Jembulat Boletoqo
Jembulat Boletoqo | |
|---|---|
| Болэтыкъо Джанболэт | |
Seal of Jembulat Boletoqo | |
| Prince of Princes of Circassia | |
| Preceded by | Mishawost Boletoqo |
| Succeeded by | Sheretluqo Boletoqo |
| In office 1827–1836 | |
| Grand Prince of Chemguy | |
| In office 1827–1836 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | October 1836 Prochnyi Okop, Russian Empire |
| Children | Aslanbech Kelemet |
| Parent | Hatughuzhuqo Boletoqo |
| House |
|
| Signature | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Circassian Confederation Ottoman Empire (only nominally) |
| Rank | Grand Prince |
| Battles/wars | Russo-Circassian War |
Jembulat Boletoqo (Adyghe: Болэтыкъо Джанболэт, romanized: Bolətıqo Dɉanbolət) was a Circassian military commander, politician, and the grand prince of the Chemguy region. He was one of the most influential figures in the Russo-Circassian War.[1][2][3][4] He had a big influence on the entire Trans-Kuban region. He was famous for his courage and tough will.[5][6] He had great influence among all Circassians, including the Abzakhs, with whom he was associated.
Hailing from the Chemguy tribe and being the son of Hatughuzhuqo,[7] he was born into the princely clan of the Chemguy tribe, Boletoqo, which held massive influence in the trans-kuban region.[1][8]
Biography
Family name
The princely family Boletoqo inherited its last name and the title of “Prince of Princes” from its legendary ancestor, Boletoqo, who was famous for his “wisdom and strictness”.[3][4][9]
Personality
His personality has invariably attracted the attention of historiographers of the Caucasian War. According to KF Stahl, he “had a tremendous influence on the entire Trans-Kuban region. He was famous for his courage, strong character and tough will".[2][3]
V. A. Potto: "With fearlessness he combined an extraordinary gift of eloquence, an astute mind, an iron will ... Whole legends circulated about him, and folk bards praised his deeds in their songs."[6]
Life
At the beginning of the 19th century, the population of the Principality of Chemguy was about 30,000 people.[3][10][11] The eldest prince of the Boletoqo family inherited the title of the Great Prince. Since the birth of Jembulat, the political situation inside the Principality of Chemguy was highly unstable because it was situated between two great powers in the region, the Russian and Ottoman Empires.[3][4][12]
Jembulat Boletoqo led an 800 strong cavalry force into Russian territory. Half of the detachment was of Hajjrets under the command of 18 year old Kabardian prince Ismail Kasei. Only one Cossack regiment decided to fight the rising Circassian army on October 23 at the village of Sabl on the Barsukly River. Jembulat's forces surrounded the Cossacks and killed all of them in a saber attack.[3][13]
In the summer of 1825, Russian forces carried out several military operations. On August 18, General Veliaminov burned the residency of Hajji Tlam, one of the elderly supporters of the Circassian resistance in Abzakhs, and killed his entire family. On January 31, Jembulat burned down the fortress of Marevskoye as revenge.[4][14]
He took part in the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) as an ally of the Turks and he repeatedly made devastating raids against the Russians. On June 4, 1828, Jembulat Boletoqo started his campaign into Russian lands with 2,000 cavalry under five flags of different Circassian principalities, as well as a Turkish flag as a symbol of their loyalty to Islam. On June 6, at the fortress Batalpashinsk, Jembulat attacked the Khopyor Cossack regiment, one of the biggest on the Kuban Military Line.[3]
Jembulat left the local Russian forces behind him and moved forward. The Russians concluded that he intended to go to Kabarda in the middle of the Russian-Turkish war, and open a second front on the Terek and Sunja Rivers. Magomed-Aga, a high ranking Turk, was present in the Circassian army. Earl Paskevich, the Russian commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, ordered the 2nd Ulan division, returning from the Russia-Iran war, to move along the Georgian Military Road to cut off the route of the Circassians toward Kabarda. The 40th Eger battalion marched from Kabarda toward Jembulat. Yet, Jembulat suddenly changed his direction and headed toward the town of Georgievsk, the Russian administrative center in the Caucasus.
