Terek Cossack Host
Encyclopedia
The Terek Cossack Host was a Cossack host
created in 1577 from free Cossack
s who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. In 1792 it was included in the Caucasus Line Cossack Host
and separated from it again in 1860, with the capital of Vladikavkaz
. In 1916 the population of the Host was 255,000 within an area of 1.9 million desyatinas.
Many of the early members of the Terek Cossacks were Ossetians
.
was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow
and a lone group left and settled in the natural haven of the Terek River (modern northern Chechnya). The early settlement was located at the mouth of the Aktash River. This formed the oldest Cossack group, the Mountain Cossacks (Гребенские казаки Grebenskiye Kazaki) who settled on both banks of the river.
In 1559-71 the Tsardom of Russia
, in the course of several campaigns, built several fortifications, during which the first Terka was built, later taken over by the still independent Cossacks. In 1577, after the Volga Cossacks
were defeated by the strelets Ivan Murashkin, many scattered, some of whom settled in the Terek basin and Voevoda Novosiltsev built the second Terka on the Terek, marking the start of the Terek Cossacks. In 1584 this Terka was again taken over by Cossacks, some of whom were recruited by the Georgian King Simon.
In a separate story an Ataman of the Don Cossack Host led a band of three Cossack sotnia
s to the Kumyk lands, founding the town of Andreev. One of Shadra's motives may have been his tense relations with Yermak Timofeyevich
.
In 1580, by official decree, Shadra, along with several cossacks and soldiers, relocated to the Terek
, settling in the frontier town of Tersky
.
In the late 16th century several campaigns by the Terek Cossacks were carried out against the Ottoman Empire
(Temryuk
) which led the Sultan to complain to Ivan the Terrible. In 1589 the first outpost on the Sunzha
was built and a permanent Terka, later known as Tersky Gorodok, was built on the lower Terek.
in 1606 four thousand Terek Cossacks left for the Volga to support their own candidate for the Tsar, Ileyka Muromets. By 1614 the Rowers supported the new Romanov monarch and aided him in quelling the unrest in Astrakhan
. In 1633 they destroyed the remnants of the Nogay Horde and a decade later aided the Don Cossacks
against the Crimean Khanate
in 1646. By the mid 17th century the Cossacks again expanded into the Sunzha where they built a new outpost in 1651. Two years later the outpost withstood a hailing attack by Kumyks
and Dagestan
is. Though the battle ensured the Tsar's respect, it was advised that the Cossacks pull down the outpost. In the 1670s the Terek Cossacks helped to defeat Stenka Razin
in Astrakhan
.
In 1680 after the Raskol
in the Russian Orthodox Church
reached the Don Cossacks
, a number of Old Believers
left the Don River and settled first on the Kuma
and later on the Agrakhan. After the aid of the Terek and Rowing Cossacks to the Don Cossacks during the Azov Campaigns
in 1695, the Ottoman Empire
retaliated against the Terek Cossacks and in 1707 most of their outposts were destroyed on the right bank of the Terek.
Apraskin re-settled all of the Rowing Cossacks on the left bank of the Terek River, this move was met with resentment, and during the entire 18th century the Terek Cossacks would still inhabit the left bank and use the rich vineyards and lands right up until 1799. Also in 1720 the Rowers and Tereks were fully incorporated into the Russian Empire
and during the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723), the Cossacks aided Peter I of Russia
in his conquest of the eastern Dagestan and the capture of Derbent
. During the campaign the 1000 re-settled Don Cossacks on the Agrakhan and the Sulak formed the Agrakhan Cossack Host (Аграханское Казачье Войско), which was united with the Terek Cossacks. In 1735 by a new agreement with Persia the Sulak line was abandoned, and Agrakhan Cossacks were re-settled on the lower Terek Delta, and the fort of Kizlyar
was founded.
Thus in 1735 three hosts were formed: Grebenskoye (Гребенское Rowing) from the descendants of the earliest Cossacks, Tersko-Semeynoye (Терско-Семейное Terek-Family) from the re-settled Agrakhan Cossacks up to Kizlyar, and Tersko-Kizlyarskoye (Терско-Кизлярское Terek-Kizlyar) from the Agrakhan Cossacks as well as Armenians and Georgians. When the Kalmyks arrived in the northwestern Caspian a combined campaign was waged against Temryuk
during the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739), where the Terek Cossacks were led by Atamans Auka and Petrov.
In 1736 and again in 1765 the right bank of the Terek, still nominally Cossack property, was offered to Chechens who wanted to adopt Russian patronage and re-settle there (noting that historically, the lands immediately north of the Terek river were indeed Chechen before the Mongol invasion and even to a degree after it, and the Chechen highlands were dependent on their agricultural production). By the latter half of the 18th century relations between the Cossacks and the Mountain people began to sour. In 1765 the outpost of Mozdok was founded, which became an immediate target for Kabardins who attacked the Terek line and Kizlyar. In 1771 Yemelyan Pugachev
arrived in Terek
, and, to show loyalty, Ataman Tatarintsev arrested him. Pugachev fled and the Pugachev Rebellion in 1772-1774 gained no support on the Terek.
gave Russia the pretext under which they could begin their expansion into the Caucasus
, marking the start of the century-long Caucasus War. In 1769-1770 almost half of the Volga Cossacks
were re-settled around Mozdok. In 1776 further settlers arrived including more of the Volga Cossacks
(the remaining Cossacks on the lower Volga were separated into the Astrakhan Cossacks Host
) and the Khopyor Cossacks
from the eastern Don territory. These formed the Azov
-Mozdok defence line. Major foreposts for Russian expansion into the central Caucasus were founded by the re-settlers including: Giorgiyevsk in 1777 by the Khopyor regiment, and Vladikavkaz
in 1784.
