Beginning from the centuries IV-III B.C., the Tchetchenians were called with the names of Gargar, Durdzuk, Kist, etc. under their general name of Nahçiy in the Armenian, Georgian and Greek-Rome resources. They joined the Alan national union in the century I. B.C. They expanded to the Eastern Caucasus in the century IV D.C. However, in the course of the wars between the Muslim Arabians and the Khazar Khanate, Azerbaijan and Armenia Governor of the Armenians, Mervan b. Muhammed (he then became a caliph under the name of Mervan the II.) had some successful campaigns towards the lands of Tchetchenistan and Daghestan (737). Despite these campaigns, Tchetchenistan and the Northern Caucasus remained under the dominion of Khazars in the centuries VII-II-IX. In the years pursuant to the Malazgirt Victory (1071, this region was conquered by Seljuks. Cebe Noyan and Subitay Boyan, the distinguished commanders of the Mongolian ruler Cenghiz Khan invaded the Norhern Caucasus with a Mongolian army (therefore the Tchetchenistan) in 1222. Mongolians organised raids against Tchetchenian and As people (Alans) between the years of 1238-1239.Thus, the entire Caucasus was under the Mongolian dominion. Timur came with an enormous army to the shores of Terek River on the date of 14th April 1395. He gained a victory in the war against the Altin Ordu Khan, Toktamış. Finally, he despoiled and destroyed all the castles and cities in the Northern Caucasus in the beginning of 1396.
In the beginning of the second half of the century XVI, the Russians invaded Kazan and Astrahan and then, they tried to expand towards the Northern Caucasus. But the Riazan Kazakhs that withdrew with the fear of the anger of the Russian Tsar, Ivan the III (1462-1505) and came to the shores of the Terek River played an important role in this Russian expansion. These Kazakhs advanced to the internal regions and they settled in a place near Grozni where the Tchetchens lived in which the rivers of Argun and Sunja run into each other. As a result of these events, one group from the Tchetchenian beys went to Moscow and applied for the protection of the Tsar, Ivan the IV in the year of 1557. But the Russians rejected this demand since they abstained from Ottomans. However, upon the increasing demands for protection, the Russian troops advanced towards the River Terek and they started to construct guardian patrols in the region of Kabarday.
The famous Russian Tsar, Petro the I (1689-1725) organised a campaign towards the Caucasus and invaded Derbend and Baku that were located on the coast of the Caspian Sea. While he was returning from this campaign, he built the Holy Cross Fort in the river mouth of Sulak. Meanwhile, one of the Russian troops composed of cavalrymen was attacked by the Tchetchens in the village of Endree near Aktaş stream. Upon this event, the Tsar Petro the I . sent Kalmuk people against the Tchetchens in order to punish them. Then, he entered into Tarku, the capital city of Shemhal on the date of 12th August 1722. However, as time went by, the Tchetchens who were not contented with the Russian influence in their own homeland defeated the Russian troops in the command of Yarbay Kah on the date of 7th July 1732. From that date on, the name of Nahçiy people was called as Tchetchens and their country was called as Tchetchenia in the Russian reference books (with the name of Tchetchenistan in the Ottoman literature).
Tchetchens, who got the advantage of the outburst of the Ottoman-Russian War in 1768-1774, invaded the Castle of Kızlar. But they started their real struggle against Russians under the leadership of Sheikh Mansur (Uşurma) who was a Tchetchen in origin between the years of 1785-1791. Sheikh Mansur trier to unite all the Caucasus tribes within a structure and he succeeded in repelling the Russians beyond the River Terek. Naturally, Tchetchenistan was in the central point in this successful struggle of Sheikh Mansur. And the Tchetchens formed the greatest power in the course of these struggles.
Russia established dominion over Georgia in the beginning of the century XIX. Then, it became the only dominating ruler in he Northern Caucasus (Daghestan and Tchetchenistan) through the efforts of the General Ermolov, the Chief Commander of the Caucasus Army between the years of 1818-1821. First of all, the Russians built the castles of Prigardı (1817), Grozni (1818), and Vzezapnaya (1819) and then completed the defence life of Vladikafkas-Khazar. The principal aim of the Russians was to make the Tchetchens that lived between the rivers of Sunca and Terek yield to their dominion.
In this environment, the Tchetchens wanted help from the Ottoman State but the Ottomans recommended them to live in peace with the Russians. As a result; Russia left out Iran with Turkmencayi Agreement (1828) and the Ottoman State with the Edirne Agreement (1829). Then, he became the ruler of all Caucasus outside the lands of Daghestan and Tchetchenistan.
The Tchetchens took to the hills when the Russians started to establish dominion in the Caucasus. They joined in the famous movements for resistance initiated by Imam Ghazi Muhammed (died in 1832) in the Upper Caucasus and continued by his successors, Hamzat Bey (died in 1834) and Sheikh Şamil (died in 1871). Particularly the Tchetchens were the most faithful ally of the struggle for independence that lasted for twenty-five years until Sheikh Samil surrendered in 1859. In the same way, Tchetchenistan was a front in which Sheikh Şamil struggled with the enemies.
to be continued