Kabardian Invasion of Chechnya (1720)
| Kabardian Invasion of Chechnya | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Circassian-Vainakh Wars | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Great Kabarda Don Cossacks | Chechen clans | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Aslanbech Qeytuqo Tatarkhan Bekov Baituk Bek | Local Chechen elders | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Several hundred Kabardian cavalry and Cossack auxiliaries | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Very Heavy, many women and children captured | ||||||||
The Circassian campaign against the Chechens was a military expedition carried out in the summer of 1720 by Kabardian forces and Don Cossacks against several Chechen clans along the Sunzha and Terek regions. The campaign, led by princes Aslanbek Kaytukin, Tatarkhan Bekov, and Baituk Bek, resulted in a Kabardian–Cossack victory and widespread raids on Chechen settlements.[1][2][3][4]
Background
The Kabardino-Russian friendship goes way back to the 16th century, when the Kabardian prince Temryuk Idarovich established an alliance with the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Temryuk explored the possible allies, and settled his choice on the Tsarist Russia. In 1557, temryuk settled on to Moscow to seek alliance with the Russians. The delegation included his sons Sultan Qul and Bulat Gery, who were welcomed by Ivan the Terrible. Ivan agreed to join the alliance with Kabardia.[5]
In 1560, Anastasia Romanovna, Ivan's first wife, died. It was proposed that Ivan would marry Catherine Jagiellon in order to strengthen diplomatic relations with Poland. However Ivan instead decided to marry Temryuk's daughter, Gushaney. high-level delegation was sent to betroth Gwashanay. She was accompanied by her brother, Sultan Qul, on her way to Moscow. Gwashanay was later baptized and became known as Maria Temryukovna. Her brother married the daughter of a member of the tsar's entourage who handled the state treasury. He was later baptized and became known as Mikhael.
This campaign of Aslanbek Kaitukin wasn't the first conflict between Kabardians and Nakh peoples, in 1596, the Kabardian princes Solokh Tapsorukov of Talostania and Aitek-Murza invaded the Daryal Gorge and expelled the Vainakhs from the region, taking control over the lands of Sultan-Murza, a Vainkah noble in the Central Caucasus who controlled the Darial Gorge.[2][6][7][8][9]
History
Campaign
In 1720, when several Kabardian princes appealed to Peter I of Russia for support against their regional opponents. In their letter the Kabardian nobles reported that, together with detachments of the Don Cossacks, they had carried out a punitive campaign against nearby Chechen settlements. According to the document, Kabardian and Cossack forces attacked several Chechen communities, inflicted notable casualties, seized property, and took a number of women and children captive.[10][4]
Shortly after this campaign, Kabarda itself came under pressure from the Crimean Khanate. The Kabardian princes reported that forces of the Crimean khan, supported by Kuban Tatars and several Circassian groups that had broken away from Kabarda, conducted an incursion that devastated local supplies. This situation prompted the Kabardian leadership to request military assistance from Russia and to propose the construction of a Russian fortress in their territory.[10][2][3][4]
The campaign inflicted heavy losses on the targeted clans and demonstrated Kabardia’s loyalty to Russia, but the forces soon withdrew to their homeland without establishing permanent control over the area because of low supplies[2][3][4] In August 1720, Aslanbek Kaytukin and other Kabardian princes wrote to Peter I about their raids against the Chechens and asked him to build a town in their land:
“We hereby report to Your Royal Majesty that some peoples, called Chechens, who are your enemies, sovereign, and we, uniting with the Don Cossacks, attacked them, destroyed them and killed many. Their wives and children were taken captive, and their belongings and baggage were seized by the Don Cossacks. We hold so many of the captured captives in our custody to this day, and we pray to the Lord God that Your Royal Majesty may always achieve such victories over your enemies. From that captive supply, as a guarantee, we have sent to you, Your Royal Majesty, one boy and one girl, and every year we serve Your Royal Majesty without sparing our lives.”[1]
Aftermath
After this campaign, Shamkhal Tarkov, the Aksay and Endirey rulers, who themselves claimed the Chechens as their subjects, reacted harshly. They appealed to the Crimean Khan. Upon learning of this, the Kabardian princes appealed to Russia for help in repelling the Crimean Khan's attack and for the construction of a fortress in the Beshtamak area, near the Terek, to protect Kabarda[11]
References
- ^ a b "1720 г. августа в последних числах. Письмо кабардинских князей Арсланбека Кайтукина и других Петру I о походе их с донскими казаками на чеченцев, и о нападении на них крымского хана и разорении их, с просьбой прислать на помощь донских и терских казаков и калмыков, а также построить в их крае город" [August 1720, the last days of the month. Letter from the Kabardin princes Arslanbek Kaitukin and others to Peter I about their campaign with the Don Cossacks against the Chechens, and about the Crimean Khan's attack and destruction of their land, requesting the Don and Tersk Cossacks and Kalmyks to come to their assistance and to build a city in their land.]. Studfile (in Russian). Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ a b c d Мизиев, И. М. (2008-06-28). "Исторические и политические страницы балкарского народа [Historical and Political Pages of the Balkar People]". Balkaria.info (in Russian). Wayback Machine (Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 28 June 2008.
- ^ a b c "About the Kabardians - Cherkassians and about the campaign of the Kabardians together with the Don Cossacks against the Chechens". LiveJournal. Archived from the original on 7 November 2025. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d ""1720, August, at the end of the month * . Letter from the Kabardian princes Arslan-bek Kaitukin and others to Peter I about their campaign with the Don Cossacks against the Chechens, about the attack on them by the Crimean Khan and their devastation, with a request to send help from the Don and Terek Cossacks and Kalmyks, and also to build a city in their region"". www.vostlit.info. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ^ "Domestic and foreign policy of Ivan the Terrible.". Bibliotekar. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
- ^ Belokurov, S. A. (1888). Сношения России с Кавказом [Relations of Russia with the Caucasus] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Типография Императорской Академии наук. pp. 304–305.
- ^ Gutnov, F. Kh. (2015). "Северный Кавказ в статейных списках конца XVI — середины XVII в. [The North Caucasus in the article lists of the late XVI - mid XVII century]". Izvestiya Yuzhnogo Otdeleniya Instituta Nauk O Rannei Rossii RAN (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2017-11-12.
- ^ Gutnov, F. Kh. (2015). "Северный Кавказ в статейных списках конца XVI - середины XVII в [The North Caucasus in the Posol'skiye Spiski of the Late 16th – Mid-17th Centuries]". Izvestiya Yuzhnogo Otdeleniya Instituta Nauk O Rannei Rossii RAN (in Russian). 16 (55). Retrieved 2025-05-02.
- ^ Brosset, M. (1861). Переписка, на иностранных языках, грузинских царей с российскими государями от 1639 г. по 1770 г. [Correspondence in Foreign Languages of Georgian Kings with Russian Sovereigns from 1639 to 1770] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences Press.
- ^ a b Кабардино-русские отношения. Документы XVIII века (in Russian). Наука. 1976. pp. 24–29.
- ^ "Феодальные междоусобицы в Кабарде в начале XVIII века". blago-kavkaz.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-11-30.