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==History== {{Main|History of Chechnya|}} [[File:Зумсой._1906_год.jpg|link=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:%D0%97%D1%83%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B9._1906_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4.jpg|thumb|320x320px|Chechen elders from the clan (teip) {{Interlanguage link|Zumsoy|ru|Зумсой (тайп)}}]] === Prehistory and origin === {{Main|Nakh peoples#Hypotheses of origins}} The Chechens are one of the [[Nakh peoples]], who have lived in the highlands of the [[North Caucasus]] region since prehistory.<ref name="src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp">{{cite web|url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/Proceed97/Arutiunov5.html|title=ETHNICITY AND CONFLICT IN THE CAUCASUS(5)|website=Src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp|access-date=17 October 2018}}</ref> There is archeological evidence of historical continuity dating back to 3000 B.C.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal|title=Peering Into the Past, With Words|first=Bernice|last=Wuethrich|date=19 May 2000|journal=Science|volume=288|issue=5469|page=1158|doi=10.1126/science.288.5469.1158|s2cid=82205296}}</ref><ref name="src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp"/> as well as evidence pointing to their ancestors' migration from the [[Fertile Crescent]] c. 10,000–8,000 B.C.<ref name="auto" /> The discussion of their origins is intertwined with the discussion of the mysterious origins of Nakh peoples as a whole. The only three surviving Nakh peoples are Chechens, [[Ingush people|Ingush]] and [[Bats people|Bats]], but they are thought by some scholars to be the remnants of what was once a larger family of peoples.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} They are thought to be descended from the original settlers of the Caucasus (North and/or South).<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite journal|author=Bernice Wuethrich|date=19 May 2000|title=Peering Into the Past, With Words|url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.288.5469.1158|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=288|issue=5469|page=1158|doi=10.1126/science.288.5469.1158|s2cid=82205296|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="berkeley">{{cite web|author=Johanna Nichols|author-link=Johanna Nichols|date=February 1997|title=The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information|url=http://ingush.berkeley.edu:7012/ingush_people.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311090332/http://ingush.berkeley.edu:7012/ingush_people.html|archive-date=March 11, 2008|access-date=2007-02-10|work=[[University of California, Berkeley]]}}</ref> === Antiquity === {{Main|Durdzuks}} Ancestors of the modern Chechens and Ingush were known as [[Durdzuks]]. According to ''[[The Georgian Chronicles]]'', before his death, [[Togarmah|Targamos]] [Togarmah] divided the country amongst his sons, with [[Caucas|Kavkasos]] [Caucas] receiving the Central Caucasus. Kavkasos engendered the Chechen tribes, and his descendant, Durdzuk, who took up residence in a mountainous region, later called "Dzurdzuketia" after him, established a strong state in the fourth and third centuries BC.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jaimoukha|first=Amjad|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203356432|title=The Chechens|date=2004-11-10|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-35643-2|location=|page=31|doi=10.4324/9780203356432}}</ref> Among the Chechen teips, the teip [[:ru:Зурзакой|Zurzakoy]], consonant with the ethnonym Dzurdzuk, lives in the [[Itum-Kale]] region of Chechnya. Georgian historian [[Giorgi Melikishvili]] posited that although there was evidence of Nakh settlement in the Southern Caucasus areas, this did not rule out the possibility that they also lived in the North Caucasus.<ref>Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Chechens: A Handbook. Page 24. "Also, the Georgian historian G. A. Melikishvili maintained that the formation of the Vainakh took place much earlier than the first century BC. Though evidence of Nakh settlement was found on the southern slopes of the Caucasus in the second and first millennia BC, he did not rule out the possibility of their residence in the northern and eastern regions of the Caucasus. It is traditionally accepted that the Vainakh have existed in the Caucasus, with their present territory as a nucleus of a larger domicile, for thousands of years, and that it was the ‘birthplace’ of their ethnos, to which the peoples who inhabited the Central Caucasus and the steppe lands all the way to the Volga in the northeast and the Caspian Sea to the east contributed."