Aggressors may deliberately alter or destroy the natural landscape of the target region (for example, by carrying out large-scale felling of centuries-old forests or destroying natural barriers). This is done to deprive the Indigenous people of natural cover, to prevent mobile guerrilla warfare, to seize resources needed for survival (firewood, building materials), and to completely destroy the traditional physical space.
The Russian Empire cut down the forests of the Nokhchi to strip their villages of natural protection and open a path for the troops. The imperial historian Potto writes that the "dense forest" stretching from the Argun to the Dzhalka, which served as "an obstacle to the destruction of the Germenchug fields and pastures," was cut through in three days by a wide clearing "opening onto a large glade on which stood Germenchug and a multitude of auls"[1].
The Russian Empire cleared the forests of the Nokhchi to deprive their villages of natural protection. Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that under Yermolov, punitive raids proceeded «with the destruction of the population, houses, crops, orchards, and forests»[2]. The imperial historian Potto confirms that on March 1, 1821, the forest was cut down «in one direction as far as Isti-Su, in the other — as far as the Michik», and in February 1822 «wide clearings were cut through the Gekhi, Goity, Shali, and Germenchug forests all the way to Mayurtup»[1].
Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that by May 18, 1826, the Nokhchi's «splendid fruit orchards had been cut down, fields burned»[2]. General Yermolov himself, in a report to Emperor Nicholas I dated May 28, 1826, admitted that at Urus-Martan «its splendid orchards were cut down», and for the village of Shali he gave the order «to cut down the orchards»[3].
In January 1831, General Velyaminov's troops cut a clearing and cleared a road through the forest between the settlement of Aldy and the Groznaya fortress, depriving the inhabitants of forest cover for the sake of a military passage to the south. The imperial historian Potto wrote: Velyaminov "set about cutting a clearing and clearing a road between Aldy and Groznaya in order to prepare for himself a secure gateway to the south"[4]. On January 21, 1831, Mairtup was exterminated "with its luxuriant gardens and plantations" — orchards of many years' standing, the foundation of the village's way of life, were destroyed[4].
Within the amanat-and-tribute system of Pullo, commander of the left flank of the Caucasus Line (a chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), the troops destroyed the Chechen forests - the environment of life and the protection of the Chechen communities. Pullo reported in a memorandum of 1840: "we cleared all the forests to the distance of a gunshot on both sides of the road, in the direction from the Groznaya fortress through Martan, Achkhoy and Kurchali to the Military-Georgian road, and in the other direction through Germenchuk, Geldygen and along the Michik into highland Chechnya, altogether over a stretch of 165 versts" (the listed names are Chechen villages and rivers from the Groznaya fortress to mountain Chechnya; a verst is slightly over a kilometer)[5]. The Chechen writer Abuzar Aydamirov records the continuation of the clearing (a strip cut through the forest for the passage of troops) from the Groznaya fortress toward the village of Shali in 1837[6].
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"[7]. 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.
In the winter of 1845-1846 the empire moved from cutting individual clearings to the destruction of the Chechen forests - the living environment and protection of the Chechen communities. Historian N. I. Pokrovsky cites the imperial survey by captain Nikolai: "From the end of 1845 our winter marches in Lesser Chechnya began", - and describes the acts: "from 4 to 24 December 1845 the expeditionary detachment of general R. K. Freitag cut a great clearing through the Goyta forest, one of the densest in Lesser Chechnya. The clearing connected the river Goyta with Urus-Martan"; "In January 1846, from the 18th to the 29th, the joined detachments of R. K. Freitag and P. P. Nesterov were already cutting. This time the object of annihilation was the Gekhi forest, and the clearing established communication between the rivers Gekhinka and Valerik"[8]. Historians Ya. Z. Akhmadov and E. Kh. Khasmagomadov record the escalation: "from the beginning of 1846 the troops passed from the cutting of individual clearings to the literal annihilation of the dense Chechen forests"[9]. The goal was formulated by Vorontsov, viceroy in the Caucasus: to destroy the influence of Shamil (the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest) and to "tear the Chechens away from him", without whom he would mean nothing[8].
