It has been awhile since the Caucasus region has made major headlines. But now, with Chechnya and Dagestan being regions where the Boston Bomber suspects are being associated with, the region is back in the news. But it isn't the first time. Russia fought two fairly tough wars in the region awhile back, and a number of my Russian colleagues spent their military service there. Also, there was the war between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia back in 2008 (a major effort on Russia's part to re-exert its somewhat faded superpower status).
Few Americans realize the history of this area as a major crossroads of history, ancient, medieval and modern.
Interestingly, Chechens are distancing themselves from the Boston Bombers, saying they are from Kyrgyzstan. However, their uncle does say that the family are ethnic Chechens. And it should be noted that from Stalin on there have been policies of majorly relocating ethnic minorities (particularly Chechens) around the Soviet Union then Russia and replacing them with ethnic Russians. So it is quite likely that they are ethnic Chechens from Kyrgyzstan.
But why is this area such a flash point? Some background below...
The Caucasus region, which includes several such flashpoints including Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Abkhazia, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, actually has a fascinating history going back as far back as history goes. To many New Yorkers, many of these cultures blend into the "Russian" communities in places like Brighton Beach. In fact, many restaurants we think of as "Russian" in NYC are actually Georgian or other "Caucasian" (in the REAL sense of the word) cuisines.
For example, Armenia was at one time a great kingdom called Urartu (the Assyrian name you will read in most textbooks, but they called themselves "Biainili") which rivaled Egypt, Assyria and the Hittites in epic fights for control of the Middle East. Later it was a border state between Rome and Persia, making it one of the most fought over regions of antiquity.
The modern Georgians have a particularly ancient history, dating back to the ancient Greek stories of Jason and the Argonauts, which was an expedition to the city of Colchis in modern Georgia and reflects actual Greek exploration and colonization of the Black Sea area. Even before that the region was dominated by an Iranian tribe called the Cimmerians (made both famous and silly by the Conan Books, in reality a branch of the Scythians which dominated the steppes of Central Asia during ancient times).
The Caucasus were also where, in the early Middle Ages, a Jewish Kingdom called Khazaria stopped the advance of Islam in a forgotten chapter of history that has as much impact on modern times as the Christian victory over Islam in the Battle of Poitiers that is credited with stopping Islam from conquering all of Europe. If Europe is Christian today because of Charles Martel and the Franks, Russia is Christian today because of the Jewish and pagan Khazars.
Caught in the middle of the wars between the Khazars and their neighbors, and often allied with the Khazars, were the Alans, also called the Os...from which the Ossetians are descended. The Alans were a branch of the Saramatians, a later, related branch of the Iranian Scythians...in fact I always suspected they were merely a later version of the same tribal groups. According to the Roman historian the Alani were previously called the Massagetae, suggesting a link to the Germanic Getae (relatives of the Goths)? Early on the Alans were one of the tribes mixed in with the Goths and Huns who sometimes fought the Roman Empire, sometimes fought for the Roman Empire. In fact the great domino effect of barbarian migrations (not as large as originally thought, but still disruptive) that eventually brought down the Western Roman Empire began with the Huns conquering the Alans, soon to be followed by the Goths known commonly as Ostrogoths, but more accurately at that early date as the Greutungi (the Ostrogoths being a later grouping that included many groups, including part of the Greutungi). This is what pushed the next group of Goths, generally called the Visigoths but at that time more accurately called the Tervingi (the Visigoths were a later grouping formed from several groups including part of the Tervingi) into the Roman Empire where they defeated a Roman Emperor Valens at the battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis). That battle is often considered the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire. Alanic cavalry fought alongside the Tervingi at Adrianople.
After many years of being dominant players on the European stage, the Goths and Huns largely disappeared. The Goths were mostly absorbed into the Spanish, French and Italian people, though for many decades one group of Goths remained independent on the Crimean peninsula and even became part of the Khazar Kingdom. The Huns may have become the modern Bulgarians, though only after being largely absorbed into Slavic tribes. Yet the Alans remained independent and unique. Some Alans fought with the Franks. But mostly the Alans remained in the Caucasus in between the Muslims and the Jewish Khazars. In fact, the Khazars were so important in the region that many of the Alans also converted to Judaism.
