The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus

"J F Baddeley was an English journalist and businessman who travelled extensively in Russia and the Caucasus in the 19th century. He knew the Caucasus as well as any foreigner and wrote a great deal about his experiences there. This is the more well known of his two books on the Caucasus which focuses on the resistance of the Chechens and Dagestanis to the Russian conquest. Led by Sufi Muslim leader Imam Shamil, they fought very effectively and bravely for 40 years until they were finally conquered in 1859. The book is based almost entirely on Russian sources and accounts of events, since indigenous Caucasian languages were not written down until the 20th century. It’s a monumental piece of military history."