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Homework: XXIInd Winter Olympiad – Sochi, RU
DUE: FRI. 7 FEB 2014 … PM
Global History I & II
The XXIInd Winter Olympiad – Sochi, RU … History behind the event:
… THE TEXT …
Olympic games – History … when they began …
According to historical records, the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were
dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia. They continued for nearly
12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such "pagan cults" be banned.
Olympia
Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic Games, is in the western part of the Peloponnese which, according
to Greek mythology, is the island of "Pelops", the founder of the Olympic Games. Imposing temples, votive
buildings, elaborate shrines and ancient sporting facilities were combined in a site of unique natural and
mystical beauty. Olympia functioned as a meeting place for worship and other religious and political
practices as early as the 10th century B.C. The central part of Olympia was dominated by the majestic temple
of Zeus, with the temple of Hera parallel to it.
The Games and religion
The Olympic Games were closely linked to the religious festivals of the cult of Zeus, but were not an integral
part of a rite. Indeed, they had a secular character and aimed to show the physical qualities and evolution of
the performances accomplished by young people, as well as encouraging good relations between the cities of
Greece. According to specialists, the Olympic Games owed their purity and importance to religion.
Victory Ceremonies
The Olympic victor received his first awards immediately after the competition. Following the
announcement of the winner's name by the herald, a Hellanodikis (Greek judge) would place a palm branch
in his hands, while the spectators cheered and threw flowers to him. Red ribbons were tied on his head and
hands as a mark of victory.
The official award ceremony would take place on the last day of the Games, at the elevated vestibule of the
temple of Zeus. In a loud voice, the herald would announce the name of the Olympic winner, his father's
name, and his homeland. Then, the Hellanodikis placed the sacred olive tree wreath, or kotinos, on the
winner's head.
Although we do not know just when the Games were first played, the earliest recorded Olympic competition occurred
in 776 B.C. It had only one event, the one-stade (approximately 630-foot or 192-meter) race, which was won by a cook
named Coroebus. This was the start of the first Olympiad, the four-year period by which the Greeks recorded their
history.
Athletic competition became so important to the Greeks that the Olympic festivals were a peaceful influence on the
warlike city-states. Sparta was famous for the strict military training of its citizens. But it would wait until the Games
were over before sending fighters into battle. Other cities followed this example.
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For the first 13 Olympic Games, the only event was the one-stade run. But over the years, new sports were added to
the Games. The hoplitodrome, for instance, was a footrace the athletes ran wearing full armor. The pentathlon, in
which the athletes competed in five events (jumping, javelin, sprint, discus, and wrestling) was added to the Games in
708 B.C. The pancration was introduced in 648 B.C. This brutal sport had no rules and combined boxing and wrestling.
A winner was named only when one man raised his hand in defeat or lay unconscious on the ground.
In addition to the pre-existing religious shrines and altars, a vast complex of buildings and structures was constructed
at Olympia to accommodate the growing number of sports and athletes. Chariot races, first run in 680 B.C. , were held
in the hippodrome. Boxers and wrestlers trained in the Palaestra, which was adjacent to the gymnasium. The
Leonidaion housed the athletes.
Generally, only freeborn men and boys could take part in the Olympic Games (servants and slaves were allowed to
participate only in the horse races). Women were forbidden, on penalty of death, even to see the Games. In 396 B.C. ,
however, a woman from Rhodes successfully defied the death penalty. When her husband died, she continued the
training of their son, a boxer. She attended the Games disguised as a man and was not recognized until she shouted
with joy over her son's victory. Her life was spared because of the special circumstances and the fact that her father
and brothers had been Olympians.
At first, the Games were strictly for Greek citizens. Eventually, however, athletes from all over the Roman Empire
(which covered the entire Mediterranean region) were permitted to participate.
All athletes were required to take an oath that they would observe all the rules and standards. In spite of the luxurious
facilities offered to athletes, all had to remain amateurs. That is, they had to pay their own expenses, and they could
receive no monetary awards.
Winners of the Games were crowned with wreaths of olive leaves and hailed as heroes. They were showered with
material gifts, and sometimes a special entrance was cut in the wall surrounding their home city just for them to pass
through — a symbol that the people of the city felt well protected with an Olympic champion living among them.
The Decline of the Games
After Rome conquered Greece in the 100's B.C. , Olympic standards began to decline. Competition for the common
good was ignored by the glory hunters, who were willing to use any trick or deceit to win. For instance, in A.D. 67
the emperor Nero brought his own cheering section and competed in events himself. Even though he fell from his
chariot during the race, he was named the champion. In A.D. 394 the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian
who considered the Games a pagan festival, ordered them stopped.
Olympia then began to crumble. The great statue of Zeus was taken away to Constantinople, where it was
destroyed in a fire. In 426, Roman emperor Theodosius II ordered all the temples destroyed. Earthquakes later
helped finish what human hands had started, as well as flooding caused by a change in the course of the river that
flowed through Olympia. The once-great city was eventually buried.
In 1829, German archaeologists began uncovering Olympia. Today, the site of the ancient Olympic Games is only a
shadow of its former glory. Many of the building foundations remain, but few walls and pillars still stand, and the
stadium where footraces were held long ago is now just a broad stretch of barren ground.
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The MODERN DAY OLYMPICS … as we know them …
During the 18th century, several small-scale sports festivals across Europe were named after the Ancient
Olympic Games. The 1870 Olympics at the Panathenaic stadium, which had been refurbished for the
occasion, had an audience of 30,000 people. Coubertin adopted Dr William Penny Brooke's idea to establish
a multi-national and multi-sport event—the ancient games were in a sense international, because various
Greek city-states and colonies were represented, but only free male athletes of Greek origin were allowed to
participate. In 1890, Coubertin wrote an article in La Revue Athletique, which espoused the importance of
Much Wenlock—a rural market town in the English county of Shropshire. It was here that, in October 1850,
the local physician William Penny Brookes had founded the Wenlock Olympian Games, a festival of sports
and recreations that included athletics and team sports, such as cricket, football and quoits. Coubertin also
took inspiration from the earlier Greek games organized under the name of Olympics by businessman and
philanthropist Evangelis Zappas in 1859, 1870 and 1875. The 1896 Athens Games was funded by the
legacies of Evangelis Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas and by George Averoff who had been
specifically requested by the Greek government, through crown prince Constantine, to sponsor the second
refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium. This the Greek government did despite the fact that the cost of
refurbishing the stadium in marble had already been funded in full by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier.
“
With deep feeling towards
Baron de Coubertin's
courteous petition, I send
him and the members of the
Congress, with my sincere
thanks, my best wishes for
the revival of the Olympic
Games.
”
—King George of Greece (21 June 1894)]
On 18 June 1894, Coubertin organized a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to
representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposal's acceptance by the congress, a
date for the first modern Olympic Games needed to be chosen. Coubertin suggested that the Games be held
concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a six-year waiting period might
lessen public interest, congress members opted instead to hold the inaugural Games in 1896. With a date
established, members of the congress turned their attention to the selection of a host city. It remains a
mystery how Athens was finally chosen to host the inaugural Games. In the following years both Coubertin
and Demetrius Vikelas would offer recollections of the selection process that contradicted the official
minutes of the congress. Most accounts hold that several congressmen first proposed London as the location,
but Coubertin dissented. After a brief discussion with Vikelas, who represented Greece, Coubertin suggested
Athens. Vikelas made the Athens proposal official on 23 June, and since Greece had been the original home
of the Olympics, the congress unanimously approved the decision. Vikelas was then elected the first
president of the newly established International Olympic Committee (IOC)
News that the Olympic Games would return to Greece was well received by the Greek public, media, and
royal family. According to Coubertin, "the Crown Prince Constantine learned with great pleasure that the
