Imam Shamil was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim sheikh of the Naqshbandi Sufis.
Kumyks are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.
Sheikh Mansur was a Chechen military commander and Islamic leader who led an anti-Russian North Caucasian resistance, known as the Sheikh Mansur Movement. He was influential in the resistance against Catherine the Great's imperialist expansion into the Caucasus during the late 18th century. Sheikh Mansur is considered the first leader of the resistance in the North Caucasus against Russian imperialism. He remains a hero of the Chechen and North Caucasian peoples in general, and their struggle for independence.
Grand Principality of Great Kabarda or East Circassia was a historical country in the North Caucasus corresponding partly to the modern Kabardino-Balkaria. It had better political organization than its neighbors and existed as a political community from the fifteenth century until it came under Russian control in the early nineteenth century after the Russo-Circassian War.
The Shihab dynasty is an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and emirs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th century, during Ottoman rule (1517–1918). Before then, the family had been in control of the Wadi al-Taym region, purportedly as early as the 12th century. During early Ottoman rule, they maintained an alliance and marital ties with the Ma'n dynasty, the Chouf-based, paramount Druze emirs and tax farmers of Mount Lebanon. When the last Ma'nid emir died without male progeny in 1697, the chiefs of the Druze in Mount Lebanon appointed the Shihab emir, Bashir, whose mother belonged to the Ma'n, as his successor. Bashir was succeeded by another Shihab emir with a Ma'nid mother, Haydar, after his death.
The Battle of Aldy, also known as the Battle of the Sunzha River was a failed military expedition launched by the Russian Empire with the aim of capturing Sheikh Mansur, who, through his speeches and teachings had gained a wide following the North Caucasus, especially in his hometown Aldy. His teachings on Jihad ("Gazavat") and his idea of the unification of the North Caucasian tribes under a single Islamic state concerned the Russian administration, who, as a result, sent a 3,000 strong force under Nikolai de Pieri in order to capture him.
The Chechen–Russian conflict was the centuries-long ethnic and political conflict, often armed, between the Russian, Soviet and Imperial Russian governments and various Chechen forces. The recent phase of the conflict started after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ended with the oppression of Chechen separatist leaders and crushing of the separatist movement in the republic proper in 2017.
Russian–Kumyk wars — a series of military conflicts between the Russian Tsardom and the Kumyk Tarki Shamkhalate and other Kumyk states and feudal possessions during the 16th–18th centuries. At the end of the 18th century, as well as during and after the Caucasian War, and throughout the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, conflicts continued in the form of uprisings in Shamkhalate, Northern Kumykia, Southern Kumykia, and in the form of anti-colonial protests of individual villages (societies). In the result of these wars and uprisings, some Kumyk areas and villages were destroyed several times over.
The Battle of Grigoriopolis, or the siege of Grigoriopolis was a 2 day long siege of the Grigoripolis Redoubt by Sheikh Mansur's forces which ultimately failed and forced the North Caucasians to retreat.
The Battle of Tatartup took place on 21 November 1785 between the Russian Empire and several North Caucasian nations led by Sheikh Mansur and ended in a second major defeat for the latter, which led to most of his soldiers leaving him, after which he took refuge in Anapa.
The Battle of the Malka River, also known as the Battle of Grigoriopolis took place on 30 October 1785, between the Russian Empire and the forces of Sheikh Mansur. The 5 hour–long battle ended in no deciding victory for either side.
The siege of Kizlyar in July 1785 was the second major confrontation between the Russian Empire and the forces of Sheikh Mansur. The North Caucasians hoped to capture the fortress of Kizlyar, which was the Russian economic center of the North Caucasus. After fierce fighting, they failed however as the fortress was well fortified and defended. After retreating, the Russian command sent the Tomsk infantry to attack the rebels as a show of strength and also to push them away from Kizlyar, but the regiment was forced to retreat with heavy losses, ending the 4 day long Siege of Kizlyar in no deciding victory for either side.
The Battle of Kachkalikov, also known as the Battle of Ghachalq, was a surprise attack conducted by Chechen fighters of the Kachkalikov clan led by Ibba-Mullah, on a Russian army led by Colonel Savalyev on January 17, 1787.
The Anapa campaign (1787) was a military expedition launched by the Russians to capture the fortress of Anapa. The Russians failed to capture the fort.
The Anapa Campaign in the winter of 1790 was a military expedition launched by Russia to capture the fortress of Anapa. The expedition failed.
The Attack on Karginsk took place on 14 July 1785. Sheikh Mansur attacked Karginsk Redoubt with his army of North Caucasians before advancing on Kizlyar, which ended in a success for the former and his capture and looting of the redoubt. The attack was the first victory of Sheikh Mansur outside of Chechnya.
The Sheikh Mansur Movement, also known as the 1785–1791 Insurgency in the North Caucasus, was a major war between the Russian Empire and the North Caucasians, caused by the Chechen religious and military leader Sheikh Mansur, who opposed the Russian expansionist policies and wanted to unite the North Caucasians under one, single, Islamic state.
The Battle of the Kuban River in September 1787 was an ambush by Mansur's forces on the Russian rear guard. The attack was repelled with heavy Russian losses.
On January 16, 1788, Chechen fighters attempted to attack a plantation near Chervlyonnaya, spurred by Sheikh Mansur's letters urging them to attack Russian settlements. However, the Russian Empire repelled the attack.
The siege of Anapa of 1788 was a major confrontation between the North Caucasians led by Sheikh Mansur and Turkish troops led by the commander of Anapa, Tatal-Bey, with a Russian force led by General Peter Tekeli. During the battle, the Russian army managed to force the Turks and North Caucasians into the fortress, after which they began besieging it. However, according to General Tekeli, the Russian army was not ready to storm Anapa yet, and if they managed to capture fortress, it would be difficult to hold. Thus, the Russian troops retreated from Anapa on October 15, 1788, and, except for minor skirmishes with Circassian mountaineers, the iege of Anapa was the last major battle of the campaign and the year 1788 as a whole.
Russian Empire 
Sheikh Mansur 
Dol Mudarov