57
chance. He wrote a letter to the Ottoman sultan and asked for help.
132
Moreover
during the war he tried to establish
contacts with the Ottomans, British and French,
but he failed to acquire what he hoped.
133
Although the British, particularly,
Palmerston, interested in “the romantic Chief of the Circassians” and “for his
cooperation … were even ready to establish and independent Circassian state after
the war, to be headed by the imam”
134
, Shamil did not find any help or material
support from the British.
The period between 1854 and 1855 testified the last but the most meagre
struggles of Shamil and June 1856 was a turning point for his Imamate. Prince
Alexandr
Ivanovich Bariatinskiy, in order to conclude the conquest of the region,
was appointed as the Commander in Chief of the Caucasian Army. Bariatinskiy,
together with his chief of staff, Dimitry Alekseevich Miliutin organized a three-
year campaign, which was concluded with the capture of Shamil.
135
During the
spring of 1859, the Russians launched a general offensive, which was completed
with the seizure and destruction of Shamil’s capital Vedeno on 13 April 1859. At
the
end of September, at last, the Russians captured him in Gunib.
136
132
For the correspondence between the Ottomans and Shamil in that period see Mustafa Budak,
1988. “1853-56 Kırım Harbi Başlarında Doğu-Anadolu-Kafkasya Cephesi ve Şeyh Şamil,”
Kafkasya Araştırmaları I, İstanbul, 52-8.
133
For some of the letters of Shamil see Pertev Boratav, July-December 1969. “La Russie dans les
Archives Ottomanes in Dossier Ottoman sur L’Imam Chamil,”
Chairs du monde Russe et
Sovietique, 10(3/4): 524-535. Moshe Gammer, 1991. “Imam Shamil and Shah Mohammed: Two
Unpublished Letters,”
Central Asian Survey, 10(1/2): 171-79. Masayuki Yama’uchi, 1985. ‘I. From
Ottoman Archives,’
Central Asian Survey, 4(4): 7-12. And also see 1985. “Shamil: New Documents
and Correspondence,”
Central Asian Survey, 4 (4): 1-5.
134
Gammer,
Muslim Resistance, 272.
135
Moshe Gammer, 1994. “Price Bariatinskii –Conqueror of the Eastern Caucasus,”
Central Asian
Survey, 13(2): 237-247.
136
For the life of Shamil after his capture see Austin Lee Jersild, 1995. “Who was Shamil?: Russian
Colonial Rule and Sufi Islam in the North Caucasus, 1859-1917,”
Central Asian Survey, 14(2): 205-
58
In conclusion, the
Imams, Sheikh Shamil, in particular,
within a period less
than fifty years, through a well-defined set of rules of conduct changed the values
and existing social and political structure of the North Caucasus. At the root of
these changes there was one main motive: Islam. The Islamic identity that was
shaped by the orthodox version of
Naqshbandiya, mainly as a result of Russian
assaults which aimed to colonize the region, transformed and politicised itself and
took the shape of struggle of independence. Nevertheless,
in addition to the
Russians, Shamil had to struggle with the local powers and some of his rival
groups. Thus, in order to remove those groups Shamil initiated a series of reforms
and replaced the existing political and social order with a new one. In this process
the
Shari’a was the main guide. Through the basic principles of
Shari’a and his
nizams, Shamil, for the first time in the North Caucasus established a
comprehensive and well functioning state structure and spread his authority almost
all over the North Caucasus.
223; Mücahit, August 1953. “İmam Şamil Mekke ve Medinede,”
Birleşik Kafkasya (Vereinigtes
Kaukasien), (Munich), 8 (25): 9-11; Zelkina,
God and Freedom, 233-4.
59
CHAPTER II
RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
NORTH CAUCASIAN MOUNTAIN REPUBLIC
1-From Revolution to Revolution: February-December 1917:
After the defeat of Shamil, Russian operations and the Mountaineers’
struggle continued in the western parts of the North Caucasus until 1864.
137
Nevertheless, the overwhelming dominance of the Russians, with a half-million
strong army, made the struggle a futile effort. Most of the Circassian population,
because of the ruthless Russian repression, was forced
to immigrate to the Ottoman
Empire and dispersed throughout the territories from the Balkans to the Middle
East.
138
“…[S]ome Circassian leaders advocated departure to Turkey and obtained
the agreement of the Ottoman government for an orderly settlement in
Anatolia. It was not only bayonets that urged on this wave of migration but
also religious provocation, deliberately supported by the Russian
government, which finally caused mass psychosis which gripped not only
the Circassians but also the other North Caucasians.”
139
Therefore, by the last quarter of the 19
th
century,
the Russians managed to
suppress and subjugate the region. They settled the Cossacks and other Russian
populations in the North Caucasus, and severely changed the balance of population
and power in favour of the Russian Empire. As a consequence, disturbances broke
137
A. Namitok, 1956. “The “Voluntary” Adherence of Kabarda (Eastern Circassia) to
Russia,”
Caucasian Review, (Munich), 2: 17-33. Ramazan Traho, 1991. ‘Circassians,’
Central Asian
Survey, 10(1/2): 40-49.
138
See
Chapter I, footnote 23.