Terek Cossacks
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The Terek Cossack Host (Russian: Терское казачье войско) was a Cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. In 1792 it was included in the Caucasus Line Cossack Host and separated from it again in 1860, with the capital of Vladikavkaz. In 1916 the population of the Host was 255,000 within an area of 1.9 million desyatinas.
Many of the early members of the Terek Cossacks were Ossetians.[1]
Early history
The earliest known records of Slavic settlements on the lower Terek River date to 1520 when the Ryazan Principality was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and a lone group left and settled in the natural haven of the Terek River (modern northern Chechnya). The early settlement was located at the mouth of the Aktash River. This formed the oldest Cossack group, the Mountain Cossacks (Гребенские казаки Grebenskiye Kazaki) who settled on both banks of the still largely uninhabited river.
In 1559-71 the Tsardom of Russia, in the course of several campaigns, built several fortifications, during which the first Terka was built, later taken over by the still independent Cossacks. In 1577, after the Volga Cossacks were defeated by the strelets Ivan Murashkin, many scattered, some of whom settled in the Terek basin and Voevoda Novosiltsev built the second Terka on the Terek, marking the start of the Terek Cossacks. In 1584 this Terka was again taken over by Cossacks, some of whom were recruited by the Georgian King Simon.[2]
In a separate story an Ataman of the Don Cossack Host led a band of three Cossack sotnias to the Kumyk lands, founding the town of Andreev. One of Shadra's motives may have been his tense relations with Yermak Timofeyevich.[3] In 1580, by official decree, Shadra, along with several cossacks and soldiers, relocated to the Terek, settling in the frontier town of Tersky.
In the late 16th century several campaigns by the Terek Cossacks were carried out against the Ottoman Empire (Temryuk) which led the Sultan to complain to Ivan the Terrible. In 1589 the first outpost on the Sunzha was built and a permanent Terka, later known as Tersky Gorodok, was built on the lower Terek.
17th century
During the Time of Troubles in 1606 four thousand Terek Cossacks left for the Volga to support their own candidate for the Tsar, Ileyka Muromets. By 1614 the Rowers supported the new Romanov monarch and aided him in quelling the unrest in Astrakhan. In 1633 they destroyed the remnants of the Nogay Horde and a decade later aided the Don Cossacks against the Crimean Khanate in 1646. By the mid 17th century the Cossacks again expanded into the Sunzha where they built a new outpost in 1651. Two years later the outpost withstood a hailing attack by Kumyks and Dagestanis. Though the battle ensureed the Tsar's respect, it was advised that the Cossacks pull down the outpost. In the 1670s the Terek Cossacks helped to defeat Stenka Razin in Astrakhan.
In 1680 after the Raskol in the Russian Orthodox Church reached the Don Cossacks, a number of Old Believers left the Don River and settled first on the Kuma and later on the Agrakhan. After the aid of the Terek and Rowing Cossacks to the Don Cossacks during the Azov Campaigns in 1695, the Ottoman Empire retaliated against the Terek Cossacks and in 1707 most of their outposts were destroyed on the right bank of the Terek.
18th century
In 1711 Graf Apraskin re-settled all of the Rowing Cossacks on the left bank of the Terek River, this move was met with resentment, and during the entire 18th century the Terek Cossacks would still inhabit the left bank and use the rich vineyards and lands right up until 1799. Also in 1720 the Rowers and Tereks were fully incorporated into the Russian Empire and during the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723), the Cossacks aided Peter I of Russia in his conquest of the eastern Dagestan and the capture of Derbent. During the campaign the 1000 re-settled Don Cossacks on the Agrakhan and the Sulak formed the Agrakhan Cossack Host (Аграханское Казачье Войско), which was united with the Terek Cossacks. In 1735 by a new agreement with Persia the Sulak line was abandoned, and Agrakhan Cossacks were re-settled on the lower Terek Delta, and the fort of Kizlyar was founded.
Thus in 1735 three hosts were formed: Grebenskoye (Гребенское Rowing) from the descendants of the earliest Cossacks, Tersko-Semeynoye (Терско-Семейное Terek-Family) from the re-settled Agrakhan Cossacks up to Kizlyar, and Tersko-Kizlyarskoye (Терско-Кизлярское Terek-Kizlyar) from the Agrakhan Cossacks as well as Armenians and Georgians. When the Kalmyks arrived in the northwestern Caspian a combined campaign was waged against Temryuk during the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739), where the Terek Cossacks were led by Atamans Auka and Petrov.
