Victory from a String of Defeats
Russia's Wars against Chechnya
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
It was to be a “small, victorious war”. It became a fiasco. Moscow's attempt to use troops in Chechnia to "restore the constitutional order" grew into a long, two-stage war, 1994-1996 and 1999-2009. The decision to dispatch the troops to stifle Chechen separatism set in motion a devastating dynamic of violence. Russia's understanding of itself as an imperial state made the war possible. And Chechen violence during the republic's decolonisation process and the national revolution under Dzhokhar Dudaev paved the way for Chechnya's radicalisation. In the end, Russia achieved victory, but the war's devastation still affects the Caucasus and Russia to this day.
(Osteuropa, 3-4/2023, pp. 121–141)