Cold heads. The skull from the Kunstkamera can provide an influx of tourists to Azerbaijan Where the head of Imam Shamil is kept

The heads of opponents have been a noble trophy since ancient times. To preserve these symbols of victory and show them to their grandchildren, the heads of defeated enemies have learned to embalm. This is how they did it in South America and New Zealand, and…. where they didn't do it! With no less enthusiasm, they embalmed the heads of rulers, scientists, saints, loved ones and bandits. Everything is needed, everything is useful! History knows even collectors of human heads and skulls. One Dr. Lombroso is worth something. Well, where are they, these heads, you ask. Where? Yes here! And what will happen to them?

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Literally put on stream making mummies in ancient egypt. Thanks to the professionalism of the ancient mummifiers, today we can look at the heads of many pharaohs of Egypt and their subjects.

Take, for example, the mummy of Ramesses II. Pharaoh received truly biblical glory. His second name is Ramesses the Great. This ruler united Egypt and made it a mighty power. Now it lies dry on a museum shelf and frightens visitors with its appearance.

Mummy of Ramesses II.

Ramesses III was less fortunate. Analysis of the mummy of this king by modern forensic doctors showed that the pharaoh's throat was cut. Judging by the ancient manuscripts in 1153 BC. a palace coup took place. A conspiracy was organized and the pharaoh was slaughtered by his wives from the harem. What annoyed the pharaoh to his women remains a mystery. The secret of the ruler for many centuries was hidden by bandages covering the throat of the mummy.

One of the most revered heroes of Bulgaria, Khan Kurum, during his short reign (from 802 to 814) accomplished many feats. He fought with the Avars and Byzantines, more than doubled the territory of Bulgaria, introduced the first legislation.

In 811, the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus, having gathered a huge army, went to war against Krum. On July 25, 811, the battle took place on the Vyrbish passage through the Balkans. The Byzantine army was defeated, and the emperor Nicephorus was taken prisoner alive. In front of Krum's eyes, Nikifor's head was cut off and impaled on a stake. Before this trophy, Krum received a solemn parade of his troops. Then he gave the order to make a bowl from the skull and decorate it with silver. From this cup Krum drank water at feasts.

Collection of severed heads of Cesare Lombroso. An Italian psychiatrist and surgeon, professor of forensic medicine Lombroso, famous in the 19th century, examined the brains of hundreds of criminals. He carefully cut off all the heads, dissected, embalmed and laid them out on the shelves ... To preserve human heads, Lombroso even came up with a special composition based on wax. All Lombroso's heads look like they're alive, but they don't blink. At first glance, it even seems that they are wax, as in Madame Tussauds. Not! The most real heads are human. Now all these unusual exhibits are on display at the Lombroso Museum of Forensic Medicine in Turin.

These are just a few examples from the collection of Cesare Lombroso's heads. We will not list names. Bandits, they are bandits...

Collection of 35 heads of the Maori people. The English general and ethnographer Horatio Gordon Robley served in New Zealand in the 19th century. Fought with the Maori people. Taking advantage of backwardness and colonial relations with indigenous peoples, he traded a whole collection of dried heads from the Maori for muskets. Over the years of service, he collected a collection of 35 Maori heads. Among the Maori, the heads of not only opponents, but also honorary elders with sacred tattoos - “ta moko” were subjected to drying.

According to local traditions, after the death of a warrior, his head was cut off, his eyes and brain were removed from it, and the holes in the skull were filled with fibers or rubber. After that, this part of the body was boiled or steamed for a couple of days in a special oven. Then it was smoked on an open fire, and then dried in the sun for several days. To achieve full readiness, the head was also treated with shark liver oil. The finished heads, mokomokai, were then stored in trimmed and carved boxes, from which they were taken out only for sacred rites.

However, Major General Robley was interested in history, ethnography and anthropology by no means unselfishly. The Briton tried to sell the collection of dried heads he had collected several times. Once even to the New Zealand government (this happened when Robley returned from the colonies to his homeland, and New Zealand moved from the colony to the status of a dominion). The New Zealand government prudently refused - the Maori peoples began to develop national identity, and such a terrible collection would clearly not contribute to friendship with the British metropolis. The collection was eventually acquired by the American Museum of Natural History.

English general and ethnographer Horatio Gordon Robley and his collection of severed heads, 1895.

kept maori head and in France. To return to New Zealand 16 heads of Maori warriors, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, a special permission of the French Parliament was required. Aboriginal body parts have long been part of the expositions of museums in this country. When Europeans came to New Zealand, they began to buy their relics from the natives. At the beginning of the 19th century, trade was especially brisk, and firearms and cartridges were given for the heads of the Indians. So the Maori heads ended up in France, and New Zealand lost part of its history.

Severed head from Osterby. This severed head was found in a peat bog. The once severed head was wrapped in a deerskin cloak. Moreover, the hair on the head, despite the thousand-year stay of the head in the swamp, is perfectly preserved. Scientists suggest that some bandits cut off the unfortunate head around 75 AD ... The head is stored in the State Archaeological Museum of Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein.

Head from Osterby.

Head of the Swedish King Charles XII. The Swedish king Charles XII became famous for his legendary confrontation with Peter I. In historiography, the conflict between the two powers was called the Northern War. In addition, Charles XII became the last European king to die on the battlefield - he was hit in the head by a stray bullet ...

Sweden honors its national heroes: from time to time, Karl's skull with a hole from the ill-fated bullet is put on public display.

Head of Charles XII.

Head of Concha Velasco. Dr. Pedro Velasco is a Spanish anatomist and founder of the National Museum of Anthropology in Madrid, Spain. In 1864, his fifteen-year-old daughter Concha Velasco died. The father was inconsolable and decided to embalm his daughter's body. Then he brought the mummy home. He kept the body of his daughter in one of the rooms in a wedding dress. There were rumors that he even dined with his daughter's body. After Pedro Velasco died, the embalmed head of his daughter ended up in the anatomical department of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Madrid.

Head of Concha Velasco.

Peter von Hagenbach(1420 - 1474). Loyal vassal of Emperor Charles the Bold. He was appointed to govern the territories of Alsace and Lorraine, but during the popular uprising he was captured, put on trial and beheaded.

Peter von Hagenbach was captured, tried and beheaded.

Peter von Hagenbach. Loyal vassal of Emperor Charles the Bold. He was appointed to govern the territories of Alsace and Lorraine, but during the popular uprising he was captured, put on trial and beheaded. His head is kept in the Museum of Colmar, France.

The severed head of Walter Raleigh. The favorite pirate of the English Queen Elizabeth I was awarded the title of sir for his successful privateering and charming behavior.

With the next English ruler, King James, Sir Walter was much less popular: Raleigh practically did not get out of prison, and then was completely beheaded.

Walter's head was embalmed and handed over to the widow, so to speak, as a good memory. The woman kept her head until her death, then passed it on to her son. And when his hour came, he preferred to take his father's head to the grave - in the literal sense.

Head of Richard III. Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth.

He was the last of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat in a decisive battle in the Wars of the Scarlet and White Rose symbolizes the end of the Middle Ages in England.

The skull of Richard III was made famous by William Shakespeare.

Head of Rosalia Lombardo(December 13, 1918 - December 6, 1920). Rosalia Lombardo was born in Palermo (Italy). The girl died of pneumonia when she was two years old. Rosalia's father Mario Lombardo suffered greatly after her death. Therefore, he approached the well-known Italian embalmer Alfredo Salafia and asked to save the girl's body. What he did. By the way, her body was one of the last to be allowed to be preserved in the catacombs of Palermo (Sicily).

Head of Rosalia Lombardo.

Skull of Henry IV.There are many examples in history of how people, for their own reasons, steal parts of the body of the dead. Henry IV (Navvarsky) the founder of the French royal Bourbon dynasty. Henry IV was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

Henry IV.

During the French Revolution in 1793, the revolutionaries opened up the royal burial site and dumped the remains of the monarchs into a common grave. One of the revolutionaries cut off the head from the body of Henry IV. Since then, the king's head has been sold at auction more than once, and it has been in various private collections. In 2008, the man who got the head turned to the former custodian of the Palace of Versailles, the most authoritative French expert on Henry IV, historian Jean-Pierre Babelon, with a request to examine its authenticity. In December 2010, a group of nineteen scientists led by pathologist Philippe Charlier recognized the head as genuine.

Skull of Henry IV.

Head of King Badu Bonsu II.In 1838, an extraordinary event took place on the territory of Ghana - Badu Bonsu II, the leader of the Ashanti tribe living in the territory of present-day Ghana, killed two Dutchmen, and adorned his throne with their heads. However, the tribesmen betrayed the bloody ruler to the angry Europeans, in the same year Bonsu was executed. But what happened to his head for a century and a half remained a mystery. Unexpectedly, this body part was found in a jar of formalin in a Dutch museum. Then the government of Ghana asked to return the head of his prominent countryman to his homeland. In 2009, representatives of the Ashanti tribe visited The Hague, where they were presented with the previously lost head of Bonsu the Second.

Canned head of Bonsu the Second.

Skull of Indian Chief Geronimo. Geronimo was the head of the army of the Chiricahua Apache Indians, for 25 years he led the forces that fought against the invasion of the lands of the native Europeans. However, the struggle turned out to be unequal, and in 1886 Geronimo surrendered to the troops of the American army.

Geronimo is the legendary leader of the Chiricahua Apache Indians.

The name of the famous Indian has become a symbol of courage and indifference to death. However, the legendary leader aroused interest in his person even after his death. In 1909, Geronimo's skull was dug up by members of Yale's Bones and Skull secret society as a gift to his fraternity. Among the three student perpetrators was Prescott Bush, father of 41 and grandfather of 43 US Presidents. Rumor has it that at present the skull of the leader is in a hidden place on the territory of Yale University and is used in the secret rituals of the famous secret society.

