Wars in the Caucasus, 1990-1995

by Edgar O'Ballance

For many centuries, the mountainous Caucasus region was a strategic backwater, inhabited by insular peoples and tribes, where the raw edges of Christian and Muslim empires rubbed abrasively together. Most of the Caucasus was absorbed into the Russian empire in the 10th century; its 112 recognized nationalities were thus all eventually smothered by the Soviet Union, only to reemerge with a vengeance when the Soviet empire collapsed. In the 1990's, the saga of the Caucasus republics has been one of clashing war-lord militias, coups and international attention of now increasingly focused on the tension, particularly since the discovery of the vast Caspian-Azerbaijan oil fields, reputed to exceed those of Kuwait. A pithy, accessible account of recent developments in Chechnya and Georgia and of the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaujan ethnic conflict, Edgar O'Ballance's latest book is the perfect primer for those hoping to gain a basic understanding of this hot spot region.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Major Edgar O'Ballance was a British military journalist, researcher, defence commentator and academic lecturer specialising in international relations and defence problems.

He was emergency commissioned a Second Lieutenant from Sergeant in the Sherwood Foresters on 19 January 1941. As a temporary Major he was mentioned in dispatches for service in Palestine between 27 March and 30 June 1948.

He served in the army until 1948.

In April 1953 he was commissioned into the Territorial Army as a Captain, serving with the Sherwood Foresters. He was promoted Major in March 1955. In June 1963 he transferred from the Sherwood Foresters to the General List. In July 1965 he was awarded the Territorial Efficiency Decoration.

In 1968 he transferred from the General List (Territorial Army) to the General List (Regular Army Reserve of Officers) and having achieved the age limit on 17 July 1968 (his 50th birthday) retired retaining the rank of Major.

He worked as a journalist for a US Wire Agency from 1948 to 1962, and was thereafter a freelance journalist. He covered over twenty wars and insurgencies and wrote extensively on international relations, defence and strategic problems. He was a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Chairman of the London-based Military Commentators' Circle. He wrote many articles for military journals and was the author of over forty books.