“Each Tribe Can Be Conquered Separately…”. The Inclusion of the Karabulacs in the Russian Empire

Abstract

This article is study one of the important stages in the history of the North Caucasus - the including of the peoples of this region in the Russian Empire during ХIХ c. This historical period has been well studied by historians, however, there is a gap in this history – there aren’t publications devoted to the stages of the including one of the peoples of the North-Eastern Caucasus in the Russian Empire during the Caucasian War - Karabulaсs. Karabulaсs lived between Chechens and Ingush. Their culture, traditions and language are related with neighboring peoples. And so historians sometimes consider Karabulaks as a part of Chechens, sometimes as a part of Ingush. In this article we consider mechanism of the including Karabulacs in Russia. The work was done on the basis of archival materials from three archives - the Russian Military Historical Archive (Moscow), the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg) and the Central State Archive of North Ossetia-Alania (Vladikavkaz). The author defines four stages in the process of the inclusion of the Karabulaсs in the Russian Empire: the first - the beginning of the ХIХ century-1829. During this period a small part of Karabulaks included into Russia (so-called «Yandyr Karabulacs». The second period - 1830-1839. This stage included two directions: 1. Russian troops repel the raids of Karabulacs, firstly, against the Cossacks, and, secondly, against the Yandyr Karabulacs; 2. military actions of Russian troops against Karabulacs. As a result of this actions the most of Karabulacs included into the Russian Empire. The third period - 1840-1851. The Karabulacs which included into the Russian Empire during the 1830s, had the influence by Imam Shamil in 1840-1841. They decided to support Imam Shamil. They again, as a rule, together with the rebellious Chechens, began to fight against the Russian empire. The fourth - 1852-1859. The author considers the final date of the of the inclusion of the Karabulacs to Russia to be 1851. 01.21.1850-15.02.1852 - Deputation of Karabulacs went to St. Petersburg for the meeting with the Russian government. On the fourth stage, we can talk only on the some cases resistance of Karabulaсs to the Russian authorities.