Military and Political History of the North Caucasus in the European Studies (Xviii–Xx Cc.)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
МИНИCTEPCTBO ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ «СЕВЕРО-КАВКАЗСКИЙ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ» D. S. Tkachenko MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS IN THE EUROPEAN STUDIES (XVIII–XX CC.) Д. С. Ткаченко Военно-политическая история Северного Кавказа в европейских исследованиях (XVIII–XX вв.) УЧЕБНОЕ ПОСОБИЕ Направление подготовки 46.04.01 – История Магистерская программа «Отечественная история» Магистратура Ставрополь 2015 УДК 94(470.6) (075.8) Печатается по решению ББК 63.3(2Рос-235.7) я73 редакционно-издательского совета Т 48 Северо-Кавказского федерального университета Рецензенты: доктор исторических наук, профессор В. Ю. Апрыщенко (ФГБОУ ВПО «Южный федеральный университет»), доктор педагогических наук, профессор Н. Л. Московская Ткаченко Д. С. Т 48 Военно-политическая история Северного Кавказа в евро- пейских исследованиях (XVIII–XX вв.): учебное пособие. – Ставрополь: Изд-во СКФУ, 2015. – 141 с. Tkachenko D. S. Military and Political History of the North Caucasus in the Euro- pean Studies (XVIII–XX cc.): training manual. – Stavropol: Pub- lisher NCSU, 2015. – 141 p. ISBN 978-5-9296-0741-7 Пособие подготовлено в соответствии с требованиями ФГОС ВПО к подготовке выпускника для получения квалифика- ции магистра. Предназначено для студентов, обучающихся по направлению подготовки 46.04.01 – История, магистерская программа «Отече- ственная История». УДК 94(470.6) (075.8) ББК 63.3(2Рос-235.7) я73 ISBN 978-5-9296-0741-7 © ФГАОУ ВПО «Северо-Кавказский федеральный университет», 2015 FOREWORD The aim of this graduate-level optional course is to consider the history of the North Caucasus from the earliest centuries (approximately the IV c. B.C.) to the beginning of the XX c. A.D. Developing the course structure, we came into consideration that the students were in some extent familiar either with the teaching subject or with the basic structures of the second language. The course is focused on no-native speakers, who had General English knowledge in the level of no less than A2 grade in the Common Reference Levels (CEFR). We suggest they should enrich their base knowledge of the discipline with some original concepts and ideas of foreign scientists by examining the excerpts of English primary and secondary sources. These texts can provide good addition to the topics, which undergraduate students studied in their native tongue – to their awareness with history, ethnic traditions, cultural and political issues of the North Caucasus. All of them were taught to undergraduate students beforehand from the point of view of Russian historical tradition that had left aside a vague mass of facts and ideas the Western historians are concern with. Developing the course the author either came in consideration that a lot of primary sources – especially narrations and notes of the British travellers – have not ever been translated into Russian. Nevertheless, their studying is available via the CLIL (Content and language integrated learning) approach. The textbook consists of ten sections, concern with specific regional historical, ethnic or cultural issues. Each section is divided into two logical parts, which contribute to the final result of studying. A lecture attempts to bring in a number of general questions from the point of Russian scientific tradition. It is appended by related to its issues primary or secondary source, performed by a native-speaker from the European viewpoint. Some themes address ideas looks very familiar for its native investigators, but sounds weird in the shade of Russian scientific approach and need some additional explanation. It is performed, considering British historical or cultural realities, which gave major impact on the movement of West intellectual thought. Each lecture and additional source section contains content vocabularies, collected historical and cultural terms mostly unfamiliar for the students. Some of them has rather different meaning in Russian and English oriented scientific tradition. For checking up the theme understanding a list of questions is applied to every topic. The results of a theme studying are emphasized in an “Assignments” section. Whilst performing the tasks, students should compare English and Russian scientific sectors of the topic, making critical assessment of their advantages and disadvantages; prepare an essay, table or a scratch- map, making their stance on the problem. We have just spotted potential subjects of their own scientific research. It is essential that everyone should consider Russian original sources, major works on the Caucasus history and contemporary politics in his study. 3 Military and political history of the North Caucasus... 