28 July [O.S. 17 July] 1763[7] – 2 June [O.S. 21 May] 1864 (100 years, 10 months, 6 days) (Disorganized Circassian resistance continued in the mountains until the 1880's)
Military casualties: 43,000–90,000 in combat (Estimate)[21] Civilian casualties: 1763–1818: 315,000+
After 1818: 1,200,000+[22][23] Total: 1,615,000+ (Estimate)[22][23]
During the Circassian Genocide, approximately 1.5 to 2 million Circassian natives were slaughtered;[24] and about 1,500,000[25][26][27][28][29] indigenous highland Caucasians were mainly expelled to the Ottoman Empire, and a much smaller number of them were expelled to Persia. An unknown number of those who were expelled died during their deportation.[30]
The Russo-Circassian War,[a] also known as the Russian invasion of Circassia, was the invasion of Circassia by Russia,[31] starting in 1763 (O.S) with the Russian Empire assuming authority in Circassia, followed by the Circassian refusal,[32] and ending 100 years, 10 months and 6 days later with the last army of Circassia defeated on 21 May 1864 (O.S), making it exhausting and casualty-heavy for both sides. The Russo-Circassian War was the longest war both Russia and Circassia have ever fought and the longest war in the Caucasus region.[33][34][35]
During and after the war, the Russian Empire employed a genocidal strategy of systematically massacring civilians which resulted in the Circassian genocide[36][37][38][39] where up to 3,500,000 Circassians[40] were either killed or forcibly expelled to the Ottoman Empire (especially to modern-day Turkey; see Circassians in Turkey)[b], creating the Circassian diaspora.[31] While the war was initially an isolated conflict, Russian expansion through the entire region soon drew a number of other nations in the Caucasus into the conflict. As such, the war is often considered the western half of the Caucasus War.
During the war, the Russian Empire did not recognize Circassia as an independent polity, instead seeing Circassia as part of Russia, which was under rebel occupation, despite the fact that the polity was not and had never been under Russian control.[48] Russian generals did not refer to the Circassians by their ethnic name. Instead, they called the Circassians "mountaineers", "bandits", and "mountain scum".[48][49]
The war has been subjected to historical revisionism and it has also garnered controversy due to the fact that later Russian sources mostly ignored or belittled the conflict, and Russian state media and officials have gone as far as to claim that the conflict "never happened” and they have also claimed that Circassia "voluntarily joined Russia in the 16th century".[33][50] Several Russian imperial historians have recorded the expulsion and extermination campaign against Circassians by Russian military during the 1860s. Adolf Berzhe portrayed the expulsion of Circassians as essential for "Russian security" while Rostislav Fadeyev described the campaign as “one of the most vital tasks in Russian history.” In 1861, Russian Tsar Alexander II publicly declared the imperial policy as the expulsion of all Circassians; followed by the state implementation of settler-colonial Russification and Christianization programs across Caucasus.[51]
^Çirg, Ashad (1993). "Adıgelerin XIX. yüzyıldaki politik tarihinin incelenmesi gerekir" [Adyghe XIX. century political history needs to be studied]. Kafkasya Gerçeği dergisi (in Turkish). 11: 61–62.
^Василий Потто — Кавказская война. Том 1. От древнейших времен до Ермолова.
^ abVelitsyn, Eugene (1880). Петров Г. Верховья Кубани-Карачая. Екатеринодар [G. Petrov. The upper reaches of the Kuban-Karachay. Ekaterinodar.] (in Russian). Russian empire: printing house of nubannago regional administration (published May 1880). pp. 559–562.
^Berge, Adolf (1858). Берже А. П. Краткий обзор горских племен на Кавказе [Berge A. P. Brief overview of mountain tribes in the Caucasus. - Tiflis, 1858.] (in Russian). Russia: Office of the Cveal Kavk. pp. 35–36.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^Berge, Adolf (1858). Берже А. П. Краткий обзор горских племен на Кавказе [Berge A. P. Brief overview of mountain tribes in the Caucasus. - Tiflis, 1858.] (in Russian). Russia: Office of the Cveal Kavk. pp. 35–36.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^Çirg, Ashad (1993). "Adıgelerin XIX. yüzyıldaki politik tarihinin incelenmesi gerekir" [Adyghe XIX. century political history needs to be studied]. Kafkasya Gerçeği dergisi (in Turkish). 11: 61–62.
^Polvinkina (2007). Çerkesya Gönül Yaram [Circassia Heart Wound] (in Turkish). Ankara. pp. 281–285.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Askerov, Ali (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Chechen Conflict. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 3.
^Messenger, Evan (6 December 2023). "The Circassian Genocide: The Forgotten Tragedy of the First Modern Genocide". American University: Journal of International Service. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. The corroboration between both Turkish and Russian documents puts the number of Circassian deaths by military operations and pre-planned massacres between 1.5 – 2 million; ...
^Richmond, Walter (2013). The Circassian Genocide. Rutgers University Press. p. 132. ISBN978-0-8135-6068-7. ... between 95 percent and 97 percent of all Circassians were killed outright, died during Evdokimov's campaign, or were deported
^Jones, Adam (2017). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction (3rd ed.). 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA: Routledge. p. 110. ISBN978-1-138-78043-9. LCCN2016025350. Ninety-five to 97 percent of the entire Circassian population had been killed or deported in what contemporary Russian field reports referred to as an ochishchenie' ("cleansing"){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Cite error: The named reference Shenfield 1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference ReferenceA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Richmond, Walter (2013). "4: 1864". The Circassian Genocide. New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA: Rutgers University Press. p. 96. ISBN978-0-8135-6068-7.
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