territorial entities created according to tribal affiliation.

Originated in the Middle Ages, teips exist up to now and remain an important phenomenon for the whole Chechen society. These unions were created to protect against aggressive neighbors. The history of Chechnya is full of wars and conflicts. In teips, the custom of blood vengeance was born. This tradition has brought its own characteristics into the relationship between the teips. If the conflict between several people flared up, it necessarily grew into a tribal war until the enemy was completely destroyed. This was the history of Chechnya since ancient times. Blood vengeance existed for a very long time, since the teip system largely replaced the state in the usual sense of the word.

Religion

Information about what was the most ancient history of Chechnya, to our days is almost not preserved. Some archaeological findings suggest that the Vainakhs were pagans until the eleventh century. They worshiped the local pantheon of deities. The Chechens had a cult of nature with all its characteristic features: sacred groves, mountains, trees, etc. Witchcraft, magic and other esoteric practices were common.

In the XI-XII centuries. In this region of the Caucasus, the spread of Christianity began, which came from Georgia and Byzantium. However, soon the Constantinople empire collapsed. In the place of Christianity came Sunni Islam. The Chechens adopted it from the Kumyk neighbors and the Golden Horde. The Ingush became Muslims in the 16th century, and residents of remote mountain auls in the 17th century. But for a long time Islam could not influence the social customs, which were based more on national traditions. And only at the end of the XVIII century Sunnism in Chechnya took about the same positions as in the Arab countries. This was due to the fact that religion has become an important tool for the struggle against Russian Orthodox intervention. Hatred of strangers was kindled not only on national, but also on confessional grounds.

XVI century

In the XVI century Chechens began to occupy the deserted plains in the valley of the Terek River. At the same time, most of this people remained in the mountains, adapting to their natural conditions. Those who went north sought a better share there. The population naturally grew, and scarce resources became scarce. Tightness and hunger forced many teips to settle on new lands. The colonists built small villages, which they called by their kind. Part of this toponymy has survived to this day.

The history of Chechnya since ancient times was associated with the danger of nomads. But in the XVI century they became much less powerful. The Golden Horde broke up. Numerous ulus constantly fought with each other, why could not establish control over the neighbors. In addition, it was then that the expansion of the Russian kingdom began. In the 1560's. The Kazan and Astrakhan khanates were conquered. Ivan the Terrible began to control the whole course of the Volga, thus gaining access to the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. Russia in the mountains had loyal allies in the person of Kabardian princes (Ivan the Terrible even married Maria Temryukovna - the daughter of Kabardian ruler Temryuk).

First contacts with Russia

In 1567, the Russians founded the Tersky prison. This was Ivan the Terrible who was asked by Temryuk, who hoped for the tsar's help in the conflict with the Crimean Khan, a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan. The place of construction of the fortress was the mouth of the river Sunzhi - the tributary of the Terek. This was the first Russian settlement that arose in the immediate vicinity of the lands of the Chechens. For a long time it was the Tersky Ostrog that was the springboard of Moscow's expansion in the Caucasus.

Colonists were Grebensky Cossacks, who were not afraid of life in a distant land and defended the interests of the sovereign by their service. It was they who established direct contact with the local natives. The history of the people of Chechnya was of interest to Grozny, and he accepted the first Chechen embassy, which was sent by the influential Prince Shikh-Murza Okotsky. He asked for protection from Moscow. The consent to this was given already by the son of Ivan the Terrible Fedor Ioannovich. However, this alliance did not last long. In 1610 Shih-murza was killed, his heir was overthrown, and the principality was captured by a neighboring Kumyk tribe.

Chechens and Terek Cossacks

As early as 1577, the Terek Cossacks were formed, based on the Cossacks who moved from the Don, Khopra and Volga rivers, as well as the Orthodox Circassians, Ossetians, Georgians and Armenians. The latter fled from Persian and Turkish expansion. Many of them have become Russified. The growth of the Cossack mass was significant. This could not help but notice Chechnya. The history of the origin of the first conflicts between the mountaineers and the Cossacks is not fixed, but over time the clashes became more and more frequent and commonplace.

Chechens and other indigenous inhabitants of the Caucasus made raids to capture cattle and other useful prey. Often civilians were taken captive and later returned for ransom or made them slaves. In response, the Cossacks also raided the mountains and plundered the auls. And yet such cases were the exception rather than the rule. Often there were long periods of peace, when neighbors traded among themselves and acquired related ties. Over time, the Chechens even adopted from the Cossacks some of the characteristics of housekeeping, and the Cossacks, in turn, began to wear clothes very similar to the mountain.

