Hostages Against Hostage!


In the mid-19th century, after decades of fighting, the Russians were still trying to conquer the Caucasus, while the Caucasians under their charismatic leader of the Caucasians, Imam Shamil...



...resisted.

The fortunes of war swung back and forth. In 1839, the Russians under General Pavel Grabbé closed...



...Shamil in the Aul (Caucasian: village/settlement) of Achulgo...:



In order to lift the siege, Shamil had to promise peace and hand over his youngest son Jemal-Edin (Jamaldin), then six years old, to the Russians as a hostage.



The boy was taken to Saint Petersburg, where Tsar Nikolai I practically adopted him as a son...


...gave him a very good education and later accepted him as an officer in the Guard, where he worked as an adjutant for the Tsar...:



In 1854 the Russians had to withdraw almost half of their troops from the Caucasus because of the Crimean War - and Shamil, who was almost militarily defeated by this time, sensed a good opportunity to get his son back from Russia!

On June 16, 1854, the Caucasians, led by Shamil's eldest son, Ghazi Mohammed, invaded...



... the Zinondali (Tsinandali) winery on the Alasan River (the Georgian-Caucasian border)...



...and robbed 23 women and children...:



**continued next post**

Part II

Among those kidnapped was the wife of the Georgian prince and Russian officer David Chavchavadze...



... Princess Anna Orbeliani...



...a direct relative of the former Georgian ruling family that ceded Georgia to Russia in order to ensure that the country remained Christian.

In the Caucasus, the abductees were arrested in the "big aul"...



...kept prisoners, which was practically impregnable on a hilltop, to which only a narrow path led, the negotiations with the Russians dragged on almost endlessly.

We owe the prisoners extremely valuable descriptions of the private life of Imam Shamil and his four wives...:





We also learn from these reports that Shamil was by no means the bloodthirsty murderer and religious fanatic that Russian propaganda made him out to be, but on the contrary highly educated.
For example, he corresponded in English with Queen Victoria!

Many details also reached abroad!

One of the prisoners was the French nanny Madame Drancy...



...who kept a daily diary, saved it through captivity and later published it in France!

We also know from the prisoners that Shamil had a cat that he loved more than anything and, out of deep sadness, fasted for four weeks when the animal died of old age.

In 1855 the exchange finally took place!

At this point in time, the Lieutenant Prince Jemal-Edin was completely Russified, had absolutely nothing to do with his father, his political goals and Islam, and hardly spoke Caucasian anymore!



The tsar had left it up to him to decide whether he wanted to be exchanged. He had - out of a sense of duty! - agreed immediately!

On the evening before the exchange, he celebrated a lavish farewell party with comrades from the Guard who had accompanied him to the Caucasus - it was absolutely clear to him that his change of front meant something like "life imprisonment".

Jemal-Edin isolated himself completely from his father and his two brothers and lived in his own (dream) world until his father had all the Russian books he had brought with him taken away from him.

He was taken to another hall severely depressed and soon died (or killed himself) of melancholy.

In 1859 Shamil and his last supporters had to capitulate to Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr Barjatinskij...:






He firmly expected to be executed, but the new Tsar Aleksander II had him brought to Saint Petersburg, treated with the utmost respect and honor - and Shamil accompanied the Tsar for half a year in his entourage.

The next picture was taken in the Winter Palace. Shamil and his sons Kasi Mohammed and Mohammed Scheffi can be seen in the middle...:



Danach wies der Zar dem Imam und seiner Familie ein ehrenvolles Exil in einem großen Steinhaus in der Stadt Kaluga zu.



The house still stands today - and a commemorative plaque commemorates its prominent resident...:





Shamil's middle son Mohammed Scheffi became an officer in the Russian army, rose to the rank of colonel in a cavalry regiment and received a number of high awards...:



Shamil, who aged rapidly in Russian exile...



... died in 1871 on a pilgrimage to Mecca.