Terror

Aggressors may use systemic, demonstrative, and large-scale violence against the local population. This form of radical pressure is used to neutralize defenses in the active phase of a conflict and for the subsequent consolidation of the occupation regime. Carrying out mass extrajudicial executions, public reprisals, and torture is aimed at the total psychological breaking of the colonized society's will, the physical suppression of resistance, and coercion into unconditional submission.

ID: T0022
Sub-techniques:  No sub-techniques
Peoples: Nokhchi (Chechens), Ukrainians
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 April 2026
Last Modified: 21 April 2026

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
C0068 Black Hundred Terror and Pogroms (1905–1907)

Intimidation of the population and suppression of the liberation movement in Ukraine by radical monarchist gangs during the revolution[1].

C0101 Continuation of the Russo-Ukrainian War: Armed Aggression in the Donbas (2014–2015)

Engagement in combat operations of Russian neo-Nazi groups (such as the "Rusich" sabotage and reconnaissance group under the command of A. Milchakov), whose ringleaders openly called for unmotivated sadistic violence against civilians ("Slaughter the homeless, the puppies, and the children!")[2].

C0079 Cultural Terror and the "Executed Renaissance" (1933–1938)

Creation of an atmosphere of total paralyzing fear in society through the fabrication of cases (for example, the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine") and the staging of public show trials[3].

C1143 Demonstrative destruction of the aul of Dadi-Yurt and the erection of the Vnezapnaya fortress to force the Nokhchi off the Kumyk plain (1819)

The Russian Empire destroyed a single village demonstratively, in order to terrorize the rest of the Nokhchi into abandoning their lands. Imperial historian Potto writes that general Yermolov decided to clear the Kumyk plain, "forcing the Chechens to withdraw… beyond the Kachkalyk mountain ridge," and they could be compelled to do so "only by an example of terror," and the aul of Dadi-Yurt "was chosen as the expiatory sacrifice"[4]. Yermolov himself admits this calculation in his "Notes": "only an example of terror can compel them to remove their wives," and after the destruction of the aul "the example of Dadan-Yurt spread terror everywhere"[5].

C1021 Destruction of the Nokhchi Villages along the Sunzha and Erection 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"[6][4].

C1155 Extermination of 61 settlements of lowland Chechnya and mountainous Ichkeria by Rosen's troops, burning alive of the defenders of Germenchuk, and extortion of hostages from 80 villages (1832)

On August 23, 1832, during the storming of Germenchuk, the troops of corps commander Baron Rosen burned alive about 60 encircled defenders of the village, led by Mullah Abdurakhman, who had refused to surrender. Rosen reported to Minister of War Chernyshev: a group "numbering about 60 men ... led by ... Mullah Abdur-Rakhman, was cut off and surrounded by us in one large house"[7]. The imperial historian Volkonsky, writing on the basis of Rosen’s dispatches, acknowledges the method of the massacre: "Major General Volkhovsky ordered burning firewood and hay to be thrown into the chimneys. This had its effect... while the greater part, together with Mullah Abdurakhman, perished in the flames, continuing to chant verses of the Quran"[8]. The demonstrative burning of people alive served to terrorize all of Chechnya; Volkonsky acknowledges the calculation: the destruction of Germenchuk "was bound to have the most crushing effect on the Chechens"[8].

S0008 Government

The government of the Tsardom of Muscovy used demonstrative brutal executions to psychologically break the Indigenous population: historian Ya. Z. Akhmadov records that the captured leader of the uprising was "hanged by a rib on a hook in accordance with Peter I's order to P.M. Apraksin ('carry out a cruel death penalty')"[9].

C0014 Liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich (1709)

Public executions of captured Cossacks, the display of heads on stakes, and the floating of rafts with gallows down the Dnipro for intimidation[10].

C1147 Mass Killing of Elders Summoned to a Demonstrative Execution at Gerzel-Aul (1825)

The Russian Empire exterminated people for show in order to terrorize the highlanders. Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that at the Gerzel-aul fortification «the tsarist generals decided to stage a demonstrative execution to intimidate the highlanders», for which they summoned «318 respected men from the Aksai (Kumyk and Chechen) villages», whom General Lisanevich, «calling out those assembled one by one… threatened and subjected to insults»[6].

