Sheikh Mansur Movement

Sheikh Mansur Movement
Part of Chechen–Russian conflict, Russo–Circassian War and 1787–1792 Russo–Turkish war
Map of the Kuban River in October 1787 with Sheikh Mansur at the top left
Date 6 July 1785 – 22 June 1791 Location North Caucasus and Russian Empire Result Russian victory Capture of Sheikh Mansur
Belligerents
Sheikh Mansur Movement Including: Chechnya (1785–1787) Kabardians (1785–1786) Circassia (1787–1791) Kumyks (1785–1787) Lezgins (1785–1787) Other North Caucasians Supported by: Ottoman Empire (1787–1791)	Russian Empire Including: Cossacks Kumyk Khanates Other North Caucasian loyalists
Commanders and leaders
Sheikh Mansur (WIA) (POW) Omar–Hadji (WIA) Dol Mudarov (POW) Batal Hussein Pasha Aji Mustafa Pasha	Catherine the Great Grigory Potemkin Commander of the Russian forces in the Caucasus: Pavel Potemkin (1785–1787) Peter Tekeli (1787–1789) Ivan Saltykov (1789–1790) Anton de Balmen (1790) Ivan Gudovich (1790–1791) Commander of the North Caucasus Line: Wrede Leontiev
Strength
Northeast Caucasians:[a] 25,000 Several 10,000 Circassians and Nogais 40,000	27,000–35,000
Casualties and losses
Heavy Heavy civilian casualties	Unknown

The Sheikh Mansur Movement,^[b] also known as the 1785–1791 Insurgency in the North Caucasus, was a major war between the Russian Empire and the North Caucasians, caused by the Chechen religious and military leader Sheikh Mansur, who opposed the Russian expansionist policies and wanted to unite the North Caucasians under one, single, Islamic state.

Starting off as a failed Russian campaign to capture Sheikh Mansur, who had spread Islam among the Chechens, it quickly turned to a region-wide anti-Russian insurgency. Although victorious at first, brutal Russian tactics, among them burning and destruction of villages as well as repeating military losses of the mountaineers, led to the decline of the insurgency, which saw Mansur lose many of his supporters. He left for Circassia in July 1787, where he suffered his final defeat during the Siege of Anapa of 1791. Regardless, he is honored as a national hero among the Chechens and Circassians in the current day.

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