What struck the Russian soldiers of the Chechens in the Caucasian War? Traitors in the Caucasian War: which Russians fought on the side of the Chechens How the Russians beat the Chechens in the war.
From 1817 to 1864, the Russian Empire waged the Caucasian War, the purpose of which was the annexation of mountainous regions North Caucasus. The most ardent opponent of Russia turned out to be Imam Shamil, who founded the theocratic state of the North Caucasian Imamat on the territory of modern Dagestan and Chechnya. The fighting of the war was distinguished by the bloodshed and stubbornness of the parties, and one of its features was the numerous cases of desertion of Russian soldiers and their transition to the side of the highlanders.
One of the closest assistants and translator of Imam Shamil was a fugitive soldier Andrei Martin, who converted to Islam and became Idris. History has preserved the names of other defectors: ensign Zaletov, soldier Rodimtsev, whom Shamil distinguished for his courage, Yakov Alpatov, who led the Chechen detachment and led intelligence behind Russian lines.
Why did the Russians go over to the side of the enemy
Since the 17th and 18th centuries, Russian soldiers fled to the highlanders, unable to withstand the hardships of service, constant drill and punishment. The recruiting system became a continuation of the policy of serfdom in the army, and the former peasants were looking for opportunities to start new life among the free tribes of Dagestan and Chechnya.
In the 19th century, service in the Caucasus was considered unprestigious and was equated with exile, which was called "warm Siberia." The offending officers and the most unreliable units were sent here. Often these were freedom-loving people and adventurers imbued with the spirit, who did not understand why Russia was fighting the highlanders. Having been captured or fled, the Russians found themselves in a special atmosphere in which the entire population participates in the war. Gradually, they were drawn into the conflict and turned their weapons against their former colleagues.
The soldiers, serving in the Caucasus, were saturated with the local culture and, committing any offense, fled to the mountains, where they quickly found mutual language with residents of auls who are psychologically similar to them. At that time, a gang of thugs-abreks and Russian deserters, who robbed all participants in the conflict with the same zeal, did not surprise anyone.
The highlanders had a special relationship with the local Cossacks. A century of living together has developed between them respect, the similarity of life and the nature of behavior. Almost every Cossack had Chechen or Dagestan kunak, with whom he was closer in mentality than with a Great Russian from central Russia.
There are widespread cases of the flight of Cossacks-schismatics by whole families and villages to the mountains, from where they, together with the highlanders, staged raids and stole cattle. Defectors often acted as guides and spies.
How Russians lived among the highlanders
On the territory controlled by Shamil, there were entire settlements inhabited by Russian deserters, and the most large group lived in the village of Dargo. Here, 500 former soldiers were engaged in servicing cannons, casting cannonballs and buckshot, and training mountaineers in military affairs. The captured Chechens said that 300 Russians live in Vedeno and another 200 people live in the villages of the Chara region.
The highlanders even had the expression "their Russians" and Imam Shamil especially appreciated the defectors, whom he also used for police purposes. In a letter dated 1844, Shamil wrote that he considered the Russian fugitives his friends and asked that all conditions be created for their conversion to Islam. The imam encouraged the marriage of Russians to Chechens and Dagestans, after which the deserters converted to Islam and were recognized as full members of the community.
At the same time, the fugitives and prisoners were not forbidden to perform Orthodox rites not only in villages, but also in the capital of the imamate. After the Andean Congress of Naibs, it was decided to support all Russian defectors at the expense of the treasury. The policy of patronage over deserters contributed to an increase in their number and a decrease in fighting spirit army.
How traitors fought
In addition to training and maintaining artillery, the Russians actively participated in hostilities against their compatriots. They played the role of guides, scouts and commanders of mountaineers' cavalry units. In the spring of 1854, captured Russian soldiers and officers were shot with buckshot in the village of Dargo. Deserters stood behind the guns. The traitors understood that there would be no mercy for them, so they fought bravely and always resisted to the last.
The soldiers considered it their duty to destroy the defectors and responded to them with the same bitterness. During last fight Shamil in the mountain village of Gunib, he was guarded by the last 400 murid supporters. Most of the highlanders betrayed their imam, and only Russian and Polish deserters resisted desperately to the last and all died.