</ref> The state of Durdzuketi has been recorded since the 4th century BC.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> ''The Armenian Chronicles'' mention that the Durdzuks defeated the Scythians and became a significant power in the region in the first millennium BC.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> The Vainakh in the east had an affinity with Georgia, while the [[Malkh|Malkh Kingdom]] of the west looked to the new Greek kingdom of [[Bosporan Kingdom|Bosporus]] on the Black Sea coast (though it may have also had relations with Georgia).<ref name="ReferenceA" /> According to legend, [[Adermakhus|Adermalkh]], chief of the Malkh state, married the daughter of the Bosporan king in 480 BCE.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> [[:ru:Малхистинцы#|Malkhi]] is one of the Chechen [[tukkhum]]s.<ref>Крупнов Е. И. Древности Чечено-Ингушетии. — Изд-во Академии наук СССР, 1963. — с. 256</ref><ref>Натаев Сайпуди Альвиевич. ПРОБЛЕМА ЭТНОТЕРРИТОРИАЛЬНОЙ СТРУКТУРЫ ЧЕЧНИ В XVIII–XIX ВВ. В ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ.</ref><ref>Марковин В. И. «В ущельях Аргуна и Фортанги». Москва, 1965 — с. 71</ref><ref>Мамакаев М. «Чеченский тайп в период его разложения». Грозный, 1973.</ref><ref>Шавхелишвили А. И. «Грузино-чечено-ингушские взаимоотношения». Тбилиси, 1992. — с.65, 72</ref><ref>Пиотровский Б. Б. История народов Северного Кавказа с древнейших времен до конца XVIII в. — Наука, 1988. — с.239</ref><ref>Н. Г. Волкова. Этнический состав населения Северного Кавказа в XVIII-начале XX века — Москва: Наука, 1974. — с.169</ref> === Medieval === {{Main|Mongol invasions of Durdzuketia|Timurid invasion of Simsir}} During the [[Middle Ages]], the lowland of Chechnya was dominated by the [[Khazars]] and then the [[Alans]]. Local culture was also subject to [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian]] influence and some Chechens converted to [[Eastern Orthodox Christianity]]. With a presence dating back to the 14th century, [[Islam]] gradually spread among the Chechens,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Islam: Islam in the Caucasus and the Middle Volga {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/islam-islam-caucasus-and-middle-volga |access-date=2022-03-10 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|isbn=1-57958-468-3|editor-last=Skutsch|editor-first=Carl|location=New York|page=280}}</ref> although the Chechens' [[Vainakh mythology|own pagan religion]] was still strong until the 19th century. Society was organised along feudal lines. Chechnya was [[Mongol invasions of Chechnya|devastated by the Mongol invasions]] of the 13th century and those of [[Tamerlane]] in the 14th.<ref>Jaimoukha pp. 33–34</ref><ref>Dunlop p.3</ref> The Mongol invasions are well known in Chechen folktales which are often connected with military reports of Alan-Dzurdzuk wars against the Mongols. According to the missionary [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine|Pian de Carpine]], a part of the Alans had successfully resisted a Mongol siege on a mountain for 12 years:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tesaev|first=Amin|date=2020|title=К личности и борьбе чеченского героя идига (1238–1250 гг.)|journal=}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text=When they (the Mongols) begin to besiege a fortress, they besiege it for many years, as it happens today with one mountain in the land of the Alans. We believe they have been besieging it for twelve years and they (the Alans) put up courageous resistance and killed many Tatars, including many noble ones.|author=Giovanni da Pian del Carpine|title=|source=report from 1250}} This twelve-year-old siege is not found in any other report, however, the Russian historian A. I. Krasnov connected this battle with two Chechen folktales he recorded in 1967 that spoke of an old hunter named Idig who with his companions defended the [[Tebulosmta|Dakuoh]] mountain for 12 years against Tatar-Mongols. He also reported to have found several arrowheads and spears from the 13th century near the very mountain the battle took place at:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Krasnov|first=A.I|title=Копье Тебулос-Мта|journal=Вокруг света|volume=9|page=29}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text=The