Games will be inaugurated in Athens." Coubertin went on to confirm that, "the King and the Crown Prince
will confer their patronage on the holding of these games." Constantine later conferred more than that; he
eagerly assumed the presidency of the 1896 organising committee.
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However, the country had financial troubles and was in political turmoil. The job of prime minister
alternated between Charilaos Trikoupis and Theodoros Deligiannis frequently during the last years of the
19th century. Because of this financial and political instability, both prime minister Trikoupis and Stephanos
Dragoumis, the president of the Zappas Olympic Committee, which had attempted to organise a series of
national Olympiads, believed that Greece could not host the event. In late 1894, the organising committee
under Stephanos Skouloudis presented a report that the cost of the Games would be three times higher than
originally estimated by Coubertin. They concluded the Games could not be held, and offered their
resignation. The total cost of the Games was 3,740,000 gold drachmas.
With the prospect of reviving the Olympic games very much in doubt, Coubertin and Vikelas commenced a
campaign to keep the Olympic movement alive. Their efforts culminated on 7 January 1895 when Vikelas
announced that crown prince Constantine would assume the presidency of the organizing committee. His
first responsibility was to raise the funds necessary to host the Games. He relied on the patriotism of the
Greek people to motivate them to provide the required finances. Constantine's enthusiasm sparked a wave of
contributions from the Greek public. This grassroots effort raised 330,000 drachmas. A special set of postage
stamps were commissioned; the sale of which raised 400,000 drachmas. Ticket sales added an additional
200,000 drachmas. At the request of Constantine, businessman George Averoff agreed to pay for the
restoration of the Panathinaiko Stadium. Averoff would donate 920,000 drachmas to this project. As a tribute
to his generosity, a statue of Averoff was constructed and unveiled on 5 April 1896 outside the stadium. It
stands there to this day.
Some of the athletes would take part in the Games because they happened to be in Athens at the time the
Games were held, either on holiday or for work (e.g., some of the British competitors worked for the British
embassy). A designated Olympic Village for the athletes did not appear until the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Consequently the athletes had to provide their own lodging.
The first regulation voted on by the new IOC in 1894 was to allow only amateur athletes to participate in the
Olympic Games. The various contests were thus held under amateur regulations with the exception of
fencing matches. The rules and regulations were not uniform, so the Organising Committee had to choose
among the codes of the various national athletic associations. The jury, the referees and the game director
bore the same names as in antiquity (Ephor, Helanodic and Alitarc). Prince George acted as final referee;
according to Coubertin, "his presence gave weight and authority to the decisions.
On 6 April (25 March according to the Julian calendar then in use in Greece), the games of the First
Olympiad were officially opened; it was Easter Monday for both the Western and Eastern Christian
Churches and the anniversary of Greece's independence. The Panathinaiko Stadium was filled with an
estimated 80,000 spectators, including King George I of Greece, his wife Olga, and their sons. Most of the
competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the
organizing committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games:
"I declare the opening of the first international Olympic Games in Athens. Long
live the Nation. Long live the Greek people."
Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon
Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas. Thereafter, a variety of musical offerings provided the
backgrounds to the Opening Ceremonies until 1960, since which time the Samaras/Palamas composition has
become the official Olympic Anthem (decision taken by the IOC Session in 1958). Other elements of current
Olympic opening ceremonies were initiated later: the Olympic flame was first lit in 1928, the first athletes'
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oath was sworn at the 1920 Summer Olympics, and the first officials' oath was taken at the 1972 Olympic
Games.
WINTER OLYMPICS … the 1st one …
CHAMONIX, FRANCE (AP) -- A ragtag parade down the center of town marked the opening ceremonies of
the first Winter Olympics.
Looks quaint, doesn't it? Look closer and you'll see just how quaint: Many of the athletes - they really were
amateurs back in the day - are lugging their own equipment: hockey sticks, skates, skis and such. Then again,
by 1924 standards, it was considered quite a pageant.
Ninety years after its original publication, the AP is making its original report on the opening ceremonies of
the first Winter Olympics available.
The whole shebang at Chamonix in 1924 cost less than $28 million in today's dollars, and set the tone for the
winter games that followed. Unlike their bigger, brassier and traditionally much more expensive summer
counterparts, they've been generally modest affairs ever since. But there are oligarch-sized ambitions to flip
the script this time around.
When the world gathers in Sochi this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his countrymen better
have plans up their sleeves for something with a little more oomph. Otherwise, they'll have $50 billion more than has been lavished on any previous Olympics - worth of questions to answer for.
Sochi was known once for the tea grown in the region, and later, as the site of state-run, Neoclassical-styled
sanatoriums and Joseph Stalin's favorite dacha. The plan now is to turn the summer resort town alongside the
Black Sea into a staging ground for the most spectacular winter games ever, and in the bargain, turn Sochi
into a destination for the ski and private jet-set.
Putin has hinted he will accept nothing less - despite repeated construction delays, reports of widespread
corruption, environmental damage and unrelenting criticism over a Russian law banning ''homosexual
propaganda.'' And even those problems seem pale in comparison to security concerns heightened after recent
bombings in Volgograd and Dagestan believed to be the work of Islamic insurgents in the nearby Caucasus
region.
''The result expected by us,'' a defiant Putin said recently, ''is a brilliant Games.''
The expectations for those first games, on the other hand, were simply to improve on a winter sports festival
that had taken root in Sweden in 1901.
Fans and organizers of the Nordic Games had managed to shoehorn a figure-skating competition into the
1908 Summer Olympics in London, but they kept lobbying for games of their own. The International
Olympic Committee finally went along in 1924, granting the French officials who staged the 1924 Summer
Games in Paris a chance to try their hand at six winter sports - alpine and cross-country skiing, figure
skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating.
Sixteen events were contested over 11 days, drawing 258 athletes (including just 11 women) from 16 nations
and exactly 10,004 paying customers. American speedskater Charles Jewtraw won the opening contest, the
500 meters, prompting the Boston Globe to slap the headline ''Our Flag At Top Of Olympic Mast'' atop The
Associated Press story.
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Read a few paragraphs into it and you'll learn that the swinging-arm style that has become mandatory for
sprinters since was considered revolutionary when Jewtraw and U.S. teammate Joe Moore (who finished 8th)
unveiled it before a handful of ''gaping'' Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish coaches.
But it didn't take long to figure out why those traditional Nordic powers were so eager to get their own
Olympics.
Cross-country sensation Thorleif Haug won three golds, enabling Norway to top the medals table with 17
total. In what turned out to be a historical footnote, Haug was also awarded the bronze in the ski jump in
1924; but 50 years later a scoring error was confirmed and the medal was finally delivered - by Haug's
daughter no less - to its rightful owner, American Anders Haugen.
Finland finished second with 11, thanks to Clas Thunberg's speed-skating haul of three golds, a silver and a
bronze. The 28 medals by Norway and Finland were more than all the rest of the competing nations
combined. The United States and Britain finished tied for third with four medals each. Canada won only one
medal, but served notice it was a hockey power to be reckoned with by scoring 122 goals and allowing just
three en route to the gold.
Here is the original dispatch from Chamonix, as reported by The Associated Press on Jan. 25, 1924.
--OLYMPIC ICE GAMES OPEN AT CHAMONIX
The Winter sports of the eighth Olympic Games were officially opened today with the customary Olympic
ceremonies, presided over by Gaston Vidal, Under Secretary of State for Physical Education. M. Vidal
received the oaths of amateurism by the athletes entered for the competition. The teams of all the nations
represented, bearing their national flags and emblems, then paraded from the City Hall to the skating rink,
where the actual competitions will begin tomorrow.
On the arrival at the rink Under Secretary Vidal declared the official opening of the sports. His voice, caught
up by enormous amplifiers on top of the grand stands, was sent reverberating up the sides of the high
mountains which give the Chamonix Valley its magnificent setting. At the words, the 150 athletes, awaiting
the announcement, clapped on their skates, jumped on to the immense sheet of ice before them, and the
eighth Olympic Games, in their modern revival, were on.