The fate of the deserters
The Russian command tried to solve the problem of desertion and even bought fugitives from the highlanders, paying for them with salt. In 1845, the "Appeal of the Caucasian command to the Russian soldiers who fled to the mountains" was drawn up, in which it was announced that all their misdeeds were forgiven without penalties. Most of the deserters converted to Islam and, having become spiritually related to the freedom-loving highlanders, refused to surrender.
The appeal did not have much success, but some of the fugitives voluntarily surrendered. Together with their mountain wives and children, they were resettled in settlements on the territory of Chechnya, and 47 families were enrolled in the Cossack estate. Nowadays, some teips of Chechnya and Ingushetia are considered Russian because they accepted Russian deserters.
Chechens and other Dags (to a lesser extent) fatally do not understand Russians. (However, the Russians themselves do not understand themselves)
What happens? Individually, Chechens beat Russians. Then suddenly something happens, the Russians suddenly unite and start beating the Chechens. And they beat them so that the Chechens calm down for two generations and no longer want to beat the Russians.
Let's start from afar. According to psychology, no person can go against the opinion of the community, which expresses the authority of this community.
If the head of the family says: do not fight with him! Can you imagine that a Chechen will fight someone? Hardly. But the Chechen authorities say: fight, and if necessary, kill! Here the Chechen is fighting. The community and its leader approves.
And the Russian, as Iosif Vissarionych said, is a tsar. For him, authority is the Russian Tsar. No matter how he is called: even the Secretary General, even the President. The Russian is very fond of scolding his tsar. But only because the tsar does not give the orders that the Russian is waiting for. Until the king gives the long-awaited order.
Why doesn't a Russian beat a Chechen at the everyday level? And because the tsar is the only authority for the Russian (Batyanya battalion commander is a secondary authority legitimized by the Russian tsar), like the head of the family for the Chechen, he says: “Don’t even think about it! And then ... ”Here, the Russian does not fight. And if he fights, he feels guilty. What is holding him back.
But in the end the king says: go and kill! And the Russian breaks off the leash, goes and kills, and quite effectively.
The Chechen does not expect this and is very surprised: why did everything start so well and everything ended so badly?
And it’s just that the king has a slower reaction than the closer head of the clan.
And further: the clash of the Chechen and Russian mentalities, this is the clash of eras. Russia is an industrial society. Chechnya is a transitional society from the communal-clan system to early feudalism. Russia was in this state in the 8th-9th centuries. The most valuable element at that time was the warrior. Here Chechens and Dags bring up warriors from their children.
But here there is a choice: either to raise a child as a fighter, or as a violinist. Can't be combined. For the hands of a fighter are not able to control the violin. Here among the highlanders there are no violinists. And not only violinists.
Move on: The brain is a very energy intensive organ. At normal person At rest, the brain consumes 40% of the energy produced by the body. One kilogram of the brain in terms of energy consumption is equivalent to 15 kilograms of muscle mass. Therefore, geeks are often suffocated. Just a prematurely developed brain sucks all the juices out of the body, preventing the muscles from developing. But modern society we need not only fighters, but also mathematicians. Which grow out of child prodigies - suffocators. In Chechnya, due to the peculiarities of their upbringing, mathematicians are not visible.
By the way, this harms the Chechens in the war as well. Chechens are unsurpassed wars on the scale of a rifle battalion. Not higher. One of our commandos described the Chechen special forces as follows: “I have never seen a more silent and more impetuous special forces.”
But the artillerymen are already useless of them. Education is not enough. For an artilleryman, you need to know trigonometry like the back of your hand. Therefore, if the Chechens fired from cannons, then, as a rule, they missed. And ours hit.
Chechens and other Caucasians jumped out of the BMP and fired from a machine gun. BMP, especially in a group, is a powerful weapon. If they are properly managed and coordinated. For a Caucasian, this is too difficult. Easier from Kalash ...
That is why, for all their personal prowess, they eventually failed.
Which they themselves were very surprised at.
