Book
Review: "Caucasus" by Nicholas Griffin
(Review - 240 pages)
 Reviewer
- Luke Brown
"Mountain Men and
Holy Wars"
Ominously, Zbigniew Brzezinski,
the former National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter,
in his book The Grand Chessboard, stated that, geopolitically, there
is no more important area in the world than the Caucasus. His reasons,
as cited in Nicholas Griffin's fascinating "Caucasus,"
are American economic interests, Russian territorial interests and
Islamic religious interests. It was an important historical figure
pertaining to the latter that drew English author Griffin, in the
summer of 1999, to travel to the Caucasus. He wanted to trace the
life of the legendary Imam Shamil, originally from Dagestan but
forever associated in the region with the 19th century struggle
of the Chechen people for an independent homeland from Russia; a
bloody battle that continues on today.
Part travelogue through
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Dagestan, and part retelling of
history, both of the distant past and the more recent, Griffin manages
to inform and entertain with his first work of non-fiction, his
skills as a novelist ever present. He is accompanied on his travels
by a filmmaker friend from New York who has previously made films
in Central Asia, an extremely temperamental "facilitator"
and at times unreliable translator ("Ilya is also our translator,
which is odd, since he speaks little English"), a photographer
from Maine who works in Azerbaijan, plus a local driver who once
boxed for Azerbaijan. Over the course of the trip they slowly drive
each other mad. Before the breaking point is reached though, they
manage to get into enough scrapes, hear enough lies, gain sufficient
insight from relatives of Shamil, gasp at the physical beauty of
the region, indulge in exhausting drinking sessions, engage in strange
conversations, be touched by human warmth and kindness, and be repelled
by human weakness.
While one gets the feeling
that Griffin is somewhat sympathetic to the plight of the Chechens,
he treats their (past and more recent) history fairly, not reluctant
to show his protagonist, Shamil, and his followers of then (and
now), in an unflattering light, when they could be extremely brutal
and cruel; whether their actions were justified is left mostly up
to the reader. Shamil was the third Imam of Dagestan (following
on from Ghazi Mullah and Hamzad Beg), as well as military leader
against the armed forces of the Russians, overseen by Tsar Nicholas
and Tsar Alexander II, and commanded by military officers who followed
on from the brutal and legendary General Yermolov (who built a fortress
that was later Grozny and who also coined the phrase, "the
only good Chechen is a dead Chechen"). He was a formidable
leader, who had the tough task of uniting the Chechen people behind
him, tough because of, amongst other things, the blood feud mentality
that runs deep in the Chechen tradition. He succeeded, not only
because he was able to harness their common faith, Islam, to oppose
the invading Christian Russians, but also because of his inherent
toughness, bravery and a harsh view of weakness, these considered
important traits amongst the Chechens.
A revealing event involving
Shamil took place in 1843. The Russians had a firm grip on northern
Dagestan and Shamil was attempting to loosen it. His headquarters
were situated in an inaccessible spot (some of the parallels between
his campaigns and those in Chechnya today are well made by Griffin,
in particular the effective use of the terrain and surroundings
as a weapon by the Chechens). Unfortunately some were left exposed
in open plains and wanted to make a peace deal with the Russians.
They drew lots to decide who would go on an expedition to Shamil.
Once there they approached Shamil's mother with their request, who
they saw as the weakest link. She conveyed the proposition to Shamil,
later leaving his quarters in tears. Shamil then stormed out and
entered a mosque to see what Allah wanted him to do. Three days
later he emerged with the message that the application for surrender
was shameful, and indeed treacherous, as they had gone through his
own mother. The punishment was 100 lashes for the person who made
the submission, in this case his mother. He carried out the punishment
himself but she was only able to take 5 lashes. Then Shamil ordered
his men to lash him the remaining 95 times, any restraint leading
to their death. Griffin describes the aftermath:
"It was theatre:
an emotional, abusive three-day drama, a skilful conflation of tension,
surprise and effect. Those Chechens who had doubted the Imam's holiness
were now convinced that he was Allah's prophet on earth. The question
of submission was not raised again, for only a direct order from
Allah could ever persuade a Caucasian to raise a hand deliberately
towards his own parents. The story of Shamil's actions wound its
way up the mountains, carried in whispers and half-truths from village
to village."
History it seems is but
a close relative of the present, written in blood.
Reviewer: Luke Brown
Email: editor@polosbastards.com
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