During this early phase several high-profile battles take place. In June 1774 Devlet-Girey sent a massive Kabardin Army against the Terek Cossacks, on 10-11 of June the stanitsa of Naurskaya was heroically defended against the invaders and in 1785 Kizlyar was defended against Sheikh Mansur. In 1788-91 the Terek Cossacks took part in three campaigns which took them to the Circassian port of Anapa
in western Caucasus. The major gap in the western section of the line of defense was solved in 1792 when the Black Sea Cossacks were re-settled there.
The next three decades brought severe difficulties for the Russian effort in the Caucasus. After the joining of Georgia
to Russia in 1801, the Terek Cossacks spared some men and took part in combat under Yerevan
, but on the whole most of them were in constant defence of their home lines. All this changed when in 1816 General Yermolov took command of the Caucasus army. In 1818 he changed the Russian tactics from defensive to offensive and began building the Sunzha-Vladikavkaz
line where strongholds such as Groznaya
and Vnezapnaya were founded. Yermolov further reformed the whole structure of the Cossacks and in 1819 replaced elected Atamans with appointed commanders.
In Transcaucasia, Cossacks took part in the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) where they participated in the Siege of Kars
and other key battles. After Yermolov was recalled from the Caucasus, a new reform took place and the interim regiments in the central Caucasus were united with the three Hosts on the Terek to form the Caucasus Line Cossack Host
(Кавказское линейное казачье войско, Kavkazskoye lineynoye kazachye voysko) in 1832, and the new Nakazny Ataman was named Peter Verzilin. Several reforms followed: In 1836 the Kizlyar and Family regiments were united and made responsible for the Terek Delta, and in 1837 a Malorossiyan (Littile Russian) regiment (formed in 1831 to combat the November Uprising
in Poland
) was resettled on the upper Terek north of Vladikavkaz. In 1842 the regiment was incorporated into the Line host. This was followed by the formation of the Sunzha regiment with its Ataman Sleptsov.
By this point the Russian control in the Caucasus had improved, with the initiative firmly in the Cossack hands. Most of the battles took place in Chechen and Dagestani territories far away from Cossack homes. During the 1840s several successful expeditions were mounted deep into the mountains. The Line Cossacks participated in the Crimean War
(1853–1856) and finally in the closing phase of the Russian advance against Shamil in 1859.
The end of the Caucasus War marked the end of the Line Cossack Host. In 1860 it was divided, with the two western regiments joining the Black Sea Cossacks to form the Kuban Cossack Host and the remaining into the Terek Cossack Host. The next decade showed a gradual reform from military to civil control. In 1865 a permanent police force was formed, and in 1869 the Terek Oblast was formed, consisting of eight mountainous districts (populated by indigenous people) and seven Cossack subdivisions. Several regimental reforms followed: Kizlyar and Rower as well as Mountain and Mozdok regiments were united into two (reducing the number of sub-divisions to five), and in 1871 a charter for Terek Cossacks was published.
From the 1870s onwards the Eastern Caucasus remained largely peaceful (if one discounts uprisings waged by the Chechens in the late 1870s and the occasional exchange of raids). However the Terek Cossacks took part in several Imperial Wars, including campaigns against Khiva
in 1873. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) the Terek Cossacks sent six cavalry regiments, one Guards squadron and one mounted artillery regiment to the Balkans
and a further seven regiments and mounted battery were mobilized against the rebelling Chechens and Dagestanis, who initiated an uprising against Tsarist authorities in 1878.
In the 1880s the arrival of the railways
and the discovery of oil
made the Terek Oblast one of the wealthiest in the Caucasus, resulting in a large growth in Cossack and indigenous mountain populations. This created friction on land ownership. The Cossacks held extensive fertile areas in the lowlands and steppes, whilst the indigenous mountain populations only held land in the mountainous zones. Peace was preserved, by a complex Russian policy of supporting loyal clan leaders and free supplies of food and goods The combat ability of the Terek Cossacks never waned, taking part in campaigns against Geok-Tele in 1879 and in 1885 right up to the Afghan border in Central Asia
.
and later the October Revolution
caught most Cossacks on the front lines in Kurdistan. The unrequited mountainous peoples took full advantage of the crises, Chechens and Ingush on the Sunzha line wiping out several Cossack stanitsas. The Bolsheviks were able to establish themselves in Grozny and Vladikavkaz, though Denikin's Volunteer Army
drove them out across the Caucasian lands to Astrakhan.
Although Cossacks did form a substantial part of Denikin's units, the Terek Cossacks were mostly involved in fighting the Caucasus insurgency against their traditional adversaries (Denikin's units became known among native Caucasians for their brutality and their association with the Cossacks). In 1920 many Terek Cossacks were deported
to Ukraine
and the northern part of European Russia
and a new Mountain ASSR was formed. This left the former Sunzha-Terek Mesopotamia triangle split by the returned Chechen land stretching through the middle. The remaining portions were formed by the Sunzha Cossack District which also encompassed lands around Grozny. However, the Sunzha's importance to the Vainakh peoples as their historical territorial heart ensured that the early communists, mindful of the claims of indigenous peoples, would return it in order to turn them from the Mensheviks toward the Bolsheviks (to balance out the anti-Bolshevik Cossacks). A deadlock formed in the Northern Caucasus. On one hand, the Cossacks were very adverse to Bolshevism, and the latter responded with a Decossackization
policy. On the other hand, many mountainous peoples were hostile to any Russian rule, Red or White (most originally looked to the Reds as a force also fighting against their foes, the Cossacks, but after the Reds began adopting similar policies as their Tzarist predecessors, resentment resurfaced), and continued fighting Russian/Cossack populations. In the end, the Red Army had to use Cossack tactics and hire local population to police the region. The idea of sandwiching a Cossack district within a Chechen autonomy was seen as a solution.
