Forcing Chechnya into submission after the fall of Akhulgo and suppression of the general uprising of 1840 (1838-1840)

In 1838-1840 the empire eliminated leaders of the Chechen resistance by contract killings and arrests. General Golovin, commander of the Separate Caucasus Corps (head of the empire's troops and administration in the Caucasus), by a secret instruction of 17 November 1838 ordered general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), to arrange the assassination of Shamil (Shamil - the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest): "Among the highlanders devoted to us there will doubtless be daring men who, for a good monetary reward, will undertake to deliver the head of the instigator. I charge you to try this measure, secretly offering to kill Shamil... promising a reward of up to 1,000 chervonets" (chervonets - a gold coin of the empire)^[5]. In autumn 1839, after the rout of Akhulgo (Shamil's mountain stronghold in Dagestan), Ullu-bey of Erpeli - a highlander in the empire's service, installed as pristav (superintendent appointed by the empire) over the Koysubu community - twice sent poisoners to Shamil in the Chechen village of Vedeno: Shamil's chronicler Muhammad Tahir al-Qarakhi recorded that "Ullubiy sent Shamil's nephew Ibrahim, son of Bartikhan, with poison, together with two companions... while the latter was in the village of Vedeno of the Chechen vilayat" (vilayat - an administrative province of the Imamate)^[1]. During the winter expeditions of December 1839 - January 1840 Pullo's troops took from the auls people whom the empire had outlawed: historians Ya. Z. Akhmadov and E. Kh. Khasmagomadov write - "In December 1839 major-general Pullo passed through 28 villages without a single shot, collected 4 thousand rubles in silver from the Chechens, confiscated 455 rifles and seized 97 abreks" (abrek - the empire's label for an outlawed highlander)^[6]; in the January march along the Michik the troops took 30 more people^[4].

The invasion of Ichkeria (mountainous south-eastern Chechnya) by imperial troops in May 1839 opened with a public threat of annihilation. General Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), in a proclamation "to the Ichkerian people" threatened: "Those auls which give refuge to Tashev-hadji will all be annihilated to their foundations, and your children will long remember how all instigators are punished" (Tashu-Hadji - a sheikh, in 1834-1836 the imam of Chechnya, spiritual and military leader of the Chechen resistance)^[5].

During the May 1839 invasion of Ichkeria (mountainous south-eastern Chechnya) the imperial troops tortured their captives. The imperial officer Milyutin, a participant of the march, recorded that five Aukhovites (the Aukhovites - a Chechen community in the north-east, by the Kumyk border) captured with weapons after a fight were made to run the gauntlet on 15 May 1839 near the village of Yaryksu-Aukh (an execution-torture: a man was led between two ranks of soldiers, each of whom struck him with a shpitsruten rod): they "were subjected to cruel torture by being driven through the gauntlet. The soldiers vented their spite on these unfortunates; of the five only one remained alive"^[7].

In 1839-1840 punitive marches of imperial troops swept across Chechnya in waves. In May 1839 general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), invaded Ichkeria (mountainous south-eastern Chechnya); he named the goal himself in a report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 10 May 1839: "to punish both this village [Benoy] and all other unsubmissive villages"^[8]. The imperial officer Milyutin, a participant of the invasion, admitted the outcome: "The burning of several Aukh and Ichkerian villages only embittered the nearest highlanders still more, and the very end of our raid nonetheless looked as if they had driven out uninvited guests"^[7]. In winter the troops of general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line, twice marched through the auls that had submitted: on 18-30 December 1839 - 28 auls of Lesser Chechnya (the lowland-piedmont western part of Chechnya), from 26 January 1840 - the auls along the Michik river; historian Sh. A. Gapurov writes of these marches: "He exacted tribute from the destitute people wholesale, disarmed them, demanded the surrender of captives, forced them to fell timber"^[9]. After the uprising the punitive actions continued: in late April 1840 the troops marched into Aukh (the Chechen region in the north-east) - the imperial historian Yurov recorded: "Having destroyed the orchards and given the saklias to the flames..." (saklia - a highlander's house)^[4]; on 6-14 July the detachment of general Galafeyev, who had taken over the troops of the left flank after Pullo, marched across Lesser Chechnya - historian N. I. Pokrovsky: "From 6 to 14 July general Galafeyev passed through Lesser Chechnya with fire and sword"^[3]; historian D. A. Khozhayev cites the imperial goal: to "punish exemplarily" the Chechens "who had joined Shamil" (Shamil - the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest)^[2]. The autumn marches were sanctioned by general Golovin, commander of the Separate Caucasus Corps, in an instruction to general Grabbe of 17 August 1840 "to employ the troops... for the strict punishment of the mutinous Chechens"^[8]; Nicholas I approved the plan through Minister of War Chernyshev on 10 September 1840^[10]. Galafeyev's detachment passed through Greater Chechnya (the lowland eastern part of Chechnya) from 26 September to 18 October; Grabbe's detachments - through Lesser Chechnya from 27 October to 5 November and through Greater Chechnya from 10 to 18 November^[3]. Historian N. I. Pokrovsky conveys the calculation of the last expedition from Grabbe's dispatches: "He counted on the stunning impression of this expedition"^[3].

