Editing Chechnya (section)

===Imperial rule===
{{Main|Russian conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan}}
[[File:Captured Imam Shamil before the commander-in-chief Prince Bariatinsky on 25 August 1859.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Captured [[Imam Shamil]] before the commander-in-chief [[Aleksandr Baryatinsky|Prince Bariatinsky]] on 25 August 1859; painting by [[Theodor Horschelt]].]]

[[Emperor of Russia|Russian Emperor]] [[Peter the Great]] first sought to increase Russia's political influence in the [[Caucasus]] and the [[Caspian Sea]] at the expense of [[Safavid Persia]] when he launched the [[Russo-Persian War (1722–1723)|Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723]]. Russian forces succeeded in taking much of the Caucasian territories from Persia for several years.<ref name="books.google.nl">{{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=9780313386343 |last1=Schaefer |first1=Robert W. |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>

As the [[Imperial Russian Army]] took control of the Caspian corridor and moved into Persian-ruled [[Dagestan]], Peter's forces ran into mountain tribes. Peter sent a cavalry force to subdue them, but the Chechens routed them.<ref name="books.google.nl" /> In 1732, after Russia had already ceded back most of the Caucasus to Persia, now led by [[Nader Shah]], following the [[Treaty of Resht]], Russian troops clashed again with Chechens in a village called Chechen-aul along the [[Argun River (Caucasus)|Argun River]].<ref name="books.google.nl" /> The Russians were defeated again and withdrew, but this battle is responsible for the apocryphal story about how the Nokchi came to be known as "Chechens" – the people ostensibly named for the place the battle had taken place. However, the name "Chechen" had already been used as early as 1692.<ref name="books.google.nl" />

Under intermittent Persian rule since 1555, in 1783, the [[Eastern Georgia (country)|eastern Georgians]] of [[Kartl-Kakheti]], led by [[Erekle II]], and the Russians signed the [[Treaty of Georgievsk]]. According to this treaty, Kartl-Kakheti received protection from Russia, and Georgia abjured any dependence on [[Qajar dynasty|Iran]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUHhTPdJ6yIC&q=agha+mohammad+khan+conquer+georgia&pg=PT273 |title=Iran at War: 1500–1988 |access-date=25 December 2014 |isbn=9781780962214 |last1=Farrokh |first1=Kaveh |date=20 December 2011 |publisher=Osprey Publishing Limited }}{{dead link|date=December 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> To increase its influence in the Caucasus and secure communication with Kartli and other Christian-inhabited regions of [[Transcaucasia]], which it considered useful in its wars against Persia and the [[Ottoman Empire]], the [[Russian Empire]] began conquering the Northern Caucasus mountains. The Russian Empire used [[Christianity]] to justify its conquests. This allowed Islam to spread widely among the Chechens, as it positioned itself as the religion of liberation from the [[Tsardom of Russia]], which viewed Nakh tribes as "bandits".<ref name="ling" /> The rebellion was led by [[Mansur Ushurma]], a Chechen [[sheikh]] belonging to the [[Naqshbandi]] [[Sufism|Sufi order]]—with wavering military support from other North Caucasian tribes. Mansur hoped to establish an [[Islamic state]] based in the [[Transcaucasus]] under [[Sharia|''Sharia'' law]]. He was unable to fully achieve this because, in the course of the war, he was betrayed by the [[Ottoman Turks]], handed over to the Russians, and executed in 1794.<ref>John Frederick Baddeley, ''The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus'', London, Curzon Press, 1999, p. 49.</ref>

After Persia was forced to cede the current territories of [[Dagestan]], most of [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] to Russia following the [[Russo-Persian War (1804–1813)|Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813]] and its resultant [[Treaty of Gulistan]], Russia significantly widened its foothold in the Caucasus at Persia's expense.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ey63iJcVvbMC&q=treaty+of+gulistan+azerbaijan+dagestan&pg=PA56 |title=Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis |access-date=25 December 2014|isbn=9780275964818 |last1=Cohen |first1=Ariel |year=1998 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> [[Russo-Persian War (1826–1828)|Another successful Caucasus war]] against Persia several years later, starting in 1826 and ending in 1828 with the [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]], and a [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|successful war against the Ottoman Empire in 1828–1829]], enabled Russia to use a much larger portion of its army in subduing the natives of the [[North Caucasus]].