In the 1930s, to make the mountainous autonomies more sustainable in economical terms, they were united with the remaining Cossack holdings: the Sunzha district was retaken by the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, the former capital of the Terek Oblast, Vladikavkaz
became the administrative centre for North Ossetia, likewise the Kabardin-Balkar Autonomous Oblast was also awarded to Cossack territories. On the lower Terek, between 1923 and 1937, the Dagestan ASSR administered the extensive territory there (Kizlyar
, Terek Delta). Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies. However, on the other hand, all these lands (northern Chechnya, Kizlyar, Little Kabarda, historical North Ossetia, East Prigorodny/Western Ingushetia, etc.) had historically been inhabited by Caucasian peoples before the end of the Caucasian Wars.
Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies, however, most of the administration and urban population of those regions was dominated by ethnic Russians. This was paralleled with the gradual down-folding of anti-Cossack repressions and their eventual rehabilitation by the mid-1930s, including forming numerous units in the Red Army.
During the Second World War, Cossacks fought on both sides of the conflict. Many Cossack emerges POWs joined Nazi Germany
who promised to free their lands from Bolshevism. Terek Cossacks made up the Vth regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cossack Division
. Soon the war came to Cossack lands themselves, in 1942 the Nazi offensive Case Blue, and by autumn, the western regions of the former Terek Cossack Hosts, were occupied. By November, the Battle of the Caucasus
reached North Ossetia, and were Germans were already making plans to lease the oilfields in Grozny. Most of the Cossack population took part in repelling the invader.
During the 1920s and 30s, despite efforts of Soviet Union of pacify the mountainous peoples via different programmes, such as Korenizatsiya
, there was still low-level criminal secession movements in the highlands. Nazi Germany decided to use this friction in creating a fifth column
out of them. In the central Caucasus, these were the Karachay and Balkars
who carried out low-level insurgency. Further east, these were the Vainakhs and an existing insurgency by a Khasan Israilov
was fuelled by supplies via Nazi paradrops. By autumn 1942, the insurgency diverted significant Red Army resources, including aviation.
However, after the Battle of Stalingrad
the Germans began a mass evacuation from the Caucasus. The price that mountainous people paid was dear, in late 1943 as part of Soviet Collective punishment
, Operation Lentil
began, which saw a total deportation of all Chechens, Ingush, Karachay and Balkar people to Kazakhstan
. In the aftermath, most of the land was portioned, between loyal mountainous peoples such as Kabardins, Ossetians and Dagestanis, and Russians and Cossacks. For example a vast Grozny Oblast
was created encompassing almost all of the historic lower-Terek Cossack lands, whilst North Ossetia took the Sunzha and Kabardin ASSR had central line cossack stanitsas.
This status quo continued until the second half of the 1950s, when there was once again a cool-down in Soviet government towards Cossacks after the death of Joseph Stalin. In 1957, all of the deported mountainous people were rehabilitated, and their republics restored. However this was not done in previous borders, for example, the historic homeland of lower Terek, Naursky and Schyolkovsky districts were incorporated into the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, whilst the Kizlyar district was passed onto Dagestan. Old problems of land ownership quickly resurfaced, and many returning Chechens and Ingush, forbidden to re-settle in the mountains, were settled in Cossack stanitsas.
The politics of Stagnation
ed USSR, towards titular nations was also two-faced, on one hand all signs of nationalism were repressed, on the other hand Soviet authorities actively encouraged assignation of jobs and selection to the minorities rather than Russians. As a result, of the positive discrimination and better economic prospects in other regions of the USSR, many Russians migrated from the Northern Caucasus to other regions, such as the Tselina
, Russian Far East
and the Baltic Republics. Naturally, the high birth rate, of the mountainous peoples, meant that many sold their homes to them.
Although this hid the historic adversity between Russians and Caucasus people, it never removed the tension, as both sides saw each other gaining favours at their expense.
During the perestroika
, Cossacks once again took steps to re-create their nationality . Many Cossack organisations were formed throughout the former Host. However, in doing so, many wished to review the existing administrative borders in the Northern Caucasus, and return the Cossack regions, that belonged to the once Terek Oblast from the national autonomies. In Kabardino-Balkaria
and North Ossetia and Dagestan
this was resolved by granting the Cossacks full minority rights, that raised on par with titular nations, and today Cossacks play an important role in local administration, culture and development.
In Chechnya and Ingushetia however, the situation was different. There was a long-running ethnic conflict between the Chechen returnees and the Russian settlers of the region. Before 1989, the Russians had dominated all parts of government as well as the workforce, but then this reversed with the "Chechen revolution" in 1990, where the Chechen and Ingush majority took control of the ruling of their homeland. Russians were left jobless as able Vainakh took their places. The Russian language remained in many schools and the Russians of the republic were not immediately made victims.
Cossacks and Russians, unsurprisingly, were staunch foes of Chechen independence from Russia. Chechens feared (not incorrectly) that Cossacks were variously plotting to undermine the independence which they saw as a desperate necessity and to detach a large part of their state. The chronic economic hardship of Chechnya during and after the Soviet period and the large income gap between Russians and Chechens before 1990 also worsened tensions. For these reasons and for the centuries of fighting between Cossacks and Chechens, ethnic relations were highly hostile.
President Dzhokkar Dudayev, himself married to a Russian, tried to suppress ethnic tensions, which he viewed as a destabilizing element to an already impoverished and internationally isolated republic. However, the statements of the President about "hospitality" were not convincing enough, and Dudayev had a huge list of other issues to deal with, due to the horrible economic conditions inherited from the Soviet age and from the international isolation, another major problem.
