in the campaign “Destruction of the Nokhchi Villages along the Sunzha and Construction of the Groznaya Fortress in Their Place (1817–1818)”
The Regular Army of the Russian Empire instilled submission through fear of the demonstrative destruction of families. Imperial general Yermolov, in his "Address" to the Chechens, declared: "The slightest disobedience… and your auls will be destroyed, your families sold off into the mountains, the amanats hanged, villages exterminated by fire, women and children slaughtered"[1][2].