Skull of Beethoven. Beethoven gave the world unforgettable musical works. He lived a difficult life that ended in a mysterious death in 1827.

His remains were scattered all over the planet thanks to souvenir hunters and the stupidity of doctors.During Beethoven's autopsy, the surgeon cut open his skull and cut it into bone fragments. The surgeon cut off the ear bones in the hope of finding the source of Ludwig's deafness. As expected, all cut off parts are gone.

Beethoven's skull after being exhumed in 1863. The rough cut is clearly visible.

In 1990, Beethoven's bones "revealed themselves to the world" again. Someone Paul Kaufman was sorting through the garbage in the attic when he found a box labeled "Beethoven". Inside was a fragmented skull. Kaufmann learned that his great-great-grandfather was the doctor who dug up Beethoven's body in 1863 and probably stole his head. Paul was wary and suspicious of this information, so he asked experts from San Jose State University to take a look at the found exhibit.

After DNA analysis, scientists confirmed that the skull really belongs to Beethoven.

Another not m The lesser known composer Joseph Haydn died in Vienna in 1809. One of the rich doctors of that time paid the cemetery guard to allow him to open the grave at night and cut off the composer's head. The "scientist" wanted to study Haydn's cranial bumps. However, this story became public and Haydn's skull moved to one of the Viennese churches.

Skull of Haydn.

In 1954, the skull of the composer Haydn was buried with his other remains.

*****

Severed head of French serial killer Martin Dumallard(1810-1862). Also known as the Handmaid Killer. He strangled six young women.

French serial killer Martin Dumallard.

Martin's head was cut off with a guillotine. Before the guillotine, the killer's hair and beard were shaved. Well, then the head was carefully preserved for history. Now it is kept in one of the French museums.

Head of Martin Dumallard.

Head of serial killer Peter Kürten. German serial killer Peter Kürten (May 26, 1883 – July 2, 1931), nicknamed the "Düsseldorf Vampire". The maniac got his nickname due to the fact that he killed at night.

Peter Kürten was executed by guillotine in 1931. Two halves of the serial killer's head are currently on display at the Wisconsin City Museum.

Friedrich Heinrich Karl Haarmann (October 25, 1879 – April 15, 1925), also known as the Hanoverian Butcher or the Hanoverian Vampire, was a German serial killer.

Between 1918 and 1924 he killed 27 boys. He was convicted, found guilty and executed.

The formalin-preserved head of German serial killer Friedrich Heinrich Karl Haarmann is kept at the German Forensic Museum.

Head of Japan's last samurai. For a long time, the Japanese police kept the head of Mishimo Yukio, who is commonly called the last samurai in Japan. Writer-publicist Mishimo Yukio is perhaps the most iconic character in modern Japanese history.

Mishima has written 40 novels, 18 plays, 20 books of short stories, and at least 20 books of essays. His writings brought him international fame. Mishima was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Among other things, Mishima was committed to bushido - the code of the samurai.

On November 25, 1970, under the pretext of an official visit, having visited, together with Morita and three other members of the Shield Society, the base of the ground forces of the self-defense forces in Ichigai, Mishima, taking hostage the commander of the base, from the balcony of his office addressed the soldiers with an appeal to carry out a coup d'état . He accused Emperor Hirohito of dishonoring the memory of the kamikaze pilots who gave their lives for him by his behavior during World War II.

However, the staged coup attempt was only a pretext for the ritual suicide that Mishima had long dreamed of. Mishima returned to the commandant's office and committed seppuku with one of his friends.

According to the customs of the samurai, at the end of this ritual, one of the members of his group cut off Mishima's head.

The Russians also loved other people's heads. Even under the tsar, the head of the Socialist-Revolutionary Yevgeny Kudryavtsev, who killed the capital's mayor Vladimir Fedorovich von der Launitz, was kept in alcohol.

The head of the famous raider Lenka Panteleev was also alcoholized.In the early 1920s, the name of Lenka Panteleev alone terrified the townsfolk. During a raid, it was enough for a bandit to say: “I am Panteleev,” and his victims fainted. The first time the Red detectives took Lenka in September 1922. At the trial, the "tower" shone for the bandit, but he managed to escape from the "Crosses". After the escape, Panteleev simply went berserk: in less than three months, his gang committed 10 murders, 20 robberies and 30 robberies.

They staged a real hunt for Lenka. In February 1923, Panteleev was ambushed and killed in a shootout by a young employee of the GPU strike group, Ivan Busko. Petrograders did not believe in the death of the bandit, and then the city authorities put the corpse of Lenka Panteleev in the morgue of the Obukhov hospital for all to see.

And Lenka's head was severed from the body and placed in the window of one of the shops on Nevsky Prospekt. She stayed there for several months. The headless body was buried in a common grave at the Mitrofanevsky cemetery.

After that, Lenka's head was placed in the funds of the museum of criminology. In the 1920s, the famous Russian psychiatrist V. M. Bekhterev took her for research, who tried to find “anomalies” in Panteleev’s brain. The psychiatrist opened the bandit's skull, but did not find any pathology, after which he returned the head to the museum.

It remained there for almost half a century. Only a select few could see Lenka's head - party officials, famous artists, and intelligence officers. Museum staff called the exhibit "the monster in the jar" and hid it in a closet.

In the late 60s, the museum of criminalistics was liquidated. Hundreds of priceless exhibits went to private collections or were thrown into the trash. The same fate probably awaited the head of Lenka Panteleev. But she mysteriously disappeared. A few years ago, this exhibit was accidentally discovered at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University.

Through the muddy solution, the outlines of the head, frozen in a terrible grin, are hardly discernible. The left half of the skull was opened.

Even such pragmatists and materialists as the Bolsheviks did not escape the ominous presents in the form of severed heads. During the years of the revolution in Kazakhstan, there was a man named Nurmagambet Kokembaiuly, whom everyone called Keiki-batyr (hero). True, there was nothing heroic in him - a small stature. But the shooter was excellent, just a second William Tell. They say that from an old matchlock gun he hit a tossed coin from a hundred paces. After the revolution, when former friends and comrades-in-arms were divided into two opposing camps - red and white, he remained on the sidelines.

Beliefs were simple and straightforward - freedom and will for all, down with any power. He controlled the Kyzyl Kum region, shot at the Reds or Whites who accidentally wandered there. But in April 1923, the house where he was hiding was surrounded by Kazakh policemen. Keiki-batyr fired back to the last, his wife nearby reloaded his rifles. The last time he proved his fame as the best shooter of the steppe - six killed and nine wounded. Angry at the losses, the policemen cut off both of Nurmagambet's hands and head. The trophies were taken away with them, while other remains were left lying next to the bodies of his pregnant wife and brother.

The head of the rebel was sent to the then capital of Kazakhstan - Kyzyl-Orda, and then transported to Petrograd as a gift to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ... Now the skull of the steppe sniper is in the Kunstkamera.

Ironically, the monuments to Keiki-batyr and Lenin before stand next to each other. the building of the local history museum Arkalyk (Kazakhstan)... One fought against the Bolsheviks, and the second (Bolshevik) kept the skull of the defeated leader on his table.

Most likely, in the same place, in the storerooms of the Kunstkamera, skull of Khan Kenesary Kasymov who lived in the middle of the 19th century in Kazakhstan. In 1841 he raised an uprising against the Russian Empire. He attacked towns, caravans, military detachments. Extremely cruelly cracked down on those who were loyal to the Russian emperor. In the end, Kenesary Kasymov was captured, his head was cut off and sent as a gift to the Governor-General of Western Siberia, Gorchakov.

The further history of the dead head of the Khan is covered in darkness. It seems that she was sent to the Kunstkamera. In any case, in the 30s of the last century she was seen there. But further traces of this head are lost. Now, at the request of Kazakhstan to give the head of Khan Kenesary for a normal burial, the leadership of the Hermitage shrugs its shoulders - well, we don’t have such an exhibit, but it could not be lost, everything is registered ...

Well, in general, there is no head, but there is a photo of her taken in the 50s.

Head of Hadji Murad. Somewhere in the storerooms of the Kunstkamera, the skull of the hero of the Caucasus, Hadji Murad, known from the novel of the same name by Leo Tolstoy, is also kept. A desperate brave man, a rebellious soul, a rebel, in conflict with both Shamil and the royal governors. In fact, an anarchist who does not recognize any authority. For many years they chased him through the mountains. On May 5, 1852, he and four other comrades were surrounded by 300 Cossacks and soldiers. After two comrades-in-arms died before his eyes, and he himself received nine bullet wounds, Hadji Murad went out with a dagger in his hands to meet the Cossacks advancing on him. The fight was uneven, but brutal.

Hadji Murad's head was cut off by a Lak "policeman". The head was sent to Petersburg. At first, the skull was kept at the Military Medical Academy. Then in 1959 it was transferred to the collection of skulls of the Kunstkamera. Seeing him is also problematic... politics.

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On the eve of the centenary of the revolution, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, also spoke about the fate of Lenin's body. His call to bury the leader raised a new wave of controversy around the Mausoleum. But Kadyrov at the same time demanded to bury the remains of the hero of the Caucasian war, Hadji Murad, still lying in the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera. And for the inhabitants of the Caucasus, this is a much more important statement.

As the centenary of the October Revolution approached, calls were again made to finally bury its leader, Vladimir Lenin. The impetus to the topic on Thursday was given by the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, who believes that the burial would be "the most correct from a historical point of view" decision.