An exodus of ethnic Russians occurred, although its causes and intensity are disputed. Russian and pro-Russian sources say that virtually the whole Russian population that left (300,000 people) left before the First Chechen War, which others dispute, saying that while tens of thousands (as opposed to 300,000) left, most left due to the First Chechen War during it; Russian sources claim it was due to anti-Russian discrimination and violence, whereas others (such as Russian economists Boris Lvin and Andrei Illarionov, and Western commentators Gall and De Waal< see below) cite economic reasons and the loss of the previous disproportionate privilege held by the Russians during Soviet times, as well as the mass bombing of Grozny during the First Chechen War, where 4 out of 5 Russians in Chechnya lived. As noted by ethnic Russian economists Boris Lvin and Andrei Illiaronov, the rate and number of departures of ethnic Russians from Chechnya during 1991–94 was actually less than other areas (Kalmykia, Tuva and Yakutia).
There is also dispute that Chechens were antagonistic towards ethnic Russians and Cossacks because they were ethnic Russian (as opposed to because they were not secret about their loyalty toward the Russian government and desire to see the Chechen state dissolved) - there were two originally ethnic Russian Chechen teips (which were, as teips, considered integral parts of the nation), and the president's wife was Russian. The Chechen clan system protects individuals from theft and murder because the whole clan would become involved, and one can join a teip - thus, those who didn't join teips (like the Cossacks) would be subject to theft by the poor, etc.
Many of the educated elite also lost their positions in government, industry and academia to locals connected with those in power (which previously they had a vast advantage in due to the situation after the return of the Chechens from exile). Nadteretchny, Naursky and Shelkovskoy raions of the Republic of Chechnya practically lost the traditional Cossack population.
After an attempted coup against Dudayev (who was seen as a threat to Russian oil transit) failed, Moscow responded with a military operation to reconquer Chechnya (see First Chechen War
); many Terek Cossacks jumped at the opportunity to show their loyalty, and formed volunteer units that operated with the Russian Army. These were created to fight in the Sunzha and Terek stanitsas against Chechens.
During the Second Chechen War
, once again Cossack units took part as an auxiliary support, and this time were allowed to establish in the Naursky raion, which still had a Russian minority; today the stanitsa of Naurskaya remains strongly associated with the Cossack movement in Chechnya.
The two wars have brought large suffering to both the Cossacks and the Chechens.
Cossack host
A Cossack host or Cossack viysko was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in Imperial Russia...
created in 1577 from free Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. In 1792 it was included in the Caucasus Line Cossack Host
Caucasus Line Cossack Host
Caucasus Line Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1832 in the Northern Caucasus. Together with the Black Sea Cossack Host it defended the Caucasus Fortified Defense Line from the inlet of Terek River to the inlet of Kuban River.In 1860 it was split into the Kuban Cossack Host and Terek...
and separated from it again in 1860, with the capital of Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
. In 1916 the population of the Host was 255,000 within an area of 1.9 million desyatinas.
Many of the early members of the Terek Cossacks were Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
.
Early history
The earliest known records of Slavic settlements on the lower Terek River date to 1520 when the Ryazan PrincipalityRyazan Principality
The Grand Duchy of Ryazan existed from 1078 when it was separated from the Chernigov Principality as the provincial Murom Principality.-Prior to the invasion of Batu Khan:...
was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
and a lone group left and settled in the natural haven of the Terek River (modern northern Chechnya). The early settlement was located at the mouth of the Aktash River. This formed the oldest Cossack group, the Mountain Cossacks (Гребенские казаки Grebenskiye Kazaki) who settled on both banks of the river.
In 1559-71 the Tsardom of Russia
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
, in the course of several campaigns, built several fortifications, during which the first Terka was built, later taken over by the still independent Cossacks. In 1577, after the Volga Cossacks
Volga Cossacks
The Volga Cossacks were free Cossack communities, formed from among the runaway peasants along the Volga River in the 16th century in Russia.The Volga Cossacks participated in Yermak's conquest of Siberia...
were defeated by the strelets Ivan Murashkin, many scattered, some of whom settled in the Terek basin and Voevoda Novosiltsev built the second Terka on the Terek, marking the start of the Terek Cossacks. In 1584 this Terka was again taken over by Cossacks, some of whom were recruited by the Georgian King Simon.
In a separate story an Ataman of the Don Cossack Host led a band of three Cossack sotnia
Sotnia
Sotnia was a traditional division of the Cossack regiments. For example from earliest records of the Zaporizhian Sich, and means 'a hundred'. It is equivalent to company ....
s to the Kumyk lands, founding the town of Andreev. One of Shadra's motives may have been his tense relations with Yermak Timofeyevich
Yermak Timofeyevich
Yermak Timofeyevich , Cossack leader, Russian folk hero and explorer of Siberia. His exploration of Siberia marked the beginning of the expansion of Russia towards this region and its colonization...
.
In 1580, by official decree, Shadra, along with several cossacks and soldiers, relocated to the Terek
Terek
The Terek River is a major river in the Northern Caucasus, flowing through Georgia and Russia into the Caspian Sea. It rises in Georgia near the juncture of the The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the Khokh Range, to the southwest of Mount Kazbek, then flows north through North Ossetia and...
, settling in the frontier town of Tersky
Tersky
Tersky , Terskaya , or Terskoye may refer to:*Tersky District, name of several districts in Russia*Tersky , name of several rural localities in Russia...
.
In the late 16th century several campaigns by the Terek Cossacks were carried out against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(Temryuk
Temryuk
Temryuk is the largest town and the administrative center of Temryuksky District of Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Taman peninsula on the right bank of the Kuban River not far from its entry into the Temryuk Bay, amid a field of mud volcanoes. The seaport of Temryuk is situated from the...
) which led the Sultan to complain to Ivan the Terrible. In 1589 the first outpost on the Sunzha
Sunzha River
The Sunzha is a river in North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia, a right tributary of Terek River. It is 278 km long. The Sunzha rises on the Northern slope of the Caucasus Major. Its major tributaries are the Assa River and Argun River. With a turbidity of 3,800 g/m³, it carries 12,2...
was built and a permanent Terka, later known as Tersky Gorodok, was built on the lower Terek.
