Coercion of Chechnya into Oaths by Feze's Spring Tour: Amanats from Communities Coerced into the Oath, Destruction of Auls along the Dzhalka, a Livestock Fine (February-April 1837)
In February-April 1837, the command of the Russian Caucasus Corps conducted a series of expeditions under General Feze across Chechnya, coercing community after community into an oath to the empire. Rozen stated the sanction in a dispatch to Minister of War Chernyshev: a campaign "beyond the Argun" would be useful "for diminishing the Chechens' trust in the instigators and turning them away from the intention of joining Shamil" (Shamil - imam, leader of the Dagestani and Chechen highlanders' resistance to the Russian conquest)[1]. Rozen's reports to Chernyshev describe the mechanism themselves: after the annihilation of the auls of Akhoy-yurt, Lyumik-yurt, Seid-yurt and Avtur, "the Chechens, gripped by fear from the preceding actions... fell into great despondency" - and the troops took oaths with amanats (amanat - a person whom the empire took from a community as a guarantee of subordination) from Shali on 6 February, Germenchuk on the 8th, Geldigen on the 15th, six auls of the Michik on the 21st, the auls along the Yaman-su and the Aksai on the 25th, and, at the end of March, from the elders of the Goyta forest and the Martan gorge[1]. The summary in the report of 4 March 1837 counts, for eleven February days: "52 souls of inhabitants who did not submit voluntarily were taken captive by our troops... and 52 amanats were taken"[1]. General Feze stated the calculation openly - he acted "with the intention of making use, as far as possible, of the panic fear" (report to Velyaminov of 15 March 1837)[2]. In March the troops passed up the Dzhalka: "the four auls they had abandoned were occupied and annihilated without resistance", and the kutans (winter shelters for livestock) with their grain stores were destroyed[1]. At the end of April a night raid on the Gertli settlement took "18 souls belonging to the families of the brigands" and 465 head of livestock, and "a fine of 132 head of livestock was imposed on the settlement"[1]. The voice of the Nokhchi records the tour as an invasion - the historian D. A. Khozhaev writes: "at the end of February-beginning of March the enemy again invaded Ichkeria. On 1 March, at the village of Aleroy, a battle took place between the detachment of Tashu-Hadji's companion Udi-mullah and the troops of General Fezi" (Tashu-Hadji - sheikh, imam of Chechnya in 1834-1836, spiritual and military leader of the Chechen resistance)[3].
Actors
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| G0009 | Russian Empire | 11 |
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0010 | Regular Army | 11 |
Procedures Carried Out
In February-April 1837, continuing the January annihilation of Lesser Chechnya (campaign C1160), the command of the Russian Caucasus Corps conducted a series of expeditions under General Feze across eastern and central Chechnya: the February movement through Shali, Germenchuk and the Michik, the March march up the Dzhalka, and the April night raid on the Gertli settlement. Rozen set out the sanction in a dispatch to Minister of War Chernyshev: a campaign "beyond the Argun" - "for diminishing the Chechens' trust in the instigators and turning them away from the intention of joining Shamil" (Shamil - imam, leader of the Dagestani and Chechen highlanders' resistance to the Russian conquest)[1]. The Gertli raid was declared a punishment in Rozen's report to Chernyshev of 30 May 1837: "for the devastation or final annihilation of this brigand party... and for the punishment of its inhabitants"[1].
Feze's spring tour across Chechnya (February-April 1837) was built on demonstrative violence converted into submission. Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 4 March 1837 records the result of the annihilation of the auls: "the Chechens, gripped by fear from the preceding actions... fell into great despondency"[1] - after which the oaths followed one after another. Feze himself reported the calculation to General Velyaminov on 15 March 1837: he acted "with the intention of making use, as far as possible, of the panic fear" that had gripped "the Tavlins and the Andians" after the battle at Avtury[2]; Rozen's report of 11 March uses the same word for the demand of submission from the Andians - "wishing to make use of the fear"[1]. Fear drove people off their land: after the March sweeps through the forests the inhabitants, according to the report of 12 April, "were compelled by these searches to withdraw into the distant mountains"[1].
In February-March 1837, Feze's troops, annihilating the auls of those who evaded, took oaths to the empire from the Chechen communities one after another - Rozen's reports to Minister of War Chernyshev count them by date: on 6 February Shali ("brought an oath of submission to our government and presented amanats as its pledge"), on 8 February Germenchuk ("the oath of subjecthood was renewed"), on 15 February Geldigen ("brought an oath of allegiance and handed over amanats chosen from the best families"), on 21 February six auls of the Michik, on 25 February the auls along the Yaman-su from Balan-su to Biletli and on the Aksai[1]. By 24 February, according to the report of 11 March, Feze "brought to submission the Chechens dwelling along the Michik river"; at the end of March, at the camp at Ustar-khan, the troops took an oath from the elders of the Goyta forest and the Martan gorge - they "brought an oath of allegiance to the Sovereign Emperor and presented amanats as security for their submission"[1]. An oath taken under the guns of troops that had just annihilated the neighboring auls fixed subordination as a legal fact (amanat - a person whom the empire took from a community as a guarantee of subordination).
