The Circassian GenocideCircassia was a small independent nation on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. For no reason other than ethnic hatred, over the course of hundreds of raids the Russians drove the Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history. Using rare archival materials, Walter Richmond chronicles the history of the war, describes in detail the final genocidal campaign, and follows the Circassians in diaspora through five generations as they struggle to survive and return home. He places the periods of acute genocide, 1821–1822 and 1863–1864, in the larger context of centuries of tension between the two nations and updates the story to the present day as the Circassian community works to gain international recognition of the genocide as the region prepares for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the site of the Russians’ final victory. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Chapter 1 The Plague was Our Ally | 9 |
Chapter 2 A Pawn in the Great Game | 32 |
Chapter 3 From War to Genocide | 54 |
Chapter4 1864 | 76 |
Chapter5 A Homeless Nation | 98 |
Chapter 6 Survival in Diaspora | 111 |
Chapter 7 Those Who Stayed Behind | 131 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abzakhs Adyge Adygei Adygeia Adygov Akty Anatolia Arab Archive Tbilisi army Atazhukin attacks auls Balkans began Berzhe and Kobiakov Besleneys Bjedukhs Black Sea Black Sea coast British Bulgakov campaign cassians Caucasus commander Chechens Chechnya Cherkesy Chirg Circas Circassian genocide Circassian language conquest Cossacks Crimean diaspora driving Drozdov Druze emperor Ermolov established ethnic cleansing Evdokimov force genocide Genotsid Georgian State Archive Girey Göçleri Hase homeland Ibid immigration Istanbul Istoriia Jordan Kabardians Kabardino Karachays Kartsov Kasumov Kavkaz Kavkazskaya Voina Kuban Oblast Kuban River Kumykov land large numbers living migration Mikhail military Milyutin Moscow mountains Muslim Nalchik nation Natuhays North Caucasus Ol’shevskii Olshevsky Ottoman Empire peace Petersburg political population Porte Posledniaia Potto pshi raids Razvitie refugees region repatriation republic Russian Russo sent September settled Shapsugs sians Sochi Soviet stanitsy Syria thousand tion Tragicheskie Posledvstviia Treaty tribes troops Tuganov Turkey Turkish Turks Ubykhs Velyaminov villages Vyselenie Gortsev