17th century
During the Time of TroublesTime of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. In 1601-1603, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third...
in 1606 four thousand Terek Cossacks left for the Volga to support their own candidate for the Tsar, Ileyka Muromets. By 1614 the Rowers supported the new Romanov monarch and aided him in quelling the unrest in Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
. In 1633 they destroyed the remnants of the Nogay Horde and a decade later aided the Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
against the Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
in 1646. By the mid 17th century the Cossacks again expanded into the Sunzha where they built a new outpost in 1651. Two years later the outpost withstood a hailing attack by Kumyks
Kumyks
Kumyks are a Turkic people occupying the Kumyk plateau in north Dagestan and south Terek, and the lands bordering the Caspian Sea. They comprise 14% of the population of the Russian republic of Dagestan. They speak the Kumyk language...
and Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
is. Though the battle ensured the Tsar's respect, it was advised that the Cossacks pull down the outpost. In the 1670s the Terek Cossacks helped to defeat Stenka Razin
Stenka Razin
Stepan Timofeyevich Razin Тимофеевич Разин, ; 1630 – ) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.-Early life:...
in Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
.
In 1680 after the Raskol
Raskol
Raskol |schism]]') was the event of splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in mid-17th century, triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1653, aiming to establish uniformity between the Greek and Russian church practices.-The Raskol:...
in the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
reached the Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
, a number of Old Believers
Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
left the Don River and settled first on the Kuma
Kuma River (Russia)
The Kuma is an long river in southern Russia. Its drainage basin is 33 500 square km. Its source is in the Greater Caucasus, in the republic Karachay-Cherkessia, west of Kislovodsk...
and later on the Agrakhan. After the aid of the Terek and Rowing Cossacks to the Don Cossacks during the Azov Campaigns
Azov campaigns
Azov campaigns of 1695–96 , two Russian military campaigns during the Russo-Turkish War of 1686–1700, led by Peter the Great and aimed at capturing the Turkish fortress of Azov , which had been blocking Russia's access to the Azov Sea and the Black Sea...
in 1695, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
retaliated against the Terek Cossacks and in 1707 most of their outposts were destroyed on the right bank of the Terek.
18th century
In 1711 GrafGraf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
Apraskin re-settled all of the Rowing Cossacks on the left bank of the Terek River, this move was met with resentment, and during the entire 18th century the Terek Cossacks would still inhabit the left bank and use the rich vineyards and lands right up until 1799. Also in 1720 the Rowers and Tereks were fully incorporated into the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and during the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723), the Cossacks aided Peter I of Russia
Peter I of Russia
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...
in his conquest of the eastern Dagestan and the capture of Derbent
Derbent
Derbent |Lak]]: Чурул, Churul; Persian: دربند; Judæo-Tat: דארבּאנד/Дэрбэнд/Dərbənd) is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, close to the Azerbaijani border. It is the southernmost city in Russia, and it is the second most important city of Dagestan...
. During the campaign the 1000 re-settled Don Cossacks on the Agrakhan and the Sulak formed the Agrakhan Cossack Host (Аграханское Казачье Войско), which was united with the Terek Cossacks. In 1735 by a new agreement with Persia the Sulak line was abandoned, and Agrakhan Cossacks were re-settled on the lower Terek Delta, and the fort of Kizlyar
Kizlyar
Kizlyar is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located in the delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala. Population: 30,000 ....
was founded.
Thus in 1735 three hosts were formed: Grebenskoye (Гребенское Rowing) from the descendants of the earliest Cossacks, Tersko-Semeynoye (Терско-Семейное Terek-Family) from the re-settled Agrakhan Cossacks up to Kizlyar, and Tersko-Kizlyarskoye (Терско-Кизлярское Terek-Kizlyar) from the Agrakhan Cossacks as well as Armenians and Georgians. When the Kalmyks arrived in the northwestern Caspian a combined campaign was waged against Temryuk
Temryuk
Temryuk is the largest town and the administrative center of Temryuksky District of Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Taman peninsula on the right bank of the Kuban River not far from its entry into the Temryuk Bay, amid a field of mud volcanoes. The seaport of Temryuk is situated from the...
during the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739), where the Terek Cossacks were led by Atamans Auka and Petrov.
In 1736 and again in 1765 the right bank of the Terek, still nominally Cossack property, was offered to Chechens who wanted to adopt Russian patronage and re-settle there (noting that historically, the lands immediately north of the Terek river were indeed Chechen before the Mongol invasion and even to a degree after it, and the Chechen highlands were dependent on their agricultural production). By the latter half of the 18th century relations between the Cossacks and the Mountain people began to sour. In 1765 the outpost of Mozdok was founded, which became an immediate target for Kabardins who attacked the Terek line and Kizlyar. In 1771 Yemelyan Pugachev
Yemelyan Pugachev
Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachov , was a pretender to the Russian throne who led a great Cossack insurrection during the reign of Catherine II...
arrived in Terek
Terek
The Terek River is a major river in the Northern Caucasus, flowing through Georgia and Russia into the Caspian Sea. It rises in Georgia near the juncture of the The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the Khokh Range, to the southwest of Mount Kazbek, then flows north through North Ossetia and...
, and, to show loyalty, Ataman Tatarintsev arrested him. Pugachev fled and the Pugachev Rebellion in 1772-1774 gained no support on the Terek.
The Caucasus War (1770s-1860s)
The Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) and the resulting Treaty of Küçük KaynarcaTreaty of Kucuk Kaynarca
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed on 21 July 1774, in Küçük Kaynarca , Dobruja between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the...
gave Russia the pretext under which they could begin their expansion into the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, marking the start of the century-long Caucasus War. In 1769-1770 almost half of the Volga Cossacks
Volga Cossacks
The Volga Cossacks were free Cossack communities, formed from among the runaway peasants along the Volga River in the 16th century in Russia.The Volga Cossacks participated in Yermak's conquest of Siberia...
were re-settled around Mozdok. In 1776 further settlers arrived including more of the Volga Cossacks
Volga Cossacks
The Volga Cossacks were free Cossack communities, formed from among the runaway peasants along the Volga River in the 16th century in Russia.The Volga Cossacks participated in Yermak's conquest of Siberia...