Chechnya in the Great Patriotic War. Deportation of Chechens in 1944Chechnya and WWII Evasion of Chechens from being drafted into the Red Army. Fascist organization "Caucasian Eagles"
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Chechens took an active part in the fighting in the rear of the Red Army. Germany in the North Caucasus, as well as in the Balkans, relied on Muslims.
Not wanting to fight against the Nazis, the Chechen population massively evaded conscription into the Red Army (63% of those subject to conscription) or deserted, leaving with weapons in mountain detachments. Almost all the peoples of the Caucasus fought against fascism - (for example, the Ossetians were mobilized almost without exception). But Chechen groupings of up to 40 thousand people (!) Beat the rear of the Red Army. Except small arms, they were armed with artillery and mortars received from German "friends". They were trained by abandoned Nazi instructors. German agents helped create the fascist organization "Caucasian Eagles" (approximate number - 6540 people), which operated near the front.
The leaders of the Eagles were the brothers Khasan and Khusein Israilov and their nephew Mohammed Hasan Israilov (also known by the surname Terloev). Terloev formed bandit groups in the Galanzhou and Itumkalinsky districts, as well as in Borzoi, Kharsinoe, Dagi-Borzoi, Achkhen and other villages. He himself reported that in Checheno-Ingushetia, in addition to Grozny and Gudermes, 5 rebel districts were organized - a total of 24,970 people. Representatives were also sent to neighboring republics.
Why did Stalin deport Chechens and Ingush in 1944? Today two myths are widespread. According to the first, Khrushchev’s, there were no reasons for eviction at all, the Chechens and Ingush fought bravely at the front and worked hard in the rear, and became innocent victims of Stalin’s arbitrariness: Stalin, allegedly, expected to straighten up small peoples, finally break their desire for independence.
The second myth, nationalistic, was put into circulation by Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, who, when the Germans approached Chechnya, went over to their side, organized a detachment to fight the partisans, served in the Gestapo, and after the war worked in Germany at the radio station "Freedom". Avtorkhanov inflates the scale of the Chechen "resistance" in every possible way Soviet power and also completely denies the cooperation of the Chechens with the Germans:
“... even being right at the borders of the Chechen-Ingush Republic, the Germans did not transfer a single rifle, not a single cartridge to Chechen-Ingushetia. Only individual spies and a large number of leaflets were transferred. But this was done wherever the front passed. But the main thing is that the Israilov uprising began in the winter of 1940, that is, even when Stalin was in alliance with Hitler ”(Avtorkhanov A. Murder of the Chechen-Ingush people. M., 1991. P. 59-60 ).
Mass desertion of Chechens. Chechen-Ingush gangs
So, why did Stalin evict peoples, including Chechens and Ingush? The reasons were:
1) Mass desertion. Here is what is said in the memorandum addressed to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Beria "On the situation in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic", compiled by the deputy. People's Commissar of State Security Bogdan Kobulov on the results of his trip to Checheno-Ingushetia in October 1943:
“The population [of the republic] during the war decreased by 25,886 people and totals 705,814 people. There are about 450,000 Chechens and Ingush in the republic. There are 38 sects in the republic, numbering over 20 thousand people. They carry out active anti-Soviet work, shelter bandits, German paratroopers. When the front line approached in August-September 1942, 80 members of the CPSU (b), including 16 heads of district committees of the CPSU (b), 8 executives of district executive committees and 14 chairmen of collective farms. Anti-Soviet authorities, having contacted German paratroopers, on the instructions of German intelligence, organized an armed uprising in Shatoevsky, Cheberloevsky, Itum-Kalinsky, Vedensky and Galanchozhsky districts in October 1942. The attitude of the Chechens and Ingush towards the Soviet government was expressed in desertion and draft evasion in the Red Army. During the first mobilization in August 1941, out of 8,000 people to be drafted, 719 deserted. In October 1941, out of 4,733 people, 362 evaded the draft.
