Burning of Lowland Chechnya by Velyaminov's Expedition: Demolition of Villages from the Sunzha to Mairtup, Seizure of Astemir's Family, Collective Penalties Imposed on Chechen Villages, the Cutting Down of Fleeing Inhabitants of Dzulgai-Yurt, and Destruction of Winter Stores (1830-1831)
In the fall of 1830, General Velyaminov, who had taken command of the troops operating against Chechnya, began with collective property exactions from the Chechen villages standing on the Terek River near the imperial border. The imperial historian Potto admits: for the driving off by Chechens of ten head of cattle from the stanitsa of Chervlennaya, Velyaminov "immediately ordered that ten head of cattle likewise be taken from the inhabitants of the two villages of Braguny and Novy-Yurt, past which the raiding party had gone, and returned to the Cossacks," and after a herd of horses was driven off in the Nogai steppe, "Braguny again paid with exactly the same number of head"; the owner of Novy-Yurt, Shah-Girei, was summoned to Groznaya and confined in a casemate — a prison cell inside the fortress[1]. On December 18, 1830, a detachment assembled in Groznaya consisting of four infantry regiments — the Moscow, Butyrsky, Tarutino, and Borodino regiments — a composite battalion of the 43rd Jaeger Regiment, five sotnias of line Cossacks, and twenty-two guns, and at night the troops moved on the village of Dzulgai-Yurt, where the Karabulak leader Astemir lived. Potto wrote: the Cossacks, bursting into the village at dawn, rushed to Astemir's house; he himself managed to escape, "but his family — a young son, a daughter, a grandson, and a female cousin — fell into the hands of the Cossacks. Besides them, thirty-nine people were taken prisoner, and about twelve were cut down"[1]. Then the villages of western, Lesser Chechnya were destroyed one after another: Kiter-Yurt "was given over to the flames," Pkhan-Kichu was burned down, at the village of Daut-Martan "the inhabitants managed to flee, but all their property remained the booty of the detachment," Edin-Yurt and Daut-Yurt were burned, "enormous stores of harvested hay" were destroyed, Martan-aul and Dzhargan-Yurt were occupied, the aul of Engeli was exterminated[1]. Between campaigns, the troops cut a clearing through the forest between the village of Aldy and the fortress of Groznaya. In January 1831 the blow was shifted to eastern, Greater Chechnya: Uzeken-Yurt was burned, Besenber with all its hamlets was destroyed. The villages of Avtury, Geldigen, and Mairtup sent their elders with an offer of submission and hostages, but Velyaminov rejected them, demanding the surrender of all Russian captives and deserter soldiers. The condition was a double impossibility, and Potto himself deciphers this: they "could not have had many" captives — captives did not settle in the villages but left through exchange and ransom, which both sides practiced; as for deserters, the Nokhchi did not hand them over — the Chechens, by Potto's admission, "regarded them... as men who had given themselves under the protection of their hearths, and therefore never surrendered them"[1]. Hospitality is a value celebrated in Chechen illi (heroic songs) on a par with courage and fidelity to one's word, and handing over a fugitive meant sending a guest to his death: the historian D. A. Khozhaev wrote of the marching gallows "on which the general [Yermolov] hanged highlanders and fugitive Russian soldiers and Cossacks who were hiding in mountain auls," and recorded that the demand for "the surrender of fugitive Russian soldiers and Cossacks living in the mountain auls" was a constant instrument of the imperial bailiffs (pristavs)[2]. By demanding simultaneously the nonexistent and the inadmissible, Velyaminov engineered a refusal: "this belated and forced submission was not at all part of Velyaminov's designs; he understood the necessity of punishing these auls cruelly, and perhaps that is why he set before them conditions which, in the view of the highlanders, were unthinkable"[1]. Avtury was taken by storm and burned, Geldigen was consigned to the flames with all its stores, and on January 21 Mairtup "with its luxuriant gardens and plantations" was destroyed together with the surrounding auls[1]. Potto sums up the result with an admission: "all of lowland Chechnya, traversed through and through as far as the Kochalykovsky ridge, was given over by Velyaminov to fire and sword"[1].
