Nationalism

1

• Nationalism
• in Chechnya

Cally Harris Ling 75
2
Geography of Chechnya
3
Geography of Chechnya
- located on the north side of the Caucasus
mountains
4
Geography of Chechnya

• located on the north side of the Caucasus
  mountains
• 1000 miles south of Moscow

5
Geography of Chechnya

• located on the north side of the Caucasus
  mountains
• 1000 miles south of Moscow
• bordered by Russia and Georgia

6
Geography of Chechnya

• located on the north side of the Caucasus
  mountains
• 1000 miles south of Moscow
• bordered by Russia and Georgia
• northern grassy plan, southern rivers and gorges

7
The Chechen People

• claim a long and ancient history starting with
  32,000 BC

8
The Chechen People

• claim a long and ancient history starting with
  32,000 BC
• call themselves Noxchi

9
The Chechen People

• claim a long and ancient history starting with
  32,000 BC
• call themselves Noxchi
• historically farmers, horsemen, and pillagers

- of the Vainakh people, the only other people of
which are the neighboring Ingush
10
The Chechen People

• claim a long and ancient history starting with
  32,000 BC
• call themselves Noxchi
• historically farmers, horsemen, and pillagers

• of the Vainakh people, the only other people of
  which are the neighboring Ingush
• not Slavs or Turks

11
The Chechen People

• claim a long and ancient history starting with
  32,000 BC
• call themselves Noxchi
• historically farmers, horsemen, and pillagers

• of the Vainakh people, the only other people of
  which are the neighboring Ingush
• not Slavs or Turks
• freedom or die

12
Clan structure of the Noxchi
13
Clan structure of the Noxchi
- Chechens point to their cultural clan structure
as a source of their strength against invaders
14
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• Chechens point to their cultural clan structure
  as a source of their strength against invaders
• customary to be able to name clan ancestry back
  6 to 12 generations

15
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• Chechens point to their cultural clan structure
  as a source of their strength against invaders
• customary to be able to name clan ancestry back
  6 to 12 generations
• clans are called teips. There are 125 teips,
  which all fall under the 9 larger tukums.

16
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• Chechens point to their cultural clan structure
  as a source of their strength against invaders
• customary to be able to name clan ancestry back
  6 to 12 generations
• clans are called teips. There are 125 teips,
  which all fall under the 9 larger tukums.
• Chechens claim the 9 tukums are descendant from
  9 brothers, which is why there are 9 stars on the
  Chechen flag

17
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• Chechens point to their cultural clan structure
  as a source of their strength against invaders
• customary to be able to name clan ancestry back
  6 to 12 generations
• clans are called teips. There are 125 teips,
  which all fall under the 9 larger tukums.
• Chechens claim the 9 tukums are descendant from
  9 brothers, which is why there are 9 stars on the
  Chechen flag
• about two dozens teips claim pure descent,
  allowing for stereotypes of different teips.

18
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• Chechens point to their cultural clan structure
  as a source of their strength against invaders
• customary to be able to name clan ancestry back
  6 to 12 generations
• clans are called teips. There are 125 teips,
  which all fall under the 9 larger tukums.
• Chechens claim the 9 tukums are descendant from
  9 brothers, which is why there are 9 stars on the
  Chechen flag
• about two dozens teips claim pure descent,
  allowing for stereotypes of different teips.
• Tsentoro are tough and hard-working
• Chinkho are so brazen that one outwitted the
  Devil, and told God come down or Ill shoot.
• Kharacho came from a cave, which is why they
  talk so loudly
• Beno is the largest teip and the butt of jokes

19
Clan structure of the Noxchi
- clan structure allows for total solidarity,
nationalist sentiment, and intense pride, but is
also the basis for blood feuds which can last for
centuries
20
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• clan structure allows for total solidarity,
  nationalist sentiment, and intense pride, but is
  also the basis for blood feuds which can last for
  centuries
• clans are ruled autonomously around adats, or
  codes of customary law with a democratic assembly

21
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• clan structure allows for total solidarity,
  nationalist sentiment, and intense pride, but is
  also the basis for blood feuds which can last for
  centuries
• clans are ruled autonomously around adats, or
  codes of customary law with a democratic assembly
• historically, there were only uzden, a free man,
  and lai, a slave. There was no ruling class.

