(right Shamil during 1830’s)
As part of a prolonged ‘russification’ campaign (‘ethnic cleansing’) Russian troops defeat the Circassions, the earliest indigenous people of North Caucasus (where Russia borders Asia). 90% of the population (1.5 million) are murdered or deported, making it the largest genocide of the century.
[1] The Avars rebelled again in 1834 under Imam Shamil [2], protesting against the immigration of state-supported Russian settlers. Independence for Dagestan was declared and the Koran was introduced as the law of the land. Thus, the Shamil regime fought both the Russian Orthodox Church and the older animistic beliefs. The Shamil Revolt collapsed in 1858, but the Avars already hated everything Russian. In 1864, the Russians changed the Avar Khanate into the Avar District.
In the beginning of the 19th c., the Laks fought to resist the increasing Russian influence, but to no avail. In 1865, Russia abolished the Shamkhalat and brought Lak territory under direct Russian administrative control. Russian settlers started pouring into Dagestan already from around 1800-1810, and this influx triggered the Shamil rebellion in 1834. The rebellion, which was crushed in 1858, strengthened the ethnic identities of the various peoples, radicalized and strengthened Islam in the area, and produced a deep hatred for everything Russian.
The Lezgins did not form their own country. Some were part of the Kuba Khanate in Azerbaijan, some were under control of the Derbent Khanate. The Lak Kazi Kumukh Khanate contrtolled the Lezgins for a time in the 18th c., but from 1812 onwards, the Russians took over. They created the Kiurin Khanate, later to become the Kiurin district.
From the 16th through the 18th c., the Rutuls constituted a powerful political confederation known as Rutul Mahal. Ethnic Russian settlers started pouring into the area already in the beginning of the 19th c., and the Rutuls resisted the Russian expansion. In 1838, during the widespread Shamil rebellion, the Rutul Aga-Bek led an uprising against Russia. They were no real match for the Russians, though, and the latter crushed the movement and formally annexed the Rutul Mahal in 1844. Fundamentalist Muslim tendencies are strong among the Rutuls, together with a profound anti-Russian sentiment.
When the Shamil Revolt reached the Tsakhurs in in 1844, Sultan Daniel-Bek supported the rebels against the Russians. The Russians’ answer was to deport the entire Tsakhur population to Azerbaijan in 1852. They were not allowed to return until 1860, by which time some had decided to stay in Azerbaijan. During the 1860s, when significant Russian expansion into Nogay territory began, many Nogay emigrated to Turkey, Crimea and the Balkans.
When Peter the Great occupied Derbent in 1722 and defeated the Safavid dynasty, it was the beginning of the end for Kumuk independence. Some autonomy was retained until 1859, when the Russians finally crushed the Shamil rebellion, and permanently brought the various ethnic groups of Dagestan under Russian sovereignty. The Kumuk Shamkhalat was formally ended in 1867. The Shamil rebellion also produced a division among the Kumuks, as the northern Kumuks fought against the Russians, the central Kumuks sided with the Russians, while the southern Kumuks remained neutral.
(left, Shamil after he was captured 1866)
Source: Norwegian Institute of International Affairs [NUPI] – Centre for Russian Studies
[2] Shamil (c.1798–1871) Leader of Muslim resistance to the Russian occupation of the Caucasus from 1834 to 1859. He became Imam of a branch of the Sufi Naqshbandi order known as Muridism which recommended strict adherence to Islamic law and preached jihad (holy war) against Russia. After the Crimean War Russia employed some 200,000 troops in the Caucasus to encircle and subdue Shamil and his followers. He was captured (1859), and imprisoned, but allowed to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca (1870), where he died.
See also:
Russification: Word and Practice 1863-1914by Theodore R. Weeks
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 148, No. 4 (Dec., 2004), pp. 471-489 (article consists of 19 pages) | Published by: American Philosophical Society
The Yildiz Incident | July 21, 1905
Mavi Boncuk |
The attempt on Sultan Abdul Hamid’s life comprised “The Yildiz Incident” (July 21, 1905), resulting from a decision by the Dashnak committee to extend their activities to Istanbul; Krisdapor Mikayelian proposed doing so at the Sofia Congress (Jan. 1904), where the idea was accepted. Mikayelian first went to Greece, getting in touch with Zaruhi, previously sent there. Zaruhi was a woman.
Another Dashnak (Sapho Torkom, a.k.a. Constantine Kabulian or Torosian) arrived afterwards in Greece with a 35-year-old from Tiflis, Marie Anchkova, a woman. The group was joined by two Armenian women, one named Robina, 65 years old. Her “code name” was “Robina Fein,” as it said on her forged passport, where she posed as a Russian Jew. (Mikayelian’s alter ego was “Samuel Fein.”)
In Istanbul, preparations were being made for the assassination attempt. Apart from Mikayelian (who would be killed in Bulgaria with another Dashnak while testing the bombs), one of the other major conspirators was Joris from Belgium, and his wife. Another was Marie Zein, a woman.
The plot was a failure, and some of the conspirators, including Sapho Torkom, were expelled from the Dashnak Committee on account of inefficiency, for abandoning their associates in Istanbul, and for being concerned with their own safety alone.
The summary of the report in French prepared by the Investigation Committee (under the leadership of Nedjib Melhame) contained information about the plotters, and among the women:
3) Robina Fein, also known as Nadejda Datalian, daughter of Wolf, an Armenian girl from the Caucasus, her real name is unknown. She participated in the plans and activities of the Committee in Istanbul and played an active role in the explosion of the bomb in the carriage.
4) Marie Zein, Sophi Arecho (fugitive), born of a German father in the Caucasus, wife of the murderer Rips, participated in the activities of the Committee and the assassination attempt of July 21, under the name of Sophi Rips. She selected Robina Fein for the above purpose and brought her to Istanbul.
Anna Nellens (fugitive), wife of Joris. Collaborated with the members of the Committee in preparing the assassination.
14) Marie Anshanev or Terez Askova, of Tiflis, her real name is unknown. Helped the Committee and assisted in the assassination attempt.
(Joris was condemned to capital punishment but was later pardoned by the sultan, given five hundred liras, and sent to Europe as a secret agent against the Armenians.)
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