Jewtraw, United States; Gorman, Canada; Thunberg, Finland and Olsen, Norway, four of the fastest skaters
here, hooked up in several turns around the rink in an impromptu race that brought the four or five thousand
spectators to their feet cheering.
ATHLETES PASS IN REVIEW
Prior to the official opening of the games, when the competing teams with banners and their national
emblems flying paraded from the City Hall of Chamonix through the streets of the city to the rink, they were
reviewed by Count Clary, President of the French Olympic Committee: the Marquis de Polignac and Mr.
Vidal.
The band of the Twenty-seventh Alpine ''Blue Devils'' played the national anthems of Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Esthonia, the United States, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland,
Sweden, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia as the group of athletes passed in that order.
The athletes of Belgium, Canada, the United States and France received the most enthusiastic welcomes.
Clarence J. Abel, St. Paul, of the American hockey team, was the bearer of the Stars and Stripes, and Harry
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Drury, Pittsburgh, carried the American emblem. They took the Olympic oath, administered by Vidal, on
behalf of the American athletes. Both swore that the American athletes would be ''loyal competitors, and
respect the rules and regulations in a chivalrous spirit for the honor of our country and the greater glory of
sport.''
Abel stumbled over his French a few times in repeating the oath, but he told M. Vidal that he would rather be
tripped up in his French delivery than while shooting for a goal in the hockey competition. This brought a
cordial laugh from the Under-Secretary.
The worry over the weather, the mildness of which had threatened to prevent the starting of the games
tomorrow, was dissipated today. Clear and cold conditions set in during the day and tonight the prospects are
for colder conditions. It is considered certain the competition will commence tomorrow at 11 o'clock with
the 500-meter race. At 3 P. M. the 5,000-meter event will be started.
Thousands of visitors have gathered in this small Alpine town on the slopes of Mont Blanc, which today, for
the first time in a week, threw off its blanket of thick clouds, the peak glistening in the bright sunshine and
providing a wonderful setting for the Olympics.
Today, Thursday, 6 FEB 2014 … marks the “start” of the Athletic portion of the XXIInd Winter Olympiad.
Tomorrow, Friday, 7 FEB 2014 … marks the “official” Opening of the XXIInd Winter Olympiad
Below is a list of the those cities who have hosted a Modern Olympics
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Olympic Games host cities
Year
Summer Olympic Games
Olympiad
Host city
1896 I
Athens, Greece
1900 II
Paris, France
1904 III
St. Louis, United
States[a]
1906 Intercalated[b]
1908 IV
Winter Olympic Games
No.
Host city
Athens, Greece
London, United
Kingdom [c]
1912 V
Stockholm, Sweden
1916 VI
Berlin, Germany →
Cancelled because of World
War I
1920 VII
Antwerp, Belgium
1924 VIII
Paris, France
I
1928 IX
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
II
1932 X
Los Angeles, United
States
III
1936 XI
Berlin, Germany
IV
Chamonix, France
St. Moritz, Switzerland
Lake Placid, United States
Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany
1940 XII
Tokyo, Japan →
Helsinki, Finland →
V
Cancelled because of World
War II
Sapporo, Japan →
St. Moritz, Switzerland →
Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany →
Cancelled because of World War
II
1944 XIII
London, United
Kingdom →
V
Cancelled because of World
War II
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy →
Cancelled because of World War
II
1948 XIV
London, United
Kingdom
1952 XV
1956 XVI
Helsinki, Finland
V
VI
Melbourne, Australia +
VII
Stockholm,
Sweden[d][192]
St. Moritz, Switzerland
Oslo, Norway
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1960 XVII
Rome, Italy
VIII
Squaw Valley, United States
1964 XVIII
Tokyo, Japan
IX
Innsbruck, Austria
1968 XIX
Mexico City, Mexico
X
Grenoble, France
XI
Sapporo, Japan
1972 XX
Munich, West
Germany
Youth Olympic Games
No.
Host City
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1976 XXI
Montreal, Canada
1980 XXII
Moscow, Soviet Union XIII
1984 XXIII
Los Angeles, United
States
XII
Denver, United States →
Innsbruck, Austria
Lake Placid, United States
XIV
Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1988 XXIV
Seoul, South Korea
XV
Calgary, Canada
1992 XXV
Barcelona, Spain
XVI
Albertville, France
XVII
Lillehammer, Norway
XVIII
Nagano, Japan
XIX
Salt Lake City, United States
XX
Turin, Italy
XXI
Vancouver, Canada
1994
1996 XXVI
Atlanta, United States
1998
2000 XXVII
Sydney, Australia
2002
2004 XXVIII
Athens, Greece
2006
2008 XXIX
Beijing, China[e][193]
2010
2012 XXX
London, United
Kingdom
2014
2016 XXXI
XXII
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2018
2020 XXXII
XXIII
To be determined
I (Winter)
Innsbruck, Austria
II
(Summer)
Nanjing, China
II (Winter)
Lillehammer,
Norway
III
(Summer)
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
IV
(Summer)
To be determined
IV (Winter) To be determined
XXV To be determined
To be determined
Singapore
III (Winter) To be determined
XXIV To be determined
2026
2028 XXXIV
Pyeongchang, South Korea
Tokyo, Japan
2022
2024 XXXIII
Sochi, Russia
I (Summer)
V
(Summer)
To be determined
V (Winter) to be determined
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Russian History – Outline
476 AD - Fall of the Roman Empire
550 - 1450 AD - Byzantine Empire ... centered at Constantinople ( Dardanelles & Bosporus Straits )
- carries on:
- Christianity ( Eastern Orthodox )
- Roman Law
6th - 7th Centuries:
- Viking traders enter Slavic area that corresponds to present-day Ukraine, Belarus', and Western Russia and established an
overland trade route that stretched as far south as Constantinople, in the Byzantine Empire. The Slavs contributed timber, caviar
and fish, furs, and amber to this growing trading nexus.
855 AD - Kiev
- center of trade
- located on Dnieper River
- connection to Byzantine Empire
- - - adopt Christianity (Eastern Orthodox)
- - - Cyrillic alphabet
1230 AD - Mongols invade Russia
- Kiev declines
- Moscow rises in importance
- - RUSSIA ISOLATED ... "cut off" from Western Europe
1500s - Moscow princes rid themselves of Mongols
- Moscow becomes the center of Russia
- Orthodox Church moved to Moscow ... becomes "Russian Orthodox Church"
- Russia now seen as the "3rd Rome" ... traces its roots & connection via Byzantine Empire
Ivan IV Grozny, or "The Terrible" (1533-1584)
- St. Basel's Cathedral built
- Russia expanded
- goes nuts when wife dies
- - blames it on Russian nobles (aristocracy) / boyars
- leaves no heir to throne
1613 AD - Mikhail Romanov ... Romanov Dynasty (1613 - 1917)
- elected to Russian throne by boyars
- Russian Orthodox Church gives its approval
- absolute monarchy established
- young when elected ... few enemies ... settles Moscow & Russia
1695 - 1725 AD - PETER THE GREAT
- Russia "westernized" / "modernized"
- capital moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg ... "Window on the West"
- navy built ... 50 ships
- army ... modernized ... given guns instead of muskets
- government officials sent to Europe
- European experts brought to Russia
- western clothing & styles emphasized ... i.e. beards cut off
- Russian Orthodox Church now under the control of the Tsar
- - peasants / serfs put under the guidance of the Russian Orthodox Church
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1760 - 1790s - CATHERINE THE GREAT
- continues to modernize / westernize Russia
- 1st school for doctors built
- hospitals are built ... people are vaccinated
- schools are built ... elementary & secondary education is emphasized
- expands Russia
- - warm water port on the northern Black Sea by the city of Yalta
- - - Russian fleet / navy still has to pass through Ottoman Empire controlled Dardanelles & Bosporus to reach Mediterranean Sea
- Poland carved up / divided
- influenced by Enlightenment philosophes
- - seen as "Enlightened DESPOT" ... like the ideas of the Enlightenment, but still rules as an Absolute Monarch
1800s
- early 1800s - Napoleon (of France) invades Russia
- - Russian winter & Russian retreat tactic of "scorched earth policy" leads to French defeat
- - Russian upper class (aristocracy) influenced by ideas of Napoleon ... "natural rights" ... "equality before the law"
- December 1825
- - DECEMBRIST REVOLT ... attempted coup d'etat (overthrow of government )
- - - group of Russian officers want Constantine as Tsar + a Constitution
- - - - - revolt against Tsar Nicholas I
- - - - - group executed or exiled
- - - - - Tsar Nicholas I ... "repressive" ... puts down all opposition
1825 - 1855 – Nicholas I
- continues to expand Russia …
… Russia’s supremacy was firmly established in Europe after 1814, Asia was a different matter. Russian expansion into the
Caucasus led to wars with Persia in 1826 and the Ottoman Empire in 1828. After defeating these two foreign powers, the tsar then
had to quell the Muslim hill tribes in his own domains, when they united against the Russian army in the Caucasian War.
Caucasian War (1817–64)
The Caucasian War flared up after Russia moved troops into the mountains in 1817 and founded the fortress
of Grozny on the River Sunzha in 1818. The brutal policies of the commander-in-chief, General Alexei
Yermolov, led to an outbreak of Mouridism among the population.
In 1827, General Yermolov was replaced by Ivan Paskevich, who sought to establish Russian supremacy
along the Black Sea coast, opening up a new front in the war against the hill tribes. Local resistance
continued throughout the 1840s and 1850s, before the Caucasus was finally subdued in the early 1860.
1850s - Crimean War
- - Russian attempt to take over land surrounding the Dardenelles & Bosporus Straits