(the remaining Cossacks on the lower Volga were separated into the Astrakhan Cossacks Host
Astrakhan Cossacks
Astrakhan Cossack Host was a Cossack host of Imperial Russia drawn from the Cossacks of the Lower Volga region, who had been patrolling the banks of the Volga River from the time of Russia's annexation of Astrakhan Khanate in 1556.- History :In 1737, the Russian government relocated a number of...
) and the Khopyor Cossacks
Kuban Cossacks
Kuban Cossacks or Kubanians are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are of descendants of two major groups who were re-settled in the Western Northern Caucasus during the Caucasus War in the late 18th century...
from the eastern Don territory. These formed the Azov
Azov
-External links:** *...
-Mozdok defence line. Major foreposts for Russian expansion into the central Caucasus were founded by the re-settlers including: Giorgiyevsk in 1777 by the Khopyor regiment, and Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
in 1784.
During this early phase several high-profile battles take place. In June 1774 Devlet-Girey sent a massive Kabardin Army against the Terek Cossacks, on 10-11 of June the stanitsa of Naurskaya was heroically defended against the invaders and in 1785 Kizlyar was defended against Sheikh Mansur. In 1788-91 the Terek Cossacks took part in three campaigns which took them to the Circassian port of Anapa
Anapa
Anapa is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. It was originally a seaport for the Natkhuay tribe of the Adyghe people. Population: The town boasts a number of sanatoria and hotels...
in western Caucasus. The major gap in the western section of the line of defense was solved in 1792 when the Black Sea Cossacks were re-settled there.
The next three decades brought severe difficulties for the Russian effort in the Caucasus. After the joining of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
to Russia in 1801, the Terek Cossacks spared some men and took part in combat under Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, but on the whole most of them were in constant defence of their home lines. All this changed when in 1816 General Yermolov took command of the Caucasus army. In 1818 he changed the Russian tactics from defensive to offensive and began building the Sunzha-Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
line where strongholds such as Groznaya
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
and Vnezapnaya were founded. Yermolov further reformed the whole structure of the Cossacks and in 1819 replaced elected Atamans with appointed commanders.
In Transcaucasia, Cossacks took part in the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) where they participated in the Siege of Kars
Siege of Kars
The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. On June 1855, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the troops at Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman interest in Asia Minor...
and other key battles. After Yermolov was recalled from the Caucasus, a new reform took place and the interim regiments in the central Caucasus were united with the three Hosts on the Terek to form the Caucasus Line Cossack Host
Caucasus Line Cossack Host
Caucasus Line Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1832 in the Northern Caucasus. Together with the Black Sea Cossack Host it defended the Caucasus Fortified Defense Line from the inlet of Terek River to the inlet of Kuban River.In 1860 it was split into the Kuban Cossack Host and Terek...
(Кавказское линейное казачье войско, Kavkazskoye lineynoye kazachye voysko) in 1832, and the new Nakazny Ataman was named Peter Verzilin. Several reforms followed: In 1836 the Kizlyar and Family regiments were united and made responsible for the Terek Delta, and in 1837 a Malorossiyan (Littile Russian) regiment (formed in 1831 to combat the November Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) was resettled on the upper Terek north of Vladikavkaz. In 1842 the regiment was incorporated into the Line host. This was followed by the formation of the Sunzha regiment with its Ataman Sleptsov.
By this point the Russian control in the Caucasus had improved, with the initiative firmly in the Cossack hands. Most of the battles took place in Chechen and Dagestani territories far away from Cossack homes. During the 1840s several successful expeditions were mounted deep into the mountains. The Line Cossacks participated in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1853–1856) and finally in the closing phase of the Russian advance against Shamil in 1859.
The Terek Cossack Host 1860-1920s
From the 1870s onwards the Eastern Caucasus remained largely peaceful (if one discounts uprisings waged by the Chechens in the late 1870s and the occasional exchange of raids). However the Terek Cossacks took part in several Imperial Wars, including campaigns against Khiva
Khiva
Khiva is a city of approximately 50,000 people located in Xorazm Province, Uzbekistan. It is the former capital of Khwarezmia and the Khanate of Khiva...
in 1873. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) the Terek Cossacks sent six cavalry regiments, one Guards squadron and one mounted artillery regiment to the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and a further seven regiments and mounted battery were mobilized against the rebelling Chechens and Dagestanis, who initiated an uprising against Tsarist authorities in 1878.
In the 1880s the arrival of the railways
North Caucasus Railway
North Caucasus Railway is a broad gauge Russian railway network that links the Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea . It runs through ten federal subjects: Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Republic of Adygeya, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Kalmykia...
and the discovery of oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
made the Terek Oblast one of the wealthiest in the Caucasus, resulting in a large growth in Cossack and indigenous mountain populations. This created friction on land ownership. The Cossacks held extensive fertile areas in the lowlands and steppes, whilst the indigenous mountain populations only held land in the mountainous zones. Peace was preserved, by a complex Russian policy of supporting loyal clan leaders and free supplies of food and goods The combat ability of the Terek Cossacks never waned, taking part in campaigns against Geok-Tele in 1879 and in 1885 right up to the Afghan border in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
.
Terek Cossacks during the Soviet times
The arrival of the FebruaryFebruary Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
and later the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
caught most Cossacks on the front lines in Kurdistan. The unrequited mountainous peoples took full advantage of the crises, Chechens and Ingush on the Sunzha line wiping out several Cossack stanitsas. The Bolsheviks were able to establish themselves in Grozny and Vladikavkaz, though Denikin's Volunteer Army
Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army was an anti-Bolshevik army in South Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920....
drove them out across the Caucasian lands to Astrakhan.
