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Chechnya

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Title: Chechnya


1
Chechnya
  • Marc Gerst

2
Discussion Questions 1 2
  • Where is Chechnya?
  • What Is Chechnya?

3
(No Transcript)
4
History
  • Surrounded by vastly different ethnic groups
    Chechens have long sought their own national
    identity.
  • In the 15th Century the inhabitants were mostly
    converted to Islam, by Invading Turks from the
    Ottoman Empire.
  • In the 1700s Russian influence began to seep
    into Chechnya, this was heavily resisted.
  • Conflict against Russian occupation was sporadic,
    but lasting for over 20 years.

Chechnya in 1912
5
Soviet Rule
  • During the Russian Revolutions, resistance in
    Chechnya swelled once again.
  • These were crushed by the Red Guards under
    Trotsky.
  • After the Civil War, Chechnya was combined with
    Ingushetia to form an Autonomous Republic.

6
World War II
  • When Germany invaded Russia Chechens fought on
    both sides.
  • Some joined a pro German Russian army.
  • 40,000 joined the Red Army, 40 of which earned
    Hero of the Soviet Union.
  • Nevertheless the Chechen population was rounded
    up and exiled to Kazakhstan.
  • They were not allowed to return until 1956 during
    De-Stalinization.

7
1960s-1980s
  • Russification policies towards Chechens continued
    after the war. Only Russian speakers would be
    allowed into government or other positions.
  • This was met with success. Several Chechens
    achieved high government positions.
  • Chechnya remained peaceful and loyal until
    Glasnost in the 1980s.

8
Yeltsins Three Points
  • When the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s
    several Republics gained their independence. An
    independence movement started in Chechnya but was
    opposed by Boris Yeltsin who argued
  • (1) Chechnya had not been an independent entity
    within the Soviet Union as the Baltic, Central
    Asian, and other Caucasian States had but was a
    part of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist
    Republic and hence did not have a right under the
    Soviet constitution to secede
  • (2) Other ethnic groups inside Russia, such as
    the Tatars, would join the Chechens and secede
    from the Russian Federation if they were granted
    that right and
  • (3) Chechnya was at a major chokepoint in the
    oil-infrastructure of the country and hence would
    hurt the country's economy and control of oil
    resources

9
Independence
  • Dzhokhar Dudayev declares Chechnya independent.
  • Chechnya turns to chaos, new government unable to
    govern efficiently amidst corruption.
  • Slave trade, widespread murder, and terrorism run
    rampet.
  • Boris Yeltsin orders 40,000 troops to retake
    Chechnya. Advisers tell him it will be a short
    victorious war that will help him in the 1996
    elections.

10
First Chechen War
  • Russian troops enter Gorzny in 1994 with little
    preparation.
  • Russian forces suffer grave losses but push back
    the majority of Chechen resistance to the
    surrounding mountains.
  • Several terrorist attacks take place in both
    Chechnya and Southern Russia against civilians.

11
First Chechen War - Continued
  • Weary of the war, Yeltsin attempts a ceasefire,
    and pulls out all but 3000 troops.
  • These 3000 troops are caught unprepared in Grozy
    and attacked by militants.
  • Yeltsin is forced to sign a peace treaty on the
    Chechens terms, with the fate of the country to
    be decided in 2001. But gave it independence in
    the meantime.

12
The Second Chechen War
  • More terrorists attacks and bombings on Civilian
    targets occur in Russia.
  • November 16, 1996 - Dagestani terrorists blew up
    an apartment building in Kaspiysk (Dagestan) 69
    persons, mostly relatives of border guards, died.
  • April 23, 1997 - A bomb exploded in the Russian
    railway station of Armavir 3 people died.
  • May 28, 1997 - Explosion in the Russian railway
    station of Pyatigorsk 2 people died.
  • December 22, 1997 - "Dagestani Central Liberation
    Front" and the Arab warlord Ibn al-Khattab raided
    the base of the 136th Armoured Brigade of the
    Russian Army in Buinaksk (Dagestan), destroying
    its motor pool of some 300 vehicles, including 50
    T-72 tanks, and killing scores of soldiers.
  • April 16, 1998 - A Russian army convoy was
    ambushed in Ingushetia near the Chechnya border
    a general, two colonels and 3 soldiers were
    killed and Ingush militants were blamed.
  • March 19, 1999 - An explosion in the Central
    market of Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia) 64 people
    died.
  • April 7, 1999 - Chechen gunmen killed 4 Russian
    policemen patrolling the border near Stavropol.

13
The Second Chechen War Continued
  • Russian troops again enter Chechnya, this time
    with coordinated artillery and air strikes.
  • Vladimir Putin, (the new president) at first only
    orders a limited advance, to cut off
    communications. However, the Russian army soon
    moves to take Grozny.
  • After weeks of intence fighting, Grozny, after
    being flattened by air strikes and artillery, is
    taken.

14
Grozny Before
15
Grozny After
16
War on Terror
  • After the September 11 Attacks Vladimir Putin,
    began to associate the Chechen conflict with the
    War on Terror.
  • This has had some degree of success, as of 2006
    no country, nor the United Nations has accepted
    Chechnyas claim to independence.

17
Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis
  • The seizure on October 23, 2002 of a crowded
    Moscow theatre by armed Chechen men and women who
    claimed allegiance to the separatist movement in
    Chechnya. They took over 900 hostages and
    demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from
    Chechnya.
  • Russian Spetsnatz stormed the building after
    unleashing an unknown gas. In the ensuing battle
    33 militants and 128 hostages died. Most from the
    deadly gas.
  • Putin defended the raid saying Russian troops
    achieved the near impossible, saving hundreds,
    hundreds of people

18
Discussion Question 3
  • Does Chechnya have the right to secede?

19
Discussion Question 4
  • Are the Chechen militants Terrorists attacking
    innocent civilians? Or freedom fighters attacking
    a brutal regime?

20
Discussion Question 5
  • Are the Russians justified in indiscriminately
    bombarding cities when separatists hide amoung
    them?
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