Draft:History of the Crimean–Circassian Wars

The Crimean-Circassian Wars were a series of military conflicts that took place from 1414 until 1721 between the Crimean people and the Circassian people. These wars were part of a wider conflict between the Crimean Khan and Circassian.

Conquests of Inal the Great
Conquest of Kuban and Eastern Circassia

the Tatars were forced out to the north. The activity of the Circassians in the Central Ciscaucasia is most likely associated with the campaign of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas against the “Cherkassy of Pyatigorsk”, which took place in 1412. Vytautas was an ally of the descendants of Khan Tokhtamysh, who could turn to him for help against the expansion of Inal in a strategically important area for the Tatars area.

Here was not only the traditional Horde headquarters, but the most important routes to Transcaucasia through the Caucasus Range, which were of economic and strategic importance. In connection with the Adyghe-Tatar relations in the Central Ciscaucasia, the message of I. Barbaro, who observed the movement of the Tatar horde in the winter of 1438, is appropriate. The Tatar khans Nauruz and Kezimakhmet decided to go from Sarai to fight against Khan Ulumakhmet, who was in Russian lands. From the message of I. Barbaro, we see that the Tatar horde first descended into the Tyumen (Priterechny) steppes, then circled Circassia along the perimeter of its border. Namely, the Central Ciscaucasia and part of the northeastern Caucasus, in the lower reaches of the river. Terek. The conclusion suggests itself that by this time Inal was able to finally secure these lands for Circassia, and the Tatars did not want to invade or even touch the possessions of the Circassians.

Crimean–Circassian War (1479)
In 1479, a campaign of the Crimean Tatars took place on the lands of the Circassians. They outnumbered the Kabardians and captured the fortresses of Kopa and Anapa, where many Turkish garrisons were left. Some Circassians were captured and sold into slavery meanwhile others kept on fighting.

At the very beginning of the 1490s, the Crimean Khan Mengli Gerai undertook a campaign against the Circassians. This was the first campaign of the Crimean khans in a series of numerous campaigns against the tribes of the Circassians, Circassians and Kabardians in order to conquer and subdue them.

Azov War (1501–1502)
In the spring of 1501, the Crimean Tatars organized a campaign against the western Circassians. The campaign ended with the defeat of the Tatars. As revenge, in the autumn of 1501, the Circassians raided the vicinity of the Azov Fortress. They stole the cattle and killed the chase. In response, in 1502, the Ottoman Turks organized a punitive campaign against the lands of the Circassians. But the campaign did not take place due to the death of the Kafsky governor.

Bakhchisarai War (1525)
In the late 1520s the Kabardians mounted a campaign against the Crimean Tatars. The Kabardians used their fleet of ships to transport the cavalry and the two-wheeled war chariots across the sea to the Crimean Peninsula. The Kabardians attacked Bakhchisarai, the capital of the Crimean Khanate at the time, located in the southwest of the Peninsula, and were victorious, bringing back great spoil, including 100 chariots packed full with cloth, a precious commodity at the time. Andeimirqan (b. circa 1509), legendary Kabardian hero (the equivalent of Robin Hood in the Circassian ethos), was in the elite force of the Kabardians during the Bakhchisaray Campaign.

Crimean–Circassian War (1539–1547)
In 1539, 1545, 1546 and 1547, the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray attacked Circassia. The Khan met with the leader of the Circassian tribe Zhaney, Kansavuk, who accepted to pay tribute. When leaving, on his way back collected, the khan collected slaves from villages.

In 1542, after Kansavuk, could not supply enough slaves, the khan decided to attack again. Kansavuk's message with promises was rejected, and the Crimeans entered Circassia. In a night battle, attacked by the Circassians, the Tatars win and left with slaves.

Temryuk War
In 1551, on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan, the Crimean Khan Sahib Giray undertook a campaign against the Circassians. The Crimean Tatars defeated the Hatuqway army and devastated the Bzhedug lands.

In 1553, A large Crimean Tatar horde led by Khan Devlet Giray entered the Kabardian lands. Huge destruction was made. However, the Crimeans could not gain a foothold in Kabarda, the Kabardians expelled them. In 1554, Devlet Giray led a new campaign against Kabarda.

In 1555, the Crimean horde "with all its might" attacked Circassians again. In repulsing the enemy, the Kabardians managed to inflict great damage on Khan Devlet Gerai, who retreated.

In 1556, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray at the head of the Tatar horde moved again to Kabarda. Kabardians, warned in advance, met the enemy on the outskirts of their borders. Khan Devlet Giray was forced to retreat.

In 1556 Temroqwa led counterattack campaign against the Tatars. He managed to expel the Tatars from the Circassian lands and to chase the fleeing troops until Taman Peninsula. There, Temroqwa established the city which is now known as Temryuk. In 1569, in an attempt to push back the Russian forces, Tatar-Ottoman joint troops attacked the city of Astrakhan in the Khanate of Kazan. The joint troops were annihilated by a sudden attack from Temroqwa. Temroqwa kept his advance until north of the Don and established the city of known today as Novocherkassk (New Circassia) near Rostov.

Crimean-Circassian War (1569)
In the summer of 1569 the Crimean Khanate sent an army to lay siege to Astrakhan. However, Astrakhan drove back the besiegers. On their way home, the army decided to attack Circassia to make up for their defeat. The Crimeans were completely defeated and destroyed by the Circassians.

