Twenty years ago the Russian empire would send it's soldiers southwards. The mountains of Caucasia and the countries south of that need to be defended against any incursion from any enemy, wether it was some Turkish, Kurdish, Azerbidjani och Presian foe. Along the way the army, commanded by general Alexej Petrovitj Yermolov, would pass through the regions of the Caucasians with a secret purpose; The Russian army commanded by Jermolov would annexe the Circassian and Caucasian Imamates and transform them into provinces of the mighty Russian empire. The Russians made a crucial misstake though, the underestimated their enemy. Filled with hybris after the defeat of Napoleon the Russians thought of themselves as the masters of the world but they were so wrong. After years of bloody fight, the war in Northern Caucasus woudl die out. 15-20.000 Russian soldiers lay dead and 40.000+ Caucasians had been killed during the 8 years of conflict between 1817-1825. After 1825, general Yermolov would be appointed as the military commander to govern the province of Northern Caucasia as the area was still under military occupation and would remain so for the following 5 years before the army was pulled out and the governing was handed to government officials.*
General and govenor Aleksej Petrovitj Yermolov.
However, the officials that governed the province (or as they would call it. Colony) of Northern Caucasus for the comming 4 years. With 40.000 dead just 5 years prior, the inhabitants of this area would resent anything that was remotely Russian or of any related culture. The civil governor missed out on this xenophobic and revengeful mindset of the native population and tried to enforce Russian culture, law and religion through the use of the Russian milita stationed there (which acted more or less as police officers). The govenor, named Pyotr Ivanov, had earlier been stationed in Russian dominated provices such as Tver and Smolensk which made him not so good at governing a people that was neither Russians nor had any particular love for anything Russian. This Russofication policy driven by Pyotr Ivanov was not ordered by the Czar, he was trying through his own initiative to make the province Russian and thus gain the favor of the people at court. This plan, to enchance Ivanovs reputation misserably failed. At first the Caucasians obeyed the rules, then they ignored them and when the govenor tried to enforce them through force of arms the province erupted into a state of open rebellion against the Russian empire. In April 1834, Pyotr Ivanov was forced to flee the province of Northern Caucasia in fear of his own life and was later sent to Siberia where he would remain the rest of his life. The Caucasian war had made a comeback and was hungry to claim ever more lives of young men.*
*Note: I've changed some of this from actual history to make it fit my AAR story better.
A small engagement between Russian and Caucasian cavalry.
Between April 1834 and March 1836 the Imamates of Circassia and Caucasus would break lose and declare independence from the Russian Empire. The Czar Nikolai I had hoped that the militias stationed in the province of Northern Caucasus (which encompassed the Imamates) would be enough to deal with the rebellion. Thus during the first two years the the Caucasian war of independence a gerilla war was faught between the militas of the Russian empire and the gerilla forces of the Imamates. It was during these years that the rising star of the Russian imperial army arose from the ranks of the militias, Anton Yuednich. Yudenich was the son of a noble at the bottom of the aristocratic social class. With limited choices for his future life he chose to join the army instead of the beaurucracy and was assigned as a officer in the militias that was enforcing the law in Northern Caucasus. During the gerilla war Yudenich prooved that he had been born to wage war and was the most successful officer during the war as he won all his small engagements with the Caucasians. However the Russian milita as a whole didn't really succeed against the insurgence and was after 2 years forced out of the Imamates. At this time however, Anton Yudenich had been awarded command of a regiment in the imperial army, just as he thought he had seen enough of the war he would be sent back with the Imperial army to reconquer the province.
During the gerilla war, some 20.000-45.000 had been killed in total. This encompassed Russian soldiers, Caucasian insurgents and Caucasian civilians killed during Russian actions of revenge and scorched earth policy. Now, when the Imperial army entered the province in March 1836, the final year of the open war would commence and as ordered by the Czar, the army would show no mercy for those that showed even the slightest opposition against the Russian empire. The Imamate of Circassia was quickly conquered and returned to imperial rule and was moslty spared the horrors of massive war. After restoring order in Circassia and leaving the militas to keep them under control, the army marched on into the Caucasian Imamate commanded by Imam Shamil. Some 60.000 Russian soldiers now faced the armed forces of Imam Shamil whom numbered 25-28.000 irregulars. Imam Shamil, knowing he would be defeated in open battle retreated in face of the Russian armies. Then for the following year the Russians and Caucasians marched all across the Imamate back and forth with Imam Shamil trying to avoid the Russian army which was now commanded by Anton Yudenich as the commanding general had died from disease. In the end, this resulted in the battle of Sheki. Yudenich 20.000 soldiers squared off against Shamils 20.000 irregulars. The engagement lasted an enitre day and by the end the Russians were forced to retreat after being unable to punch through the Caucasian lines. However, unknown to Yudenich, the other part of the army, some 20.000 Cossacks had managed to keep up with him and engaged with the Imam in battle just days after he had and they managed to massacre the Imam himself and his army.
The two battles at Sheki which determined the outcome of the war.
Now the rest of the war was just a long wait for the Czar of Russia. The Cossacks were sent into the Caucasian Imamate and they restored order in the province, returning it to Russian rule once again. But this time there would be no civilian govenor like Pyotr Invanov, unilke last time the Czar appointed the Cossack hetmate (rightful title?) as the military govenor of the province of Northern Caucasia with the job to pacify the province and keep it from revolting again. At the end of the Caucasian war of independence some 50.000 men lay dead beneath the mountain slopes and the country side was completely destroyd. However, as proved just years prior, the region was filled with tension and this was not the last time ethnic minorities would prove to be a thorn in the side of the Russian Czar. With the majority of the population being Caucasian and of the sunni faith, the region would possible never be truly pacified.
The military occupation of Northern Caucasus as well as the demographics of said area; the proof that future conflict is inevitable.