The Russo–Circassian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Circassia, or termed by the Circassians as the Great War with the Tsar took place in the North Caucasus between July 1763 and June 1864. It began when the Russian Empire entered Circassia and occupied Mozdok, which prompted the Circassian people to organize a resistance movement to preserve their independence. Over the next century, the Imperial Russian Army expanded across the country until the last Circassian fighters were defeated in the Battle of Qbaada. It remains the longest war to have ever occurred in the Caucasus and in the history of Russia, as well as the longest and final war in the history of Circassia. Although it initially involved only Russia and Circassia, the conflict soon drew in a number of other Caucasian nations after they also became targets for Russian conquests, and it is consequently sometimes considered to be the western half of the Caucasian War.
During the hostilities, Russia recognized Circassia not as an independent polity, but as a Russian region that had fallen under rebel occupation—in spite of the fact that Circassia had never been controlled by Russia prior to the first incursion at Mozdok in 1763. Many Russian generals did not refer to the Circassians by their ethnonym and instead called them "mountaineers" or "bandits" in a pattern of broadly dehumanizing and xenophobic rhetoric that glorified the mass murder and rape of Circassian civilians.
Upon achieving hegemony throughout Circassia in 1864, Russia perpetrated the Circassian genocide, which continued until 1878 and resulted in the destruction of about 97% of the entire Circassian population. Upwards of 2,000,000 Circassians were killed during this period, while another 1,500,000 were displaced to the Ottoman Empire. The genocide caused the formation of the Circassian diaspora, which is mainly concentrated in countries that were once part of the Ottoman Empire, particularly Turkey, Jordan, and Syria.
In modern Russia, the war has been the subject of historical negationism: Russian state media and officials have gone as far as claiming that the invasion "never happened" and that Circassia "voluntarily joined Russia in the 16th century" in lieu of genocidal events documented by Russian historians of the 1860s. Contemporary accounts include those of Russian bureaucrat Adolf Berzhe, who portrayed the expulsion of Circassians as essential for "Russian security"; and Russian historian Rostislav Fadeyev, who described the campaign as "one of the most vital tasks in Russian history." Furthermore, in 1861, Russian emperor Alexander II (r. 1855–1881) publicly ordered the Imperial Russian Army to "utterly force out the hostile mountaineers (Circassians) from the fertile countries they occupy and settle on the latter a Russian Christian population forever."
Circassians, Christianised through Byzantine influence between the 5th and 6th centuries, were generally in alliance with Georgians, and both groups wanted to keep good relations with the Russians. In 1557, Temruqo Idar of Eastern Circassia allied with the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible and built a defense against possible enemies. Circassians were Christians during this period and Islam had not begun to spread. In 1561, Ivan the Terrible married Goshenay, daughter of Temruqo, and named her Mariya. In several narratives, Temruqo, because of his alliance with Russia, was described as a tyrant who only cared about his rule.
Although there had previously been a small Muslim presence in Circassia, significant conversions came after 1717, when Sultan Murad IV ordered the Crimeans to spread Islam among the Circassians. Islam gained much more ground later as conversion came to be used to cement defensive alliances to protect the Circassians' independence against Russian expansion. Despite this, there were still Pagans and Christians among the Circassian people. The Circassian-Russian alliance was damaged and eventually broken when the Circassians converted to Islam and adopted a more pro-Ottoman policy.
On 13 May 1711, Tsar Peter I ordered Araksin, Governor of Astrakhan, to pillage Circassia. Araksin moved with 30,000 strong Russian armed forces and, on 26 August 1711, broke into the lands of the Circassians, and captured Kopyl town (now Slavianski). From there, heading towards the Black Sea, he seized ports on the Kuban and looted and pillaged them. Then, he marched up along the Kuban River, pillaging villages. During this single invasion in Circassia, the Russians killed 43,247 Circassian men and women, and drove away 39,200 horses, 190,000 cattle and 227,000 sheep from Circassia. Russia continued to wage this type of warfare against Circassia from 1711 to 1763; the intent of this type of operation was not to annex Circassia but rather to raid it. Although Peter I was unable to annex Circassia in his lifetime, he laid the political and ideological foundation for the occupation to take place.
The confrontation of Prince Temruqo against the Ingush
After the departure of Timur, the Ingush left their mountains and began to develop the foothill plains in the 15th–16th centuries. In 1562, the Kabardian prince Temruqo Idar undertook an aggressive campaign against the Ingush, supplemented by detachments of Nogai Murzas. The Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, married to Temruqo's daughter Maria, sent 1,000 Cossacks under the command of Grigory Pleshcheev to aid Temruqo. As a result of this unified Kabardino–Nogai–Cossack campaign, 164 settlements were defeated, judging by the Russian chronicles. The Ingush returned to the mountains, and their former territory was settled by Kabardians.
Circassia was a key strategic location amidst the power struggle between the emerging Russian Empire, the established England and France, and the failing Ottoman Empire. Russia sought to expand along the Black Sea, and England sought to reduce Russia's ability to take advantage of the declining Ottoman Empire, known as the Eastern Question.
To counter Persian influence in the region, Russia would require shipyards on the Black Sea, which made Circassia, with its coastline and fertile valleys, a target. By 1853, near the end of the war, the Black Sea had become responsible for a third of Russian exports, making the area very important for trade.
The date of the outbreak of the Russo–Circassian War has been a matter of debate by historians. Most scholars agree that organised warfare happened after 1763 when Russia established forts in Circassian territory, but small-scale conflicts had been ongoing since 1711. Another view held by a smaller number of scholars is that proper warfare began in 1817 with the arrival of Aleksey Yermolov, and prior to that it was merely clashes.
During the reign of Catherine II, the Imperial Russian Army started entering Circassian soil and Russia started building forts in an attempt to quickly annex Circassia. On 17 July (O.S.) 1763, Russian forces entered the town of Mezdeug (modern-day Mozdok) in Eastern Circassia, turning it into a Russian fortress. Thus began the first hostilities between the Circassians and the Russian Empire.
While some Kabardian (Eastern Circassian) nobles wanted to fight the Russians, arguing they could convince the Ottomans and Crimea to help them, other nobles wanted to avoid fighting with Russia and to try to make peace.
In January 1764, several Kabardian nobles including Misost Bematuqo Hatokhshoqo met with the representative of the Russian Kizlyar commandant N. A. Potapov and unsuccessfully demanded the demolition of the Mozdok fortress built by the Russians. If the Russian government refused, the Kabardian princes threatened to seek alliance with the Crimean Khan against Russia.
Also in 1764, Kabardian Circassian knights Keysin Keytiqo and Kundeyt Shebez-Giray met with Catherine II in Saint Petersburg. They informed her that "the military build-up in Mezdeug was unacceptable, the region has been a land of Circassians, [and] the situation would create hostility and conflict". She refused diplomacy and the envoys were sent back. On 21 August 1765, the citizens of Circassia were instructed by the Russian general Johann de Medem to accept Russian control or face the Russian army. In 1765, Kabardian Circassians occupied the fortress of Kizlyar.