“The issue of Lenin's burial should, of course, be decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But I am personally convinced that it is enough to stare at the corpse of Lenin. And it is high time to bury the leader of the revolution, this is both reasonable and humane, ”Kadyrov wrote in the Telegram channel. He called it “wrong” that in the center of the Russian capital “there is a coffin with a dead person.”

"The so-called skull of Hadji Murad"

“At the same time, the decision on burial should not be selective,” the head of Chechnya added. “It is necessary to bury both the body of Lenin and the naib of Imam Shamil Hadji Murad, whose head is still kept in the museum of St. Petersburg.”

Apparently, Kadyrov became interested in Lenin for a reason, he has his own interest: at the same time, to achieve the burial of the head of another historical hero, more important for the Caucasus - Hadji Murad.

This refers to the Avar leader and commander Khadzhi-Murat Khunzakhsky, the right hand of Shamil, the leader of the mountaineers of Western Dagestan, Chechnya and Circassia during the Caucasian War of 1817-1864. Hadji Murad managed to visit both the Russian service and the side of the "North Caucasian Imamate". He died in a skirmish with the Cossacks in 1852.

The severed head of the leader of the highlanders was sent to St. Petersburg. The skull of Hadji Murad was kept at the Military Medical Academy, in 1959 it was transferred to the collection of skulls of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera). According to the interlocutor of the Interfax agency, the skull was there as an exhibit until 2001, when it was removed for storage. By the way, disputes about the ownership of the remains are still ongoing: inscriptions in Russian and Arabic on the skull itself are considered confirmation.

In 2000, ex-State Duma deputy Nadirshah Khachilayev also called for burying the skull, but after his assassination, the issue was forgotten for a long time. However, since November 2015, a commission for the burial of Hadji Murad's skull has been launched, which includes the Ministry of Culture, the Foreign Ministry, the Russian Military Historical Society, and scientific organizations. “At different times, Azerbaijan, where the body of Hadji Murad is buried, and Dagestan showed interest in the exhibit,” the source said.

The Kunstkamera also kept the skull of the “Kazakhstani father Makhno” Nurmagambet Kokembaev (better known as Keiki Batyr), whose return Kazakhstan demanded last year. As a result, on October 6, 2016, the skull of Keiki Batyr was delivered to Astana.

The press service of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE RAS) gave a comment to the VZGLYAD newspaper in which the skull of the Avar leader was called "the so-called skull of Hadji Murad." The museum dryly stated that the topic was generally classified - the interdepartmental commission, specially created by the Ministry of Culture, is dealing with the skull. The MAE administration does not have the right to comment on the commission's documents marked "for official use".

Journalist, member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Maxim Shevchenko in the VZGLYAD newspaper expressed full solidarity with the head of Chechnya on this issue:

“The fact that the head of the hero of the Avar people is in the Kunstkamera likens Russia to some Papuans and ISIS *. Keeping heads in the museums of a modern civilized state, it seems to me, is a shame for Russia. Of course, the head of Hadji Murad must be connected to his body.

Director of the Center for Analysis and Prevention of Conflicts Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya also considers the topic of burial of the remains of Hadji Murad painful for the peoples of the Caucasus, especially for the Avars. According to her, not only Kadyrov, but also many caring people have long been trying to achieve a solution to this issue. In addition, such an appeal will bring the leader of Chechnya, in her opinion, additional PR.

Sokiryanskaya stressed that Hadji Murad remains a hero for many in the Caucasus. “Such people are important historical figures for society, part of the historical collective memory. It is clear that few people are concerned about this problem in everyday life, but it is very easy to mobilize the indignation associated with the memory of such symbolic figures,” Sokiryanskaya believes.

"The umbilical cord was connected to the site where the Aurora shot occurred"

As for Lenin, the issue of his burial has been discussed in Russia for more than a quarter of a century and is still perceived ambiguously in society. According to VTsIOM, 63 percent of Russians have Lenin. Many, however, are strongly opposed to such a move. In addition, the share of the country's citizens who note Lenin's positive contribution to the country's history has risen from 40 percent in 2006 to 56 percent now.

Communist Party Chairman Gennady Zyuganov claimed in August that President Vladimir Putin had promised him not to allow the reburial of Lenin and other Soviet figures buried near the Kremlin wall. However, Putin himself did not confirm this.

Of course, Kadyrov remembered the body of Lenin not out of the blue. He reacted to the words of the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, who expressed the opinion the day before that the burial of Lenin would happen sooner or later. “The country does not need another hotbed of confrontation. And therefore, I think, some calm, non-confrontational way of solving this problem will be found. Maybe through a referendum, which will reveal the opinion of the majority of citizens. But it will not be today and not tomorrow, ”said Matvienko.

Supported Kadyrov and State Duma deputy Natalia Poklonskaya. “If the decision on burial is made, a new stage in the development of our Motherland will begin, with the page of the past turned over and the readiness to move on,” she said. On your page in Facebook Poklonskaya wrote that looking at a corpse in the center of the capital is “at least not humane and not human.” Here one cannot fail to recall that Kadyrov once supported Poklonskaya when she fought to ban the film Matilda. Well, here the deputy did not remain in debt.

Strange as it may seem, even the Chechen branch of the Communist Party agreed with the head of the republic. “I agree with him. It's not just his statement. This is the opinion of many people all over Russia,” said Magomed Daduev, secretary of the Chechen branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. “I believe that the greatness of the life and deeds of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin will not suffer at all from the fact that he will be buried in a Christian way. That would be very true, very true. And after that, Russia will gain stability and tranquility,” he added.

However, Daduev's colleagues in Moscow clearly disagree with this point of view. After all, it is the communists who are the most ardent opponents of the burial of Lenin's body. State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov objected to Matvienko the day before. “If I were Matvienko, if I had been born in Leningrad, I would have been connected with the umbilical cord to the place where Aurora was shot and where the revolution began. I would never talk about it like that. Moreover, she is such a hardened Komsomol leader! I don't understand her, what's gotten into her? She and I are about the same age - she wore a tie, and a Komsomol badge, and we had the same ideology, ”he pointed out.

Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergei Obukhov stressed that the decision on the fate of Lenin's body should not be made by Kadyrov or even Vladimir Putin. “Now the Duma, the Federation Council, the president can make a decision on the reburial, perhaps jointly, or maybe even a referendum,” he said.

“The question is more complicated than it seems to Ramzan Akhmatovich”

But Maxim Shevchenko decided to link the topic of Lenin's funeral with his merits in national politics, in particular in the Caucasus: "The issue with Lenin's body is a much more complicated issue than it seems to Ramzan Akhmatovich." “I believe that Lenin gave, including the Chechen people, freedom. The Chechens supported Lenin during the Soviet era, and in this case it is necessary to separate the policy of Lenin and the policy of Stalin,” he explained.

The Kremlin took a more restrained approach to this issue. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov: "We know that different points of view are being expressed, this is a rather resonant topic, but it is not on the agenda of the Kremlin administration."

TV journalist Ksenia Sobchak, who announced her candidacy for the presidency of Russia, also joined the debate on her Instagram. She recalled that Kadyrova raised this topic earlier. “Now Ramzan Kadyrov, following me, calls to bury Lenin. True, he adds that Putin should decide. It is not Putin who should decide, Ramzan Akhmatovich. The Russian people must decide. He must decide this in free elections and referendums,” Sobchak said.

An alternative idea was proposed by the head of the HRC, Mikhail Fedotov.

“I think the time has come to solve the problem of the mausoleum. But not in such a radical way, but to make the mausoleum a museum.

No need to change anything. But it should be a museum, there should be an usher at the entrance, then you go down, and there is an exposition dedicated to the creation of the mausoleum, its internal machinery, technology, embalming technology, and so on. This will be a very interesting museum, I assure you,” he stressed.

“At the same time, it will cease to be a place of worship, and the fact that the body can be there ... So, the British Museum also has mummies of pharaohs, but no one comes to them with flowers, thank God. We need to treat this as history, this is a historical fact,” Fedotov added.

* An organization in respect of which a court has made a final decision to liquidate or ban activities on the grounds provided for by the Federal Law "On countering extremist activity"

Booker Igor 05/05/2019 at 16:00

On April 23, or today on May 5, 1852, the most legendary participant in the war of the Caucasian highlanders against the Russian Empire, Naib Shamil Hadji Murad, was killed. For 160 years, his head has been away from his body. Respected by allies and enemies alike, he fought for his own truth, not for Shamil or the Russian Empire. Which is what killed him.

Leo Tolstoy, who found himself in the Caucasus shortly after the death of Hadji Murad, described the inglorious end of the famous partisan in this way: "Hadji-Aga, stepping on the back of the body, cut off the head with two blows and, carefully, so as not to stain the dudes with blood, rolled it off with his foot ..." . However, today historians argue among themselves who exactly cut off his head - Laks or Kumyks. The people perceived the death of Hadji Murad ambiguously: many were in sorrow, others indulged in joy.

"And yet my end is not the end yet," the poet remarked. From the moment the life of the former "best Naib Imam Shamil" was interrupted, the adventures of his head began. If the body of Hadji Murad was buried near the ancient Azerbaijani village of Zagatala and his grave became ziyarat- a holy place, then his violent little head was sent to Temir-Khan-Shura (now Buynaksk), the military capital of the Caucasian army.

Then the alcoholized head of the naib was taken to the headquarters of the governor in Tiflis. For some time she was exhibited in the anatomical theater, and then she was taken to St. Petersburg. Here the head was handed over to Professor Pirogov, who already had several similar preparations. So she first ended up at the Military Medical Academy, and then at the Kunstkamera, the Peter the Great Museum of Ethnography and Anthropology.

For one hundred and sixty years, the head of Hadji Murad is periodically remembered in order to be safely forgotten until the next occasion. So, in 2000, the leadership of the Republic of Dagestan, headed by State Duma deputy Omar Omarov, undertook a campaign to return the head of Hadji Murad to its historical homeland for the reunification of the remains and burial.