In January 1942, when completing the national division, only 50 percent of the personnel were called up. In March 1942, out of 14,576 people, 13,560 deserted and evaded service, who went underground, went into the mountains and joined gangs ... A group of Chechens ... sheltered the paratrooper of the German intelligence service Lange and ferried him across the front line. The criminals were awarded knightly orders and transferred to the CHI ASSR to organize an armed uprising. According to the NKVD and the NKGB of the CHI ASSR, there were 8,535 people on operational records, including 27 German paratroopers; 457 people suspected of links with German intelligence; 1410 members of fascist organizations; 619 mullahs and active sectarians... As of November 1, 1943, 35 bandit groups with a total number of 245 people and 43 lone bandits operate in the republic.
Over 4,000 people - participants in the armed uprisings of 1941-1942. - stopped vigorous activity, but weapons - pistols, machine guns, automatic rifles - are not handed over, covering them for a new armed uprising, which will be timed to coincide with the second German offensive in the Caucasus.
Let us estimate the scale of Chechens and Ingush evasion from service in the Red Army. At the beginning of the war, their number was approximately 460 thousand people, which, after mobilization, should have given approximately 80 thousand military personnel. While in the ranks of the Red Army, 2.3 thousand Chechens and Ingush died or went missing.
Is it a lot or a little? The Buryat people, twice as small in number, to whom German occupation did not threaten in any way, lost 13 thousand people at the front, one and a half times inferior to the Chechens and Ingush Ossetians - 10.7 thousand. After the deportation, 8894 people were dismissed from the army (including the Balkars, whose people were evicted immediately after the liquidation of the CHI ASSR). As a result, we get that about 10 thousand Chechens and Ingush served in the ranks of the Red Army, that is, less than 1/8 of the draft contingent. Rest 7/8 evaded mobilization or deserted.
Meanwhile, banditry, organization of uprisings, cooperation with the enemy during the Great Patriotic War were punished in the USSR to the fullest extent. Aiding in the commission of crimes, harboring criminals were also punished. And almost all adult Chechens and Ingush were involved in this. It turns out that the accusers of Stalin's arbitrariness, in fact, regret that several tens of thousands of Chechen men were not legally put up against the wall!
2) Banditry.
It was desertion that served as a resource for recruiting members into bandit cells. Chechen deserters formed the backbone of future bandit formations that fought against the Red Army. From July 1941 to 1944, 197 gangs were destroyed on the territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The losses of the bandits amounted to 4532 people: 657 killed, 2762 captured, 1113 surrendered. Thus, in the ranks of the gangs that fought against the Red Army, almost twice as many Chechens and Ingush died and were captured than at the front! And this is not counting the losses of the Vainakhs who fought on the side of the Wehrmacht in the "eastern battalions"!
And since banditry is impossible without the complicity of the local population in these conditions, many "peaceful Chechens" can also be attributed to traitors. The old "cadres" of abreks and local religious authorities were knocked out long ago. However, they were replaced by a young change - brought up by the Soviet government, Komsomol members and communists who studied in Soviet universities, clearly showing the validity of the proverb "No matter how much you feed the wolf ...". The largest of the Chechen field commanders during the Great Patriotic War, Khasan Israilov, known under the pseudonym "Terloev" in 1929, joined the CPSU (b) at the age of 19 and entered the Komvuz in Rostov-on-Don the same year. In 1933, to continue his studies, Israilov was sent to Moscow to the Communist University of the Workers of the East. In 1935 he was arrested under Art. 58-10 part 2 and 95 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and sentenced to 5 years in the camps, but already in 1937 he was released. Returning to Chechnya, he worked as a lawyer in the Shatoevsky district. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Khasan Israilov and his brother Hussein developed a stormy activity in preparation for a general uprising of the Chechens. They created numerous battle groups.
Initially, the uprising was scheduled for the autumn of 1941 (and not for the winter of 1940, as Avtorkhanov lies) and was supposed to be timed to coincide with the approach of German troops to the borders of the republic. However, Hitler's blitzkrieg broke down, and the date for the start of the rebellion was postponed to January 10, 1942. But due to the lack of a clear connection between the rebel cells, it was not possible to postpone the uprising. A unified action did not take place, resulting in scattered premature actions of individual Chechen groups. On October 21, 1941, residents of the Khilokhoy farm in the Galanchozhsky district plundered the collective farm and offered armed resistance to the task force trying to restore order. A detachment of 40 people was sent to the area to arrest the instigators. However, his commander fatal mistake by dividing his people into two groups. The first of them was surrounded by rebels, disarmed and shot. The second began to retreat, was surrounded in the village of Galanchozh and was also disarmed. The performance of the Chechens was suppressed only after the introduction of large forces. About a week later, an uprising broke out in the village of Borzoi, Shatoevsky district. The crowd that had gathered there disarmed the police, defeated the village council and plundered the collective farm cattle. With the rebels from the surrounding villages who joined, the Borzoevs tried to resist the approaching NKVD task force, however, unable to withstand its blow, the Chechens scattered through the forests and gorges.