- - - connection between the Black Sea & Mediterranean Sea
+ FAILURE ... shows Russian military no match for Western Europeans
Defeat in Crimean War marked a turning point in Russian history by fostering modernization
-
Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881): perhaps most liberal ruler in Russian history prior to 20th century.
Agriculture: 90% of Russian people lived on farm land
Serfdom had led to peasant uprisings, poor agricultural output, and exploitation of serfs by lords
Serfs could be bought or sold with or without land in early 19 th century
Serfs could be conscripted into the army for 25 years.
Emancipation Act of 1861
+
Abolished serfdom: peasants no longer dependent on the lord; free to move and change
occupations; could enter contracts and own property
+ easier said than done ... serfs for the most part tied to the land
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1881 Alexander II assassinated in by radicals who bombed his carriage in St. Petersburg
- reforms were too slow
- leads to more repression by Tsar Alexander III
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History of Sochi
The area of the Russian city of Sochi was populated more than 100,000 years by ancient people of Asia
Minor migrating through Colchis (olden Georgia). Ancient Greeks sailed to the region via the Black Sea in
the 5th–6th centuries BC and encountered the Maeotae, Sindi, Cercetae, Zygii and other local tribes. They
were the ancestors of the Abkhaz, Ubykh and Adyghe people who lived here until 1864; many toponyms in
Sochi, including the city itself, originate from their languages. The first Russian outpost was set up in central
Sochi in 1838 as a part of the Russian expansion along the Black Sea coast. The local resistance to this
process resulted in the Caucasian War of 1817–1864, which ended in a Russian victory and the expulsion of
the local population, mostly to Turkey. The Russian settlement built in the area was named Sochi in 1896
and received the status of a city (town) in 1917. The first tea plantations were established there in 1901–1905
and resulted in the production of the most prominent brand of Russian tea. From the end of the 19th century,
the city has been developed as a dedicated area for sanatoriums and hospitals. It served as a rehabilitation
center during World War II and, despite a decline following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, remains the
major resort town of Russia. An important recent event was selection of Sochi as the site of the 2014 Winter
Olympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics.
Ottoman Turkey had much interest in the Black Sea coast as an outpost for its northern expansions, however,
it had lost this area to Russia as a result of the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) and the Treaty of
Adrianople. To further protect the coast from Turkey, a coastal line of defense was built in 1830–1839
consisting of 17 fortresses. Several of these fortresses were founded in the suburbs of the modern Sochi, such
as the fortress of Holy Spirit in Adler (1837),[2] Lazarevskoye (1839) and Golovinskoe (1839). On 23 April
1838, the first stone of the fortress was laid in central Sochi, at the mouth of the Sochi River. This day
coincided with the birthday of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Tsar Nicholas I, and the fortress
was named Alexandria after her. It was however soon renamed into Navaginsky (for uncertain reason). The
construction was completed in July 1838.[6] During the Crimean War of 1853–1856 it was abandoned and
partly destroyed; it was rebuilt in 1864 under a new name Dakhovsky.[7] The locals however did not
recognize Russian rule and fiercely opposed what they perceived as colonization. This opposition attracted
the interest of Britain, which was apparently selling weapons and ammunition to the Circassians. This caused
a diplomatic conflict between the Russian Empire and Great Britain in 1836, centered on the Mission of the
Vixen. The British ship Vixen loaded with weapons for the rebels was captured and confiscated by the
Russians at the port Sudzhuk-Kale (nowadays Novorossiysk). The British protested, but the position of Tsar
Nicholas I was firm and a quick order was given to prepare the army for a war with Britain.[8] The conflict
quickly subsided, but not the local resistance, which resulted in the Russian Circassian War of 1817–1864,
the longest in the history of the region. Its end was proclaimed on 21 May 1864 (Old Style) at Kbaade tract
(modern Krasnaya Polyana) by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander II read aloud by the Grand Duke
Michael Nikolaevich. On 10 May 1864, 12 Cossack stations were set up around the Sochi area for its
protection. On 10 March 1866, a decree was proclaimed promoting relocation to the Sochi area of all peoples
of Russia. A rural settlement quickly grew on the Black Sea coast. On 23 May 1896 it was named Sochi[7][9]
and shortly after included into the newly formed Black Sea Governorate with the administrative center in
Novorossiysk. On 1 May 1898, the governing structure of Sochi was established, which consisted of a chair,
vice-chair, and 12 deputies elected by people. In July 1917, the settlement received the status of a town. On
10 February 1961, it was expanded by the inclusion of Adler and Lazarevskoye districts and with an area of
3505 km² and length of 145 km became one of the world's longest cities. In comparison, its area and length
in 1941 were 32 km² and 30 km, respectively. From September 1937 until the present day, Sochi is a part of
Krasnodar Krai.[3][7][9]
The major occupation of the new settlers was in agriculture, and many of them attempted to grow tea, which
was then an expensive, yet the most popular non-alcoholic beverage in Russia. Several attempts in the 1870s
and 1880s failed because of the cold climate, and the first success was achieved in the early 1900s by the
Ukrainian peasant Judas Antonovich Koshman (1838–1935). Koshman previously worked for a tea factory
P a g e | 14
in Adjara, a place south to Sochi on the Black Sea coast. That tea was known in Russia but its taste was
unpopular. In 1901, Koshman brought seeds of tea plants from Adjara to Sochi (Solokhaul settlement) and
developed a brand which was not only resistant to cold but also had a rich taste. The first successful
plantation is dated to 1905. This new tea later became the distinct brand of Krasnodarsky Tea, which is the
most prominent Russia-grown tea and is one of the northernmost teas in the world. The house of Koshman
still stands in Solokhaul along with the tea bushes planted by his hands.
P a g e | 15
HISTORY OF CHECHNYA
Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called taips. The traditional Chechen
saying goes that the members of Chechen society, like its taips, are (ideally) "free and equal like wolves".
The onset of Russian expansionism to the south in the direction of Chechnya began with Ivan the Terrible's conquest of Astrakhan.
Russian influence started as early as the 16th century when Ivan the Terrible founded Tarki in 1559 where the first Cossack army
was stationed. The Russian Terek Cossack Host was secretly established in lowland Chechnya in 1577 by free Cossacks resettled
from Volga River Valley to the Terek River Valley.
Beginning in the late 15th and early 16th century, the Ottoman and Safavid Empires fought for influence over the Caucasus.
Caucasian peoples grew wary of both sides, and attempted to play one side off against the other. The rivalry was embodied by both
the struggle between Sunni and Shia Islam and the regional conflict of the two empires. The only major success for either side was
the conversion of the Azerbaijanis by the Persians to Shia Islam.[43] Originally, relations with Russia was seen as a possible
balance to the Ottomon and Safavid Empires, and a pro-Russian camp in Chechen politics formed (there were also pro-Ottoman
and pro-Persian camps; each viewed their favored empire as the least bad of the three). In reality, the most favored empire from the
beginning was the Ottoman Empire, but that did not mean the Chechens were not wary of a potential Ottoman attempt at
conquering them. Any hope towards positive relations with Russia ended in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when tensions
with the Cossacks escalated and Russia began trying to conquer the Caucasus, starting with Georgia. After this point, many
Chechens sealed, forever, their preference towards Istanbul against Estafan and Moscow by converting to Islam in an attempt to
win the sympathy of the Ottomans. However, they were too late- the Ottoman Empire was already well into its period of decline
and collapse, and not only was it no longer willing to assist Muslims (especially newly converted people, who were viewed as
"less Muslim" than peoples with a long Islamic heritage), but it was no longer able to even maintain its own state. Hence, the
rivalry between Turkey and Persia became more and more abstract and meaningless as the threat of conquest by Russia and being
pushed out of their lands or even annihilated by the Cossacks grew and grew.
The Cossacks, however, had settled in the lowlands just a bit off from the Terek river. This area, now around
Naurskaya and Kizlyar was an area of dispute between the Mongols' Turkic vassals and their successors (the
Nogais) and the Chechens. The mountainous highlands of Chechnya were economically dependent on the
lowlands for food produce, and the lowlands just north of the Terek river were considered part of the
Chechen lowlands. The Cossacks were much more assertive than the Nogais (who quickly became vassals to
the Tsar), and they soon replaced the Nogais as the regional rival. This marked the beginning of RussoChechen conflict, if the Cossacks are to be considered Russian. The Cossacks and Chechens would
periodically raid each other's villages, and seek to sabotage each other's crops, though there were also long