C0012 Mazepa's Defection to Sweden and the Baturyn Massacre (1708)

The demonstrative destruction of the town as an act of intimidation for the rest of the country. Peter I personally gave the order: "and Baturyn, as a sign to the traitors (since they resisted), burn entirely as an example to others"[11][12][13][14].

S0012 Occupation and Controlled Administrations

Use of crude physical force by representatives of the party nomenklatura: secretaries of CPU district committees and collective farm chairmen personally took part in brutal beatings of Rukh activists and dissidents (in particular, V. Ovsiienko and O. Hudyma) to intimidate the population[15].

S0012 Occupation and Controlled Administrations

Engagement in combat operations of Russian neo-Nazi groups (such as the "Rusich" sabotage and reconnaissance group under the command of A. Milchakov), whose ringleaders openly called for unmotivated sadistic violence against civilians ("Slaughter the homeless, the puppies, and the children!")[2].

S0012 Occupation and Controlled Administrations

The occupation administration of Tersky Town employed mass terrorizing violence: in a petition to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, the Kabardian prince Sunchaley Yanglychevich Cherkassky reported that the military detachments «burned down and utterly ruined many Shibut and Kalkan and Erokhan and Michkiz kabaks»[16] and «slew many peo[ple]»[16].

C0085 Postwar Ideological Terror ("Zhdanovshchina") (1946–1953)

Organization of public political persecution (attacks on M. Rylsky, V. Sosiura, and Yu. Yanovsky; the campaign to "combat cosmopolitans"), instilling an atmosphere of paralyzing fear and suspicion in society[11].

S0021 Propaganda

Organization of public political persecution (attacks on M. Rylsky, V. Sosiura, and Yu. Yanovsky; the campaign to "combat cosmopolitans"), instilling an atmosphere of paralyzing fear and suspicion in society[11].

C1120 Punitive campaign and the devastation of the Nokhchi mountain communities (1617–1618)

The occupation administration of Tersky Town employed mass terrorizing violence: in a petition to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, the Kabardian prince Sunchaley Yanglychevich Cherkassky reported that the military detachments «burned down and utterly ruined many Shibut and Kalkan and Erokhan and Michkiz kabaks»[16] and «slew many peo[ple]»[16].

S0010 Regular Army

The demonstrative destruction of the town as an act of intimidation for the rest of the country. Peter I personally gave the order: "and Baturyn, as a sign to the traitors (since they resisted), burn entirely as an example to others"[11][12][13][14].

S0010 Regular Army

Public executions of captured Cossacks, the display of heads on stakes, and the floating of rafts with gallows down the Dnipro for intimidation[10].

S0010 Regular Army

Mass executions of captured Cossacks after the capitulation at Perevolochna and Poltava for the final intimidation of the supporters of autonomy[13].

S0010 Regular Army

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"[6][4].

S0010 Regular Army

The Russian Empire destroyed a single village demonstratively, in order to terrorize the rest of the Nokhchi into abandoning their lands. Imperial historian Potto writes that general Yermolov decided to clear the Kumyk plain, "forcing the Chechens to withdraw… beyond the Kachkalyk mountain ridge," and they could be compelled to do so "only by an example of terror," and the aul of Dadi-Yurt "was chosen as the expiatory sacrifice"[4]. Yermolov himself admits this calculation in his "Notes": "only an example of terror can compel them to remove their wives," and after the destruction of the aul "the example of Dadan-Yurt spread terror everywhere"[5].

S0010 Regular Army

The Russian Empire exterminated people for show in order to terrorize the highlanders. Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that at the Gerzel-aul fortification «the tsarist generals decided to stage a demonstrative execution to intimidate the highlanders», for which they summoned «318 respected men from the Aksai (Kumyk and Chechen) villages», whom General Lisanevich, «calling out those assembled one by one… threatened and subjected to insults»[6].

S0010 Regular Army

On August 23, 1832, during the storming of Germenchuk, the troops of corps commander Baron Rosen burned alive about 60 encircled defenders of the village, led by Mullah Abdurakhman, who had refused to surrender. Rosen reported to Minister of War Chernyshev: a group "numbering about 60 men ... led by ... Mullah Abdur-Rakhman, was cut off and surrounded by us in one large house"[7]. The imperial historian Volkonsky, writing on the basis of Rosen’s dispatches, acknowledges the method of the massacre: "Major General Volkhovsky ordered burning firewood and hay to be thrown into the chimneys. This had its effect... while the greater part, together with Mullah Abdurakhman, perished in the flames, continuing to chant verses of the Quran"[8]. The demonstrative burning of people alive served to terrorize all of Chechnya; Volkonsky acknowledges the calculation: the destruction of Germenchuk "was bound to have the most crushing effect on the Chechens"[8].