And although the head of the rebel has not yet been buried, the skull of Hadji Murad was excluded from the state part of the museum fund of the Russian Federation. With the loss of the status of a museum object, it remained an object of federal property.

An initiative group was created in Tula, which set as its goal the restoration of historical justice in relation to the title character of the world-famous novel by Leo Tolstoy, the national hero of Dagestan Hadji Murad. The initiative was supported by the Museum-estate of Leo Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana" and the government of the Republic of Dagestan.

After all, the personality of the Avar foreman Hadji Murad was highly appreciated even by his opponents. No wonder they wanted to play the "card" of Hadji Murad against Shamil when these two prominent politicians quarreled. To see in Hadji Murad only a brave bashi-bazook is not entirely correct. The foster brother of the Avar khans, after the extermination of the khan's house, he became the real ruler of Avaria, despite the fact that a relative of the Avar khans Ahmed Khan Mekhtulinsky was appointed as the nominal head.

His biographer, historian Shapi Kaziev writes: "He (Hadji Murad. - Ed.) obtained by no means by participation in the murder of Imam Gamzat-bek and not by noble origin, but by insane courage, indomitable strength and military talents. It was written on the saber: "Do not take it out of the scabbard unnecessarily," but only thanks to Hadji Murad, who was barely 20 years old, the mountain accident still remained independent of Shamil.

When Ahmed Khan executed the closest relatives of Hadji Murad in Khunzakh, he turned from a far-sighted politician into an abrek - a highway robber. Blood feud became the cornerstone of his life.

Courage, like the charisma of Hadji Murad, was practically not disputed by anyone. This is how Kaziev describes the beginning of the disagreement between the Naib and Imam Shamil: "The enraged Imam (Shamil. - Ed.) accused Hadji Murad of greed, which led his elite murids, in a hurry to save their prey, to a cowardly flight from Argutinsky. Naib said in response: "Even small children in the Caucasus know that I am not a coward. Both mountaineers and Russians have long been accustomed to respect my courage." And then he hinted that the defeat of 500 murids from the innumerable troops of Argutinsky was excusable, when Shamil himself, with 15 thousand, could not cope with the three battalions of Grammatik.

Historical parallels are not always legitimate, but here a comparison arises with the attitude towards the anarchist old man Makhno on the part of both the Whites and the Bolshevik authorities. Brave grunts, Robin Hoods, Hadji Murads and Makhno are absolutely unnecessary and even harmful from the point of view of those who strengthen the autocracy, the imamate or the Soviet of Deputies. You can take advantage of their military talents and courage, and later hand over to the scrap.

At first glance, everything was going well - especially in Chechnya, where the local population, impressed by the defeat of Shamil, meekly accepted the conditions imposed by the Russian generals, handing over robbers, Russian deserters and prisoners. The Chechens even handed over a huge amount of weapons and accepted the appointed bailiffs without objection, which in itself went beyond the mountain mentality - but the euphoria turned out to be premature.

Grabbe himself was in high spirits, sincerely believing that in the new year, 1840, he would most likely not meet serious resistance in Dagestan and Chechnya, and that the construction of fortifications would take place without any fighting at all. This, of course, turned out to be a serious misconception.

Cossacks on a mountain river, painting by Franz Roubaud

By mid-March 1840, the impression made by the victory at Akhulgo began to slowly dissipate, and an uprising broke out in Chechnya. The Caucasus could not be conquered with one decisive blow - these lands had to submit as a result of a gradual advance. Neither the invincible Paskevich, nor Rosen, nor Grabbe understood this.

Defeated by General Pullo, the Chechens remained quiet for only a couple of months, eventually taking up arms again. The uprising spread with frightening speed, and at the end of the year the war flared up with renewed vigor, spreading to Dagestan.

Shamil, returning again after a failure, enthusiastically began to restore authority. Now he needed to show the tribes that he was still in the game, and the imam was mainly engaged in petty robbery attacks on the Cossack villages. These insignificant actions restored Shamil's authority, and little by little his power reached its former limits.

General Grabbe was inactive for some time while in Stavropol. Realizing that Muridism had not yet been eliminated, he set to work, but it was too late - Shamil was in full swing attracting more and more followers who helped restore what had been lost.

However, the imam also had difficulties - every day Shamil readily showed cunning and cruelty in order to clearly show the highlanders that he was still strong and dangerous. So, in one of the Ingush auls, the imam quarreled with Gubish, one of the local residents. Shamil ordered his men to seize the poor man and gouge out his right eye. Upon completion of this procedure, the unfortunate man was thrown into prison, but somehow managed to escape. Pulling out a dagger from a sleeping sentry, he entered the imam's room and managed to inflict three heavy wounds on him before the murids arrived and killed the enraged Ingush. After that, Shamil, well aware of the blood feud, ordered to kill the two brothers of the unfortunate. Having dealt with them, the murids burned the remaining family members alive in their own house.

Hadji Murad (1816-1852), robber leader, naib of Imam Shamil

However, not all bloodlines were so irreconcilable. The famous Hadji Murad, who took part in the murder of Khamzat, the former imam, sincerely did not like the Murids, and it was precisely because of his influence that Shamil was received very coldly in Avaria. Now, fate in the form of Akhmet Khan, the then ruler of the khanate, gave the Imam a magnificent gift: a deadly enmity broke out between the Khan and Hadji Murad, and the Khan used his connections to spread rumors that Hadji Murad was allegedly secretly communicating with Shamil. Having allowed these rumors to grow, Ahmed Khan arrested Hadji Murad, informing the Russians about his "treason."

Klugenau, who received bad news, did not know who to believe, and ordered the prisoner to be taken under guard to Shusha for further proceedings. Chained to a cannon, Hadji Murad, guarded by an officer and 45 soldiers, was taken out of Khunzakh. There was already snow in the mountains and, taking advantage of this, the prisoner managed to somehow free himself and jumped into the cliff. Counting on the depth of the snowdrifts, the daredevil did not fail and, having broken only his leg, he was able to crawl to the nearest village. Then Hadji Murad became Shamil's most reckless and skillful field commander, drinking a lot of Russian blood.

Klugenau, disappointed by the story of Hadji Murad, tried to cut this knot and in January 1841 sent 2,000 soldiers after the head of the fugitive. They killed a lot of people, including the father and two brothers of Hadji Murad, but they did not succeed in fulfilling the main task.

On July 2, 1841, the governor of the Caucasus, General Golovin, concluded that the problem was more serious than ever, comparing Shamil with the prophet Muhammad, who had the same power over the people around him.

Grabbe was supposed to deliver a decisive blow to Shamil, but by October most of the forces allocated for this were transferred to Dagestan to help Klugenau, so the operation had to be postponed. Grabbe himself, who was incredibly annoyed by this, made a trip to St. Petersburg, asking directly from the emperor for permission to take control of all the troops in the North Caucasus, regardless of the governor. Relations between Golovin and Grabbe were already strained, but after that there was a huge scandal.

So, the solution of the problem smoothly moved to 1842, which took place under the banner of a fierce quarrel between the governor and the main military general in the region. On May 30, Grabbe, who planned to destroy the village of Dargo, where Shamil settled, and go to Northern Dagestan, resumed operations in Chechnya, leaving Gerzel with ten thousand soldiers and 24 guns.

By the standards of Chechnya, it was a terrible force, however, it was absolutely ineffective due to its immensity. Many wagons and 3,000 horses carrying provisions and shells skidded due to the difficult terrain. In order to somehow cover the convoy with a rare formation of soldiers, it took almost half of the column. All this mass moved through the dense forests of Ichkeria, which were an ideal place for many ambushes.

During the first day the detachment passed only 7 versts. Heavy rain fell during the night. The next day, the column marched sullenly, repelling enemy attacks for fifteen hours, but from the moment they left Gerzel, they only traveled 13 miles. The exhausted soldiers settled down for the night on a waterless plain.

The first day of summer met the Russians with increased enemy attacks. The road became even more difficult, the barricades on the way met more and more often, and the troops for the second day were in great need of clean water. The latter circumstance worsened the condition of several hundred wounded. With every hour of such a march, confusion grew.

In three days the column traveled only 25 versts. Grabbe, realizing that he was losing control of the troops, made the difficult decision to abandon his plans and retreat along the same path. This finally finished off the morale of people who had overcome so many difficulties. The disorder grew with every second - no one kept the disposition, the column turned into a hodgepodge. Soon everything took the form of flight - people abandoned everything that prevented the retreat, with the exception of the wounded and guns. The enemy, rejoicing at such a combination of circumstances, resumed attacks with renewed vigor. Finally, on June 4, the detachment returned to Gerzel, having lost almost 1,800 people, that is, a little less than one-fifth of the original composition.

The incident did not teach Grabbe anything, and he undertook another expedition, which also failed, but on a smaller scale - the Russian losses amounted to about 200 people, but only because they were opposed by only 300 murids.

This sobered the general. Realizing that his feud with Golovin had gone too far and cost many lives, Grabbe asked the emperor to relieve him of his post. On December 21, 1842, Golovin followed him, instead of whom General Neidgardt was sent. The crisis continued to flare up.

Shamil himself, who personally had nothing to do with Grabbe's defeats, was mainly engaged in preparations and military reform. The detachments of the murids took on a regular appearance - the imam needed an army, and not a bunch of inspired highlanders. In order to obtain such an army, he created a system in which every ten households were to supply and train a detachment of warriors. These people undertook to carry out any order of the imam at any second - for this they lived in the houses of local residents, their land was cultivated, and the harvest was harvested. As a result, Shamil had a detachment of loyal supporters in every village who were vitally interested in his success. At the same time, it was possible to recruit additional detachments under the command of temporary commanders, and in extreme cases, put at least the entire village under arms. In general, the imam made a leap from a tribal-tribal system to almost feudalism.