periods without violence.
Nonetheless, the Chechen versus Cossack conflict has continued to the modern day. It was a minor theme in
the works of Leo Tolstoy (who managed to be sympathetic both to the Chechens and to the Cossacks). While
the Chechens and Ingush primarily backed the anti-Tsarist forces in the Russian Revolution, because of this,
and the threat to the Decossackization policies of the Bolsheviks, the Terek Cossacks almost universally filed
into the ranks of Anton Denikin's anti-Soviet, highly nationalistic Volunteer Army.
The habit of raids done by the Chechens (and to a lesser extent Ingush) against Cossacks, by the 20th
century, had more or less become a cultural tradition. Both hatred of the oppressor (Chechens generally
failed to see the distinction between Russian and Cossack, and to this day they may be used as synonyms)
and the need to either fill the mouths of hungry children and to regain lost lands played a role. The Chechen
raiders, known as abreks were the focal point of this conflict and are almost symbolic of the two different
viewpoints[citation needed]. The Russian view on the abreks is that they were simple mountain bandits, a typical
example of Chechen barbarism (often compared to Russian "civilization", with general Colonialist racist
vocabulary)[citation needed]; they were depicted as rapists and murderers by Russian authors[citation needed]. The
Chechen view is that they were heroes of valor, much like Robin Hood. As Moshe Gammer points out in his
book Lone Wolf and Bear, Soviet ideology fell somewhere in between the two views- and notably, one such
abrek, Zelimkhan, was deified.[44]
P a g e | 16
Beginning of the intense period of Russo-Chechen conflict
In 1783, Russia and the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti (which had been devastated by Turkish
and Persian invasions) signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, according to which Kartli-Kakheti was to receive
Russian protection.
The spread of Islam was largely aided by Islam's association with resistance against Russian encroachment
during the 16th to 19th centuries.[45][46]
Conquest
In order to secure communications with Georgia and other regions of the Transcaucasia, the Russian Empire
began spreading her influence into the Caucasus mountains. The Chechens were actually first drawn into
conflict with Russia when Russia attacked the Kumyks (and established the fort of Kizlyar), whom the
Chechens were allied to.[47] Russia's Cossacks became imperial extensions and Russia sent its own soldiers to
meet the escalating conflict (which was no longer simply between Russian and Kumyk). It soon met with
fierce resistance from the mountain peoples. The Russians incorporated a strategy of driving the Chechens
into the mountains, out of their lowland (relative) food source, thus forcing them to either starve or
surrender.[48] They were willing to do neither. The Chechens moved to retake the lowlands: in 1785, a holy
war was declared on the Russians by Sheikh Mansur, who was captured in 1791 and died a few years later.
Nonetheless, expansion into the region, usually known at this point as Ichkeria, or occasionally Mishketia
(probably coming from Kumyk or Turkish; also rendered Mitzjeghia, etc.), was stalled due to the persistence
of Chechen resistance.
Following the incorporation of neighbouring Dagestan into the empire in 1803–1813, Imperial Russian
forces under Aleksey Yermolov began moving into highland Chechnya in 1830 to secure Russia's borders
with the Ottoman Empire. In the course of the prolonged Caucasian War, the Chechens, along with many
peoples of the Eastern Caucasus, united into the Caucasian Imamate and resisted fiercely, led by the
Dagestani commanders Ghazi Mohammed, Gamzat-bek and Imam Shamil. While their program of united
resistance to Russian conquest was popular, uniting Ichkeria/Mishketia with Dagestan was not necessarily
(see Shamil's page), especially as some Chechens still practiced the indigenous religion, most Chechen
Muslims belonged to heterodox Sufi Muslim teachings (divided between Qadiri and Naqshbandiya, with a
strong Qadiri majority), rather than the more orthodox Sunni Islam of Dagestan; and finally, the rule of
Ichkeria by a foreign ruler not only spurred distrust, but also threatened the existence of Ichkeria's
indigenous "taip-conference" government structure. Thus, Shamil was regarded by many Chechens as simply
being the lesser evil.[49] Shamil was an Avar who practiced a form of Islam that was largely foreign to
Chechnya, and in the end, he ended up happy in Russian custody, demonstrating furthermore his lack of
compatibility with the leadership of the cause. Worse still,[according to whom?] he presented his cause not as a
fight for freedom, but also as a fight to purify Islam, and aimed many of his criticisms at fellow Avars as
well as Chechen leaders and non-Avar Dagestani leaders. The Chechens, as well as many Dagestanis, fought
on even after his defeat, undaunted.[50] In addition to failing to win the sincere support of not only the
Chechens, but also the Ingush, and many Dagestani peoples, Shamil also was thwarted in his goal of uniting
East Caucasian and West Caucasian resistance (Circassians, Abkhaz, etc.), especially given the conditions of
the Crimean War. A major reason for this failure was Russia's success in convincing the Ossetes to take their
side in the conflict, who followed the same religion (Orthodox Christianity) as them. The Ossetes, living
right in between The Ingush and the Circassian federation, blocked all contacts between the two theaters of
war.[51]
Chechnya was finally absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1859 after Shamil's capture. Imam Shamil, among
modern Chechens, is alternately glorified and demonized: his memory is evoked as someone who
successfully held off Russian conquest, but on the other hand, he ruled Ichkeria heavy-handedly, and was an
P a g e | 17
Avar and worked mainly for the interest of his own people. Nonetheless, the name Shamil is popular largely
due to his legacy.
The Russian generals had a special hatred of Chechens, the most bold and stubborn nation with the most
aggravating (for the Russians) guerrilla battlefield tactics. Ermolov stated once that he would ""never rest
until [only] one Chechen is left alive".[52][53][54] In 1949, Soviet authorities erected a statue of 19th-century
Russian general Aleksey Yermolov in Grozny. The inscription read, "There is no people under the sun more
vile and deceitful than this one.".[55] As Caucasian historian Charles King points, the methods used by the
Russians would today be called genocidal warfare.[56] An example of these tactics (in fact recorded in this
case by a Russian officer) by the Russian army and the Cossacks went like this:
At this moment, General Krukovskii, with saber drawn, sent the Cossacks forward to the enemies' houses.
Many, but not all, managed to save themselves by running away; the Cossacks and the militia seized those
who remained and the slaughter began, with the Chechens, like anyone with no hope of survival, fought to
their last drop of blood. Making a quick work of the butchery, the ataman [Cossack commander] gave out a
cry and galloped on to the gorge, toward the remaining villages where the majority of the population was
concentrated.[57]
The long and brutal war caused a prolonged wave of emigration until the end of the 19th century, of
hundreds of thousands of Chechens.[58][59] According to such estimates (Jaimoukha cites the earlier historian
A. Rogov), there were as many as 1.5 million Chechens in the North Caucasus in 1847 (and probably many
more before that, as there had already been much fighting and destruction by that point), but by 1861 there
were only 140000 remaining in the Caucasus.[59] By 1867, after the wave of expulsions, there were only
116000 Chechens. Hence, in those 20 years, the number of Chechens decreased by 1384000, or 92.3%.
In the 1860s, Russia commenced with forced emigration as well to ethnically cleanse the region. Although
Circassians were the main (and most notorious) victims, the expulsions also gravely affected other peoples in
the region. It was estimated that 80% of the Ingush left Ingushetia for the Middle East in 1865.[60][61]
Lowland Chechens as well were evicted in large numbers, and while many came back, the former Chechen
Lowlands lacked their historical Chechen populations for a long period until Chechens were settled in the
region during their return from their 1944-1957 deportation to Siberia. The Arshtins, at that time a
(debatably) separate people, were completely wiped out as a distinct group: according to official documents,
1366 Arshtin families disappeared (i.e. either fled or were killed) and only 75 families remained.[62] These 75
families, realizing the impossibility of existing as a nation of only hundreds of people, joined (or rejoined)
the Chechen nation as the Erstkhoi tukhum.
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as the leader in the Soviet Union, and pursued a policy of
openness and non-censorship of controversial issues. This allowed all of these issues to come to the
forefront, as Chechen organizations became less and less reserved in their rhetoric and began saying what
they had thought the whole time: that Chechens were persecuted time and time again, and continued to be,
and that the Russian state was at fault. And the "Question" was asked: how can the Chechen people once and
for all escape future persecution?
The answer to this "Question" came as independence in the perestroika period when the first Caucasian
nationalist movement (in fact, predating all other formalized movements in all parts of the USSR except the
Baltic states and Georgia), named Kavkaz was established in 1987.[121][122] Explicitly Chechen national
movements were established a year later, notably including the Vainakh Democratic Party (VDP, though its
goal of a unified Vainakh state ended in 1993 with Ingushetia's secession), and its trade union, named (of all
