Ideology and Historical Concepts: the Evolution of Ideas about the Caucasian War in the XX – XXI Centuries

Abstract

In the article, the authors attempted to consider changes in the general concept of the Caucasian war during the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, depending on the political and ideological attitudes inherent in various historical stages. The key moments of this complex and ambiguous phenomenon are analyzed, which still cause heated discussions in science and society (name, dating, reasons, Caucasian muridism, problems of Muhajirism).It is indicated that historiography of the beginning of the twentieth century, as in the earlier period, did not dispute the legality of the establishment of Russian orders in the region. It is shown that in the Soviet period, the assessment of the movement of highlanders in the East and West Caucasus depended not only on a change in the historical paradigm, but also on a change in the general direction of state policy in the field of ideology (“national liberation struggle against tsarism”, “Shamil is a protege of Sultan Turkey and British colonialists","the struggle against the colonial policy of tsarism and against their own feudal lords"). Attention is drawn to the fact that the collapse of the USSR, the destruction of the Marxist concept of history, the development of national and separatist movements, the beginning of the Islamic revival in the North Caucasus contributed to the beginning of the active process of revising the assessments and events of the Caucasian War, which was the most striking event in the history of many peoples.The article concludes that, despite the abundance of work, scientists have not only yet to illuminate the little-studied aspects of the Caucasian war, but also to give an objective interpretation to many of its stages, based on scientific approaches, and not following political orders for the sake of one or another ideology.