“Who are We? The Chechen People! And what do we want? Independence!” Imagine being suppressed by two great powers and being unable to become who you’ve always known you were meant to be? What about being involved in guerilla warfare? This is the Chechen people’s emotions. The Chechen’s were noks. The Chechen’s were called terrorists. Many are still even fighting today. Through wars and struggling to become independent, the Chechen people have preserved. The Chechen people needed to band together in order to receive this. In this paper I will be doing a brief summary on who the Chechen people are, what caused the wars, what happened in the wars and, where the Chechen people are heading now. I will also be discussing briefly the documentary that was chosen. All while showing that all the Chechen people wanted was their independence.
Who are the Chechens?
For starters the Chechen people were originally known as “nok”, in about 10,000-8,000 BCE who were native to Caucasus Mountains. The modern day Chechen people believe that they are direct descendants of the “nok” people and because of that history they are called “nockhi.” There is little known about what the word Chechen actually means. According to the New World encyclopedia, the early Chechen’s “lived in the mountains of the region until the sixteenth century, when they began settling in the lowlands. ( http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Chechnya#History ) ” The move toward the lower lands made the people more prone to invasion where the mountains kept the people safe and isolated. Once in the lowlands the Chechen people became susceptible to other tribes. In the early times of this civilization, it was surrounded by many powerful empires including the Ottoman, Roman and Persian. With being surrounded by these empires, it made invasion inevitable. It also shows that the people had a lot of influence. According to New World Encyclopedia, “ the Arabs had decided to overtake the Caucasus people and bring them together to form Armenia, in about the seventh century.”
In 1720 during the Russo-Persian war, under the leadership of Peter the Great, the Chechen people became apart of Russian territory. The reign of the Russians was fairly short it only lasted about 9 years. The Russians believed that they had claim for the Caucasus and wanted to keep the land. Over time the hostilities between the Russians and the Caucasus people grew. One disagreement that the Caucasus people had with Russia was that Russia was Christian and wanted to keep the territories as such. While the Caucasus people became Islamic. There were many wars fought between Russia and the Caucasus from the years, 1718-1864. Then according to New World Encyclopedia “in 1785, Chechen leader Sheikh Al Mansur started waging a holy war against the Russians.” This war was ultimately trying to make an Islamic state for the people. It was the first sign of independence. The Chechen leader lost and and was unable to win the war because there were not enough people on his side. Many people still maintained loyalties with the Russian Empire. Chechnya eventually became fully apart of Russia though rebellions constantly arose in various wars. During two very important Russian wars such as the Russia Revolution, the Chechens tried to announce their independence but it was not very successful.
After World War II, while Stalin was in power the Chechen people never lost hope. The people were still striving to become independent. Stalin exiled the Chechen people and the people who were not exiled were killed. It dealt a lot with who Stalin believed were conspiring with the Germans. The land were the Chechens were sent, Kazakhstan (New World Encyclopedia).
In 1956, the Chechen people were allowed to return but did not get their land back. The areas were mainly Chechens once occupied was now filled with Russians in order to start the Russification process. According to The History Learning Site, “Russification was the name given to a policy of Alexander III. Russification was designed to take the sting out of those who wanted to reform Russia and to bind all the Russian people around one person – the tsar.( http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/russia-1900-to-1939/russification/) ” This was the plan for Stalin prior to his death, he wanted a unified Russia. Meaning everyone needed to know how to speak Russian if they were to live in Russia.
The Soviet Union collapsed and the Chechen saw this as another area of opportunity for independence. November 1990 Chechen announced their sovereignty (according to New World Encyclopedia) but the Chechenians did not stop there. This only fueled the fire. A year later the people were now apart of Chechen-Ingush Republic.
The First Chechen War
Throughout the Chechen people’s history, they decided that in 1994 it was time to succeed from Russia. Russia put up a really tough fight as well. Many people were taking hostage. There were raids and many other ways that Chechnya and Russia had to fight. This war ultimately went on from December 1994-August 1996.
The Second Chechen War
Where are the Chechen people now?
The Chechen’s now are not any better than they were before. The people are still very much draw to fighting. There are many who have joined ISIS.