22
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• clan structure allows for total solidarity,
  nationalist sentiment, and intense pride, but is
  also the basis for blood feuds which can last for
  centuries
• clans are ruled autonomously around adats, or
  codes of customary law with a democratic assembly
• historically, there were only uzden, a free man,
  and lai, a slave. There was no ruling class.
• lack of a ruling class or national law led to a
  culture of, literally, lawlessness

23
Clan structure of the Noxchi

• clan structure allows for total solidarity,
  nationalist sentiment, and intense pride, but is
  also the basis for blood feuds which can last for
  centuries
• clans are ruled autonomously around adats, or
  codes of customary law with a democratic assembly
• historically, there were only uzden, a free man,
  and lai, a slave. There was no ruling class.
• lack of a ruling class or national law led to a
  culture of, literally, lawlessness
• Lawlessness, nurtured by the lack of a single
  authority and tolerance of a culture of violence,
  thrives in the gaps between Chechnyas tight
  communities. - Thomas de Waal

24
Chechen History and Culture of War
25
Chechen History and Culture of War
- began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
century
26
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century

27
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century
• resistance to Russian rule began in the 18th
  century as Russian expanded to the south

28
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century
• resistance to Russian rule began in the 18th
  century as Russian expanded to the south
• Chechens have rebelled during every period of
  upheaval in Russian history since then

29
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century
• resistance to Russian rule began in the 18th
  century as Russian expanded to the south
• Chechens have rebelled during every period of
  upheaval in Russian history since then
• uprising in 1940 resulted in the Stalinist
  deportation of the entire population to Siberia,
  during which 200,000 died

30
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century
• resistance to Russian rule began in the 18th
  century as Russian expanded to the south
• Chechens have rebelled during every period of
  upheaval in Russian history since then
• uprising in 1940 resulted in the Stalinist
  deportation of the entire population to Siberia,
  during which 200,000 died
• the Diaspora returned in 1956 during the
  de-Stalinization of Krushchev

31
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century
• resistance to Russian rule began in the 18th
  century as Russian expanded to the south
• Chechens have rebelled during every period of
  upheaval in Russian history since then
• uprising in 1940 resulted in the Stalinist
  deportation of the entire population to Siberia,
  during which 200,000 died
• the Diaspora returned in 1956 during the
  de-Stalinization of Krushchev
• there was a period of relative peace until
  Yeltsins Glasnost reforms in the 1980s

32
Chechen History and Culture of War

• began fending off the Ottoman Turks in the 15th
  century
• tensions died down as Islam became widespread by
  the 18th century
• resistance to Russian rule began in the 18th
  century as Russian expanded to the south
• Chechens have rebelled during every period of
  upheaval in Russian history since then
• uprising in 1940 resulted in the Stalinist
  deportation of the entire population to Siberia,
  during which 200,000 died
• the Diaspora returned in 1956 during the
  de-Stalinization of Krushchev
• there was a period of relative peace until
  Yeltsins Glasnost reforms in the 1980s
• in 1990 an ex-Soviet general named Dzhokar
  Dudayev took advantage of the situation and set
  up a corrupt government in Chechnya, officially
  declaring independence in 1991

33
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population

34
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population
• after Chechen committed acts of terrorism
  against Russian, Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to
  retake Grozny. The missions was poorly planned,
  they were not expecting significant opposition,
  and it failed miserably.