The empire answered the Chechen uprising by sending in troops. General Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), reported on 9 March 1840 about marching out against the insurgents: "I set out yesterday for Khankala with 5 companies" (Khankala - a tract by the Groznaya fortress)^[8]. The second deployment was a detachment on the Sunzha river: an imperial instruction of 25 March 1840 set it the task of "keeping the Karabulaks in submission" (the Karabulaks - a Vainakh community between Chechnya and Ingushetia; "submission" - the empire's formula of subordination)^[8].

The winter expeditions of general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), in December 1839 - February 1840 carried out the physical seizure of weapons from the inhabitants of Chechnya's auls. The system was conceived by Pullo himself: in his 1840 memorandum he wrote that it was then that "a beginning was laid to the system of disarming the highlanders, by levying one gun from every 10 saklias from all the auls"^[8]. The imperial historian Yurov recorded of the December 1839 march: the inhabitants "unquestioningly paid the tribute or, instead of money, handed over weapons"^[4]. Historian Sh. A. Gapurov gives the tally from the archives: 455 rifles for the December march through Lesser Chechnya and 545 for the January march along the Michik^[9]; Pullo himself, in his memorandum of 1840, reported the seizure of "upwards of 1900 rifles"^[8]. In June 1840 the seizure of weapons was fixed as a norm: point 9 of the "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line, on 15 June 1840, prescribed "To hand over one good rifle from every 10 saklias, as a pledge of their submission" (saklia - a highlander's house)^[8].

The winter expeditions of general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), collected money from the Chechen auls under the name of tribute. The imperial historian Yurov tallied the December 1839 march: "In all, during this bloodless military promenade, 3779 rubles and 455 rifles were collected, and 97 abreks, 7 captives and two fugitives were handed over" (abrek - the empire's label for an outlawed highlander)^[4], and the January 1840 march along the Michik river: the auls "obediently presented 2463 rubles, 545 rifles, cattle for the detachment's provisioning, and handed over 30 abreks"^[4]. After the suppression of the uprising the levy was fixed as a fine: point 10 of the "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line, on 15 June 1840, prescribed "As punishment for participation in Shamil's uprising, to pay a fine of two rams from every saklia" (saklia - a highlander's house; Shamil - the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest)^[8].

While suppressing the uprising of 1840, the imperial troops kept taking hostages (amanat - a person whom the empire took from a family or community as a hostage; the threat of reprisal against the taken kept the relatives and the whole aul in subjection). On 15 March 1840 general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), took hostages in the aul of Aldy by the Groznaya fortress - captain Pushkin reported to Traskin, chief of staff of the troops of the Caucasus Line: "gen. Pullo... entered there himself and took five new amanats"^[8]. The "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line, on 15 June 1840, open with a demand for hostages: "Immediately hand over amanats from these auls. The commander of the troops reserves to himself to designate how many and from which families the said amanats must be handed over" - and close with a threat: "the amanats of unsubmissive auls are exiled to Siberia"^[8].