Plan of the Caucasian Federation, vassal German Empire
Israilov actively engaged in party building. He built his organization on the principle of armed detachments by districts. On January 28, 1942, at an illegal meeting in Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz), Israilov established the "Special Party of Caucasian Brothers" (OPKB). Its program provided for "the creation in the Caucasus of a free fraternal Federal Republic states of the fraternal peoples of the Caucasus under the mandate of the German Empire. The party has developed its own symbolism:
“Coat of arms of the OPKB - EAGLE a) the head of an eagle is surrounded by the image of the sun with eleven golden rays; b) on its front wing, a scythe, a sickle, a hammer and a handle are drawn in a bunch; c) in his claws of his right foot, a poisonous snake is drawn in a captured form; d) a captured pig is depicted in his claws of his left foot; e) on the back between the wings are drawn two armed people in Caucasian uniforms, one of them shoots a snake, and the other cuts a pig with a sword ...
The explanation of the GERB is as follows:
I. The eagle means the Caucasus.
II. The sun stands for Liberty.
III. Eleven sunbeams represent the eleven fraternal peoples of the Caucasus.
IV. The scythe denotes a cattle breeder-peasant; Sickle - a farmer-peasant; Hammer - a worker from the Caucasian brothers; The pen is science and study for the brothers of the Caucasus.
V. The poisonous snake is a defeated Bolshevik.
VI. Pig - Russian barbarian, defeated.
VII. Armed people are brothers of the OPKB, fighting against Bolshevik barbarism and Russian despotism.”
"National Socialist Party of Caucasian Brothers" and "Chechen-Mountain National Socialist Underground Organization". Mayrbek Sheripov
To better cater to the tastes of the German masters, Israilov renamed his organization the National Socialist Party of Caucasian Brothers (NSPKB). Its number soon reached 5,000 people. Another large anti-Soviet grouping in Checheno-Ingushetia was the Chechen-Mountain National Socialist Underground Organization, created in November 1941. Its leader Mairbek Sheripov, the younger brother of the famous commander of the so-called "Chechen Red Army" Aslanbek Sheripov, who was killed in September 1919 in a battle with Denikin, was a member of the CPSU (b), was also arrested for anti-Soviet propaganda in 1938, and in 1939 he was released for lack of evidence of guilt and was soon appointed chairman of the Forestry Council of the ChI ASSR. In the autumn of 1941, he united gang leaders, deserters, fugitive criminals from Shatoevsky, Cheberloevsky and part of the Itum-Kalinsky districts around him, established contacts with religious and teip authorities, trying to provoke an armed uprising. Sheripov's main base was in the Shatoevsky district. Sheripov repeatedly changed the name of his organization: the Society for the Salvation of the Highlanders, the Union of Liberated Highlanders, the Chechen-Ingush Union of Mountain Nationalists, and, finally, the Chechen-Mountain National Socialist Underground Organization.