Although Cossacks did form a substantial part of Denikin's units, the Terek Cossacks were mostly involved in fighting the Caucasus insurgency against their traditional adversaries (Denikin's units became known among native Caucasians for their brutality and their association with the Cossacks). In 1920 many Terek Cossacks were deported
Population transfer in the Soviet Union
Population transfer in the Soviet Union may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population, often classified as "enemies of workers," deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite...
to Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the northern part of European Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and a new Mountain ASSR was formed. This left the former Sunzha-Terek Mesopotamia triangle split by the returned Chechen land stretching through the middle. The remaining portions were formed by the Sunzha Cossack District which also encompassed lands around Grozny. However, the Sunzha's importance to the Vainakh peoples as their historical territorial heart ensured that the early communists, mindful of the claims of indigenous peoples, would return it in order to turn them from the Mensheviks toward the Bolsheviks (to balance out the anti-Bolshevik Cossacks). A deadlock formed in the Northern Caucasus. On one hand, the Cossacks were very adverse to Bolshevism, and the latter responded with a Decossackization
Decossackization
Decossackization is a term used to describe the Bolsheviks' policy of the systematic elimination of the Cossacks of the Don and the Kuban as a social and ethnic group...
policy. On the other hand, many mountainous peoples were hostile to any Russian rule, Red or White (most originally looked to the Reds as a force also fighting against their foes, the Cossacks, but after the Reds began adopting similar policies as their Tzarist predecessors, resentment resurfaced), and continued fighting Russian/Cossack populations. In the end, the Red Army had to use Cossack tactics and hire local population to police the region. The idea of sandwiching a Cossack district within a Chechen autonomy was seen as a solution.
In the 1930s, to make the mountainous autonomies more sustainable in economical terms, they were united with the remaining Cossack holdings: the Sunzha district was retaken by the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, the former capital of the Terek Oblast, Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
became the administrative centre for North Ossetia, likewise the Kabardin-Balkar Autonomous Oblast was also awarded to Cossack territories. On the lower Terek, between 1923 and 1937, the Dagestan ASSR administered the extensive territory there (Kizlyar
Kizlyar
Kizlyar is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located in the delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala. Population: 30,000 ....
, Terek Delta). Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies. However, on the other hand, all these lands (northern Chechnya, Kizlyar, Little Kabarda, historical North Ossetia, East Prigorodny/Western Ingushetia, etc.) had historically been inhabited by Caucasian peoples before the end of the Caucasian Wars.
Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies, however, most of the administration and urban population of those regions was dominated by ethnic Russians. This was paralleled with the gradual down-folding of anti-Cossack repressions and their eventual rehabilitation by the mid-1930s, including forming numerous units in the Red Army.
During the Second World War, Cossacks fought on both sides of the conflict. Many Cossack emerges POWs joined Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
who promised to free their lands from Bolshevism. Terek Cossacks made up the Vth regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cossack Division
1st Cossack Division
The 1st Cossack Division was a Russian Cossack division of the German Army that served during World War II. It was created on the Eastern Front mostly out of Don Cossacks already serving in the Wehrmacht, those who escaped from the advancing Red Army and Soviet POWs. In 1945, the division was...
. Soon the war came to Cossack lands themselves, in 1942 the Nazi offensive Case Blue, and by autumn, the western regions of the former Terek Cossack Hosts, were occupied. By November, the Battle of the Caucasus
Battle of the Caucasus
The Battle of Caucasus is a name given to a series of German and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area during the Soviet-German War.-1941 operations:...
reached North Ossetia, and were Germans were already making plans to lease the oilfields in Grozny. Most of the Cossack population took part in repelling the invader.
During the 1920s and 30s, despite efforts of Soviet Union of pacify the mountainous peoples via different programmes, such as Korenizatsiya
Korenizatsiya
Korenizatsiya sometimes also called korenization, meaning "nativization" or "indigenization", literally "putting down roots", was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years...
, there was still low-level criminal secession movements in the highlands. Nazi Germany decided to use this friction in creating a fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
out of them. In the central Caucasus, these were the Karachay and Balkars
Balkars
The Balkars are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. They are possibly Bulgars or are descended from them...
who carried out low-level insurgency. Further east, these were the Vainakhs and an existing insurgency by a Khasan Israilov
Khasan Israilov
Khasan Israilov was a Chechen nationalist, guerrilla fighter, journalist, and poet who led a Chechen and Ingush rebellion against the Soviet Union from 1940 until his death in 1944....
was fuelled by supplies via Nazi paradrops. By autumn 1942, the insurgency diverted significant Red Army resources, including aviation.
However, after the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
the Germans began a mass evacuation from the Caucasus. The price that mountainous people paid was dear, in late 1943 as part of Soviet Collective punishment
Collective punishment
Collective punishment is the punishment of a group of people as a result of the behavior of one or more other individuals or groups. The punished group may often have no direct association with the other individuals or groups, or direct control over their actions...
, Operation Lentil
Operation Lentil (Caucasus)
Operation Lentil was the Soviet expulsion of the whole of the native Chechen and Ingush populations of the North Caucasus to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan during World War II....
began, which saw a total deportation of all Chechens, Ingush, Karachay and Balkar people to Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
. In the aftermath, most of the land was portioned, between loyal mountainous peoples such as Kabardins, Ossetians and Dagestanis, and Russians and Cossacks. For example a vast Grozny Oblast
Grozny Oblast
Grozny Oblast was an administrative entity of the Russian SFSR that was established as Grozny Okrug on March 7, 1944 and abolished on January 9, 1957.-Formation:...
was created encompassing almost all of the historic lower-Terek Cossack lands, whilst North Ossetia took the Sunzha and Kabardin ASSR had central line cossack stanitsas.