Actors
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| G0009 | Russian Empire |
From December 18, 1830 to January 26, 1831, General Velyaminov conducted a sweeping march through lowland Chechnya as punishment of the people for supporting the resistance, systematically devastating villages from the Sunzha River to the Kachkalyk Ridge. The imperial historian Potto wrote of the method: Velyaminov "would usually mark out a point toward which he advanced unswervingly with his entire detachment, and then, upon reaching it, immediately set up camp and established a fortified wagenburg (a camp enclosed by wagons), from which the troops were dispatched in turn in small columns to exterminate the neighboring auls"[1]. Potto acknowledges the outcome of the campaign: "the whole of lowland Chechnya, traversed through and through as far as the Kochalyk Ridge, was put to fire and sword by Velyaminov"[1]. |
Techniques Used
| ID | Name | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T0053 | Abduction of People |
At dawn on December 19, 1830, during the seizure of the village of Dzulgai-Yurt, Cossacks of General Velyaminov's detachment captured the family of a resistance leader — the Karabulak chieftain Astemir, who himself managed to escape into the forest. The imperial historian Potto wrote: "his family — a young son, a daughter, a grandson, and a cousin — fell into the hands of the Cossacks. Besides them, thirty-nine people were taken prisoner"[1]. |
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| T0121 | Artificial Famine |
In December 1830 – January 1831, General Velyaminov's troops deliberately destroyed the winter stores of food and fodder of the villages being devastated. The imperial historian Potto wrote: during the burning of Edin-Yurt and Daut-Yurt, the troops "destroyed enormous stores of harvested hay"[1]; on January 17, 1831, Geldigen was put to the torch "with all its stores"[1]. The destruction of hay and grain stores in the depths of winter condemned the inhabitants, who had fled to the mountains and forests, to famine. |
|
| T0140 | Destruction of the Natural Landscape |
In January 1831, General Velyaminov's troops cut a clearing and cleared a road through the forest between the settlement of Aldy and the Groznaya fortress, depriving the inhabitants of forest cover for the sake of a military passage to the south. The imperial historian Potto wrote: Velyaminov "set about cutting a clearing and clearing a road between Aldy and Groznaya in order to prepare for himself a secure gateway to the south"[1]. On January 21, 1831, Mairtup was exterminated "with its luxuriant gardens and plantations" — orchards of many years' standing, the foundation of the village's way of life, were destroyed[1]. |
|
| T0052 | Expropriation of Resources |
In the autumn of 1830, General Velyaminov introduced collective property levies on Chechen villages that bore no responsibility for the actions of others: for the driving off by Chechens of ten head of cattle from the stanitsa of Chervlennaya, he "immediately ordered that ten head of cattle likewise be taken from the inhabitants of the two villages of Braguny and Novy-Yurt, past which the party had traveled, and returned to the Cossacks"; for the driving off of a herd of horses in the Nogai steppe, "Braguny once again paid with exactly the same number of head"; and Shakh-Girei, the owner of Novy-Yurt, was confined to a casemate — a prison cell of the Groznaya fortress — for the inaction of the village watch. This was recorded by the imperial historian Potto[1]. In December 1830, during the encirclement of the village of Daut-Martan, "the inhabitants managed to flee, but all their property became the booty of the detachment"[1]. |
|
| T0104 | Mass Killings of Civilians |
At dawn on December 19, 1830, Cossacks of General Velyaminov's detachment, having burst into the sleeping village of Dzulgai-Yurt, cut down the inhabitants caught unawares. The imperial historian Potto recorded: "thirty-nine people were taken prisoner, and about twelve were cut down. The rest, having taken cover in the forest, opened an exchange of fire"[1]. Those cut down were inhabitants overtaken during the sudden nighttime seizure of the village; armed resistance was mounted later only by those who managed to reach the forest. |
|
| T0077 | Punitive Expeditions |
From December 18, 1830 to January 26, 1831, General Velyaminov conducted a sweeping march through lowland Chechnya as punishment of the people for supporting the resistance, systematically devastating villages from the Sunzha River to the Kachkalyk Ridge. The imperial historian Potto wrote of the method: Velyaminov "would usually mark out a point toward which he advanced unswervingly with his entire detachment, and then, upon reaching it, immediately set up camp and established a fortified wagenburg (a camp enclosed by wagons), from which the troops were dispatched in turn in small columns to exterminate the neighboring auls"[1]. Potto acknowledges the outcome of the campaign: "the whole of lowland Chechnya, traversed through and through as far as the Kochalyk Ridge, was put to fire and sword by Velyaminov"[1]. |
|
| T0105 | Total Destruction of Infrastructure |
In December 1830 – January 1831, General Velyaminov's troops razed and burned the villages of lowland Chechnya: Kiter-Yurt, Pkhan-Kichu, Edin-Yurt, Daut-Yurt, Engeli, Uzeken-Yurt, Besenber with its hamlets, Avtury, Geldigen, and Mairtup with the surrounding auls. The imperial historian Potto wrote: Kiter-Yurt "was immediately given over to the flames," "over the following two days the Butyrsky and Tarutinsky regiments burned the village of Pkhan-Kichu," "along the way they burned two more unsubmissive villages: Edin-Yurt and Daut-Yurt," the troops "managed to exterminate one more aul, Engeli," the regiments "burned the unsubmissive village of Uzeken-Yurt," "exterminated in the vicinity the aul of Besenber, with all the hamlets adjoining it," and on January 21, 1831, "the same fate befell Maiortup itself"[1]. The submission offered by the villages of Avtury, Geldigen, and Mairtup, together with the handing over of hostages, Velyaminov rejected, demanding the impossible — the surrender of all Russian captives and fugitives — in order to preserve a pretext for exterminating the villages: submission, as Potto admits, "was not at all part of Velyaminov's designs, as he understood the necessity of punishing these auls cruelly"[1]. |
|
Instruments
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S0010 | Regular Army |
From December 18, 1830 to January 26, 1831, General Velyaminov conducted a sweeping march through lowland Chechnya as punishment of the people for supporting the resistance, systematically devastating villages from the Sunzha River to the Kachkalyk Ridge. The imperial historian Potto wrote of the method: Velyaminov "would usually mark out a point toward which he advanced unswervingly with his entire detachment, and then, upon reaching it, immediately set up camp and established a fortified wagenburg (a camp enclosed by wagons), from which the troops were dispatched in turn in small columns to exterminate the neighboring auls"[1]. Potto acknowledges the outcome of the campaign: "the whole of lowland Chechnya, traversed through and through as far as the Kochalyk Ridge, was put to fire and sword by Velyaminov"[1]. |