In 1736 and again in 1765 the right bank of the Terek, still nominally Cossack property, was offered to Chechens who wanted to adopt Russian patronage and re-settle there. By the latter half of the 18th century relations between the Cossacks and the Mountain people began to sour. In 1765 the outpost of Mozdok was founded, which became an immediate target for Kabardins who attacked the Terek line and Kizlyar. In 1771 Yemelyan Pugachev arrived in Terek, and, to show loyalty, Ataman Tatarintsev arrested him. Pugachev fled and the Pugachev Rebellion in 1772-1774 gained no support on the Terek.
The Caucasus War (1770s-1860s)
The Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) and the resulting Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca gave Russia the pretext under which they could begin their expansion into the Caucasus, marking the start of the century-long Caucasus War. In 1769-1770 almost half of the Volga Cossacks were re-settled around Mozdok. In 1776 further settlers arrived including more of the Volga Cossacks (the remaining Cossacks on the lower Volga were separated into the Astrakhan Cossacks Host) and the Khopyor Cossacks from the eastern Don territory. These formed the Azov-Mozdok defense line. Major foreposts for Russian expansion into the central Caucasus were founded by the re-settlers including: Giorgiyevsk in 1777 by the Khopyor regiment, and Vladikavkaz in 1784.
During this early phase several high-profile battles take place. In June 1774 Devlet-Girey sent a massive Kabardin Army against the Terek Cossacks, on 10-11 of June the stanitsa of Naurskaya was heroically defended against the invaders and in 1785 Kizlyar was defended against Sheikh Mansur. In 1788-91 the Terek Cossacks took part in three campaigns which took them to Anapa in western Caucasus. The major gap in the western section of the line of defense was solved in 1792 when the Black Sea Cossacks were re-settled there.
The next three decades brought severe difficulties for the Russian effort in the Caucasus. After the joining of Georgia to Russia in 1801, the Terek Cossacks spared some men and took part in combat under Yerevan, but on the whole most of them were in constant defense of their home lines. All this changed when in 1816 General Yermolov took command of the Caucasus army. In 1818 he changed the Russian tactics from defensive to offensive and began building the Sunzha-Vladikavkaz line where strongholds such as Groznaya and Vnezapnaya were founded. Yermolov further reformed the whole structure of the Cossacks and in 1819 replaced elected Atamans with appointed commanders.
In Transcaucasia Line Cossacks took part in the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) where they participated in the siege of Kars and other key battles. After Yermolov was recalled from the Caucasus, a new reform took place and the interim regiments in the central Caucasus were united with the three Hosts on the Terek to form the Caucasus Line Cossack Host (Кавказское линейное казачье войско, Kavkazskoye lineynoye kazachye voysko) in 1832, and the new Nakazny Ataman was named Peter Verzilin. Several reforms followed: In 1836 the Kizlyar and Family regiments were united and made responsible for the Terek Delta, and in 1837 a Malorossiyan regiment (formed in 1831 to combat the November Uprising in Poland) was resettled on the upper Terek north of Vladikavkaz. In 1842 the regiment was incorporated into the Line host. This was followed by the formation of the Sunzha regiment with its Ataman Sleptsov.
By this point the Russian control in the Caucasus had improved, with the initiative firmly in the Cossack hands. Most of the battles took place in Chechen and Dagestani territories far away from Cossack homes. During the 1840s several successful expeditions were mounted deep into the mountains. The Line Cossacks participated in the Crimean War (1853–1856) and finally in the closing phase of the Russian advance against Shamil in 1859.
The Terek Cossack Host 1860-1920s
The end of the Caucasus War marked the end of the Line Cossack Host. In 1860 it was divided, with the two western regiments joining the Black Sea Cossacks to form the Kuban Cossack Host and the remaining into the Terek Cossack Host. The next decade showed a gradual reform from military to civil control. In 1865 a permanent police force was formed, and in 1869 the Terek Oblast was formed, consisting of eight mountainous districts (populated by indigenous people) and seven Cossack subdivisions. Several regimental reforms followed: Kizlyar and Rower as well as Mountain and Mozdok regiments were united into two (reducing the number of sub-divisions to five), and in 1871 a charter for Terek Cossacks was published.