In 1839-1840 the imperial troops burned dozens of Chechen settlements. In the May 1839 invasion of Ichkeria (mountainous south-eastern Chechnya) the imperial officer Milyutin, a participant of the march, recorded day by day: "The nearby aul of Balansu was found abandoned by its inhabitants and given to the flames", "All the auls lying on either side of the road (Nake-Yurt, Tsezyn-Irzau, Doba-Yurt) were found abandoned by their inhabitants and given to the flames", and of the rout on 12 May of Sayasan, the residence of sheikh Tashu-Hadji (in 1834-1836 the imam of Chechnya, leader of the Chechen resistance): "The fortification was devastated, and the village given to the flames"^[7]. In the January 1840 march the troops of general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), wiped out two auls: the imperial historian Yurov - "the auls of Kazbek-Yurt and Batash-Yurt, populated mostly by relatives and namesakes of Shuaib-Mulla, which met the detachment with weapons in hand. After a minor skirmish both villages were levelled to the ground"^[4]; historian D. A. Khozhayev adds: "The Russians burned the Benoy hamlet of Gurzhiyn-mokhk and the neighbouring auls of Zandak-Ara and Genderghen, and retreated"^[2]. In summer 1840 the detachment of general Galafeyev, who had taken over the troops of the left flank, burned the auls of Lesser Chechnya (the lowland-piedmont western part of Chechnya): historian D. A. Khozhayev lists the destroyed Bolshoy Chechen, Dudu-yurt, Akhshpatoy-Goyta, Chunguroy-yurt, Urus-Martan, Gurak-Roshni, Khazhi-Roshni, Taib and Achkhoy - the troops marched on, "leaving behind them destroyed and burned villages"^[2]; the detachment's journal of military operations confirms the route and adds Peshkhoy-Roshni^[10]. In autumn the same detachment burned Greater Chechnya (the lowland eastern part of Chechnya): the imperial survey of 27 October 1840 records - "on 3 and 4 October the troops... burned both villages" (Shali and Germenchuk), "on 7 October the detachment burned 5 hamlets attached to the aul of Shali", and of Said-Yurt, the hamlet of Ersenei and the village of Avtury on 10 October: "gave them to the flames and annihilated the houses and all the property of the inhabitants"^[8]. Muhammad Tahir al-Qarakhi, Shamil's chronicler (Shamil - the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest), recorded that the inhabitants of Shali and Germenchuk abandoned and burned their own villages on Shamil's order long before the troops came: "Shamil ordered them to burn those ancient, well-settled and beautiful villages. It was hard for the lower Chechens, but they did it nonetheless" - part of the imperial burnings went through villages already empty; of Said-Yurt he gives the mirror version of the fight: the murids (the imam's disciples and warriors) "fought them and slew a great number of them. The murids put the Russians to flight"^[1]. In the November marches of general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line, Gekhi and the auls along the Sunzha were devastated - historian N. I. Pokrovsky: "On 27 October Grabbe marched into Lesser Chechnya, devastated Gekhi, on 4 November laid waste the auls situated along the Sunzha"^[3]; the imperial historian Yurov recorded: "During the rearguard action general Galafeyev managed to take by fighting and annihilate to its foundations the village of Mirti-Irzau", then on 13 November Germenchuk with its hamlets was destroyed, on 15 November - Lachi-Yurt and Indi-Yurt, on 17 November the troops seized and burned Batash-Yurt, the home of Shuaib-Mulla (naib - the deputy of imam Shamil in Greater Chechnya)^[4].

In spring 1840 the empire imposed a grain blockade on Chechnya amid famine that was already documented. On 14 March 1840 general Piryatinsky, commander of the centre of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), reported: "throughout Chechnya there is no grain at all, the people suffer great extremity from famine"^[8]. Three weeks later, on 8 April 1840, general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line, by an instruction to general Galafeyev sanctioned the ban the latter had introduced: "Your directive concerning the prohibition of the sale of grain I fully approve, and I permit you to extend this prohibition to all those parts of the region entrusted to you where you deem it necessary"^[8]. In summer the troops destroyed the harvest where it stood: the journal of military operations of general Galafeyev's detachment (6-17 July 1840) names the goal outright - "the punishment of the mutinous villages by annihilating them and destroying their means of existence, for now a certain shortage in the inhabitants' food supply can be foreseen"^[10]. In autumn the stores were annihilated just before winter: the imperial survey of 27 October 1840 records that the troops marched, "having annihilated on their way a very considerable quantity of stores of food and hay"^[8]. General Golovin, commander of the Separate Caucasus Corps (head of the empire's troops and administration in the Caucasus), admitted the calculation in a memorandum of 26 April 1841: "In vain did we expect that after the annihilation, in last year's expedition, of the highlanders' food stores, their villages and various property, famine, cold and extreme destitution would shake the fierce power of the instigator" ("instigator" - the empire's label for Shamil, leader of the highlanders' resistance)^[3].

The empire registered the subordination of the Chechen communities as "submission" (the imperial formula of subjecthood). After the invasion of Ichkeria (mountainous south-eastern Chechnya) in May 1839 by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), the imperial survey of 1840 recorded: "The Ichkerians, in consequence of gen. Grabbe's expedition against them in 1839, declared their submission, but such is hardly consolidated" - the doubt about the firmness of the "submission" belongs to the imperial document itself^[8]. After the suppression of the uprising Grabbe on 14 June 1840 issued a proclamation to the insurgents: "Come to your senses and save yourselves now by sincere repentance and immediate submission. Otherwise our troops will pass everywhere...", and on 15 June - the twelve points of the "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", whose second point is the oath: "To take an oath of submission to the Russian emperor, and to present the oath sheets through the elders to the Russian authorities" (elders - the heads of aul communities)^[8].

Suppressing the uprising of 1840, the empire demanded of the Chechens a public renunciation of resistance. General Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), in an appeal to the insurgents of 14 June 1840 demanded repentance: "Come to your senses and save yourselves now by sincere repentance and immediate submission" ("submission" - the imperial formula of subordination)^[8]. The next day, 15 June 1840, he issued the "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", whose point 8 prescribed that the insurgent auls "renounce all participation in the pernicious teaching of Shamil" (Shamil - the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest; "pernicious teaching" - the imperial label for muridism, the religious movement of the resistance)^[8].