G0009 Russian Empire

Intimidation of the population and suppression of the liberation movement in Ukraine by radical monarchist gangs during the revolution[1].

G0009 Russian Empire

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"[6][4].

G0009 Russian Empire

The Russian Empire destroyed a single village demonstratively, in order to terrorize the rest of the Nokhchi into abandoning their lands. Imperial historian Potto writes that general Yermolov decided to clear the Kumyk plain, "forcing the Chechens to withdraw… beyond the Kachkalyk mountain ridge," and they could be compelled to do so "only by an example of terror," and the aul of Dadi-Yurt "was chosen as the expiatory sacrifice"[4]. Yermolov himself admits this calculation in his "Notes": "only an example of terror can compel them to remove their wives," and after the destruction of the aul "the example of Dadan-Yurt spread terror everywhere"[5].

G0009 Russian Empire

The Russian Empire exterminated people for show in order to terrorize the highlanders. Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that at the Gerzel-aul fortification «the tsarist generals decided to stage a demonstrative execution to intimidate the highlanders», for which they summoned «318 respected men from the Aksai (Kumyk and Chechen) villages», whom General Lisanevich, «calling out those assembled one by one… threatened and subjected to insults»[6].

G0009 Russian Empire

On August 23, 1832, during the storming of Germenchuk, the troops of corps commander Baron Rosen burned alive about 60 encircled defenders of the village, led by Mullah Abdurakhman, who had refused to surrender. Rosen reported to Minister of War Chernyshev: a group "numbering about 60 men ... led by ... Mullah Abdur-Rakhman, was cut off and surrounded by us in one large house"[7]. The imperial historian Volkonsky, writing on the basis of Rosen’s dispatches, acknowledges the method of the massacre: "Major General Volkhovsky ordered burning firewood and hay to be thrown into the chimneys. This had its effect... while the greater part, together with Mullah Abdurakhman, perished in the flames, continuing to chant verses of the Quran"[8]. The demonstrative burning of people alive served to terrorize all of Chechnya; Volkonsky acknowledges the calculation: the destruction of Germenchuk "was bound to have the most crushing effect on the Chechens"[8].

G0011 Russian Federation

Engagement in combat operations of Russian neo-Nazi groups (such as the "Rusich" sabotage and reconnaissance group under the command of A. Milchakov), whose ringleaders openly called for unmotivated sadistic violence against civilians ("Slaughter the homeless, the puppies, and the children!")[2].

C0074 Second Armed Invasion and Resource Depletion (1919)

Systematic, demonstrative violence and intimidation by the forces of the Cheka (the All-Ukrainian Cheka, VUChK) to create an atmosphere of total fear and to coerce the peasantry into surrendering food[17].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Public executions and torture in Lebedyn, aimed at the total intimidation of the population and the suppression of any support for the uprising[13].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Intimidation of the population and suppression of the liberation movement in Ukraine by radical monarchist gangs during the revolution[1].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Systematic, demonstrative violence and intimidation by the forces of the Cheka (the All-Ukrainian Cheka, VUChK) to create an atmosphere of total fear and to coerce the peasantry into surrendering food[17].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Systematic psychological suppression through public show trials of "saboteurs" and the introduction of the punitive law on the protection of socialist property (the "law of five ears of grain")[3].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Creation of an atmosphere of total paralyzing fear in society through the fabrication of cases (for example, the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine") and the staging of public show trials[3].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Creation of an atmosphere of total fear through public demonstrative executions of insurgents and bloody provocations by NKVD special groups disguised as the UPA[11].

S0017 Secret Police and Security Services

Use of political trials, interrogations, and administrative pressure by the KGB on the signatories of the "Letter of 139" to create an atmosphere of fear in cultural circles[18].

G0013 Soviet Russia (RSFSR)

Systematic, demonstrative violence and intimidation by the forces of the Cheka (the All-Ukrainian Cheka, VUChK) to create an atmosphere of total fear and to coerce the peasantry into surrendering food[17].