Capture by the Chechens of the regional center of Khima. Assault on Itum-Kale
After the front approaches the borders Chechen Republic, in August 1942, Sheripov got in touch with the inspirer of a number of past uprisings, an associate of Imam Gotsinsky, Dzhavotkhan Murtazaliev, who had been in an illegal position since 1925. Taking advantage of his authority, he managed to raise a major uprising in the Itum-Kalinsky and Shatoevsky regions. It began in the village of Dzumskaya. Having defeated the village council and the board of the collective farm, Sheripov led the bandits to the center of the Shatoevsky district - the village of Khimoy. On August 17, Khimoy was taken, Chechen rebels destroyed party and Soviet institutions, and the local population looted their property. The capture of the regional center was successful thanks to the betrayal of the head of the department for combating banditry of the NKVD of the Chi ASSR, the Ingush Idris Aliyev, who was associated with Sheripov. A day before the attack, he withdrew a task force from Himoy and military unit who guarded the district center. The rebels, led by Sheripov, went to capture the regional center of Itum-Kale, along the way joining their fellow countrymen. One and a half thousand Chechens surrounded Itum-Kale on August 20, but they could not take it. A small garrison repulsed all their attacks, and two companies that approached put the Chechen rebels to flight. The defeated Sheripov tried to unite with Israilov, but on November 7, 1942 he was killed by state security officers.
German saboteurs in the Caucasus
The next uprising was organized in October of the same year by the German non-commissioned officer Reckert, who was abandoned in Chechnya with a sabotage group. Having established contact with the gang of Rasul Sakhabov, with the assistance of religious authorities, he recruited up to 400 people and, supplying them with German weapons dropped from aircraft, raised a number of auls in the Vedensky and Cheberloevsky districts. This rebellion of the Chechens was also suppressed, Reckert died. Rasul Sakhabov was killed in October 1943 by his bloodline Ramazan Magomadov, who was promised forgiveness for his bandit activities. And other German sabotage groups were met by the Chechen population very favorably.
They were instructed to create detachments of highlanders; carry out sabotage; block important roads; commit terrorist attacks. The most numerous sabotage group in the amount of 30 paratroopers was abandoned on August 25, 1942 in the Ataginsky district near the village of Cheshki. Lieutenant Lange, who headed it, got in touch with Khasan Israilov and Elmurzaev, the former head of the Staro-Yurtovsky district department of the NKVD, who disappeared from service in August 1942, taking 8 rifles and several million rubles. However, Lange failed. Pursued by the Chekists, he, with the remnants of his group (6 Germans), with the help of Chechen guides, crossed back over the front line. Lange described Israilov as a dreamer, and he called the program of the “Caucasian brothers” written by him stupid.
Osman Gube - failed Caucasian gauleiter
Making his way to the front line through the villages of Chechnya, Lange continued to create bandit cells. He organized “Abwehr groups”: in the village of Surkhakhi (10 people), in the village of Yandyrka (13 people), in the village of Middle Achaluki (13 people), in the village of Psedakh (5 people), in the village of Goity (5 people). Simultaneously with the Lange detachment on August 25, 1942, Osman Gube's group was abandoned in the Galanchozh region. Avar Osman Saydnurov (he took the pseudonym Gube in exile) in 1915 voluntarily joined the Russian army. During civil war at first he served as a lieutenant with Denikin, but in October 1919 he deserted, lived in Georgia, and since 1921 - in Turkey, from where he was expelled in 1938 for anti-Soviet activities. Then Osman Gube took a course at a German intelligence school. The Germans pinned special hopes on him, planning to make him their governor in the North Caucasus.
In early January 1943, Osman Gube and his group were arrested by the NKVD. During interrogation, the failed Caucasian Gauleiter eloquently admitted:
“Among the Chechens and Ingush, I easily found people who were ready to serve the Germans. I was surprised: why are these people unhappy? Chechens and Ingush lived prosperously under Soviet rule, much better than in pre-revolutionary times, as I was personally convinced of. Chechens and Ingush do not need anything. This struck me as I recalled the constant deprivations in which the mountain emigration found itself in Turkey and Germany. I did not find any other explanation, except that the Chechens and Ingush were guided by selfish considerations, the desire under the Germans to preserve the remnants of their well-being, to provide services, in return for which the invaders would leave them part of the livestock and food, land and housing.
Based on the materials of the book by Nikolai Grodnensky "The Unfinished War: The History of the Armed Conflict in Chechnya"
Caucasian War (1817-1864), which resulted in Russian Empire the territory of the mountain peoples was annexed, represented several military campaigns that took place with varying success. As in any war, there were defectors and prisoners on both sides. When different cultures collide, people are often surprised by other people's customs and traditions. Russian soldiers, for example, impressed the Chechens with their worldview and behavior.