The uprising of 1840 swept away the power of imperial appointees over lowland Chechnya - before it, the auls that had submitted lived under superintendents-pristavs appointed by the empire. The "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), on 15 June 1840, re-established this power as a norm and built it further. Point 3 prescribed: "To fulfil all demands and orders of the Russian pristav who will be appointed by the government" (pristav - a superintendent over the auls appointed by the empire); point 6 obliged every aul: "To elect from among themselves one qadi, who is obliged to fulfil all orders of the pristav" (qadi - a Muslim judge); point 7 - an elder in every aul (elder - the head of an aul community), "who is confirmed by the Russian authorities, watches over public tranquillity and carries out all orders of the authorities". A surrendering aul was accepted under the empire's power only together with this structure^[8].

The "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), on 15 June 1840, imposed labour duty on the Chechen auls. Point 4 prescribed: "in case of a detachment's movement to allot people for building roads and bridges, to keep at the pristav's disposal a sufficient number of people for carrying papers or orders from one aul to another, to give mounted men for escort duty" (pristav - a superintendent over the auls appointed by the empire)^[8].

The "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), on 15 June 1840, obliged the Chechen auls to hand over the working cattle and transport of their households for the empire's use: at the first demand of the pristav (a superintendent appointed by the empire) to provide arbas (two-wheeled carts) and donkeys. Point 4 prescribed: "At the pristav's demand to provide arbas or donkeys for hauling loads"^[8].

The "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), on 15 June 1840, forbade the Chechens to choose freely where to live. Point 5 prescribed: "Not to move from one aul to another for permanent residence without the permission of the local authorities"^[8]. The right to live on their own land, where they had lived for generations, the empire turned into a permit issued by the authorities.

The "Conditions prescribed to submitting highlanders", issued by general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), on 15 June 1840, obliged the Chechen auls to refuse shelter to members of the resistance and to hand over people who had escaped the empire's power. Point 8 prescribed: "Not to give refuge in their auls to abreks, murids and unsubdued highlanders" (abrek - the imperial label for a highlander declared an outlaw; murids - the imam's disciples and warriors); point 11: "To hand over all Russian prisoners and runaways staying in the mountains" - by runaways the empire meant its own soldiers and serfs who had gone over to the highlanders^[8]. Handovers went on even before the decree, under the pressure of the winter expeditions: the imperial historian Yurov recorded of the outcome of the December 1839 march of general Pullo, commander of the left flank of the Caucasus Line, through Lesser Chechnya (the lowland-piedmont western part of Chechnya): "97 abreks, 7 prisoners and two runaways were handed over", and of the January 1840 march along the Michik river - the auls "handed over 30 abreks"^[4].

The empire seized the Chechens' property and land by decree. In April 1840 an imperial directive prescribed "to sequester the Aukh herds wherever they are found at pasture in the Kumyk domain" (the Aukhovites - a Chechen community in the north-east, by the Kumyk border)^[8]. The land of the Chechens the empire handed out to loyalists: a contemporary's letter from Tiflis, cited by historian N. I. Pokrovsky, names among the causes of the 1840 uprising "the endowment of prince Bekovich-Cherkassky with lands owned by the Chechens" (Bekovich-Cherkassky - a Kabardian prince in Russian service)^[3].

At the destruction of the aul of Mirti-Irzau on 4-5 November 1840 (an aul on the Sunzha where the inhabitants of Zakan-Yurt and Samashki had resettled) the troops under general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), led away Chechen families into captivity. The imperial historian Yurov recorded: "We took captive several families of the Terek-side Chechens, numbering 35 souls, and seized 150 head of horned cattle" (Terek-side - the Chechens of the left bank of the Terek)^[4]. The captivity of families stands in the imperial account in one line with the driven-off cattle.

In the marches of 1839-1840 the troops fed themselves on cattle taken from the Chechens and carried off the goods of the auls they were devastating. Of the December 1839 march of the detachment of general Pullo, who commanded the left flank of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), the imperial historian Yurov wrote: "on the march the men subsisted on ration cattle taken from the natives by way of fine"^[4] - the army supplied itself with the population's property, framing the seizure as a fine. In the summer of 1840 the troops of general Galafeyev plundered the auls of Lesser Chechnya they were devastating: historian D. A. Khozhayev - "The detachment rode out onto the clearing with the goods looted in the devastated auls"^[2]. In November, at the destruction of the aul of Mirti-Irzau, the imperial historian Yurov recorded: "150 head of horned cattle were seized"^[4].