The Circassian army stopped on a high hill at a distance from the Marinskaya fortress. Jembulat menaced the Volzhskiy regiment's left flank with all his forces, and won the battle.[4][15]
Circassian political analyst Khan-Giray observed that the situation changed for Great-Prince Jembulat “after the field marshal Paskevich left the region”.[16] The new commander-in-chief, Baron Rosen, did not believe in human rights of the indigenous Circassians.[3][17]
In 1832, he tried to help Kabardia resist against Russian occupation, but failed.
In October 1836, Grigory Zass sent Jembulat Boletoqo word that he would like to make peaceful negotiations. If he came to a Russian fortress for explanation, he would be assassinated; in case he did not come, the Russians would claim that he was a warmonger.[4]
Boletoqo came to Zass’ residency. Zass was not there for his first visit. Zass sent him a letter and told to come at an exact date when he would certainly be in his residency. Accepting the proposal, on October 1836, on his way to the Prochnyi Okop fortress, Boletoqo was killed by a Russian sniper who was hiding in the forest on the Russian bank of the Kuban River at the intersection with the Urup River. According to a witness, upon his death, Jembulat said the name of Zass.[3]
References
- ^ a b Novitskii G.V. Vospominaniya Vospitannika Pervogo Vypuska Iz Artilleriiskogo Uchilisha. Voennyi Sbornik. No 2, 1871, p. 305
- ^ a b Stal’ K.F. Etnograficheskii Ocherk Cherkesskogo Naroda. Kavkazskii Sbornik (Tiflis, 1900), v. 21, p. 84.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Jembulat Bolotoko: The Prince of Princes (Part One)". Jamestown. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
- ^ a b c d e f "JEMBULAT BOLOTOKO: PRENSLERİN PRENSİ (PŞIXEM 'ARİPŞ*)". cherkessia.net. 2013. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
- ^ Stahl, K. F.: "had a tremendous influence on the entire Trans-Kuban region. He was famous for his courage, strong character and tough will. This was the last representative of the chivalrous generation of the former Circassian princes."
- ^ a b Potto, V. A.: "With fearlessness he combined an extraordinary gift of eloquence, an astute mind, an iron will ... Whole legends circulated about him, and folk bards praised his deeds in their songs."
- ^ Лавров, Л.И. (1968). Эпиграфические памятники Северного Кавказа на арабском, персидском и турецком языках Памятники письменности Востока (in Russian). Vol. Часть 3. Moscow. p. 199.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Викторович, Скиба Константин (2015). "Род темиргоевских князей Болотоковых в военно-политических событиях на Кубани в конце XVIII начале xix вв". Политематический сетевой электронный научный журнал Кубанского государственного аграрного университета (109): 1102–1128. ISSN 1990-4665.
- ^ Nogmov, Sh.B. Istoriya Adyheiskogo Naroda. Ed. T. Kumykov (Nal’chik, 1994), p. 45.
- ^ Akty Kavkazskoi Archeograficheskoi Komissii (AKAK). Ed. A. Berge (Tiflis, 1873), v 5, p. 857.
- ^ Bronevskiy, S.M. Noveishie Geograficheskie i Istoricheskie Izvestiya o Kavkaze (Moscow, 1823), part 2, p. 67.
- ^ Khan-Girey, S. Cherkesskie Predaniya. Ed. R. Khashkhojeva (Nalchik: Elbrus, 1989), p. 245.
- ^ Potto V. Kavkazskaya Voina, v.2, p. 45
- ^ Potto V. Kavkazskaya Voina, v.2, p. 59
- ^ Golitsyn N. B. Zhizneopisanie Generala Ot Kavalerii Emmanuelya (Moscow: «Sobranie», 2004), p. 240
- ^ Sherbina F. A. Istoriya Armavira I Cherkeso-gayev (Ekaterinodar, 1916), p. 11.
- ^ Bell, James (1840). Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838 and 1839. London. p. 422.