After the fall of the Khazars, the Rus (original Russians, Slavic groups with influences from the eastern Vikings) conquered the region, including Alania. Some Alans moved west to disappear into the Slavic cultures. But some stayed put and became part of the Ossetian heritage.
So the Ossetians are descended from warriors who fought Rome alongside the Huns and Visigoths, and warriors who converted to Judaism and stood with the Khazars against Christians and Muslims alike. Now these latter day Alans are still there, caught between the Georgians and Russians. The ancestors of the Ossetians were so independent and ornery that while most of Europe and the Middle East were converting to Christianity and Islam, they converted to Judaism. That, too, is part of the Ossetian heritage.
Almost every modern conflict has history behind it. Many cultures have roots that go very deep even if by modern standards they are obscure. Russia is a complete newcomer to the world compared with Armenia, Georgia and Ossetia. Sometimes keeping these deep roots in mind helps us to understand why some small, obscure cultures will show such pride and independence. They've been through this before. Interestingly, the Georgians and the Ossetians are more closely related to eachother than either is to most of their neighbors, being both descended partly from Iranian horsemen of the Scythian/Saramatian cultures that knew and fought the ancient Greeks and Romans.
One caveat is, of course, that almost no culture at any time in history has been homogeneous. The groups called "Huns," "Alans," "Goths," "Slavs," etc. all were made up of numerous subgroups, some related, some not, so that genes and cultures mixed to make unique cultures. But deep roots through history still affect modern politics, and it is best to keep those roots in mind when observing modern conflicts.
Chechnya was a region dominated by the Khazars and the Alans. Chechens may well be as close to original natives as you can get, but also would have seen many groups pass through the mountains throughout history. Their language is part of the North Caucasus Vainakh group, related to the Ingush language of Ingushetia.
Fundamentally the Caucasus represented through most of history a boundary, though a very porous one. To the North were the steppes which played host to Scythians, Sramatians, Huns, Mongols and the lot, mostly semi-nomadic herders who came from diverse roots (speaking Indo-Aryan, Turkic and other languages) but almost universally kicked butt riding small, tough ponies using small but powerful composite bows to terrorize much of Europe and Asia for thousands of years. To the South were the Near Eastern civilizations from Sumer and Babylon, through Persia and Parthia and on to the Muslim Caliphate. The North Caucuses, including Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia, were the southernmost edge of the steppe, where steppe nomads met the mountain tribes of the Caucuses before invading the empires to the South.
The steppe dwellers were always primarily horsemen and raiders. The civilizations to the south were always primarily cosmopolitan cultures relying on troops moving in formations often relying on infantry supported by heavy cavalry and were primarily conquerors. Steppe and civilization maintained a very long-standing love-hate relationship which included raiding, conquest, trade, alliances, betrayal and all the diverse aspects of human history.
The mountain cultures of the Caucasus were caught in the middle. Often having little to offer either side, the steppe dwellers and the civilizations tended to trade, fight, etc. over the lands of the mountain cultures.
Note: all of the above is oversimplified. Just one example would be the Persians. They were a steppe culture who took over a civilized region and became a great empire...which then spent a lot of time fighting off the raids of the closely related but still steppe-dwelling Saramatians.
But always in between were the Caucuses in between the Black Sea (which linked the region to the Mediterranean and was heavily influenced by both Greeks and Romans) and the Caspian Sea.
The dynamic changed with heavy fortification, professional armies, and gunpowder. The last steppe culture to terrorize the area were the Tatar Khanates around the Crimea...which were conquered by Russia over many decades before Russia then in turn gobbled up much of the Caucasus. The last steppe people to conquer a civilization (a la the ancient Persians) were the Manchus who established the last of the Chinese dynasties.
By the 19th Century the Caucasus had essentially become the border not between the steppe cultures and the Near Eastern civilizations but rather the border between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Ironically, this was something of a role reversal...the Russians were originally a non-steppe culture that was heavily influence by the Mongol version of the steppe horsemen while the Ottoman Turks were original just one more Turkic speaking group of steppe horsemen who conquered what had been Byzantium and the Muslim Caliphate and became "civilized" by those they conquered. By by then both were states in the modern sense with considerable complexity and diversity and viewed each other with considerable dislike...across the divide of the Caucasus. This was, in fact, a major front during WW I between the Russian and Ottoman armies.