Loud laughing, talking a lot
The fighting, which shook the territory of the North Caucasus for almost the entire 19th century, was interspersed with periods of truce. At the same time, the inhabitants of some villages were loyal to the royal troops, hoping with their help to protect themselves from warlike neighbors or long-standing blood feuds.
The highlanders, accustomed to be as restrained and strict as possible when communicating with other men, were shocked that Russian soldiers can talk loudly and a lot and even laugh, joking with completely strangers.
Renowned ethnographer, candidate historical sciences Said-Magomed Khasiev in his article “Knightly Ethics. Konakh”, which was published on December 26, 2013 on the Nokhchalla.com website, wrote about the code of conduct for Chechen men. In society, they had to show such qualities as modesty, the absence of excessive reactions and gestures, laconicism, strictness and smartness in clothes.
The image of a Chechen knight, whose ideal was practically unattainable for a real person, was denoted by the compound word "konakh", in which "ko" means "young or son", and "nakh" - the people. That is, the highlander knights are, first of all, worthy sons of their people.
At the same time, it is not forbidden for a Russian man, including a soldier, to talk loudly and joke with colleagues while resting, and sincere laughter in the company is not a reason to condemn a person for behavior that is inappropriate for a warrior.
Candidate philological sciences Alla Sergeeva in the book “Russians. Behavior stereotypes, traditions, mentality” (Moscow, 2004 edition) emphasized this feature: “Everyone can immediately notice that Russians are very sociable, that they like to get together in a company and discuss together not only production, but also personal issues. They cannot stand loneliness, which they perceive as a punishment for some erroneous actions. Anywhere... a stranger can come up to you and talk about any topic, without any barriers and social prejudices.
Fistfighted
Everyone knows the old Russian tradition of fisticuffs. Being people who do not hide their emotions, soldiers tsarist army could quarrel with each other or with local residents. And it's not far from the fight. At the same time, the Chechens were simply shocked when they saw the fist fights. The highlanders never did this, because if the conflict between men reached the stage of a physical collision, then they fought with melee weapons.
Chechen traditions literally force men to behave with restraint so as not to provoke a conflict, but this is not always possible. In such cases, in the old days, a duel usually took place, during which the opponents used one dagger for two.
“The weaker (according to witnesses) or the one on whom the lot fell began. Then the duelists, passing weapons to each other, struck blows in turn until one of them fell, which meant the end of the duel. The duel was immediately interrupted when a woman appeared, ”so S-M. A. Khusiev described in his article a method of resolving disagreements between Chechen men that existed in the 19th century.
Did not follow the blood feud
All Russians have heard about another ancient tradition of the highlanders - blood feud. Candidate of Law Susan Markaryan, in the article “Commission of a crime motivated by blood feud”, which was published in the journal “Problems of Economics and Legal Practice” (No 5, 2014), expressed the opinion that this tradition is still preserved among the peoples of the North Caucasus , including the Chechens.
“It should be emphasized that for societies that adhere to the custom of blood feud, blood feud is not a right, but an obligation to take revenge, a “sacred duty” imposed by custom, the failure to fulfill which brings disgrace both to a person who is obliged, by virtue of the custom of blood feud, to take revenge on the offender, and and for his entire family,” said S.A. Markarian.
At different times, the authorities tried to ban this custom, but to no avail. Entire villages perished at the hands of the highlanders, who took revenge on the relatives of their bloodline for murder, adultery, rape, kidnapping a woman without her consent or other insult.
And the Russian soldiers, whose comrades-in-arms had just been killed by the Chechens, could simply leave a specific gorge or pass on the orders of the commander, given for tactical reasons. The highlanders, who were waiting for the Russians in a specially organized ambush, were very surprised that they did not meet harsh avengers.
Endurance and durability
Local historian and writer Bulach Hajiyev in the book “Shamil. From Gimry to Medina ”(Makhachkala, 1992 edition) said that the highlanders were often struck by the extraordinary endurance and stamina of Russian soldiers. This was noted by Chechens, Ingush and representatives of the peoples of Dagestan, who fought under the command legendary imam Shamil (1797-1871).