The pseudo-regular nature of Shamil's troops was also emphasized by their appearance - the privates wore yellow uniforms, the officers wore black. They all wore identical green turbans on their heads. For those who distinguished themselves, medals were even provided, a sample for which was sent by the Turkish Sultan. The awarded were given a written certificate, and the medal (due to the general lack of funds) they had to buy with their own money.

The character of Shamil himself did not get better over the years - having survived the defeat of Kazi-Mulla, the murder of Khamzat, who had blood enemies throughout the Caucasus, the imam became more suspicious and tougher. He went few places without the accompaniment of an executioner, ready to start chopping heads and hands at any second - for this, only a suspicion of disloyalty was enough.

On August 26, 1843, Shamil left Dilym at the head of a large army. Less than a day later, he appeared at the village of Untsukul, not far from which he was joined by several followers at the head of strong detachments, including Hadji Murad. Last year, Untsukul openly came out on the side of the Russians, handing over 78 murids and allowing him to host a small imperial garrison. Now it was necessary to show everyone that such a thing could not go unpunished.

The Russians did not sit still, trying with the help of everyone they managed to gather nearby (about 500 people), to help out the village, but they did not succeed - more than 480 people were killed, and only a few lucky ones managed to escape, who managed to swim across the Koisu under a hail of bullets. After two days of desperate fighting, the remnants of the garrison surrendered, and the village was captured.

Klugenau urgently gathered troops, but during this time Shamil managed to capture all the Russian fortresses and loyal villages in Avaria, and the Russian general could only wait for the enemy in the well-fortified Khunzakh. Clever enough not to attack a well-fortified city with a large detachment of regular troops inside, the imam withdrew, preferring to use well-planned raids on other regions to force the Russians to withdraw the main forces from Avaria. After that, the murids felt at home there - the goal was achieved.

All autumn, until Christmas, Shamil marched across Dagestan with a well-trained and well-provided army, constantly attacking the most important or weakly fortified points. The Russians lost 12 fortifications, 27 guns and over 2,600 men in a year. The troops were constantly in short supply, and only the inhuman tension of the already exhausted forces and the actions of skillful and enterprising officers like General Freitag did not allow the situation to finally fly into hell.

An interesting case emphasizes the artistry and charisma of Shamil, which helped him keep the violent highlanders in check with their eternal strife. Chechnya has long become a secondary theater of military operations: they began to shoot a little less often, since Russians and Murids appeared there periodically, in raids. Chechens, true to their Caucasian character, tried to gain more resources for themselves with a minimum of effort, supporting one or the other. This, of course, had consequences - both of them rightly considered the Chechens traitors, purposefully walking along the edge with fire and sword. After some time, the population of Chechnya decided to ask Shamil for either protection or permission to make peace with Russia.

Of course, no one wanted to go voluntarily with such news, so they had to cast lots, according to which four men from the village of Gunoy were chosen. Knowing well the greedy Caucasian mentality, the Chechens gave the daredevils a significant amount of gold. Arriving in Dargo, they found a mullah, who was valued and respected by Shamil's mother. The Imam took care of her and loved her very much, so the idea of ​​​​acting through an old and pious woman seemed great.

Caucasian elderly woman

Mulla was bribed, after which he convinced his mother of the legitimacy and logic of the delegates' demands. The woman spoke to Shamil, who, of course, was not encouraged by the Chechen proposal. Cunning and prudent, he was well aware that the murder or punishment of the negotiators would push Chechnya into the arms of the empire. This was the last thing the imam wanted, and after a little thought, he worked out a carefully thought-out plan.

To begin with, he announced the decision of the Chechens in front of the entire population of Dargo. Then he locked himself in the mosque for three days, while, importantly, he ordered the rest to gather around the temple and pray with him. People, exhausted by prayer and fasting, were brought to the extreme degree of religious fervor, and when Shamil appeared, they were ready for anything.

Leaving the mosque, the imam turned to everyone with a long speech, the essence of which was that he turned to Mohammed, and he, upset that the Chechens decided to submit to the infidels, ordered to punish the one who brought the bad news with 100 blows of a whip. Since this person was his mother, it meant that it was she who should be punished.

Then the murids grabbed the unfortunate old woman and, tearing off the snow-white shawl from the sobbing woman, began to beat her. The physical health of the Imam's mother was only enough for five strokes, after which she lost consciousness. Then Shamil announced that he would take the remaining 95 blows himself, which he did without a single cry. The crowd was spellbound, in a mixture of horror, awe and religious ecstasy. The moment was chosen perfectly, and the imam commanded menacingly to bring him the people for whose sake his mother had been subjected to such a humiliating punishment. The Chechen deputies, frightened to the point of stuttering, were thrown at Shamil's feet. They no longer doubted their fate, but the imam only authoritatively ordered them to return back to Chechnya and convey to their people everything that they had seen here. The poor fellows did not have to be begged for a long time, and after half an hour they were galloping home, not sparing the horses.

Adjutant General Alexander Neidgardt (1784-1845), Viceroy in the Caucasus (1842-1844)

With the help of this strong scene, Shamil managed to retain Chechnya, not only without losing his authority, but, on the contrary, raising it in the eyes of all the highlanders, who even heard about the incident.

Meanwhile, inspired by the successes of Paskevich in the wars against the Turks and Persians, Emperor Nicholas could not understand why his generals could not deal with some band of robbers. He additionally sent General Neidhardt 25 infantry battalions, 4 Cossack regiments and 40 guns. In addition, the king ordered to strengthen the Caucasian troops 22,000 well-trained recruits and soldiers who had served their time. For this, the emperor demanded concrete results, in case of failure to achieve which he threatened to withdraw reinforcements in December 1844.

This misunderstanding of the essence and differences between the regular (which were Turkey and Persia), conditionally regular (which was Shamil) and irregular (the rest of the highlanders, constantly living between a state of robbery and disguise as civilians) cost the country 16 years of a bloody war and spending a huge amount resources. Unfortunately, it was impossible to solve a problem that went far beyond the scope of a simple conquest campaign with one or two successful campaigns.

Major General Diomede Passek (1808-1845), hero of the Caucasian War

Neidhardt, however, diligently set to work, and the year 1844 passed under the sign of a series of major battles, where victories were won mainly by Russians. So, for example, Passek, having only 1,400 soldiers, dispersed the enemy army, numbering 27,000 fighters. Nevertheless, the peculiarities of the theater of military operations, the oversight of Nicholas I, which fettered the initiative, and the talent of Shamil did not allow us to extract strategic results from these victories, leaving the positions and prestige of the Murids intact.

This, of course, could not suit the emperor. Having allowed General Neidgardt to prepare a campaign plan for 1845, which involved a decisive campaign against Dargo, Nikolai approved it, but decided to change the commander-in-chief, transferring this post to Count Vorontsov, a general of the Patriotic War, a refined aristocrat, who was constantly chased by numerous sons of high nobility.

Adjutant General Mikhail Vorontsov (1782-1856), hero of the war of 1812, viceroy in the Caucasus (1844-1854)

Arriving in the Caucasus, Vorontsov was surprised to learn that the upcoming expedition was not approved by practically any of his subordinates. Wishing, nevertheless, to fulfill the order of the emperor, he brushed off all objections, but personal communication with the troops and a careful study of the circumstances began to change his point of view. In particular, on May 25, 1845, the count, in correspondence with the Minister of War, was already talking about the fact that he would, of course, beat Shamil, but the final subjugation of the Caucasus was possible only as a result of the transition to a "reasonable and methodical system." Time passed, and doubt turned into frank confusion. On May 30, Vorontsov wrote that he no longer hoped for the success of the enterprise, although he would do everything in his power.

In such moods, the count left the Vnepnaya fortress at the head of a large detachment. After 3 days, he joined the forces stationed in Dagestan, and the number of soldiers in his army reached 9,000. The start turned out to be quite good - the vanguard under the command of Passek captured the Anchimir height, which was defended by a detachment of 3,000 highlanders. Russian losses amounted to only 17 wounded, and the emboldened troops moved on; but the cunning Shamil has not yet brought the main forces into battle - their time will come later.

Vorontsov with retinue

On the morning of June 6, Passek, with his characteristic craving for adventure, continued the offensive without waiting for orders, and was far behind the rest of the detachment. As a result of a sharp change in the weather, about 500 horses froze to death, and 450 people received severe frostbite. This somewhat dampened his ardor and nullified the moral consequences of the previous victory.

Shamil has not yet taken active steps, only destroying all the settlements in the way of the Russians - his goal was to lure the imperial troops away from the supply bases and prevent them from receiving food from the surrounding area. The cunning fox knew how to act and did his job brilliantly.

Vorontsov understood this very well, but, approaching Dargo for 16 kilometers and having an impressive army at his disposal, he could not help but attack. The troops should have been supplied with provisions, and Shamil ruthlessly burned and plundered all the local villages for miles around. For a long time, the Russians were marking time and trying to find at least something, but each time they returned with nothing. Finally, on July 4, Vorontsov realized that his army had only a few days of food left, and the convoy with provisions would not arrive until the 10th. This led to the fatal decision to move on July 6 to Dargo, sending part of the troops back for food.

Dargin campaign

It all started with a standard for the Caucasian realities and mountainous nature of the episode - at three o'clock in the morning on July 6, a local resident, who was in the service of the commander, stole Vorontsov's beloved horse and galloped off into the forest - to warn Shamil about the approach of the Russians. An hour later, the detachment began to move, and already at 9 in the morning the main forces approached the edge of the forest. It was 40 versts through it to the nearest plain, and to the cherished goal - Dargo - 5-6 kilometers. The road, along which they had to advance, was narrow, and every 500 meters it was blocked by blockages of ancient trees.

