10 Historical Conflicts Still Relevant Today
7. Russia-Caucasus Conflict
The Russia–Caucasus conflict is the centuries-long conflict, often armed, between the Russian (formerly Soviet) government and various North Caucasus nationalist and Islamist forces. Formal hostilities date back to 1763, when imperial Russia invaded Circassia, though elements of the conflict can be traced back considerably further.
The Russian Empire initially had little interest in the North Caucasus itself other than as a communication route to its ally Georgia and its enemies, the Persian and Ottoman Empires, but growing tensions triggered by Russian invasion of the region resulted in an uprising of the Circassians and the Chechens against the Russian presence in the 1760-80s, followed by further clashes and the outbreak of the full scale Caucasian War in 1817. Russia only succeeded in suppressing the North Caucasian rebellion in 1864.
The most recent conflict between Chechen and the Russian government took place in the 1990s and early 2000s. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Chechen separatists declared independence in 1991. By late 1994 the First Chechen War broke out and after two years of fighting the Russian forces withdrew from the region. In 1999, the fighting restarted and continued the next few years with the Russian security forces finally establishing control over Chechnya.