things) Bart (unity in Chechen), established in 1989 [123][124] The first target for Chechen historians was the
Russian-fabricated myth of Chechens and Ingush voluntarily joining Russia.[125]
P a g e | 18
Much of the ideology came directly from the Baltic (especially Estonia), where Chechens observed with
increasing admiration the success of nationalist revival movements.[121] The spark for the forming of Kavkaz,
however, was not nationalist, but rather environmentalist concerns: there were plans to build a nuclear power
plant in the vicinity. Chechen culture had always revered nature, and political environmentalism blossomed
in this period, but became a component of Chechen nationalism. Kavkaz soon became a nationalist
movement, with saving nature only as a side goal, to be pursued once the Chechen nation had achieved an
independent state.
The independence years of 1991-94 for the "Chechen Republic of Ichkeria" were marked by growing tension
with Russia, a declining economy (due both to a Russian economic blockade and due to Dudayev's poor
economic policies- described as such even by his own economic minister [141]), and an increasingly unstable
and divided internal political scene, with parts of the opposition being armed by Russia (see below) while the
government in Groznyi resorting to more and more drastic measures. 90,000 people (mainly Russians and
Ukrainians) fled Chechnya during 1991-93 due to fears of, and possibly actual manifestation of ethnic
tension (the situation was exacerbated by their lack of incorporation into the Chechen clan system, which
protects its members to a degree from crime, as well).[139]
The Russian federal government refused to recognize Chechen independence and made several attempts to
take full control of the territory of the Chechen Republic. Russia actively funded the Chechen opposition to
Dudayev's government, but nonetheless, even members the opposition stated that there was no debate on
whether Chechnya should be separate from Russia; there was one option: secession, as reported in 1992 by
an observer for Moscow News.[144] The federal government supported a failed coup designed to overthrow
Dudayev in 1994.
The covert Russian attempts of overthrowing Dudayev by a means of an armed Chechen opposition forces
resulted in repeated failed assaults on the city. Originally, Moscow had been backing the political opposition
of Umar Avturkhanov "peacefully" (i.e. not arming them and encouraging them to wage an attempted coup).
However, this switched in 1994, after the coups in neighboring in Georgia and Azerbaijan (both of which
Moscow was involved with), and Russia encouraged armed opposition and occasionally assisted. In August
1994 Avturkhanov attacked Grozny, but was repelled first by Chechen citizens who were then joined by
Grozny government troops and Russian helicopters covered his retreat.[145] On September 28, one of these
interfering helicopters was indeed shot down and its Russian pilot was held as a prisoner-of-war by the
Chechen government.[146] The last one on 26 November 1994 ended with capture of 21 Russian Army tank
crew members,[147] secretly hired as mercenaries by the FSK (former KGB, soon renamed FSB); their
capture was sometimes cited as one of the reasons of Boris Yeltsin's decision to launch the open intervention.
In the meantime, Grozny airport and other targets were bombed by unmarked Russian aircraft. Russia then
decided to invade Chechnya to reestablish control by the federal government in Moscow.
Russian federal forces overran Grozny in November 1994. Although the forces achieved some initial
successes, the federal military made a number of critical strategic blunders during the Chechnya campaign
and was widely perceived as incompetent. Led by Aslan Maskhadov, separatists conducted successful
guerrilla operations from the mountainous terrain. By March 1995, Aslan Maskhadov became leader of the
Chechen resistance.
In 1997, Aslan Maskhadov comfortably won the election, campaigning as a moderate who would unite the
various factions within Chechen society, but establish Chechnya as an independent and secular state,
aligning itself with the West more than with the Middle East, as well as keeping Ichkeria safe from Russia by
remaining on relatively positive relations. Yandarbiev's platform was an explicitly Islamic state with some
implementation of sharia law, and a largely Islamophilic foreign policy. Basaev, finally, insisted on focusing
less on gaining foreign support and recognition and more on rebuilding Ichkeria's own military. Basaev,
P a g e | 19
despite criticizing Yandarbiev's policy towards radical Islamic groups, stated that attacks on Russian territory
outside Chechnya should be executed if it is necessary to remind Russia that Ichkeria was not a pushover. At
the point of 1997, as evidenced from the election, Maskhadov's policy of relative moderation and looking
West for help was most popular, though he gained considerable following because of his status as a war
hero.[153][154] The results of the election were a 79.4% turnout, with 59.3% voting for Maskhadov, 23.5%
voting for Basaev and 10.1% voting for Yandarviev.[153]
Aslan Maskhadov became President in 1997, but was unable to consolidate control as the wartorn republic
devolved into regional bickering among local teip leaders and factions. One major source of his unpopularity
was the perception of him being "weak" in dealing with Russia, which was exploited by the more militaristic
opposition.
Maskhadov sought to maintain Chechen sovereignty while pressing Moscow to help rebuild the republic,
whose formal economy and infrastructure were virtually destroyed.[155] Russia continued to send money for
the rehabilitation of the republic; it also provided pensions and funds for schools and hospitals. However,
much of this did not arrive, its disappearance being attributed to embezzlement by either Russian [156] or
Chechen officials/warlords[157] (or both). Nearly half a million people (40% of Chechya's prewar population)
have been internally displaced and lived in refugee camps or overcrowded villages.[158] The economy was
destroyed. Two Russian brigades were stationed in Chechnya and did not leave[158]
Chechnya had been badly damaged by the war and the economy was in a shambles.
P a g e | 20
TERRORISM … What is it?
"Terrorism" comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally referred specifically to state terrorism as
practiced by the French government during the 1793-1794 Reign of terror. The French word terrorisme in
turn derives from the Latin verb terreō meaning "I frighten". The terror cimbricus was a panic and state of
emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105 BC. The Jacobins
cited this precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.After the Jacobins lost
power, the word "terrorist" became a term of abuse.Although "terrorism" originally referred to acts
committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes
in such a way as to create a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who
described himself as a "terrorist". Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group "People's Retribution"
(Народная расправа) in 1869.
In November 2004, a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act "intended to
cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a
population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act".
Terrorism is the systematic use of violence (terror) as a means of coercion for political purposes. In the
international community, terrorism has no legally binding, criminal law definition. Common definitions of
terrorism refer only to those violent acts that are intended to create fear (terror); are perpetrated for a
religious, political, or ideological goal; and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants
(civilians). Some definitions now include acts of unlawful violence and war. The use of similar tactics by
criminal organizations for protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism,
though these same actions may be labeled terrorism when done by a politically motivated group. Usage of
the term has also been criticized for its frequent undue equating with Islamism or jihadism, while ignoring
non-Islamic organizations or individuals.
The word "terrorism" is politically loaded and emotionally charged and this greatly compounds the difficulty
of providing a precise definition. Studies have found over 100 definitions of "terrorism". In some cases, the
same group may be described as "freedom fighters" by its supporters and considered to be terrorists by its
opponents. The concept of terrorism may be controversial as it is often used by state authorities (and
individuals with access to state support) to delegitimize political or other opponents, and potentially
legitimize the state's own use of armed force against opponents (such use of force may be described as
"terror" by opponents of the state).At the same time, the reverse may also take place when states perpetrate
or are accused of perpetrating state terrorism. The usage of the term has a controversial history, with
individuals such as Nelson Mandela at one point also branded a terrorist.
Terrorism has been practiced by a broad array of political organizations to further their objectives. It has
been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political parties, nationalistic groups, religious groups,
revolutionaries, and ruling governments. An abiding characteristic is the indiscriminate use of violence
against noncombatants for the purpose of gaining publicity for a group, cause, or individual. The symbolism
of terrorism can exploit human fear to help achieve these goals.
P a g e | 21
Chechen Terrorism (Russia, Chechnya, Separatist) … “Council on Foreign Relations”
Author: Preeti Bhattacharji
http://www.cfr.org/separatist-terrorism/chechen-terrorism-russia-chechnya-separatist/p9181