Tsarist soldiers built fortresses in the mountains, roads, bridges over gorges, barracks, warehouses and tunnels. They worked in the extraction of minerals, like hard labor, cut down the forest. Neither the scorching rays of the sun nor the cold could stop them. snow-capped peaks, nor the lack of proper nutrition, nor infectious diseases.
Fight in the mountains with the locals, not knowing the features of the landscape and not being prepared for various factors environment, in itself, required remarkable strength and fortitude.
Humility and obedience
The command often used the soldiers as unpaid workers, forcing them to do heavy physical labor. And the service people meekly carried out any orders of the gentlemen of the officers. They often acted as servants, preparing meals, washing clothes, polishing shoes, and cleaning up after their superiors. Any non-commissioned officer was a real gentleman for a Russian soldier, who should be dutifully obeyed.
This is not surprising, because serfs who never knew personal freedom were recruited into recruits. And the Chechens could not understand: why does a warrior man allow himself to be humiliated like that? After all, the representative of the stronger sex, according to the highlanders, can kneel only in three cases: to drink water from a spring, to pray or pick a flower for his beloved.
However, as B.I. Gadzhiev, some soldiers could not stand the hardships of service, constant humiliation and corporal punishment, they fled from the tsarist army, hoping to join the army of Imam Shamil.
Ate lard and pork
Religious differences between Chechens and Russians were also often evident to representatives of both peoples.
The well-known writer Shapi Kaziev and the candidate of historical sciences Igor Karpeev are co-authors of the book “ Everyday life Highlanders of the North Caucasus in the XIX century "(Moscow, 2003 edition). They noted that Islamic preachers came to Ingushetia and Chechnya in the 13th-15th centuries, and by the middle of the 19th century, most of the inhabitants of the North Caucasus were Muslims. This religion significantly influenced the worldview and life of the highlanders.
Of course, like all the followers of the Prophet Muhammad, the Chechens did not eat pork and other food products prohibited by the faithful. With their characteristic religious zeal, the highlanders observed all the prescriptions and restrictions that Islam imposes on a person.
What was the surprise of the inhabitants of Chechnya when the tsarist army began to import pigs in carts, which were immediately slaughtered and roasted for gentlemen officers. And ordinary soldiers could, on occasion, get hold of lard.
Offered to drink vodka
Muslims are forbidden not only to eat the meat of "unclean" animals, but also to drink alcohol. Not all Russian soldiers knew about this in the 19th century. Wishing to establish friendly relations with representatives of the local population who did not openly show hostility, servicemen offered vodka and other alcoholic drinks to the Chechens.
The aforementioned Alla Sergeeva in her book “Russians. Behavior stereotypes, traditions, mentality" wrote: "The love for strong drinks in Russia is well known... and it is better to know as much as possible about it so as not to endanger your reputation, business, health, and sometimes even your life. The traditional hospitality of Russians can make the owner of the table "press" you, even conversations like "You respect me ...", etc. will go.
Such an attitude towards the joint drinking of alcohol met Chechens with misunderstanding and surprise. This is at best.
Spoke to women
In the 19th century, Muslim traditions were already very strong in the North Caucasus, so a stranger, an unfamiliar man could not turn to a married woman or girl with this or that question, not to mention attempts to flirt in front of her relatives. Russian soldiers, who for the first time found themselves among the bearers of a different culture, did not immediately understand the local features.
Doctor of Historical Sciences Nadezhda Bleikh in the article "The position of a mountain woman in the family and society (XIX century)", which was published in the journal "Bulletin of the Surgut State Pedagogical University"(No 3 for 2016), spoke about the features of Caucasian etiquette. For example, the accompanying man had to walk to the left of the woman, and if there were two companions, then the beautiful mountain woman walked between them.
According to N.O. Bleich, polite attitude to the representatives of the weaker sex has always been the duty of every inhabitant of the Caucasus. At the same time, women had to give way to a man they met on a narrow mountain path, get up when he appeared, speak in the presence of a proud warrior only in a whisper, not look him straight in the eyes, etc.
Russian soldiers, trying to show European gallantry (for example, let the lady go ahead), did not understand that they were violating Caucasian etiquette. And this, to put it mildly, surprised the locals.