Of course, the troops advanced slowly, constantly bumping into ambushes and suffering losses. However, Dargo was taken the next morning. Shamil was not inside, of course.

Separated from the nearest point controlled by imperial troops by a dense forest of 40 versts, having provisions for only 5 days, Vorontsov every day more and more felt the famous cocked hat of Napoleon on his head.

Movement to Dargo

On the evening of July 9, rockets were fired at the edge of the forest, announcing that a convoy with provisions had arrived. Of course, he could not get to Dargo without help, and the infamous "biscuit expedition" was organized in the village. Klugenau from the very beginning had no illusions about her, but was appointed head of the column. True to the school of Suvorov and his assertion that "the head never waits for the tail," he was an extremely unfortunate choice for such a position. The indefatigable and impulsive Passek, who led the vanguard, only diminished the chances of a successful escort of the convoy through the forest full of ambushes.

The column set off on a campaign on the morning of the 10th - each obstacle, destroyed with great difficulty 4 days ago, was carefully restored by the murids. Passek rushed forward, storming one barricade after another. Klugenau went along with him, as a result of which the avant-garde broke away from the center, and the center, striving to keep up with the "head", from the rear guard. The enemy did not fail to take advantage of this, and soon Shamil's detachments wedged into the gaps. The Russians were shot literally from every bush and even from under the branches of centuries-old trees. The rearguard suffered the most, in which the commander and many officers were killed.

As a result, the remnants of the column were able to escape into the open space only at sunset. The situation was disgusting - Klugenau reasonably believed that it was better to withdraw to Dagestan, leaving Vorontsov to make his way to Gerzel along with the remaining soldiers. The general thought for some time, but as a result, he nevertheless decided to return to Dargo.

Early in the morning of the 11th, the column began to move. Now the enemy was even greater than yesterday, the obstacles were restored again, and it also poured heavy rain, reducing visibility to almost zero. Passek, again in command of the vanguard, stumbled upon a log fortification, in front of which lay the bodies of the Russians who had died the day before, naked and mutilated with all mountain ingenuity. The soldiers gnashed their teeth with anger, but there was nothing to do - all that remained was to gather all their will into a fist and make their way further.

As a result, the offensive stalled, and confusion began, caused by the death of the brave Passek. The vanguard was defeated - only a disorderly line of representatives of different regiments and different types of troops remained. All these soldiers were loaded with wounded and provisions. Klugenau personally led them into the attack - he must have decided that everything was already over: his entire headquarters had long been dead, the onslaught of the mountaineers was intensifying, and the ranks of the soldiers were rapidly thinning. The inflexible general slowly loaded his pistol with the last bullets - pale, but calm in his severity, he looked, according to the recollection of one of the seriously wounded officers of the regiment, like a "statue of the commander", around which the remnants of at least some meaningfulness were concentrated in the raging ocean of chaos.

As is often the case in movies, help arrived at the very last moment. All this time, Vorontsov was sitting in Dargo and could not know exactly what was happening, but he understood from the sound of the firing that things were bad. The commander-in-chief could not stand it, sending a fresh infantry battalion to help. The soldiers broke through the crowd of those fleeing and fighting, and, taking a place in the rear guard, repulsed the most powerful attacks of the highlanders. As a result of the “biscuit expedition” cursed by everyone, 550 people were killed, including 2 generals, and almost nothing came to Dargo from the provisions.

Now Vorontsov was in a village surrounded by forest, with only 5,000 combat-ready people and many wounded. At the same time, there was almost no food in the camp, and everything around was teeming with murids who sensed prey. There was only one way - to break through the Chechen forests to Gerzel, but it was unthinkable to go 41 miles through such terrain alone. Only General Freitag, who was in Grozny, could save everyone, on the condition that he throw all available forces into battle. Vorontsov sent five couriers to him asking for help, but no one knew if even one would get there.

On July 12, everyone was preparing for the march, loading the wounded onto wagons and destroying extra tents and the like. Early in the morning of the 13th, the column moved forward. On the first day there were few battles, but the advance was slow - only 5 miles were left behind, and on July 14 Shamil arranged the main ambush for the Russians, having fought a fierce battle. All previous mistakes were repeated, and the vanguard, who wanted to break out of this ill-fated place as quickly as possible, broke away from the main forces. Murids immediately poured into the gap that had formed, which slowed down the advance even more.

July 15 became easier, since Shamil decided, apparently, to regroup his forces, but the tension from the previous days, coupled with a lack of provisions, began to affect. But the next day, hell began - not only did the attacks of the Murids become even more vicious, the same mistake was repeated with the detached avant-garde. This, of course, could not be avoided, since each soldier understood that the only chance for salvation was to reach Gerzel in the next 2-3 days, and tried his best to move as quickly as possible. As a result, the combat units went forward, leaving the artillerymen and sappers uncovered, who were hacked to pieces. Each such episode ended with a scene of the massacre of the wounded.

In 4 days, the column passed 25 miles, it remained to go 15. The number of wounded increased to 2,000 people, that is, for each wounded there were 3 healthy people, who had to not only carry a comrade, but also wage constant battles. The enemy could fall anywhere, anytime and from anywhere, food supplies ran out, and the soldiers were completely demoralized. It was impossible to go further.

Vorontsov decided to take up the defensive and wait for Freytag, without knowing whether the sent dispatches had reached that point. July 17 passed under the sign of gloomy uncertainty. Every minute dragged on like an hour.

Freytag has arrived. Oddly enough, all five couriers made it to him alive and unharmed. The general expected such a situation, placing all available detachments between Grozny and Gerzel. Having received dispatches between July 15 and 16, he immediately set out on a campaign and, having covered 160 versts in 2 days, reached the besieged camp of Vorontsov at 9 pm on the 18th. On July 20, the commander-in-chief moved towards him, and on July 26 the remnants of the expedition reached Gerzel.

Lieutenant General Robert Freitag (1802-1851)

The plan for the failed campaign was not developed by Vorontsov, and the defeat cooled the ardor of the emperor, who now did not require immediate results and decisive operations, which gave the commander in chief the opportunity to approach the matter in more detail. Throughout 1846, he built fortresses, roads and improved existing fortifications. Shamil, inspired by his successes, tried to stage an invasion of Kabarda, but Freitag prevented him, and the region, which had been calm since Yermolov's time, was never involved in hostilities. At the same time, the war was of a maneuverable nature, and neither side suffered serious human or reputational losses.

In 1847-48, Vorontsov carried out offensive operations, but carefully, not aiming at attempts to end Muridism in one fell swoop. He was well aware that he did not have the strength to do this, and until the end of the Crimean War (1856), both sides played in strategic defense.

If Vorontsov was simply afraid to go for broke, then Shamil was busy with internal problems. With each passing year, the imam became more and more convinced that he was surrounded by traitors. This led to the fact that he began to see a threat in the most devoted and desperate commander - in Hadji Murad. The popularity of the latter grew, and Shamil had already sentenced his associate to death at a secret council, but he was warned and surrendered to the Russians.

Head of Hadji Murad yesterday and today

They treated the former field commander quite humanely, keeping him in Tiflis in the position of an honorary prisoner, but nothing could change the robber character, and Hadji Murad, longing for freemen, escaped, killing the security officer and the Cossack. Two days later, he and four associates were overtaken and killed by local militia led by one of their natural enemies. This was preceded by a desperate skirmish - realizing that it would not work to leave, the fugitives killed the horses under them and, lying behind them, fired back to the last bullet. The head of Hadji Murad was sent to St. Petersburg, to the famous physician Pirogov. Now it is stored somewhere in the storerooms of the Kunstkamera, from where various Dagestan public organizations periodically unsuccessfully try to get it.

This heroic death, which does not lead to any global changes in itself, served as a barrier between the two eras. The era of the "wild" Caucasus inevitably receded into the past, giving way to the dominance of order. Centuries of civilizing work were not in vain - the khanates and auls were autonomous only formally, but in reality they were firmly tied to the structure of the empire. Those who tried to resist were destroyed - in 1852, Prince Baryatinsky gathered 10,000 soldiers, and walked with fire and sword across the plains of Chechnya. Freitag slowly but surely cut down forests, methodically doing this since 1846. Shamil was at the peak of his power, but the end was already approaching - just as the chaos of the Wild West inevitably receded in the face of the railway, so the frontier of the Caucasus was inexorably melting, torn apart by the plow of a Cossack settler for centuries. Now he had to be finished off with the boots of the tsarist soldiers, forever trampling the remnants of the former freemen.

Lieutenant of the Imperial Army Jamaluddin Shamil (1829-1858) son of Imam Shamil

The Crimean War broke out, but the course of actions in Asia was favorable for the empire, and Muravyov smashed the Turks a little worse than Paskevich, and the European powers were only interested in Crimea. Shamil tried to use the current situation in his favor, but in the end he quarreled with the Turkish Sultan, missing this opportunity as well.

Having lost his grip, Shamil did nothing important - in particular, he organized the abduction of two Georgian princesses with three small children in their arms. During the transition, one of them was accidentally trampled by mountain horses, another, a baby, was thrust into a bag head down for fun (with a fatal result), and the nanny of the third was brutally killed. All this was done with only one goal - to return back one of the sons of the imam, given to General Grabbe as a hostage at the age of twelve, even during the assault on Akhulgo.

