The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia and the Ethnic cleansing of Circassians. It consisted of a series of military actions waged by Russia against territories and tribal groups in Caucasia including Chechnya, Dagestan, Karachay and the Circassians (Adyghe, Kabarday), Abkhaz, Abazins and Ubykh as Russia sought to expand southward.
The Russian-Circassian War, a conflict between Russia and Circassia, was part of the Caucasian War.
Other territories of the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) were incorporated into the Russian empire at various times in the 19th century as a result of Russian wars with the Ottoman Empire and Persia.
Famous quotes containing the word war:
“I have agreed to go into the service for the war ... [feeling] that this was a just and necessary war and that it demanded the whole power of the country; that I would prefer to go into it if I knew I was to die or be killed in the course of it, than to live through and after it without taking any part in it.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)