From the 1870s onwards the Eastern Caucasus remained largely peaceful, However the Terek Cossacks took part in several Imperial Wars, including campaigns against Khiva in 1873. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) the Terek Cossacks sent six cavalry regiments, one Guards squadron and one mounted artillery regiment to the Balkans and a further seven regiments and mounted battery were mobilised against the rebelling Chechens and Dagestanis.
In the 1880s the arrival of the railways and the discovery of oil made the Terek Oblast one of the wealthiest in the Caucasus, resulting in a large growth in Cossack and indigenous mountain populations. This created friction between land ownership. The Cossacks held extensive areas, but the indigenous mountain populations only held land in the mountainous zones. The combat ability of the Terek Cossacks never waned, taking part campaigns against Geok-Tele in 1879 and in 1885 right up to the Afghan border in Central Asia.
Terek Cossacks during the Soviet times
The arrival of the February and later the October Revolution caught most Cossacks on the front lines in Kurdistan. The unrequited mountainous peoples took full advantage of the crises, Chechens and Ingush on the Sunzha line wiping out several Cossack stanitsas. The Bolsheviks were able to establish themselves in Grozny and Vladikavkaz, though Denikin's Volunteer Army drove them out across the Black lands to Astrakhan.
Although Cossacks did form a substantial part of Denikin's units, the Terek Cossacks were mostly involved in fighting the Caucasus insurgency against their traditional adversaries. In 1920 some Terek Cossacks were deported to Ukraine and the northern part of European Russia and a new Mountain ASSR was formed. This left the former Sunzha-Terek Mesopotamia triangle split by the new Chechen land stretching through the middle. The remaining portions were formed by the Sunzha Cossack District which also encompassed lands around Grozny.
In the 1930s, to make the mountainous autonomies more sustainable in economical terms, they were united with the remaining Cossack lands: the Sunzha district was swallowed up by the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, the former capital of the Terek Oblast, Vladikavkaz became the administrative centre for North Ossetia, likewise Cossack territory of the Kabardin-Balkar Autonomous Oblast was also awarded to Cossack territories. On the lower Terek, between 1923 and 1937, the Dagestan ASSR administered the extensive territory there (Kizlyar, Terek Delta). Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies.
The Chechen collaboration in 1942 caused the whole Chechen and Ingush populations to be deported to Kazakhstan. The successors of the Terek Cossacks became once again the absolute majority in the newly established Grozny Oblast within the RSFSR. After the rehabilitation of the Chechens in 1957, it was split between the Dagestan and Checheno-Ingushetia republics. This time even the regions north of the Terek River, which had previously been part of Stavropol Krai, were handed over to the expanded ASSRs. Afterwards the systematic emigration of Russians from the Northern Caucasus into other parts of the USSR, notably the Baltic states, took place.
Post-1990 history
During the separatist regime of Dzhokhar Dudayev in Chechnya in the 1990s, many non-ethnic Chechens found themselves threatened by criminal elements and a government that showed no intention of protecting them. Many of the educated elite also lost their positions in government, industry and academia to locals connected with those in power.[4] Nadteretchny, Naursky and Shelkovskoy raions of the Republic of Chechnya practically lost the traditional Cossack population. In both First and Second Chechen Wars many Terek Cossacks fought against the Chechen separatists.
Today, part of the traditional Cossack land has been lost due to the exodus of Russians and the conflict in Chechnya. In Northern Dagestan, North Ossetia and the adjacent regions of Stavropolye a strong minority still remains.
External links
References
- ^ Wixman. The Peoples of the USSR. p. 52
- ^ Терское казачество. ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ. Хронология важнейших событий, касающихся Терского казачьего Войска. - Казачья лавка. Казачий магазин (на Волжской)
- ^ Mikhail Astapenko "Donskiye Kazach'i Atamany" (Don Cossack Atamans)
- ^ [1] Chechnya Advocacy Network. Refugees and Diaspora