C0091 Stalling Democratic Reforms and Countering the People's Movement (Rukh) (1989–1990)

Use of crude physical force by representatives of the party nomenklatura: secretaries of CPU district committees and collective farm chairmen personally took part in brutal beatings of Rukh activists and dissidents (in particular, V. Ovsiienko and O. Hudyma) to intimidate the population[15].

C1126 Suppression of the Uprising of Murat Kuchukov and Terror against the Indigenous Population (1708)

The government of the Tsardom of Muscovy used demonstrative brutal executions to psychologically break the Indigenous population: historian Ya. Z. Akhmadov records that the captured leader of the uprising was "hanged by a rib on a hook in accordance with Peter I's order to P.M. Apraksin ('carry out a cruel death penalty')"[9].

C0084 Suppression of UPA Resistance and Operation "Vistula" (1944–1951)

Creation of an atmosphere of total fear through public demonstrative executions of insurgents and bloody provocations by NKVD special groups disguised as the UPA[11].

C0078 Terror by Famine: The Holodomor (1932–1933)

Systematic psychological suppression through public show trials of "saboteurs" and the introduction of the punitive law on the protection of socialist property (the "law of five ears of grain")[3].

C0015 The Battle of Poltava and the Final Defeat of the Hetmanate (1709)

Mass executions of captured Cossacks after the capitulation at Perevolochna and Poltava for the final intimidation of the supporters of autonomy[13].

C0088 The First Wave of Repressions Against the "Sixtiers" (1965–1968)

Use of political trials, interrogations, and administrative pressure by the KGB on the signatories of the "Letter of 139" to create an atmosphere of fear in cultural circles[18].

C0013 The Lebedyn Executions (1708–1709)

Public executions and torture in Lebedyn, aimed at the total intimidation of the population and the suppression of any support for the uprising[13].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

The demonstrative destruction of the town as an act of intimidation for the rest of the country. Peter I personally gave the order: "and Baturyn, as a sign to the traitors (since they resisted), burn entirely as an example to others"[11][12][13][14].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Public executions and torture in Lebedyn, aimed at the total intimidation of the population and the suppression of any support for the uprising[13].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Public executions of captured Cossacks, the display of heads on stakes, and the floating of rafts with gallows down the Dnipro for intimidation[10].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Mass executions of captured Cossacks after the capitulation at Perevolochna and Poltava for the final intimidation of the supporters of autonomy[13].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

The occupation administration of Tersky Town employed mass terrorizing violence: in a petition to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, the Kabardian prince Sunchaley Yanglychevich Cherkassky reported that the military detachments «burned down and utterly ruined many Shibut and Kalkan and Erokhan and Michkiz kabaks»[16] and «slew many peo[ple]»[16].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

The government of the Tsardom of Muscovy used demonstrative brutal executions to psychologically break the Indigenous population: historian Ya. Z. Akhmadov records that the captured leader of the uprising was "hanged by a rib on a hook in accordance with Peter I's order to P.M. Apraksin ('carry out a cruel death penalty')"[9].

G0010 USSR

Systematic psychological suppression through public show trials of "saboteurs" and the introduction of the punitive law on the protection of socialist property (the "law of five ears of grain")[3].

G0010 USSR

Creation of an atmosphere of total paralyzing fear in society through the fabrication of cases (for example, the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine") and the staging of public show trials[3].

G0010 USSR

Creation of an atmosphere of total fear through public demonstrative executions of insurgents and bloody provocations by NKVD special groups disguised as the UPA[11].

G0010 USSR

Organization of public political persecution (attacks on M. Rylsky, V. Sosiura, and Yu. Yanovsky; the campaign to "combat cosmopolitans"), instilling an atmosphere of paralyzing fear and suspicion in society[11].

G0010 USSR

Use of political trials, interrogations, and administrative pressure by the KGB on the signatories of the "Letter of 139" to create an atmosphere of fear in cultural circles[18].

G0010 USSR

Use of crude physical force by representatives of the party nomenklatura: secretaries of CPU district committees and collective farm chairmen personally took part in brutal beatings of Rukh activists and dissidents (in particular, V. Ovsiienko and O. Hudyma) to intimidate the population[15].

References