Adjutant General Alexander Baryatinsky (1815-1879), Viceroy in the Caucasus (1856-1862)

The Russians, having received the child, for some reason did not cut off his head, but sent him to Petersburg, where he was raised and sent to serve in the army. Having received Jamaluddin back, Shamil was surprised to find that he was saturated with Russian ideas and was so confident in the power of the empire that he advised his father to surrender. The Imam decided to send his son to the village of Karatu, where Jamaluddin's brother Kazi-Muhammad lived, who honestly tried to arrange a life for his returned relative by organizing female attention and care for him. Jamaluddin, finding that he lives among savages, fell into melancholy, began to languish, and died three years later.

The end was inevitable - having ended the Crimean War, Russia realized how dangerous it was to have a semi-wild formation with an obscure status at the very borders. The Caucasian question had to be dealt with definitively. On July 22, 1856, Prince Baryatinsky was appointed viceroy in the Caucasus, who returned to Yermolov's principles of gradual advancement and developed a clear and feasible plan for joint operations. This fact, as well as the construction of fortresses, roads and deforestation by Vorontsov, led to the most daring results.

Assault on the village of Gunib

Since that time, Russia has no longer experienced problems in the Caucasus. There were no offensive defeats, no mass confusion. The armies and detachments acted as parts of a well-oiled mechanism, making no mistakes and stopping all attempts of the murids to arrange another daring raid. The hand of the empire finally tightened on Shamil's throat, and on August 26, 1859, he surrendered to Baryatinsky at Gunib.

The war in the Caucasus is over, but not Shamil's life. Having become one of the toys of Alexander II, this once formidable and unbending man became a walking confirmation of the military power of the empire. Having assigned the role of a live exhibit to the leader of the murids, for some time they took him around the country, showing it to a variety of people, from the empress to Yermolov, who was bored in retirement. After a long tour, the former “freedom fighter” was allowed to settle in Kaluga, from time to time, nevertheless, the already elderly Shamil was pulled out for one or another solemn event, like the wedding of Tsarevich Alexander.

Surrender of Shamil to Baryatinsky

The Caucasus was pacified.

Of course, there were some shortcomings, but, being doomed with Shamil, they certainly had no chance without him. Large-scale hostilities ceased in May 1864.

Unfortunately, during the turbulent twentieth century, many of the gains of the empire were lost. Those that were not lost were weakened in one way or another, separatist tendencies intensified. The policy of encouraging the nationalism of small peoples, consistently pursued in the USSR, did not lead to anything good after its disappearance.

Shamil in old age

No one knows whether this is a natural process of civilizational decay or another period of weakness that will be overcome. Maybe the faded form will be filled with content and spirit, or maybe there is only further collapse ahead. In such a situation, the current behavior of "small but proud" peoples is more than natural. Feeling the weakening of the pressure, they will only increase their efforts, will emphasize their own self, arrange acts of disobedience, will slowly but surely seize power in their lands in a creeping manner. For Russia, this should not mean abandoning unreliable territories. On the contrary, the closest attention should be paid to such manifestations, without trying to sweep all the numerous incidents under the carpet. Integrity, uniformity must be strengthened in order to turn the country into a monolithic phalanx, which is difficult to break apart or put to flight.

With regard to the Caucasus, this will probably be the most difficult. Given the nurturing nationalism of small peoples, the still alive Caucasian mentality - the mentality of a hunter who looks at everything around him as a legitimate prey - the likelihood of losing control over these regions over the next ten years seems very high.

Based on the study of the history of the conquest of the Caucasus, we can safely formulate conclusions for the future.

The first, as in all cases, must be the military force. Playing the most important role during all the years of gradual conquest, it is the foundation, allowing everything else to be carried out. Everything must begin with military force, be accompanied and supported by it.

An important note is that Caucasians, driven by their mentality and passion for power, are happy to join law enforcement agencies. Someone sees this as a way to tie the local population to the Metropolis, but I see a serious danger in this. In the future, this should be given the closest attention.

Military force must be followed by a colonization policy. We will face a fostered nationalism reinforced by a mentality alien to us and influence from abroad. There will be international complications. But this is the only way, if we do not want to inevitably, in ten, fifty or a hundred years, lose this region forever.

Caucasians make Caucasians three things - greed, clan and personal determination, overshadowing at certain moments a sense of self-preservation. We must take cultural, economic and police measures to erase these qualities. There will be discontent, there will be a reaction. We must understand this from the very beginning, and provide all the necessary conditions in order to suppress possible protests. So we will gradually make these people worthy members of society. Without destroying the unity of the national color, without constant attempts to pull the blanket over themselves, to sweep, to take advantage of the extremely developed clan ties.

It will require spending, political will, and, most importantly, consistency of course. But on the other hand, in 2-4 generations, this region of rare beauty will indeed appear in a completely different guise - a tourist cluster with a friendly and calm population, a kind of Russian Alps, where our children will attend excursions to places of past victories, and adults will go skiing and horses. And, most importantly, the southern borders of Russia will be safe.

“If the decision to bury Lenin's body is made, then it will be the most correct from a historical point of view. At the same time, the decision on burial should not be selective. It is necessary to bury both the body of Lenin and the naib of Imam Shamil Hadji Murad, whose head is still kept in the museum of St. Petersburg,” said Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

Hadji Murad's skull is more important than Lenin's body

On the eve of the centenary of the revolution, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, also spoke about the fate of Lenin's body. His call to bury the leader raised a new wave of controversy around the Mausoleum. But Kadyrov at the same time demanded to bury the remains of the hero of the Caucasian war, Hadji Murad, still lying in the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera. And for the inhabitants of the Caucasus, this is a much more important statement.

As the centenary of the October Revolution approached, calls were again made to finally bury its leader, Vladimir Lenin. The impetus to the topic on Thursday was given by the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who expressed the opinion that the burial would be "the most correct from a historical point of view" decision.

“The issue of Lenin's burial should, of course, be decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But I am personally convinced that it is enough to stare at the corpse of Lenin. And it is high time to bury the leader of the revolution, this is both reasonable and humane,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel. He called it “wrong” that in the center of the Russian capital “there is a coffin with a dead person.”

"The so-called skull of Hadji Murad"

“At the same time, the decision on burial should not be selective,” the head of Chechnya added. “It is necessary to bury both the body of Lenin and the naib of Imam Shamil Hadji Murad, whose head is still kept in the museum of St. Petersburg.”

Apparently, Kadyrov became interested in Lenin for a reason, he has his own interest: at the same time, to achieve the burial of the head of another historical hero, more important for the Caucasus - Hadji Murad.

This refers to the Avar leader and commander Khadzhi-Murat Khunzakhsky, the right hand of Shamil, the leader of the mountaineers of Western Dagestan, Chechnya and Circassia during the Caucasian War of 1817-1864. Hadji Murad managed to visit both the Russian service and the side of the "North Caucasian Imamate". He died in a skirmish with the Cossacks in 1852.

The severed head of the leader of the highlanders was sent to St. Petersburg. The skull of Hadji Murad was kept at the Military Medical Academy, in 1959 it was transferred to the collection of skulls of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera). According to the interlocutor of the Interfax agency, the skull was there as an exhibit until 2001, when it was removed for storage. By the way, disputes about the ownership of the remains are still ongoing: inscriptions in Russian and Arabic on the skull itself are considered confirmation.

In 2000, ex-State Duma deputy Nadirshah Khachilayev also called for burying the skull, but after his assassination, the issue was forgotten for a long time. However, since November 2015, a commission for the burial of Hadji Murad's skull has been launched, which includes the Ministry of Culture, the Foreign Ministry, the Russian Military Historical Society, and scientific organizations. “At different times, Azerbaijan, where the body of Hadji Murad is buried, and Dagestan showed interest in the exhibit,” the source said.

The Kunstkamera also kept the skull of the “Kazakhstani father Makhno” Nurmagambet Kokembaev (better known as Keiki Batyr), whose return Kazakhstan demanded last year. As a result, on October 6, 2016, the skull of Keiki Batyr was delivered to Astana.

The press service of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE RAS) gave a comment to the VZGLYAD newspaper in which the skull of the Avar leader was called "the so-called skull of Hadji Murad." The museum dryly stated that the topic was generally classified - the interdepartmental commission, specially created by the Ministry of Culture, is dealing with the skull. The MAE administration does not have the right to comment on the commission's documents marked "for official use".

Journalist, member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Maxim Shevchenko, in a commentary to the VZGLYAD newspaper, expressed full solidarity with the head of Chechnya on this issue:

“The fact that the head of the hero of the Avar people is in the Kunstkamera likens Russia to some Papuans and ISIS *. Keeping heads in the museums of a modern civilized state, it seems to me, is a shame for Russia. Of course, the head of Hadji Murad must be connected to his body.

Director of the Center for Analysis and Prevention of Conflicts Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya also considers the topic of burial of the remains of Hadji Murad painful for the peoples of the Caucasus, especially for the Avars. According to her, not only Kadyrov, but also many caring people have long been trying to achieve a solution to this issue. In addition, such an appeal will bring the leader of Chechnya, in her opinion, additional PR.

Sokiryanskaya stressed that Hadji Murad remains a hero for many in the Caucasus. “Such people are important historical figures for society, part of the historical collective memory. It is clear that few people are concerned about this problem in everyday life, but it is very easy to mobilize the indignation associated with the memory of such symbolic figures,” Sokiryanskaya believes.

"The umbilical cord was connected to the site where the Aurora shot occurred"

As for Lenin, the issue of his burial has been discussed in Russia for more than a quarter of a century and is still perceived ambiguously in society. According to VTsIOM, 63 percent of Russians are confident in the need to bury Lenin. Many, however, are strongly opposed to such a move. In addition, the share of the country's citizens who note Lenin's positive contribution to the country's history has grown from 40 percent in 2006 to 56 percent now.

