Russo–Circassian War

The prolonged nineteenth-century conflict in which the Russian Empire conquered Circassian homelands in the northwest Caucasus, ending in mass displacement and exile.

Circassian genocide: The mass killing and forced displacement of Circassians by the Russian Empire during the conquest of the northwest Caucasus. This term describes the conquest’s catastrophic final phase and its enduring historical interpretation.
Caucasian War: A series of conflicts through which the Russian Empire conquered the Caucasus during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Circassian conflict formed the western theater of this broader imperial war.
Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): A war between the Russian and Ottoman empires that ended with Russian gains and expanded influence around the Black Sea. Its settlement strengthened Russia’s regional position and intensified competition over the Caucasus.
Shamil: A Dagestani religious and political leader who directed resistance to Russian rule in the eastern Caucasus. His Imamate led a parallel eastern struggle, distinct from Circassian resistance in the west.
Circassian genocide recognition: The political and scholarly debate over whether the Russian Empire’s actions against Circassians constitute genocide. The dispute concerns how to classify the mass killing and displacement that followed conquest.
Circassian diaspora: Circassian communities living outside their ancestral homeland, especially in Turkey and the Middle East. Expulsion during and after the war created much of the modern diaspora.
Russian conquest of the Caucasus: The Russian Empire’s expansion across the Caucasus, completed through warfare and political incorporation over several centuries. The war was one campaign within this larger process of imperial conquest.
Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca: The 1774 treaty that ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 and weakened Ottoman influence in the Black Sea region. Its territorial and diplomatic consequences helped open the way for further Russian expansion.
Alexander II of Russia: Russian emperor from 1855 to 1881, known for major reforms and expansion of imperial control in the Caucasus. His reign encompassed the war’s final conquest and the aftermath of Circassian expulsion.
Treaty of Berlin (1878): The 1878 agreement that revised the Treaty of San Stefano and redrew borders after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Its provisions addressed Ottoman resettlement of Muslims, a later context often conflated with the war’s earlier expulsion.

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