next year, with the onset of summer, the enemy hordes came again to destroy the highlanders. But even this year they failed to capture the mountain, on which the brave Chechens settled down. The battle lasted twelve years. The main wealth of the Chechens – livestock – was stolen by the enemies. Tired of the long years of hard struggle, the Chechens, believing the assurances of mercy by the enemy, descended from the mountain, but the Mongol-Tatars treacherously killed the majority, and the rest were taken into slavery. This fate was escaped only by Idig and a few of his companions who did not trust the nomads and remained on the mountain. They managed to escape and leave Mount Dakuoh after 12 years of siege.|author=Amin Tesaev|title=The Legend and struggle of the Chechen hero Idig (1238–1250)}} [[File:Tschetschenze.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Chechen warrior]] Tamerlane's late 14th-century invasions of the Caucasus were especially costly to the Chechen kingdom of [[Simsir]] which was an ally of the [[Golden Horde]] and anti-Timurid. Its leader [[Khour Ela]] supported Khan [[Tokhtamysh]] during the [[Battle of the Terek River]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tesaev|first=Amin|date=2018|title=Симсим|journal=РЕФЛЕКСИЯ|volume=2|pages=61–67}}</ref> The Chechens bear the distinction of being one of the few peoples to successfully resist the Mongols and defend themselves against their invasions; not once, but twice, though this came at great cost to them, as their states were utterly destroyed. These events were key in the shaping of the Chechen nationhood and their martial-oriented and clan-based society.<ref name="Minahan2000">{{cite book|last=Minahan|first=James|title=One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC&pg=PA168|year=2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-30984-7|page=168}}</ref> === Early modern period === {{Main|Circassian genocide|Caucasian War}} The [[Caucasus]] was a major competing area for two neighboring rival empires: the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] and [[Turco-Persian tradition|Turco-Persian]] empires ([[Safavids]], [[Afsharids]], [[Qajar dynasty|Qajars]]). Starting from [[Peace of Amasya|1555]] and decisively from [[Treaty of Zuhab|1639]] through the first half of the 19th century, the Caucasus was divided by these two powers, with the Ottomans prevailing in Western [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], while Persia kept the bulk of the Caucasus, namely Eastern Georgia, Southern [[Dagestan]], [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Armenia]].<ref name="books.google.nl">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5MOYzS3IDTQC&q=Caucasus+divided+between+persia+and+turkey&pg=PA272|title=Conflict and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus|first=Hooman|last=Peimani|date=17 October 2018|publisher=ABC-CLIO|access-date=17 October 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-59884-054-4}}</ref> The Chechens, however, never really fell under the rule of either empire. As Russia expanded slowly southwards as early as the 16th century, clashes between Chechens and Russians became more frequent, and it became three empires competing for the region. During these turbulent times, the Chechens were organized into semi-independent clans that were loyal to the Mehk-Khel (National Council). The Mehk-Khel was in charge of appointing the Mehk-Da (ruler of the nation). Several of these appeared during the late Middle Ages such as [[Aldaman Gheza]], Tinavin-Visa, Zok-K'ant and others. The administration and military expeditions commanded by Aldaman Gheza during the 1650–1670s led to Chechnya being largely untouched by the major empires of the time. Alliances were concluded with local lords against Persian encroachment and battles were fought to stop Russian influence. One such battle was the [[Battle of Khachara]] between Gheza and the rival [[Avar Khanate]] that tried to exert influence on Chechnya.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://proza.ru/2019/12/30/99|title=Гази Алдамов, или Алдаман ГIеза, воевода и предвод (Амин Тесаев) / Проза.ру|website=proza.ru}}</ref> As Russia set off to increase its political influence in the Caucasus and the [[Caspian Sea]] at the expense of Safavid Persia, [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] launched the [[Russo-Persian War (1722–1723)|Russo-Persian War]], in which Russia succeeded in taking much of the Caucasian territories for several years. The conflict notably marked the first military encounter between [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]] and the Chechens.