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The natives were quick to put up strong resistance. The Russians, on the 
other hand, who were basically at the head of a centralised state of their own, did 
their best to shake and destroy the existing system, which they considered a 
potential threat to the maintenance of their rule. With the outbreak of the struggle 
of the natives to push the Russians out, the Pandora's box had been opened. Indeed, 
hardly any outsider would have predicted that from the 19
th
 century onwards, the 
region would become plagued with waves of struggles, mostly fought in the name 
of independence by the natives, and violence committed by the Russians. 
This process of Russian expansion and consolidation took more than two 
centruies and created a more conscious motive and strengthened the feelings of 
solidarity among Mountaineers. Thus the history of common struggle against the 
Russian forces took its shape in this period. 
 
The initial power or the driving force, which took the above-mentioned 
commonalities and turned them to the more-consciuos and indispensable 
components of North Caucasian struggle and identity was the Islam. Islam, through 
the guidance of Naqshbandi tariqat took the lead and organized the peoples of the 
North Caucasus in one and consolidated idea of common front. By this time, Islam 
against a common enemy, i.e. Russians became one of the most important 
components of the North Caucasian identity. 
Being aware of the differences between the North Caucasian peoples, 
tariqats and its leaders were aimed at the creation of a common ground that defined 
and determined by Islam. This common ground stregthened by the idea of ghazavat 
and turned into a all-comprehensive idea of struggle. In this struggle, the Imams, 

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under the name of Muridism bridged the gap between the ‘political’ and ‘spiritual’ 
Naqshbandiya and merged the two into a united movement. 
 
From this ground, the North Caucasian peoples, for the first time in their 
history established a unified North Caucasian State encompassing mainly Dagestan 
and Chechnya and nominally the Circassian lands. Despite the following exiles, 
deportations and mass killings in their history, in pursuit of their independence, the 
Mountaineers created a common history of struggle and in line with it shaped 
distinct North Caucasian tradition of life and identity. Thus it is the aim of this 
work to trace the emergence and consolidation of this ‘common identity’ among 
the peoples of the North Caucaus by following the course of these struggles. To 
achieve this end, the detailed study of late 19
th
 centruy became necessary but not 
sufficient. 
 
The main concern of this study is, thus, to scrutinize the North Caucasian 
Mountaineers’s long-lasting struggle of independence, inside or outside their 
homelands. This thesis, which aimed to analyze all those episodes of the struggle, 
intends to be the first comprehensive study on the North Caucasian struggle of 
independence in this length. From the methodological point of view, this case study 
is designed as a historical-comperative research using qualitative data from primary 
and secondary sources. During the evaluation process of the data, maps, charts, and 
tables will be used as an additional evience to increase reliablity and validity. In 
order to show whether the continuity does exist or not, the utilization of a huge 
amount of material was required. Thus the major impediment in making 

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comprehensive and deatiled study in this field is emerged at that point: the 
discouragingly scattered nature of the relavant source material. 
To accomplish the primary aim, the study is divided into two six chapters. 
As an introductory part, the first chapter discusses the scope and primary objective 
of the study. The second chapter, beyond the geographical, religious and ethno-
linguistic charecteristics of the region, underlines the emergence and the 
consolidation of above mentioned common Mountaineer identity. In relation with 
that, the process of Russian expansion and the politization of Islam will also be 
analyzed. The second chapter, in continuation of the initial period, discusses the re-
emergence of the independence movement following the February and October 
1917 Russian Revolutions. In this period, comparing with the earlier period, the 
external powers mainly the Ottomans, Germans and then the British participated in 
the course of events and affected the Mountaineers’ and their Independent States’ 
destiny. In the fourth chapter consolidation of Soviet power and the emergence of 
the emigrants and their movements in Europe is discussed. Far from their 
homeland, these groups tried to shape a North Caucasian identity in exile. They 
published a bulk of literature and established close contacts with the foreign 
powers. The fifth and sixth chapters explain Phoenix-like revival of a distinct North 
Caucasian identity and unity, after the collapse of 70 years long Soviet rule. In 
1989, the North Caucasians put their classic demand once more but this time under 
different circumstances and world. Finally, the conclusion chapter is devoted to the 
overall analysis of the conflict.  

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CHAPTER I 
THE NORTH CAUCASUS, THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE AND THE 
NEED FOR UNIFICATION 
The Caucasus, the name used from the earliest times, for the chain of the 
mountains, has at all times been a point where the civilizations of Christianity and 
Islam or East and West met and mingled. This exceptional geographical situation 
has always given the Caucasus a role, which has transcended its borders. The 
region is situated between the two seas and two continents, at the junction of 
historical trade routes. Thus in each and every period of history, the Caucasus 
witnessed the passing of peoples and civilizations. 
The main chain of the Caucasian mountains, which stretches for 
approximately 1,100km from the Taman Peninsula in the Black Sea in the north-
west to the Apsheron Peninsula in the Caspian Sea in the south-east, divides the 
area into two: the South (or the Transcaucasus) and the North Caucasus. Currently, 
the South Caucasus is divided between the three sovereign states of Georgia, 
Armenia, and Azerbaijan, while the North Caucasus, populated by numerous ethnic 
and linguistic groups, is divided into several distinct administrative units within the 
Russian Federation. 
This present work deals primarily with the North Caucasus. For the purpose 
of this study, the North Caucasus is defined, geographically, as the area included 
within the present borders of the North Caucasian autonomous republics
1
 and 
                                                 
1
 From the west towards the east Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessiya, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Osetia 
or Alania, Ingushetia, Chechnya or Ichkeriya, and Dagestan. 

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