Editing Chechens (section)

=== 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>