Every oath of Feze's spring tour (February-April 1837) was paid for in people: the troops took amanats (amanat - a person whom the empire took from a community as a guarantee of subordination) from every community that submitted. Rozen's reports to Minister of War Chernyshev record the mechanism: Shali - "presented amanats as its pledge", Geldigen - "handed over amanats chosen from the best families", the Yaman-su and the Aksai - "with amanats as its security", the Goyta forest and the Martan gorge - "presented amanats as security for their submission"; the summary of 4 March 1837 counts: for 12-22 February "52 amanats were taken"[1]. In April, in the Gertli settlement, according to the report of 30 May, "Feze ordered the elder's family and 12 more souls to be taken into custody"[1].
Over Feze's spring tour across Chechnya (February-April 1837), the troops led away dozens of inhabitants into captivity, most of them unarmed. The summary in Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 4 March 1837: for 12-22 February "52 souls of inhabitants who did not submit voluntarily were taken captive by our troops, including 8 armed men"[1] - that is, 44 of the 52 captives bore no arms. The report of 23 February on the burning of Seid-yurt and Avtur: "one Chechen and three women who had not managed to get away into the forest" were taken[1]. On the night of 22 March at Gurdali, according to the report of 12 April, Lieutenant Colonel Panteleyev "took captive 9 unsubmissive Chechens"; in the April raid on the Gertli settlement "18 more souls belonging to the families of the brigands were seized"[1].
Feze's spring tour (February-April 1837) destroyed the housing and winter livelihood of the Chechen communities. Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 23 February 1837: on 5 February "our troops annihilated the auls of Akhoy-yurt and Lyumik-yurt lying on the way and the khutors of the hostile Chechens"; on 9 February Seid-yurt and Avtur were annihilated[1]. In the March march up the Dzhalka, according to the report of 12 April, "the four auls they had abandoned were occupied and annihilated without resistance. Then the troops penetrated into the thick of the forest and destroyed the kutans (winter shelters for livestock)"; on 26 March the troops were destroying kutans near Shali, and Birzul's column did the same along its own route[1].
Destroying the kutans (winter shelters for livestock) along the Dzhalka and near Shali in March 1837, Feze's troops deliberately burned food. Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 12 April 1837 records: in the kutans they "burned a considerable quantity of the grain found in them"; near Shali the troops "seized the watchmen present at them and a multitude of food supplies"; and Birzul's column burned "several hundred chetverts of the grain found in them" (chetvert - an old grain measure of about 210 liters)[1]. Burning hundreds of chetverts of grain at the end of winter left the families who had fled to the forests and mountains without means to survive until the harvest.
Throughout Feze's spring tour (February-April 1837), the troops took the Chechens' livestock and property. According to Rozen's reports to Minister of War Chernyshev: on 5 February the livestock of mullah Udi's detachment was taken - "148 head of livestock of various kinds"; on 11 February "213 head of livestock of various kinds belonging to the unsubmissive Chechens were seized"; against those hiding in the forests "searches were made in various directions... and livestock of various kinds and property were seized from many of them"[1]. The April raid on the Gertli settlement, according to the report of 30 May, took "465 head of small livestock"[1].
Feze's spring tour (February-April 1837) cut military roads through the Chechen forests. According to Rozen's reports to Minister of War Chernyshev: in February a road was cut "in the forests through the Qachqalyq mountains along the Michik and between the auls of Kazbek and Aku-yurt"; the report of 12 April notes that the March march went "by the clearing cut by him in February of this year"; Feze himself moved at the end of February "working the pack trail into a road fit for the passage of all kinds of loads"[1]. Clearings and roads through the forests deprived the Chechen communities of their natural protection and opened the troops permanent access into the depth of the country.
The submission taken by Feze's troops in February 1837 immediately turned into labor duty. Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 4 March 1837 records: on 21 February "the inhabitants of six neighboring auls declared their submission and sent out workers to cut, together with the Kumyks, a road in the forests through the Qachqalyq mountains along the Michik"[1] - communities just subordinated were set by the empire to cut the forest for a military road against themselves; the duty came as part of the package of submission, as the standard "Conditions Prescribed to Submitting Highlanders" would later codify it.
By the April 1837 raid on the Gertli settlement the troops of General Feze imposed a collective property levy on the whole village: according to Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 30 May, on top of the livestock taken during the raid "a fine of 132 head of livestock was imposed on the settlement"[1] - the settlement paid as a whole, with no regard to the personal involvement of its residents.