<ref> {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGj4B1rdcu0C&q=russo+persian+war+1722+vainakh&pg=PA53 |title=The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad |access-date=25 December 2014 |isbn=978-0-313-38634-3 |last1=Schaefer |first1=Robert W. |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> [[Sheikh Mansur]] led a major Chechen resistance movement in the late 18th century. [[File:Могила Хозы Мамаева.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Tomb of a Chechen warrior of the 19th century]] In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Russia embarked on full-scale conquest of the North Caucasus in the [[Caucasian War]]. Much of the campaign was led by [[Aleksey Yermolov (general)|General Yermolov]] who particularly disliked the Chechens, describing them as "a bold and dangerous people".<ref>Dunlop p.14</ref> Angered by Chechen raids, Yermolov resorted to a brutal policy of "[[scorched earth]]" and deportations; he also founded the fort of [[Grozny]] (now the capital of Chechnya) in 1818. Chechen resistance to Russian rule reached its peak under the leadership of the Dagestani leader [[Imam Shamil]]. The Chechens were finally defeated in 1861 after a bloody war that lasted for decades, during which they lost most of their entire population.<ref>Jaimoukha (p.50): "The Chechens suffered horrific losses in human life during the long war. From an estimated population of over a million in the 1840s, there were only 140,000 Chechens left in the Caucasus in 1861..."</ref> In the aftermath, large numbers of refugees also [[Ethnic cleansing of Circassians|emigrated or were forcibly deported]] to the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="nichols">{{cite web |url=http://iseees.berkeley.edu/articles/nichols_1995-chechen.pdf |title=Who are the Chechens? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060915080123/http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~bsp/caucasus/articles/nichols_1995-chechen.pdf |archive-date=2006-09-15}} by [[Johanna Nichols]], [[University of California, Berkeley]].</ref><ref>Dunlop p.29ff. Dunlop writes (p.30): "In 1860, according to Soviet-era figures, 81,360 Chechens left for Turkey; a second emigration took place in 1865, when an additional 22,500 Chechens left. More than 100,000 Chechens were thus ethnically 'cleansed' during this process. This was perhaps a majority of their total population..."</ref><ref>Jaimoukha p.50</ref> === Nineteenth and twentieth centuries === {{Main|Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush|First Chechen War}} [[File:RIAN archive 908389 Victory Day parade in Russian Regions.jpg|thumb|Chechen veterans of the [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]]]] Since then, there have been various Chechen rebellions against Russian/Soviet power in 1865–66, 1877, during the [[Russian Civil War]] and [[World War II]], as well as nonviolent resistance to [[Russification]] and the [[Soviet Union]]'s collectivization and anti-religion campaigns. In 1944, all Chechens, together with several other [[peoples of the Caucasus]], were ordered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin [[Operation Lentil (Caucasus)|to be deported ''en masse'']] to the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh]] and [[Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic|Kirghiz]] SSRs; and their republic and nation were abolished. At least one-quarter—and perhaps half—of the entire Chechen population perished in the process, and a severe blow was made to their culture and historical records.<ref name="nichols" /><ref>Jaimoukha p.58</ref><ref>Dunlop, Chapter 2 "Soviet Genocide", particularly pp. 70–71 ("How many died?")</ref> Though "[[Rehabilitation (Soviet)|rehabilitated]]" in 1956 and allowed to return the next year, the survivors lost economic resources and civil rights and, under both Soviet and post-Soviet governments, they have been the objects of both official and unofficial discrimination and discriminatory public discourse.<ref name="nichols" /><ref>Jaimoukha p.60</ref> Chechen attempts to regain independence in the 1990s after the [[fall of the Soviet Union]] led to the [[First Chechen War|first]] and the [[Second Chechen War|second]] war with the new Russian state, starting in 1994. ===Twenty-first century=== {{Expand section|date=April 2025}}
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