Communist Party Chairman Gennady Zyuganov claimed in August that President Vladimir Putin had promised him not to allow the reburial of Lenin and other Soviet figures buried near the Kremlin wall. However, Putin himself did not confirm this.

Of course, Kadyrov remembered the body of Lenin not out of the blue. He reacted to the words of the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, who on the eve expressed the opinion that the burial of Lenin would happen sooner or later. “The country does not need another hotbed of confrontation. And therefore, I think, some calm, non-confrontational way of solving this problem will be found. Maybe through a referendum, which will reveal the opinion of the majority of citizens. But it will not be today and not tomorrow, ”said Matvienko.

And, of course, Kadyrov's statement could not go unnoticed. His point of view was immediately shared by LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has long called for the removal of Lenin's body from the Mausoleum. “We propose to remove all burials from Red Square. These people are not actually buried, but lie in a common crypt. In Russia, this has never been done with the dead. Red Square is a place of celebrations, celebrations, concerts, sporting events. You can’t combine all this with a cemetery,” he stressed in his Telegram channel.

Supported Kadyrov and State Duma deputy Natalia Poklonskaya. “If the decision on burial is made, a new stage in the development of our Motherland will begin, with the page of the past turned over and the readiness to move on,” she stressed. On her Facebook page, Poklonskaya wrote that looking at a corpse in the center of the capital is “at least not humane and not human.” Here one cannot fail to recall that Kadyrov once supported Poklonskaya when she fought to ban the film Matilda. Well, here the deputy did not remain in debt.

Strange as it may seem, even the Chechen branch of the Communist Party agreed with the head of the republic. “I agree with him. It's not just his statement. This is the opinion of many people all over Russia,” said Magomed Daduev, secretary of the Chechen branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. “I believe that the greatness of the life and deeds of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin will not suffer at all from the fact that he will be buried in a Christian way. That would be very true, very true. And after that, Russia will gain stability and tranquility,” he added.

However, Daduev's colleagues in Moscow clearly disagree with this point of view. After all, it is the communists who are the most ardent opponents of the burial of Lenin's body. State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov objected to Matvienko the day before. “If I were Matvienko, if I had been born in Leningrad, I would have been connected with the umbilical cord to the place where Aurora was shot and where the revolution began. I would never talk about it like that. Moreover, she is such a hardened Komsomol leader! I don't understand her, what's gotten into her? She and I are about the same age - she wore a tie, and a Komsomol badge, and we had the same ideology, ”he pointed out.

Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergei Obukhov stressed that the decision on the fate of Lenin's body should not be made by Kadyrov or even Vladimir Putin. “Now the Duma, the Federation Council, the president can make a decision on the reburial, perhaps jointly, or maybe even a referendum,” he said.

“The question is more complicated than it seems to Ramzan Akhmatovich”

But Maxim Shevchenko decided to link the topic of Lenin's funeral with his merits in national politics, in particular in the Caucasus: "The issue with Lenin's body is a much more complicated issue than it seems to Ramzan Akhmatovich." “I believe that Lenin gave, including the Chechen people, freedom. The Chechens supported Lenin during the Soviet era, and in this case it is necessary to separate the policy of Lenin and the policy of Stalin,” he explained.

The Kremlin took a more restrained approach to this issue. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed: "We know that different points of view are being expressed, this is a rather resonant topic, but it is not on the agenda of the Kremlin administration."

TV journalist Ksenia Sobchak, who announced her candidacy for the presidency of Russia, also joined the debate on her Instagram. She recalled that Kadyrova raised this topic earlier. “Now Ramzan Kadyrov, following me, calls to bury Lenin. True, he adds that Putin should decide. It is not Putin who should decide, Ramzan Akhmatovich. The Russian people must decide. He must decide this in free elections and referendums,” Sobchak said.

An alternative idea was proposed by the head of the HRC, Mikhail Fedotov.

“I think the time has come to solve the problem of the mausoleum. But not in such a radical way, but to make the mausoleum a museum.

No need to change anything. But it should be a museum, there should be an usher at the entrance, then you go down, and there is an exposition dedicated to the creation of the mausoleum, its internal machinery, technology, embalming technology, and so on. This will be a very interesting museum, I assure you,” he stressed.

“At the same time, it will cease to be a place of worship, and the fact that the body can be there ... So, the British Museum also has mummies of pharaohs, but no one comes to them with flowers, thank God. We need to treat this as history, this is a historical fact,” Fedotov added.

The fate of the legendary Hadji Murad

On May 5, 1852, Hadji Murad, one of the most famous mountain leaders, died, whose fate inspired Leo Tolstoy to write the story. SPB.AIF.RU recalls what the Avar military leader became famous for.

The name of this Dagestan warrior is known far beyond the Caucasus. The story of the life and death of Hadji Murat amazed contemporaries and historians. Leo Tolstoy dedicated a story to him, and in the 20th century, directors tried to transfer the image of the Avar leader to television screens.

In 1930, the film The White Devil (Der weiße Teufel) was shot at the Berlin studio, where the silent film actor Ivan Mozzhukhin played the main role. And in 1959, the film "Hadji Murad - the White Devil" was released, in which Steve Reeves, "Mr. Universe", known for the roles of ancient Greek heroes in American cinema, shone. Film director Georgy Danelia also wanted to make a film about Hadji Murat, but in the end the USSR State Film Agency closed the project.

On the anniversary of the death of the legendary man, SPB.AIF.RU recalls interesting facts from his life.
"Leader of the Cavalry"

“The fearlessness of Hadji Murad was amazing even in the Caucasus,” wrote the authoritative magazine Russkaya Starina in March 1881.

The military historian Arnold Zisserman called this military leader a "brilliant savage" and the bravest of the bravest highlanders.

“He was an extraordinary leader of the cavalry, resourceful, helpful, resolute in attack, elusive in retreat ... Transfer this brilliant savage, what he was - to the French army, or even better - to Moltke's army, to whatever European army you want, Hadji Murat appeared everywhere would be a dashing and best cavalry commander,” he wrote in his memoirs, noting that this “knight” even managed to “keep like a frying pan” such smart generals as Prince Argutinsky-Dolgorukov and Prince Mikhail Vorontsov.

A native of Khunzakh either collaborated with the Russian troops, or for 15 years was the “right hand” of Imam Shamil, who, in turn, appointed him the naib (authorized imam - approx.) of all Avar villages.

Historians agree that Hadji Murad, despite who was his ally, remained, first of all, true to himself, his interests and beliefs.

At the age of 22, he was at the head of the Khunzakh people after the murder of Imam Khunzakh Gamzat-bek, which was committed by his elder brother Osman. Despite the fact that Muridism was gaining strength at that time, Khunzakh became an "island of disobedience" for nine years. At that time, Hadji Murad and Shamil, a supporter of Muridism, were on opposite sides of the barricades.

When the Russian troops who fought against Shamil defeated the enemy on the Gotsatlin Heights and occupied Khunzakh, Hadji Murad decided to stay at court. The Russian authorities appointed him the de facto commander of all the Avar military units, but proclaimed the khan of the young Sultan Ahmed.

A rivalry began between the young warrior and Ahmed Khan, which grew into enmity. As a result, Hadji Murad was accused of conducting secret negotiations with Shamil. The highlander was arrested and sent under escort to Temir-Khan-Shura, a settlement now known as Buynaksk. Despite the fact that Hadji Murad was tied up, he managed to escape. He made a jump, reckless in his courage, from a cliff along which a path ran. At the same time, he dragged two guards behind him. Historians agree that the fugitive managed to survive after such a fall because he fell just on them. With a broken leg, he was able to get to the village, where the locals came to his aid.

Right hand

After this incident, Hadji Murad went over to Shamil's side. The Imam valued him so much that he made him his "right hand". For more than 10 years, their cooperation has instilled fear in Russian troops. Hadji Murad began to be called a "ghostly" warrior. He organized daring raids and carried out punitive actions for the sake of revenge. It is known that the Russian command allocated the best detachments from the elite military units to where a native of Khunzakh could appear.

But friendship with Shamil came to an end. The wayward Hadji Murad did not fulfill all the instructions of the imam, as a result, he deprived him of his naib. It even came to open clashes between representatives of the two sides. As a result, in order to resolve the conflict of interests, a congress of naibs was to be held in Chechnya. Hadji Murad felt that he could fall into Shamil's trap, and with four devoted warriors went to the Vozdvizhenskaya fortress, where he surrendered to the Russian authorities.

This development of events played into the hands of the Russians. They accept him with honors, but do not fully trust him, knowing the explosive nature of the highlander. As a result, despite the polite treatment, Hadji Murad was in fact in the position of a prisoner. When he found out that Shamil wanted to kill his family, he attempted to escape.

With his companions, he strives for the mountains, but not far from the village of Nukhi they are overtaken by the Cossacks and the police. According to legend, five warriors were opposed by 300 people. Despite this superiority of forces, the fight lasted for several hours. Having lost his friends, the wounded Hadji Murad continued to repulse the attacks. Even having received 12 bullet wounds, he rushed at the Cossacks coming at him with a dagger in his hands. The story has been preserved that the hero died under heavy fire, hugging a tree. The rebellious military commander was cut off his head, which was sent to Count Vorontsov as evidence of the troublemaker's death.

“... The head was sent from Zakatal, it arrived, as I was told, in excellent condition and is in the hospital. Curiosity to see her ... This man - the horror of so many people and provinces - really died ... ”, Vorontsov later wrote to Prince Chernyshev.

So the head of the warrior remained in St. Petersburg. At first it was kept at the Military Medical Academy, then it was transferred to the Kunstkamera. In 2009, the skull was transferred to the State Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg.

The body of Hadji Murad was buried. Currently, his grave has become a ziyarat - a revered place.

Tomb of Hadji Murad

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