But long before that, the Caucasus also was a border between the Orthodox Christian (as well as the MUCH older Armenian Christian) church and Islam. And as a borderland, the inhabitants were divided in their loyalties.
During the Soviet years, initiated by Stalin (himself a Georgian), many ethnic groups from around the Soviet Union were relocated by the state and replaced in their native towns by ethnic Russians. I personally saw the result of this in Latvia where the region I visited (the Dvinsk/Rezekne area) was linguistically mostly Russian and there was considerable tension between Russian and Latvian speakers. The Chechens in particular were relocated all over the Soviet Union.
Chechenya has been a thorn in the side for Russia for decades now. A very good view of this conflict can be found in the book The book Grief of my Heart which tells the story of Chechens caught in the way of a Russia that needed to exert its strength in the ruins of the Soviet Empire. It tells the story from the point of view of the Chechens and the Russian friends and acquaintances they had. At times I felt some of the rougher spots of the Chechens were smoothed over a bit much: al-Qaeda involvement in the conflict, the tradition of kidnapping brides, the bloodier actions of some Chechen fighters. But overall it is a balanced and amazing story from the point of view of the real people behind the "bandit" stereotype that the Soviet, and then Russian, governments slapped on the Chechens.
I think it is important to keep in mind the Russian need to exert its strength in the ruins of the Soviet Empire now that it has picked a fight with Georgia over Georgia's own version of Chechnya: South Ossetia.
The First Chechen War (1994 to 1996) surprised everyone. Chechnya had been drifting out of Russian influence and become factionalized. Checheno-Ingushetia had formally declared independence but had never been recognized as independent. Russia invaded with overwhelming force...and basically lost. The Russians made a similar mistake to Hitler's mistake at Stalingrad: entering a city with armor inadequately supported by infantry. Under those circumstances, tanks are sitting ducks. Chechnya didn't exactly win since they were devastated, but they beat the Russians to a stand still.
After the ceasefire, Chechnya settled down for awhile but its economy was devastated, and age old traditions of kidnapping and vendetta became more prevalent in the chaos. And even worse, foreign fighters, inspired by Wahhabism and funded by the Saudis, began showing up to "help" the Chechens fight the Russians. Most native Chechens detested the extremism of the Wahhabists and in fact the author of Grief of my Heart (a Chechen doctor who treated ANYONE, Chechen or Russian alike) ended up having to flee Chechnya (during the Second Chechen War) because BOTH the Russians and the Wahhabists had put a price on his head. Before the Wahhabist infiltration Chechens were seriously nationalist, but by no means fundamentalist.
The Second Chechen War in 1999 was more of a fight between the Wahhabist fundamentalists and the Chechen warlords they could recruit and the Russian army with many Chechens caught in the middle. And this time the Russians made no tactical mistakes. They won handily.
This left Chechnya simmering with BOTH nationalist AND fundamentalist resentment against Russia.
Why this leads to the Boston Marathon I have no idea, but it is definitely a backdrop at least in the minds of the bombers.
I end with a quote from Grief of my Heart, a quote that shows the long term effects war has on societies, and one that the trans-Caucuses will be dealing with for decades to come:
"You're dead!" shouted a small boy to his friend who crouched behind a burned-out car on the street.
"No! I killed you first. Fall down!"
I stopped in my tracks. I counted fifteen kids of all ages, including girls, playing war, oblivious to the danger all around them.
In the background you could hear the firing of real guns. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They had lived with war so long, that was all they knew.
I couldn't get those kids out of my mind. If someone didn't get them off the streets, they could grow into little animals with no knowledge of right or wrong; no traditions to guide them. Bang! Bang! You're dead! That is all they would know.
Somewhere in the crossroads of Chechen nationalism, Russian aggression, and Saudi fundamentalist expansion, "Bang! Bang! You're dead! " became all the bombers came to know.