The Caucasus is far away and, moreover, dangerous. Reading the impressive work dedicated to it by the renowned Swiss journalist Eric Hoesli, one is surprised to discover that this region has been the object of foreign powers’ desires since the very beginning of the 18th century, from those nearby as well as those further away. This leads us to the core theme of this “Caucasus epic,” which, although ancient, provides, according to the author, rich lessons for contemporary geopolitical reality: a territorial area on the edges of Russia which allows for circumvention, manipulation of the natives in a “Great Game” devised by Great Britain, maneuvers by the Ottoman Empire seeking to weaken Moscow, the rise of a unifying Islam among rebelling peoples, and, more recently, international competition for oil deposits—in short, several key elements to understanding, over time and up to the present day, this complex part of the world.
“War entered the Russian imperial budget as early as 1777,” explains the author. The official cause: “the defense of Christians captured by mountain peoples.” These territories were actually pockets of rebellion within the Tsarist space. This was all the more intolerable as the revolt had formed under the “banner of militant Islam aiming to unify very different communities.” As early as 1824, the Russians indeed noted the presence among Chechen troops of preachers from neighboring Dagestan. And they were already calling for “ghazawat,” the holy war against Russia. Successive military waves from the Empire would nonetheless break against Caucasian resistance. Thousands of soldiers lost their lives, and many generals their stars. Eric Hoesli recounts the episode in the life of Jamal-Eddin, son of the supreme leader of the rebels, the famous Shamil who, surrounded on all sides, surrendered to the Russian command on August 25, 1859. Retrieved in his elder age after a maneuver by Russian troops, raised in the best cadet schools of Saint Petersburg, Jamal-Eddin became an officer and frequented the imperial court assiduously. He acquired a taste for it. He was returned to his father Shamil in exchange for Russian aristocrats taken prisoner by the mountain dwellers. But the acculturation work had taken its toll: unable to reconnect with his cultural roots, isolated among his own people, he sank into a deep depression and died at the age of twenty-seven.
The era of Shamil ended a year after that of his son, but his legend and the inspiration it sparked were only beginning. They fueled a determined opposition to the Soviet regime that, during World War II, took various forms of collaboration with the Nazis, perceived as liberators from the communist yoke. Access to Caucasian oil quickly became a major stake for the Wehrmacht troops. Their defeat in front of Stalingrad marked the end of their dream and heralded a nightmare for the populations left to Stalin’s vengeance. Massacres of Chechens, Dagestanis, Balkars, and Ingush, forced exile to Kazakhstan for the survivors under the leadership of NKVD troops led by Beria who signed a telegram to the leader of the Kremlin: “the deportation has begun, Comrade, all is going well.”
The history of the Caucasus does not even allow for a respite. After the conquest of the lands comes that of the oil riches. The author’s erudition plunges us back into the early moments of this competition between powers over black gold. Rivalries between Baku and other states along the Caspian coast, a struggle between large private companies tasked with exploitation against a backdrop of strategic aims that decide the routing of pipelines.
By focusing on these three major periods, aided by both lively writing and thorough documentation, Eric Hoesli offers a dynamic and faithful vision of the history of the Caucasus and its peoples. Asked, members of the Chechen community in Nice, all proponents of the sport of wrestling, a true national discipline in their country, recognize this cultural lineage to Imam Shamil. And even though the majority do not identify with the figure of their new president, appointed under the pressure of Moscow, there is no doubt that many young Chechens do not intend to give up, unlike their ancestors, the pleasures of life, including those offered by the Russian capital. In the story of Shamil’s son, Jamal-Eddin, modernity might in this respect, prove to be Russia’s best ally in the long term.
Eric Hoesli, “The Conquest of the Caucasus, Geopolitical Epic and Wars of Influence,” Editions des Syrtes, 2006, 683 pages, 31.50 Euros.