35
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population
• after Chechen committed acts of terrorism
  against Russian, Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to
  retake Grozny. The missions was poorly planned,
  they were not expecting significant opposition,
  and it failed miserably.
• Grozny had been taken by February 1995

36
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population
• after Chechen committed acts of terrorism
  against Russian, Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to
  retake Grozny. The missions was poorly planned,
  they were not expecting significant opposition,
  and it failed miserably.
• Grozny had been taken by February 1995
• in response, in June of 1995, Chechen commander
  Shamil Busayev led the Budyonnovsk hospital
  hostage crisis, during which 129 people were
  killed and 415 wounded

37
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population
• after Chechen committed acts of terrorism
  against Russian, Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to
  retake Grozny. The missions was poorly planned,
  they were not expecting significant opposition,
  and it failed miserably.
• Grozny had been taken by February 1995
• in response, in June of 1995, Chechen commander
  Shamil Busayev led the Budyonnovsk hospital
  hostage crisis, during which 129 people were
  killed and 415 wounded
• August 1996, the Chechens retook Grozny, forcing
  Yeltsin into a peace agreement by May of 1997.

38
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population
• after Chechen committed acts of terrorism
  against Russian, Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to
  retake Grozny. The missions was poorly planned,
  they were not expecting significant opposition,
  and it failed miserably.
• Grozny had been taken by February 1995
• in response, in June of 1995, Chechen commander
  Shamil Busayev led the Budyonnovsk hospital
  hostage crisis, during which 129 people were
  killed and 415 wounded
• August 1996, the Chechens retook Grozny, forcing
  Yeltsin into a peace agreement by May of 1997
• beginning in 1996, a number of terrorist attacks
  on Russian soil were attributed to or claimed by
  Chechens, launching the second official war

39
Chechen History and Culture of War

• during this time, Dudayev issued ethnic
  cleansing against all non-Chechens, who composed
  20 of the population
• after Chechen committed acts of terrorism
  against Russian, Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to
  retake Grozny. The missions was poorly planned,
  they were not expecting significant opposition,
  and it failed miserably.
• Grozny had been taken by February 1995
• in response, in June of 1995, Chechen commander
  Shamil Busayev led the Budyonnovsk hospital
  hostage crisis, during which 129 people were
  killed and 415 wounded
• August 1996, the Chechens retook Grozny, forcing
  Yeltsin into a peace agreement by May of 1997
• beginning in 1996, a number of terrorist attacks
  on Russian soil were attributed to or claimed by
  Chechens, launching the second official war
• since then, there has been the Moscow theater
  hostage crisis in 2002, during which 700 hostages
  were taken, and the tragedy at Beslan in 2004,
  which killed 330

40
Conclusions
Due to Chechnyas long and proud history, clan
structure, mountains isolation, and culture of
war, Chechens have strong nationalist feelings
that manifest in opposition to and violence
towards Russia.
We were born at night, when the she-wolf
whelped.?In the morning, as lions howl, we were
given our names.?In eagles' nests, our Mothers
nursed us,?To tame a stallion, our Fathers taught
us.We were devoted to our Mothers, to people and
the Native land,?And if they will need us - we'll
respond courageously,?We grew up free, together
with the mountain eagles,?Difficulties and
obstacles we overcame with dignity.Granite rocks
will sooner fuse like lead,?Then we lose our
Nobility in life and struggle.?The Earth will
sooner be breached in boiling sun,?Then we appear
before the world losing our honor.Never will we
appear submissive before anyone,?Death or Freedom
- we can choose only one way.?Our sisters cure
our wounds by their songs,?The eyes of the
beloved arouse us to the feat of arms.If hunger
gets us down - we'll gnaw the roots.?If thirst
harasses us - we'll drink the grass dew.?We were
born at night, when the she-wolf whelped.?God,
Nation, and the Native land -?We devote ourselves
only to their service.
41
Sources
The War in Chechnya. Stasys Knezys and Romanas
Sedlickas. 1999, Texas A M Chechnya, Calamity
in the Caucasus. Carlotta Gall and Thomas de
Waal.1998, New York University. Russia a
country study / Federal Research Division,
Library of Congress edited by Glenn E. Curtis.
1998 http//www.amina.com/article/br_hist.html htt
p//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya www.chechnyawar
.com/ flags/flag-arms.php