[[File:Наибы.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Chechen artillerymen]]

The resistance of the Nakh tribes never ended and was a fertile ground for a new [[Muslims|Muslim]]-[[Caucasian Avars|Avar]] commander, [[Imam Shamil]], who fought against the Russians from 1834 to 1859 (see [[Murid War]]). In 1859, Shamil was captured by the Russians at aul Gunib. Shamil left [[Baysangur of Benoa]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO--iigYIes | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211124/tO--iigYIes| archive-date=24 November 2021 | url-status=live|title=Человек из камня Байсангур Беноевский |via=YouTube |date=10 December 2010 |access-date=14 March 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> a Chechen with one arm, one eye, and one leg, in charge of command at Gunib. Baysangur broke through the siege and continued to fight Russia for another two years until he was captured and killed by Russians. The Russian Tsar hoped that by sparing the life of Shamil, the resistance in the North Caucasus would stop, but it did not. Russia began to use a colonization tactic by destroying Nakh settlements and building Cossack defense lines in the lowlands. The Cossacks suffered defeat after defeat and were constantly attacked by mountaineers, who robbed them of food and weaponry.

The Russian Tsarist regime used a different approach at the end of the 1860s. They offered Chechens and Ingush to leave the Caucasus for the Ottoman Empire (see [[Muhajir (Caucasus)]]). It is estimated that about 80% of Chechens and Ingush left the Caucasus during the deportation. It weakened the resistance, which went from open warfare to insurgent warfare. One of the notable Chechen resistance fighters at the end of the 19th century was a Chechen [[abrek]] [[Zelimkhan|Zelimkhan Gushmazukaev]] and his comrade-in-arms Ingush abrek Sulom-Beck Sagopshinski. Together they built up small units which constantly harassed Russian military convoys, government mints, and the postal service, mainly in Ingushetia and Chechnya. Ingush aul Kek was completely burned when the Ingush refused to hand over Zelimkhan. Zelimkhan was killed at the beginning of the twentieth century. The war between Nakh tribes and Russia resurfaced during the times of the [[Russian Revolution]], which saw the Nakh struggle against [[Anton Denikin]] and later against the [[Soviet Union]].

On 21 December 1917, [[Ingushetia]], Chechnya, and [[Dagestan]] declared independence from Russia and formed a single state: the [[Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus|United Mountain Dwellers of the North Caucasus]], which was recognized by major world powers of the time. The capital of the new state was moved to [[Buynaksk|Temir-Khan-Shura]] (today in Dagestan).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://w.ethnia.org/polity.php?ASK_CODE=KC__&ASK_YY=1917&ASK_MM=12&ASK_DD=21&SL=en |title=Independent Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus |work=Countries & Territories since 1900 |access-date=25 May 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525114537/http://w.ethnia.org/polity.php?ASK_CODE=KC__&ASK_YY=1917&ASK_MM=12&ASK_DD=21&SL=en |archive-date=2023-05-25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://savechechnya.com/eng.news/press_1273.htm |title=Общественное движение чеченский комитет национального спасения |publisher=Savechechnya.com |date=24 June 2008 |access-date=14 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223044426/http://savechechnya.com/eng.news/press_1273.htm |archive-date=23 February 2014 }}</ref> [[Tapa Tchermoeff]], a prominent Chechen statesman, was elected the first prime minister of the state. The second prime minister elected was Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev, an Ingush statesman, who also was the author of the constitution of the republic in 1917, and in 1920 he was re-elected for the third term. In 1921 the Russians attacked and occupied the country and forcibly absorbed it into the Soviet state. The Caucasian war for independence restarted, and [[Government-in-exile|the government went into exile]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vainah.info/biblioteka/izvestnye-vaynahi/item/730-vassan-girey-dzhabagiev?tmpl=component&print=1 |title=Вассан-Гирей Джабагиев |publisher=Vainah.info |access-date=14 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221174845/http://vainah.info/biblioteka/izvestnye-vaynahi/item/730-vassan-girey-dzhabagiev?tmpl=component&print=1 |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}</ref>