Kuban War (1571)
Kabardian prince Temroqwa believed that the only way for Kabardian independence was to ally with Russia. Ivan the Terrible supported Temroqwa's goal to extend his power inside Circassia and to unify the lands of Circassians under his reign. Temroqwa established a fort in Mozdok that enabled the Circassian and Russian forces to perform joint training. Ossetian and Ingushetian lands, as well as the Turkic people, became subjects of the Kabardian raising power. Temroqwa's expansion extended towards the Georgian kingdoms in the south.

In 1570, the Tatars swept and burned Moscow. During their retreat, as revenge for having relations with Russia, Tatar forces marched towards northwestern Circassia in 1571.

Temroqwa, against the advice of his counsellors, launched a counterattack. A battle took place on the banks of the Kuban where Temroqwa was killed and two of his sons, Mashoqwa and Bulat-Djery, were captured.

Crimean-Circassian War (1616-1640)
In 1616, The 12,000-strong Crimean army led by Khan Janibek Gerai invaded Kabarda. Ruin, destruction of crops, death of many people. A centurion of prisoners was captured, thousands of heads of cattle were stolen. Between 1619 and 1635, the Crimean Tatars and their allied Nogais attacked the Circassian lands. The campaigns were accompanied by robberies, violence, theft of a huge amount of livestock.

In 1640, 14,000 strong Crimean army entered Circassia. The Crimeans were defeated by the Circassians and retreated to Azov.

Kanzhal War
In 1708, the Circassians paid a great tribute to the Ottoman sultan Ahmed III to be exempt from Tatar raids and extra tribute, but the sultan did not take measures and the Tatars raided and plundered all the way to the east of Circassia, and asked for double tribute. The Kabardian Circassians announced that they would not pay double tribute to the Crimean Khan and the Ottoman Sultan. The Ottomans sent their army of at least 20,000 men to Kabardia under the leadership of the Crimean khan Qaplan I Giray to defeat the Circassians and collect tribute. The Ottomans expected an easy victory against the Circassians, but the Circassians were victorious with the strategy set up by the Jabagh Qazaneqo and returned to paying normal tribute.

Although foreign sources report different figures on the number of the Crimean-Ottoman army, criticals consider the figure of at least 25–30 thousand people to be reliable. This figure is in particular a reference to the letter of Prince Tatarhan Bekmurzovich, who should know the number of his enemy.

Circassians pretended to escape from the Tatar armies, and led them into the center of Circassia. They then sent letters to Khan's camp expressing their obedience, willingness to pay tribute and asked for peace. Later, for 19 days, 30 Circassian spies stalled the enemy troops by negotiating the amount and quality of the tribute to be paid, and then unexpectedly attacked the camp from all sides, and applied the strategy of Qazaneqo Jabagh: Donkeys with scary masks were put on fire, making them look like otherworldly monsters, greatly reducing morale of the Crimean army. Circassians then charged, and the Crimean-Ottoman army was completely destroyed overnight. Exhausted from the war, the Circassians wandered the battlefield for several days looking for survivors, both of them and their enemies. According to Shora Nogmov, they found Alegot Pasha, who, unconsciously and desperately fled from the battlefield and fell off a cliff, clung to a tree with his feet and died on the spot. Some recent research has claimed that the noble Nogay Murza Allaguvat was hiding under the name Alegoth.

Crimean–Circassian War (1720-1721)
The Crimean Khan Saadet II Giray supported Islam Misost, the leader of the pro-Turkish part of the Kabardian nobility, and wanted to establish a pro-Crimean government under his rule. In 1720, he sent his envoys to Kabardia demanding full annexation of Kabardia into the Ottoman Empire. The Kabardian prince Tatarkhan rejected the Crimean ultimatum. In the spring of 1720, Saadet II Giray, at the head of a 40,000-strong Tatar horde, encamped his army at the border of Kabardia and demanded compensation for the Tatar losses and humiliation during the Battle of Kanzhal (1708). The Council of Kabardian nobles sent a delegation declaring that they refuse to be annexed, but wish for peace. The Khan arrested the ambassadors and moved his troops through the Kuban.

The Crimean army started plundering inner parts of Kabardia: the property of nobles and peasants was plundered and their houses were destroyed. In August 1720, the Crimean Khan Saadet-Girey with 40,000 troops crossed the Kuban River and led his forces against Kabardian princes.

The Crimean troops, despite a long siege, were unable to capture the Cherek town. The Kabardians launched a partisan struggle on their territory. In December 1720, the khan with his army retreated from the town of Cherek and returned to the Kuban. Having set up his camp here, Saadet Giray began to send detachments throughout the territory of Kabarda to ruin and plunder the country. The behavior of the khan's troops caused acute discontent among the population of Kabarda, border incidents became more frequent. In January 1721, in Nalchik, a battle took place. During the battle, most pro-Turkish Kabardians, after realising that their "fellow Muslim" Crimeans were raiding their country, changed sides and joined Aslanbech's army. As a result, the Crimean Tatars were defeated and pushed back from Kabardia.

Battle of Beshtamak
In 1774, during the ongoing Russo-Circassian War, a Crimean army of many thousands invaded Kabarda and laid siege to Mozdok. In the Beshtamak area and on the Gundelen River Kabardian cavalry defeated the Crimeans who suffered a devastating loss as many men got cornered and massacred meanwhile the Kabardians suffered around 2,000 casualties in the battle. The remnants of the Crimeans retreated from Kabarda and Devlet IV Giray was humiliated once returning back to Crimea.