This status quo continued until the second half of the 1950s, when there was once again a cool-down in Soviet government towards Cossacks after the death of Joseph Stalin. In 1957, all of the deported mountainous people were rehabilitated, and their republics restored. However this was not done in previous borders, for example, the historic homeland of lower Terek, Naursky and Schyolkovsky districts were incorporated into the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, whilst the Kizlyar district was passed onto Dagestan. Old problems of land ownership quickly resurfaced, and many returning Chechens and Ingush, forbidden to re-settle in the mountains, were settled in Cossack stanitsas.
The politics of Stagnation
Stagnation
Stagnation may refer to one of the following*Economic stagnation, slow or no economic growth*Era of Stagnation, a period of economic stagnation in Soviet Union*Stagnation in fluid dynamics, see "Stagnation point"*Water stagnation*Air stagnation...
ed USSR, towards titular nations was also two-faced, on one hand all signs of nationalism were repressed, on the other hand Soviet authorities actively encouraged assignation of jobs and selection to the minorities rather than Russians. As a result, of the positive discrimination and better economic prospects in other regions of the USSR, many Russians migrated from the Northern Caucasus to other regions, such as the Tselina
Virgin Lands Campaign
The Virgin Lands Campaign was an initiative by Nikita Khrushchev to open up vast tracts of unseeded steppe in the northern Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and the Altay region of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, started in 1954....
, Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
and the Baltic Republics. Naturally, the high birth rate, of the mountainous peoples, meant that many sold their homes to them.
Although this hid the historic adversity between Russians and Caucasus people, it never removed the tension, as both sides saw each other gaining favours at their expense.
Post-1990 history
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, Cossacks once again took steps to re-create their nationality . Many Cossack organisations were formed throughout the former Host. However, in doing so, many wished to review the existing administrative borders in the Northern Caucasus, and return the Cossack regions, that belonged to the once Terek Oblast from the national autonomies. In Kabardino-Balkaria
Kabardino-Balkaria
The Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus. Population: -Geography:The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part....
and North Ossetia and Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
this was resolved by granting the Cossacks full minority rights, that raised on par with titular nations, and today Cossacks play an important role in local administration, culture and development.
In Chechnya and Ingushetia however, the situation was different. There was a long-running ethnic conflict between the Chechen returnees and the Russian settlers of the region. Before 1989, the Russians had dominated all parts of government as well as the workforce, but then this reversed with the "Chechen revolution" in 1990, where the Chechen and Ingush majority took control of the ruling of their homeland. Russians were left jobless as able Vainakh took their places. The Russian language remained in many schools and the Russians of the republic were not immediately made victims.
Cossacks and Russians, unsurprisingly, were staunch foes of Chechen independence from Russia. Chechens feared (not incorrectly) that Cossacks were variously plotting to undermine the independence which they saw as a desperate necessity and to detach a large part of their state. The chronic economic hardship of Chechnya during and after the Soviet period and the large income gap between Russians and Chechens before 1990 also worsened tensions. For these reasons and for the centuries of fighting between Cossacks and Chechens, ethnic relations were highly hostile.
President Dzhokkar Dudayev, himself married to a Russian, tried to suppress ethnic tensions, which he viewed as a destabilizing element to an already impoverished and internationally isolated republic. However, the statements of the President about "hospitality" were not convincing enough, and Dudayev had a huge list of other issues to deal with, due to the horrible economic conditions inherited from the Soviet age and from the international isolation, another major problem.
An exodus of ethnic Russians occurred, although its causes and intensity are disputed. Russian and pro-Russian sources say that virtually the whole Russian population that left (300,000 people) left before the First Chechen War, which others dispute, saying that while tens of thousands (as opposed to 300,000) left, most left due to the First Chechen War during it; Russian sources claim it was due to anti-Russian discrimination and violence, whereas others (such as Russian economists Boris Lvin and Andrei Illarionov, and Western commentators Gall and De Waal< see below) cite economic reasons and the loss of the previous disproportionate privilege held by the Russians during Soviet times, as well as the mass bombing of Grozny during the First Chechen War, where 4 out of 5 Russians in Chechnya lived. As noted by ethnic Russian economists Boris Lvin and Andrei Illiaronov, the rate and number of departures of ethnic Russians from Chechnya during 1991–94 was actually less than other areas (Kalmykia, Tuva and Yakutia).
There is also dispute that Chechens were antagonistic towards ethnic Russians and Cossacks because they were ethnic Russian (as opposed to because they were not secret about their loyalty toward the Russian government and desire to see the Chechen state dissolved) - there were two originally ethnic Russian Chechen teips (which were, as teips, considered integral parts of the nation), and the president's wife was Russian. The Chechen clan system protects individuals from theft and murder because the whole clan would become involved, and one can join a teip - thus, those who didn't join teips (like the Cossacks) would be subject to theft by the poor, etc.
Many of the educated elite also lost their positions in government, industry and academia to locals connected with those in power (which previously they had a vast advantage in due to the situation after the return of the Chechens from exile). Nadteretchny, Naursky and Shelkovskoy raions of the Republic of Chechnya practically lost the traditional Cossack population.
After an attempted coup against Dudayev (who was seen as a threat to Russian oil transit) failed, Moscow responded with a military operation to reconquer Chechnya (see First Chechen War
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
); many Terek Cossacks jumped at the opportunity to show their loyalty, and formed volunteer units that operated with the Russian Army. These were created to fight in the Sunzha and Terek stanitsas against Chechens.
During the Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
, once again Cossack units took part as an auxiliary support, and this time were allowed to establish in the Naursky raion, which still had a Russian minority; today the stanitsa of Naurskaya remains strongly associated with the Cossack movement in Chechnya.
The two wars have brought large suffering to both the Cossacks and the Chechens.