Introduction

Who are the Chechens?

Has Chechnya ever been independent?

What is the post-Soviet history of violence in Chechnya?

Which terrorist groups operate in Chechnya?

What major attacks are the Chechen groups responsible for?

Are there links between Chechen groups and al-Qaeda?
Introduction
Chechens are an ethnic minority living primarily in Russia's North Caucasus region. For the past two
hundred years, they have generally been governed by Moscow, though they have had varying degrees of de
facto autonomy. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Chechen separatists launched a coordinated campaign for
independence, which resulted in two devastating wars and an ongoing insurgency in Russia's republic of
Chechnya. Militants in and around Chechnya continue to agitate for independence, though the death of
separatist leader Shamil Basayev in July 2006 weakened the separatist movement. However, violence in the
North Caucasus has escalated since 2008, and Moscow experienced its most serious attack in six years with
the bombing of a metro station in March 2010.
Who are the Chechens?
The Chechens are a largely Muslim ethnic group that has lived for centuries in the mountainous North
Caucasus region. For the past two hundred years, Chechens have resisted Russian rule. During World War II,
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin accused the Chechens of cooperating with the Nazis and forcibly deported the
entire population to Kazakhstan and Siberia. Tens of thousands of Chechens died, and the survivors were
allowed to return home only after Stalin's death.
Has Chechnya ever been independent?
Chechnya has experienced several brief periods of de facto independence. In January 1921, four years after
the Russian Revolution, Chechnya joined Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, and
Ingushetia to form the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. But the following year, the Soviet
Union seized control of Chechnya and turned it into a Soviet province called the Chechen Autonomous
Oblast. In January 1934, Soviet officials merged the Chechen Autonomous Oblast with the neighboring
Ingush Autonomous Oblast, largely to dilute each region's ethnic identity.
During World War II, as German forces moved into the Soviet Union and toward the North Caucasus, many
ethnic minority groups subject to Soviet and Russian rule for generations seized on the opportunity presented
by the war to try and break free. German forces never reached Chechnya, but Chechen nationalist Khasan
Israilov led a revolt against Soviet rule which lasted from 1940 to 1944. After Soviet troops crushed the
rebellion, Stalin accused the Chechens of collaborating with Nazi invaders. In 1944, Stalin disbanded the
Chechen-Ingush republic altogether and forcibly deported the entire Chechen population to Siberia and
P a g e | 22
Kazakhstan. Chechens were not allowed to return to their homeland until 1957, when Stalin's successor,
Nikita Khrushchev, restored the province amid de-Stalinization.
What is the post-Soviet history of violence in Chechnya?
In the early 1990s, following the Soviet collapse, separatists in the newly formed Russian Federation
Republic of Chechnya started an independence movement called the Chechen All-National Congress.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin opposed Chechen independence, arguing that Chechnya was an integral part
of Russia. From 1994 to 1996, Russia fought Chechen guerillas in a conflict that became known as the First
Chechen War. Tens of thousands of civilians died, but Russia failed to win control of Chechnya's
mountainous terrain, giving Chechnya de facto independence. In May 1996, Yeltsin signed a ceasefire with
the separatists, and they agreed on a peace treaty the following year.
But violence flared again three years later. In August 1999, Chechen militants invaded the neighboring
Russian republic of Dagestan to support a local separatist movement. The following month, five bombs
exploded in Russia over a ten-day period, killing almost three hundred civilians. Moscow blamed Chechen
rebels for the explosions, which comprised the largest coordinated terrorist attack in Russian history. The
Dagestan invasion and the Russian bombings prompted Russian forces to launch the Second Chechen War,
also known as the War in the North Caucasus. In February 2000, Russia recaptured the Chechen capital of
Grozny, destroying a good part of the city center in the process, reasserting direct control over Chechnya.
Tens of thousands of Chechens and Russians were killed or wounded in the two wars, and hundreds of
thousands of civilians were displaced. Since the end of the second war, Chechen separatist activity has
diminished, and the July 2006 death of separatist leader Shamil Basayev--in an explosion many see as the
work of Russia's internal security services--seems to have stifled the movement. Since 2008, however,
violence has markedly increased in the North Caucasus, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies. Incidents of violence rose from 795 in 2008 to 1,100 in 2009, and suicide bombings
quadrupled in 2009, the majority of which occurred in Chechnya.
Which terrorist groups operate in Chechnya?
Information about groups linked to the conflict in Chechnya is hard to confirm, but experts say the struggle is
between local separatists--a loosely organized group with semi-independent commanders--and the Russian
army. According to the U.S. State Department, the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB) is the
primary channel for Islamic funding of the Chechen guerillas, in part through links to al-Qaeda-related
financiers on the Arabian Peninsula. The United States also defined the Chechnya-based Special Purpose
Islamic Regiment (SPIR) and the Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen
Martyrs as terrorist entities in February 2003.
Chechnya's long and violent guerrilla war has attracted a small number of Islamist militants from outside of
Chechnya--some of whom are Arab fighters with possible links to al-Qaeda. Among the Islamist militants,
the most prominent was Basayev, Russia's most wanted man. Basayev fought for Chechen independence for
more than a decade, and was the mastermind behind the worst terrorist attacks on Russian soil. On July 10,
2006, Basayev was killed in an explosion in neighboring Ingushetia. His death cast doubt on the future of the
Chechen separatist movement, and allegedly led to the surrender of five hundred militants. Four months
later, Russian security forces killed Abu Hafs al-Urdani, the Jordanian-born commander of foreign fighters
in Chechnya. Since then, violence in Chechnya has ebbed, though terrorism in the areas of Dagestan and
Ingushetia has increased.
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What major attacks are the Chechen groups responsible for?
The most notorious and devastating attack came in September 2004, when Basayev ordered an attack on a
school in Beslan, a town in North Ossetia. More than three hundred people died in the three-day siege, most
of them children. There were thirty-two militants, though only three or four were Chechens. All but one of
the militants were reportedly killed during the siege. Since then, violence has generally targeted individual
officials and government offices rather than large groups of civilians. Attacks include:

An August 1999 bombing of a shopping arcade and a September 1999 bombing of an apartment building in Moscow that
killed sixty-four people.