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE: GEOPOLITICAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL DIVISION OF THE CAUCASUS* The Main Points 1. Basic Geographical Division of the Region 2. North Caucasus 3. Highland Caucasus 4. South Caucasus Short Preface About twenty-five million years ago two great landmasses collided at a place we now call the intersection of Europe and Asia. They crashed against each other with such force that, their edges raised skyward, crinkling in a series of long accordion folds. A string of rugged peaks and valleys, running some seven hundred miles from northwest to southeast, rose up to separate the Eurasian steppes from the uplands of eastern Anatolia and western Persia. From the earliest times, it has been called the Caucasus, some seven hundred miles from northwest to southeast. * Our first topic is concerned with checking up the level of your English knowledge. It is focused either on some generalised conceptions of the region, we study. Although, the geography is beyond the scope of our subject, we’ll begin with its main issues, for in a part of the world where ethnic, religious, and political categories are hotly contested, being sensitive to labels is particularly crucial. English descriptions of geographical areas are based on: Charles King. The Ghost of Freedom: a History of the Caucasus. Oxford University Press. 2008. pp. 3–15. 5 Military and political history of the North Caucasus... In this lecture we are going to speak about the lands divided – or, rather, connected – by the Caucasus mountain range and about some commonly used specific regional terms. Basic Geographical Division of the Region. From the earliest times, the Caucasus was roughly divided into three huge areas. The chain of the Caucasus Mountains forms the highland region. It extends from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and is divided the peninsula into two parts: The main chain marks off two broadly distinct regions. The northern slopes lead down to the Eurasian steppe. The southern slopes slip into river lowlands, the Mughan plains along the Caspian, and the rough uplands of Turkey and northern Iran. Therefore, it is natural to speak about the North and South Caucasus. From the point of view of an observer, located on the northern, Russian side of the mountains’ slopes these areas would be Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia. This point of view was very common for all Russian explorers, militaries and authorities in the XVIII – XIX c. Russian historians and politicians either have been use it till nowadays, but it’s questioned by the majority of modern western scholarly works. “Of course, the area is only ‘trans’ if you are standing in what used to be known rather quaintly as Ciscaucasia, that is, southern Russia”, noted one American explorer in his work. We will use the Western approach in the course. The Caucasus has never been one place but many, including arid plains, semitropical foothills, craggy gorges, and alpine peaks. Moving through these varied landscapes – crossing rivers or coming down out of the hills a traveler can exit one world and enter another. The variety of topography and climate helps account for the multiplicity of political, cultural, and economic influences that have long defined the region. North Caucasus. This geopolitical term was laid out in the middle of the XIX c. At the end of the Caucasus War the Russian emperor Alexander II in his rescript demanded that one should recognize by that label a vague territory from the Kuma and Manych basin up to the Caucasus Mountains. To be precious we’ll divide it in two distinct zones: the plain lands in the Northern Caucasus and the uplands near Mountain range. Azov and Caspian Seas border Northern Caucasus plains in the West and the East respectively. The territory is today represented by three 6 Introduction to the Course... modern Russian provinces: Krasnodar and Stavropol Krai, together with the Kalmyk republic. It is a rather complex region. High plateaus in its southwestern part provide summer grazing lands for cattle, while fruitless desert – so- called “Read Sands” spreads in the southeast – from the Terek river to the Caspian coast. The wide rich lowlands cut by the courses of the rivers Kuban and Terek form the geographical landscape in the center of the region. Expansive prairies here run from the Caucasus uplands into green hill country. From the earliest periods, they have been used by settlers and locals as a base of farming in rich agricultural zones. These lands attracted a lot of settlers, belonged to different ethnic groups. In contrary, in the eastern part by the Kuma river and the salt lakes near the Manych there are vast dry plains, used as gazing lands for cattle for centuries. We have so-called Kalmyk, Nogai and Turcoman steppes there, inhabited by nomads. The Highland Caucasus Region. The influence of the Caucasus Mountain chain itself can be noticed in all highland region’s ways. We can see it firstly in the geographical division, secondly in historical, cultural and ethnic aspects. The main chain of the Caucasus Mountains extends from the Taman Peninsula on the Black Sea to the Abscheran Peninsula on the Caspian Sea. The mountains form a series of high parallel ridges. In the west, the mountains rise as low, wooded hills. In the center of the range, they become imposing granite edifices, cowered by snow and ice.