XVIII century

The second half of the XVIII century in the North Caucasus was marked by the construction of a new Russian fortified line. It consisted of several fortresses, where all the new colonists came. In 1763, Mozdok was founded, then Ekaterinograd, Pavlovskaya, Maryinskaya, Georgievskaya.

These forts replaced the Tersky prison, which the Chechens once even managed to plunder. Meanwhile, in the 80s, the Sharia movement began to spread in Chechnya. Popular became the slogans of the gazavate - the war for the Islamic faith.

The Caucasian War

In 1829 the North Caucasian imamate was created - an Islamic theocratic state in the territory of Chechnya. At the same time, the country has its own national hero Shamil. In 1834 he became an imam. He was subordinated to Dagestan and Chechnya. The history of the emergence and spread of his power is connected with the struggle against Russian expansion in the North Caucasus.

The struggle against the Chechens lasted several decades. At a certain stage, the Caucasian war intertwined with the war against Persia, as well as the Crimean War, when Western countries of Europe came out against Russia. On whose help could Chechnya count? The history of the state of Nokhchia in the 19th century would not have been so long had it not been for the support of the Ottoman Empire. And yet, despite the fact that the sultan helped the mountaineers, Chechnya was finally conquered in 1859. Shamil was first captured, and then lived in honorary exile in Kaluga.

The establishment of Soviet power

After the February Revolution, Chechen gangs began to attack the vicinity of Grozny and the Vladikavkaz railway. In the autumn of 1917, the so-called "native division" returned home from the front of the First World War. It consisted of Chechens. The division made a real battle with the Terek Cossacks.

Soon the Bolsheviks came to power in Petrograd. Their Red Guard entered Grozny already in January 1918. Some Chechens supported the Soviet regime, others went to the mountains, others helped the whites. Since February 1919, Grozny was controlled by troops of Peter Wrangel and his British allies. And only in March 1920 the Red Army finally established itself in the capital of Chechnya.

Deportation

In 1936 a new Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. Meanwhile, in the mountains there were partisans who opposed the Bolsheviks. The last such gangs were destroyed in 1938. However, some residents of the republic have remained separate moods.

Soon the Great Patriotic War began, from which both Chechnya and Russia suffered. The history of the struggle against the German offensive in the Caucasus, as well as on all other fronts, was difficult for the Soviet troops. Great losses were exacerbated by the appearance of Chechen formations, which acted against the Red Army soldiers or even colluded with the Nazis.

This gave rise to the Soviet leadership to launch repression against the whole people. On February 23, 1944, all the Chechens and neighboring Ingush, regardless of their attitude toward the USSR, were deported to Central Asia.

Ichkeria

The Chechens were able to return to their homeland only in 1957. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, separate moods were again awakened in the republic. In 1991 the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was proclaimed in Grozny. For some time her conflict with the federal center was in a frozen state. In 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin decided to introduce troops to Chechnya in order to restore Moscow's power there. Officially, the operation was called "measures to maintain the constitutional order".

The first Chechen war ended on August 31, 1996, when the Khasavyurt agreements were signed. In fact, this agreement meant the withdrawal of federal troops from Ichkeria. The parties agreed to determine the status of Chechnya before December 31, 2001. With the onset of the world, Ichkeria became independent, although it was not legally recognized by Moscow.

Modernity

Even after the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements, the situation on the border with Chechnya remained extremely unsettled. The republic became a hiding place for extremists, Islamists, mercenaries and just criminals. On August 7, a brigade of militants Shamil Basayev and Khattab invaded neighboring Dagestan. Extremists wanted to create an independent Islamist state on its territory.

The history of Chechnya and Dagestan is very similar, not only because of geographical proximity, but also because of the similarity of ethnic and confessional composition of the population. The federal troops launched a counter-terrorist operation. First, the militants were thrown out of Dagestan. Then the Russian army again entered Chechnya. The active combat phase of the campaign ended in the summer of 2000, when Grozny was cleared. After that, the regime of the counter-terrorist operation was still officially maintained for 9 years. Today, Chechnya is one of the full-fledged subjects of the Russian Federation.