Two bombings in September 1999 in the Russian republic of Dagestan and southern Russian city of Volgodonsk.
Controversy still surrounds whether these attacks were conclusively linked to Chechens.

A bomb blast that killed at least forty-one people, including seventeen children, during a military parade in the
southwestern town of Kaspiisk in May 2002. Russia blamed the attack on Chechen terrorists.

The October 2002 seizure of Moscow's Dubrovka Theater, where approximately seven hundred people were attending a
performance. Russian Special Forces launched a rescue operation, but the opium-derived gas they used to disable the
hostage-takers killed more than 120 hostages, as well as many of the terrorists. Basayev took responsibility for organizing
the attack, and three Chechen-affiliated groups are thought to have been involved.

A December 2002 dual suicide bombing that attacked the headquarters of Chechnya's Russian-backed government in
Grozny. Russian officials claim that international terrorists helped local Chechens mount the assault, which killed eightythree people.

A three-day attack on Ingushetia in June 2004, which killed almost one hundred people and injured another 120.

Street fighting in October 2005 that killed at least eighty-five people. The fighting was in the south Russian city of
Nalchik after Chechen rebels assaulted government buildings, telecommunications facilities, and the airport.

An attack on the Nevsky Express, used by members of the business and political elite, in November 2009 killed twentyseven people.

In March 2010, two female suicide bombers detonated bombs in a Moscow metro station located near the headquarters of
the security services, killing thirty-nine people. Islamist Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the
bombing; he had also claimed responsibility for the derailment of the Nevsky Express.

Two days after the metro station bombing in March 2010, two bombs exploded in the town of Kizlyar, in Russia's North
Caucasus, killing at least twelve people.
Are there links between Chechen groups and al-Qaeda?
Experts say there are several ties between the al-Qaeda network and Chechen groups. A Chechen warlord
known as Khattab is said to have met with Osama bin Laden while both men were fighting the 1979-89
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Alexander Vershbow, a U.S. ambassador to Russia, said shortly after
September 11, 2001, "We have long recognized that Osama bin Laden and other international networks have
been fueling the flames in Chechnya, including the involvement of foreign commanders like Khattab."
Khattab was killed in April 2002.
Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted for his involvement in the September 11 attacks, was reported by
the Wall Street Journal to be formerly "a recruiter for al-Qaeda-backed rebels in Chechnya." Chechen
militants reportedly fought alongside al-Qaeda and Taliban forces against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance
in late 2001. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was one of the only governments to recognize Chechen
independence.
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Russian authorities, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly stressed the involvement of
international terrorists and Bin Laden associates in Chechnya--in part, experts say, to generate Western
sympathy for Russia's military campaign against the Chechen rebels. Russia's former defense minister,
Sergei Ivanov, claimed that a videotape of Khattab meeting with bin Laden had been found in Afghanistan,
but Russia has not aired the tape publicly.
Chechen terrorist challenges Sochi Olympics
http://www.dw.de/chechen-terrorist-challenges-sochi-olympics/a-17341735
Chechen rebel leader and Russia's most wanted terrorist, Doku Umarov, has ordered his followers to
sabotage the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi with whatever it takes, including attacks on civilian
targets.
The Winter Olympics in Sochi kick off on February 7, but there are already serious concerns that they will
be the target of attacks. Fears have grown since two recent attacks in the Russian city of Volgograd which
left 34 people dead, and especially after Russia's public enemy number one, Doku Umarov, said he was
prepared to use "maximum force" to prevent President Vladimir Putin from holding the event. In a July 2013
video message, Umarov had already called on his followers to use "any methods allowed by the almighty
Allah" to sabotage the games.
"According to [Umarov], Allah also allows terrorist activities," said Uwe Halbach, a researcher at the
German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) focusing on political developments in the
Caucasus region.
Russian authorities take Umarov's call to violence very seriously because the influential Chechen rebel
leader's word is indeed powerful.
"When Umarov gives an order, as he did one and a half years ago, not to attack civilian targets, then most of
the terror cells follow his lead," Gerhard Mangott, a political science professor at the University of
Innsbruck, told DW.
Russian authorities have stepped up security measures ahead of the Games
"So when he says, as he did a couple of months ago, that the Olympics are being held 'on the bones of our
ancestors,' as he put it, and therefore civilian targets should again be attacked, then that is something terror
cells will comply with," Mangott explained.
The threat is indeed a real one, especially since Umarov, dubbed "Russia's bin Laden", has been responsible
for some high-profile attacks in the past.
Multiple terror attacks
Umarov carried out multiple attacks from 2009 to 2011. His militants have been blamed for bombing
Moscow's Domodedovo airport, two subway stations and a Russian train, among others.
In February 2012, Umarov ordered an end to the attacks. Later, though, in July 2013, he publicly explained
this to have been a mistake since the Kremlin took this "as a sign of weakness instead of goodwill."
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It hasn't been confirmed whether Umarov was indeed behind the recent attacks in Volgograd because no
group has taken responsibility.
"There hasn't been a written claim of responsibility on the websites of the North Caucasian Islamist
resistance, either," Mangott stated.
"However, judging by the type of terror attacks and by the explosives used, it's safe to say that they were the
act of Umarov-inspired Islamists," he added, although it is unclear whether they were acting on his direct
orders.
Establishing an independent Islamist state
Umarov will stop at nothing to reach his goal of establishing an independent Islamist state in the Caucasus
region. That is why he is trying to drive Russia out of the region. In 2007, he declared himself "Emir of the
new Caucasus Emirate" and he has been an ideological and military leader of the Islamist resistance ever
since.
"He is an iconic figure who is recognized and accepted by all local [terror] cells operating in the North
Caucasus region," Mangott said.
"Umarov draws on a long tradition of Islamist-led, anti-colonial resistance from the 19th century," SWP's
Halbach told DW. "That was the most prolonged resistance against Russia's colonial rule. So, in that regard,
it's a very prominent historic role model."
Suicide bombers attacked this bus, killing 14 in a second blast in Volgograd in December 2013
Just a few facts are known about Umarov's upbringing: He was born on April 13, 1964 in the southern
Chechen village of Kharshenoi. His family is said to have been part of Chechnya's intelligentsia. He earned
an engineering degree from the state-run Grozny Oil Institute.
Umarov is said to have joined the ranks of a distant relative who was a warlord. Umarov received military
training and fought Russia in the first post-Soviet Chechen war in 1994. More than a decade later, in 2006,
he then advanced to become the rebels' leader.
"Back then, he was basically still a Chechen nationalist aiming for Chechnya's independence, but within a
very short time span of one and a half years, Umarov went through a radical transformation and became an
Islamist fighter who was not only interested in Chechnya, but who wanted to separate all of the Muslim
North Caucasus from Russia to establish a new Caucasus emirate," Mangott said.
During the 18-month ceasefire, Umarov was somewhat forgotten. Russian authorities repeatedly declared
him dead. Observers say that now, with the truce over, Umarov needs to prove himself capable of leading the
Islamist resistance - and the Olympics in Sochi are ideal for his purpose.
"With all the international attention [on the Games], Umarov is expected to carry out important symbolic
acts that will hurt Russia," Mangott said.
This is what makes Umarov so dangerous, and explains why Moscow has him at the top of its most-wanted
list.