Coercion of Devastated Zandak into Subordination and Tribute by Colonel Pullo (1836)
On 23 August 1836, the detachment of Colonel Pullo devastated the aul of Zandak on the Yaman-su river, taking inhabitants captive and driving away livestock (campaign C1156). The village's subordination was engineered by the devastation itself: Pullo calculatedly left some of the houses unburned so that the crushed village would have somewhere to return to beg for "submission". In a report to General Petrov dated 27 August 1836 he admitted: "Being certain that the inhabitants of Zandak, following the common custom of the Chechens, would ask for submission after punishment, and considering such submission useful for the government, I did not order the village burned"[1]. The same report recorded the mechanism of coercion: the devastation of Zandak, which had been considered impregnable, "brought both the inhabitants of the village and all those living in its vicinity into fear and despondency"[1]. Under this fear, as early as 27 August 1836 the elders of the devastated village came to the Groznaya fortress with a forced plea to be accepted into subjecthood; Rozen reported to the Minister of War: "On 27 August the Zandak elders appeared before the commander of the Sunzha Line declaring their submission, which was accepted from them in the established order"[2]. "Submission" was accepted only on the empire's terms: loyalty, a complete break with Tashu-Hadji, the leader of the Chechen resistance, a ban on assemblies, the handover of Russian captives in exchange for the inhabitants of Zandak seized by the troops during the devastation of the village, and payment of tribute at the rate established by the empire for the societies it deemed "submissive". Pullo enumerated: the people of Zandak "pledge for the time to come to remain loyal to us, allowing the inhabitants not the slightest contact with Tashav-Hadji... not to permit rebellious gatherings among themselves, to deliver our captives in exchange for their own taken during the devastation of Zandak, and to pay, on a par with the Aukhovites and other submissive tribes, the established tribute"[1]. Pullo assessed the outcome as the conqueror's gain: "All the above-stated consequences arising from the devastation of the Zandak people have produced important advantages for us"[1].
Actors
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| G0009 | Russian Empire | 2 |
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0010 | Regular Army | 2 |
Procedures Carried Out
On 27 August 1836, Colonel Pullo accepted at the Groznaya fortress the forced "submission" of the aul of Zandak on the Yaman-su river, devastated by his detachment on 23 August 1836 (campaign C1156). The subordination was engineered by the devastation itself: in a report to General Petrov dated 27 August 1836, Pullo admitted: "Being certain that the inhabitants of Zandak, following the common custom of the Chechens, would ask for submission after punishment, and considering such submission useful for the government, I did not order the village burned"[1]. The same report recorded the state in which the village went to its subordination: the devastation "brought both the inhabitants of the village and all those living in its vicinity into fear and despondency"[1]. The elders sent "a plea to be accepted into submission to the Russian government", and subjecthood was formalized on terms dictated by the empire: loyalty, a complete break with Tashu-Hadji, the leader of the Chechen resistance, a ban on assemblies, the handover of Russian captives in exchange for the inhabitants of Zandak seized during the devastation, and the established tribute[1]. Rozen recorded the fact and the date of the formalization in a dispatch to the Minister of War: "On 27 August the Zandak elders appeared before the commander of the Sunzha Line declaring their submission, which was accepted from them in the established order"[2].
On 27 August 1836, Colonel Pullo imposed tribute on the aul of Zandak on the Yaman-su river, devastated by his detachment on 23 August 1836 (campaign C1156): payment of tribute became a condition for accepting the crushed village's "submission". In a report to General Petrov dated 27 August 1836, Pullo recorded the obligation accepted by the elders at the Groznaya fortress: "to pay, on a par with the Aukhovites and other submissive tribes, the established tribute"[1]. The tribute was not the village's counter-offer but the empire's standing norm for taxing the societies it deemed "submissive"; refusal would have meant the return of the "avenging arms of the Russians" - the village had just survived devastation, the captivity of its inhabitants, and the seizure of its livestock[1].