The empire cut and widened forest clearings (prosekas) in the woods of Lesser Chechnya (the lowland-piedmont western part of Chechnya). Historian N. I. Pokrovsky writes of 1848: "In January - February R. K. Freytag was clearing and widening the Goyta and Gekhi clearings"[8]. Vorontsov, viceroy and commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, reported the purpose of the clearings to Minister of War Chernyshev in an official letter (otnosheniye) of 25 October 1847: "These clearings, together with those cut in the winter of 1845-1846, make it possible to penetrate Chechnya from several directions and punish hostile auls; constrained in their means of life, seeing their constant failures, the Chechens waver, and a large number of families are already resettling into our bounds"[5]. Emperor Nicholas I placed the resolution "Agreed" on the dispatch (6 November 1847; with one organizational reservation - on the impossibility of forming new line battalions)[5].
The empire felled the Qachqalyq forest, the shield of eastern Chechnya, in a month and a half. General Baklanov, the executor, recorded in his memoirs: "On 5 January 1852 I concentrated... three battalions of infantry... set about felling the forest; within a month I reached the Michuk... having cleared by 16 February 1852 the forest 100 sazhens from the bank, and 300 sazhens along the river" (a sazhen is slightly more than two meters)[10]. The result was recorded by imperial historian Volkonsky: "the ancient, dense forest that had served the highlanders as their chief defense and protection fell forever, and the Qachqalyq ridge was laid bare"[11]. The calculation was set out in writing by Vorontsov, viceroy and commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, in a letter to the Emperor of 1-20 March 1854, as he was handing over affairs before his leave. The felling he described as a system of many years: "This important business, well begun by Gen. Freytag and then strongly advanced by the annual expeditions for the felling of forests by Generals Nesterov, Kozlovsky and Prince Baryatinsky"[12], and the result he reckoned thus: the Chechens, forced off the plain into the Black Mountains, would not be able to feed themselves there and "must in a short time come over to us, or declare submission where they are; then the weak population of the Ichkerians alone will not be able to hold out"[12].
The proseka - a wide swath cut through the forest to deprive the defenders of cover and send troops along it - was the load-bearing instrument of the conquest of 1857-1859: the forest that protected Chechen societies was felled systematically. The "Journal of Military Operations of the Chechen Detachment" from 15 January 1857 records the daily routine: "on the 21st all the troops... were engaged in the annihilation of auls, orchards and forest"; "on the 22nd the same occupations. The auls have been finally destroyed, the orchards felled, and the Geldygen clearing laid out 750 sazhens wide" - about one and a half kilometers (a sazhen is just over two meters)[13]. The purpose of the clearings was reported by General Yevdokimov, who commanded the Chechen Detachment, to Minister of War Sukhozanet in a report of 25 March 1857: the clearing "took away from the unsubmissive their broad fields, the places of their crops", and confronted the population with a choice - "to seek salvation either by flight into the mountains or by coming out to us onto the glades"[13]. On 19 March 1857 General Nikolai seized the Goytemir Gates - the passage into Aukh and Ichkeria (Chechen regions in the northeast and southeast): the report explains the task - "To destroy this nest of brigands and open the approaches into Aukh and Ichkeria, it was necessary to take possession of the Goytemir-Kapu tract and build a clearing there"[13]; historian D. A. Khozhayev confirms from the regimental history: "on 19 March 1857 these fortifications were captured by the tsarist troops and destroyed"[2]. In February 1859 the forest was already being felled at the walls of Vedeno - the capital of the Imamate, Shamil's state: "on 8 February 1859, despite the resistance of the Chechens and Dagestanis, the numerous tsarist troops, having cleared of forest the whole space between the villages of Tevzan and Elistanzhi, came out to the fortification of Vedeno"[2].