Editing Imam Shamil (section)

== War against Russia ==
{{main|Murid War}}
[[File:Horschelt. Surrender of Shamil. 1863.jpg|300px|thumb|left|''Capture of Shamil'', by [[Theodor Horschelt]]]]
[[File:Karte des Kaukasischen Isthmus - Entworfen und gezeichnet von J-Grassl - 1856.jpg|thumb|200px|''Karte des Kaukasischen Isthmus''. Entworfen und gezeichnet von J. Grassl, 1856.]]
[[File:Shamil1.jpg|thumb|200px|Imam Shamil, Lithography by [[Georg Wilhelm Timm|Vasily Timm]] ]]
[[File:შამილის და შვილების მიერ პეტერბურგს ჩასვლა, 1859 წ.jpg|thumb|right|"Shamil's family". Left to right: [[Ghazi Muhammad]]'s confident, murid Hajio; Shamil's son Muhammad-Shafi; Shamil's sons-in-law: Abdurrahim and [[Sayyid Abdurrahman|Abdurrahman]]" photo, Kaluga, 1860]]
{{Campaignbox Caucasian War}}
In 1832, Ghazi Mollah died at the battle of Gimry, and Shamil was one of only two [[Murid]]s to escape, but he sustained severe wounds. During this fight he was stabbed with a bayonet. After reportedly jumping from an elevated stoop "clean over the heads of the very line of soldiers about to fire on him ... [he landed] behind them, whirling his sword in his left hand he cut down three of them, but was bayoneted by the fourth, the steel plunging deep in his chest. He seized the bayonet, pulled it out of his own flesh, cut down the man, and with another superhuman leap, cleared the wall and vanished in the darkness".<ref>Invisible armies: Blanch, sabres("bare":70; "wild beast"; al-Qarakhi, shining (pulled out sword: 22);</ref> He went into hiding and both Russia and Murids assumed him dead. Once recovered, he emerged from hiding and rejoined the Murids, led by the second [[Imam]], [[Hamzat Bek]]. He would wage unremitting warfare on the Russians for the next quarter century and become one of the legendary guerrilla commanders of the century. When Hamzat Bek was killed in 1834, Shamil took his place as the prime leader of the Caucasian resistance and the third Imam of the [[Caucasian Imamate]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In June–August 1839, Shamil and his followers, numbering about 4000 men, women and children, found themselves under siege in their mountain [[fortification|stronghold]] of [[Siege of Akhoulgo|Akhoulgo]], nestled in the bend of the [[Andi Koysu]], about ten miles east of Gimry.  Under the command of General [[Pavel Grabbe]], the Russian army trekked through lands devoid of supplies because of Shamil's scorched-earth strategy. The geography of the stronghold protected it from three sides, adding to the difficulty of conducting the siege. Eventually the two sides agreed to negotiate. Complying with Grabbe's demands, Shamil gave his son, Jamaldin, in a sign of good faith, as a hostage. Shamil rejected Grabbe's proposal that Shamil command his forces to surrender and for him to accept exile from the region. The Russian army attacked the stronghold, [[Siege of Akhoulgo|after 2 days of fighting]], the Russian troops had secured it. Shamil escaped the siege during the first night of the attack. Shamil's forces had been broken and many Dagestani and Chechen chieftains proclaimed loyalty to the Tsar. Shamil fled Dagestan for Chechnya. There, he made quick work of extending his influence over the clans.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Ghost of Freedom|last=King|first=Charles|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|location=New York, NY|pages=79–80}}</ref>

Shamil was effective at uniting the many, quarrelsome Caucasian tribes to fight against the Russians, by the force of his charisma, piety and fairness in applying Sharia law. One Russian source commented on him as "a man of great tact and a subtle politician." He believed the Russian introduction of alcohol in the area corrupted traditional values. Against the large regular Russian military, Shamil made effective use of irregular and guerrilla tactics. In 1845, an 8000-10000 strong column under the command of Count Mikhail Vorontsov followed the Imamate's forces into the forests of Chechnya. The Imamate's forces surround the Russian column, [[Battle of Dargo (1845)|destroying]] it.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gammer|first=Moshe|date=September 2013|title=Empire and Mountains: The Case of Russia and the Caucasus|journal=Social Evolution & History|pages=124–125}}</ref> This destroyed Vorontsov's attempt to cut away Chechnya from the Imamate which was his plan.<ref>Count [[Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov]] detailing the plan to cut away Chechnya from the Imamate:<br>{{Cite web|url=https://aif.ru/society/10300|title = Полтора века назад Чечню удалось победить «системой просек|date = April 2009}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Shamil is showing great activity this year and he is forced to do this, since we ... are taking measures that must sooner or later ... destroy his influence and tear away the Chechens from him, without which he will be nothing.|author=Count Mikhail Vorontsov}}

His fortunes as a military leader rose after he was joined by Hadji Murad, who defected from the Russians in 1841 and tripled by his fighting the area under Shamil's control within a short time. Hadji Murad, who was to become the subject of [[Hadji Murat (novel)|a famous novella]] by Leo Tolstoy (1904), turned against Shamil a decade later, apparently disappointed by his failure to be anointed Shamil's successor as imam. Shamil's elder son was given that nomination, and in a secret council, Shamil had his lieutenant accused of treason and sentenced to death, on which Hadji Murad, on learning of the judgement, redefected to the Russians.<ref name=":1">Gary Hamburg, Thomas Sanders, Ernest Tucker (eds,),''Russian-Muslim Confrontation in the Caucasus: Alternative Visions of the conflict between Imam Shamil and the Russians, 1830-1859'', RoutledgeCurzon 2004 pèassim</ref><ref name=":2">[[Malise Ruthven]], ''Terror: The Hidden Source'', [[New York Review of Books]], 24 October 2013, pp. 20-24.</ref>

Although Shamil hoped that Britain, France, or the Ottoman Empire would come to his aid to drive Russia from the Caucasus, this never happened. After the [[Crimean War]], Russia redoubled its efforts against the Imamate. Now successful, Russian forces severely reduced the Imamate's territory, and by September 1859, Shamil surrendered. Though the main theater closed, conflict in the eastern Caucasus would continue for several more years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gammer|first=Moshe|date=September 2013|title=Empire and Mountains: The Case of Russia and the Caucasus|journal=Social Evolution & History|page=126}}</ref>