The Circassian Genocide

Genocide, Political Violence, Human Rights

by Walter Richmond

Circassia was a small independent nation on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. For no reason other than ethnic hatred, over the course of hundreds of raids the Russians drove the Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history.

Using rare archival materials, Walter Richmond chronicles the history of the war, describes in detail the final genocidal campaign, and follows the Circassians in diaspora through five generations as they struggle to survive and return home. He places the periods of acute genocide, 1821–1822 and 1863–1864, in the larger context of centuries of tension between the two nations and updates the story to the present day as the Circassian community works to gain international recognition of the genocide as the region prepares for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the site of the Russians’ final victory.

Genres: History, Politics, War, Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Richmond teaches Russian language, literature, art, and culture. His scholarly interests also include the history and culture of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
His book The Northwest Caucasus: Past, Present, Future (Routledge Press, 2008) is the first comprehensive history of the Northwest Caucasus. He also has published articles in Religion, State, Society; the Journal of Genocide Research; and the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. He has also taught at UCLA and the A.M. Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serves as a very good primer on the subject, but might not be as in depth as some people would like.

[Alperen Güzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Circassians, were exiled to the Ottoman lands because of the Russians. We have fought with the Russians for centuries, but the Russians, who are the last and many times, won. There was no description of the brutality of the Russian soldiers who entered the Circassians' home three or five. Circassians were put in boats and sent to the Anatolian port of our capital, Sochi. At least 600,000-1,000,000 people died on the road. This is literally ethnic cleansing. Genocide. But nobody knows. Everyone should know and recognize this crime against humanity committed by the Russians. Defend the rights of the Circassians, rather than defending Armenians and Jews. Is the United Nations unaware of this incident or does it not know? In this tragedy, men of Russian descent such as Pushkin and Tolstoy and many travelers have revealed this fact.Even the Russians who lived at that time said that they were carrying out massacres, the Russians of today do nothing but ignorance.

[Rafay · Rating 5 out of 5]

a truly fascinating effort to present the centuries-long circassian struggle. noting that the circassian's problems did not begin in 1864 but rather began decades earlier. the author takes you through a series of russian attacks on circassia throughout the 18th and 19th centuries as part of broader russian policies to subdue the caucasus. namely - the scale of violence used by the russians in their campaigns, the system of cossack colonisation, the devastating impact on the circassian population and most strikingly, the racist demonisation of the circassians as sub-human filth that must be exterminated.

the descriptions of 1864 are frankly horrifying in the scale of russian cruelty, wholesale destruction of circassia and its people and the manner in which survivors were deported to the ottoman empire. most notably, how the author has managed to highlight how the systematic targeting of the circassians fulfils every criteria of genocide as defined by the united nations.

we are told of the way circassians adapted to their new host societies - the balkans, central anatolia, syria, and transjordan. most potent is how many were then forced to relocate once more due to balkan independence movements or the israeli occupation of the golan heights, destroying quneitra, which had became a sort of circassian cultural capital. most fascinating was the role of circassians in reviving amman and their privileged position in the jordan state building and their relationship with the monarchy, something i observed firsthand in my own travels to jordan.

for the circassians that managed to remain in the north caucasus, they have been victim to fabricated ethnic separation resulting in various ethnic republics surrounded by cossack regions preventing a consolidated circassian administrative presence in the region.

the discussion of the circassian unity in protesting the sochi olympics and the role of the internet in uniting circassians across the globe was extremely interesting, occurring in spite of russian falsification of history and aversion to repatriation of the circassian diaspora.

given that the circassians were by far the most populous north caucasian ethnicity in the 18th century, it is easy to feel a sense of regret for what their situation could have been had they been not victim to centuries of oppression. with the author putting forward a projection:

"This means that, even with the most conservative mortality estimates, at least 625,000 Circassians died during Evdokimov’s operations. Assuming an 1860 population of 1.5 million and an annual growth rate of 2 percent, the current population of Circassia would be approximately 30 million. The actual Circassian population worldwide, by contrast, is between 4 million and 6 million, with only 700,000 living in the Russian Federation"

all in all, the author's work is truly formidable, shining a light on a series of unknown tragedies, hampered by limited english sources on the topic and the russian state's desire to deny access to resources, and ultimately falsify and rewrite the circassian history.

and yet the circassians still survive.

long live circassia !!!

[Sanaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

يقدم الكتاب عرضًا موجزًا عن الإبادة الجماعية للشركس، ويتناول الأحداث التي قادت إلى تلك المأساة وآثارها المستمرة حتى اليوم
كوني شركسية بشوف الكتب مثل هذا الكتاب مهمة لانها تقدم الحقائق حول الابادة بدلاً من السرد الروسي الحالي الذي ينكرهذه الابادة

[Boris · Rating 1 out of 5]

An abominable collection of unsupported lies. It is a shame such an ignoramus holds academic positions and has his inept fabrications published by academic press houses.