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permanent relationships and thus alliances could not be set up in the North
Caucasus.
By the beginning of the 19
th
century these jama’ats, however, as a result of
the emergence of aggressive enemies, i.e. Russian controlled Cossacks, began to
develop permanent central political formations. The most powerful among them
included the Shamkalat, the Avar Khanate, the Khanate of Ghazi-Kumuk and the
principalities of Kaytak and Tabasaran. Over time, with the expansion of these
associations, ruling dynasties came into being. The way in which these dynasties
came into being and the titles they used varied from one jama’at to another. While
in some parts they took the name Khan or Sultan, in others they used the titles of
Maysum, Ustmi, Shamkhal or Qadi. These central rulers, in parallel with the
establishment of their authority, began to remove local rulers by appointing their
own agents as governors, mostly named naib or bek, to the jama’ats under their
authority, and in turn they formed the local gentry.
Nevertheless, all these political structures were transitory bodies with
enduring struggles within themselves and with the outside rival powers. Therefore,
it is not possible to speak about the existence and even the establishment, of a
coherent social or political governing body, which encompassed the entire, or at
least the great part of the North Caucasus.
Nevertheless, with the coming of alien great aggressive power with the
intention of occupying the North Caucasus changed the course of event severely.
The Russians appeared on the scene of the Caucasus for the first time in the middle
of the 16
th
century and initiated the great power rivalry, mainly with the Ottomans,
that lasted for more than two centuries. This resulted in a striking change within the
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attitudes and the political formations of the Mountaineers. They faced with an
aggressor and defined a common enemy that forced the Mountaineers to set up a
common front to balance it. In the second half of the 18
th
century, during the reign
of Catherine the Great, the Russian Empire at last established its dominion
southward to include the northern shores of the Black Sea. The Empress, in order
to demonstrate her belief in its future importance to the Empire, labelled these
newly conquered territories as ‘New Russia’ and focused the Empire’s attention
southward.
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca signed in 1774, concluded the six year
Russo-Turkish war, and following it, the annexation of Crimea in 1783, marked
Russian dominance over the Ottomans in the Caucasus. Thus, the Crimean Tatars,
the main agents and the vassals of the Ottoman Empire formally became the
Russian vassals and their territories transformed from the historic northern bastion
of the Ottoman Empire into the southern bastion of the Russian Empire. After that,
with the establishment of the first Russian province, or guberniya, in May 1785
with its center in Yekaterinodar the North Caucasus underwent drastic changes.
From then on the Russian civil and military officials started to interfere directly in
the internal affairs and the daily life of the Caucasus and of course the
Mountaineers. Thus, for the first time, at least nominally the Mountaineers were
subjected to an ‘infidel’s rule’. The most conspicuous result of this interference and
rule was the emergence of reactionary movements among the Mountaineers. Under
the auspices of the Naqshbandiya, Islam surfaced as the most dynamic and
comprehensive political force and by the help of its network among the Chechens
and Dagestanis instigated a struggle in entire Chechnya and Dagestan.
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The Naqshbandiya was in fact introduced into the North Caucasus in early
18
th
century and established its first roots primarily in Dagestan. Until the arrival of
Russian forces prominent sheikhs or tariqat leaders always fulfilled the roles of
spiritual guides and supervisors of the existing local rulers. Nevertheless, because
of the failure of traditional local authorities and their cooperation with the Russians
the Naqshbandiya, as the sole institution, which could reach beyond petty tribal
loyalties and offer an ideology capable of uniting these various peoples into a
broader independent political movement, emerged as a reactionary force.
The emergence of this movement called ‘ muridizm’ was not accidental. It
coincided with the establishment of the new Russian province and Mansur’s
proclamation of ghazavat. Moreover, the Ottomans’ last defeat, and thus their
forced relinquishment of all positions and claims in the Caucasus after the 1828-29
Russo-Turkish war, also coincided with the emergence of the new Imam, Ghazi
Muhammed. These were the basic results of religious reactions to the alien
Christian power, the Russian Empire.
Mansur, the de facto religious and national leader, laid the foundation for a
future union and prepared the ground for the later Naqshbandi Imams who saw
themselves as his disciples. Although Mansur himself never mentioned a
brotherhood, nor did he try to establish a Sufi network, he left a long-lasting legacy
in the North Caucasus. Mansur, had a prominent role in the Islamisation of the
central North Caucasus, mainly the Ingush and Osetians. He consolidated
Naqshbandiya and thus Islam in these territories. He managed to establish contacts
with the Chechen, the Ingush, and Dagestani communes and even the Kabardian
and Circassian princes and for the first time in the North Caucasus established a
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