Review of the monograph: Matiev T.Kh. The Mountain National Movement in Revolutions and the Civil War in the North Caucasus (1917–1921) (Nazran, 2020)

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of the monograph by T.Kh. Matiev ”Mountain national movement in revolutions and the Civil War in the North Caucasus (1917–1921)”, published in 2020 in Nazran. This study presents an original and comprehensive approach and addresses one of the most difficult cases in the history of the North Caucasus of the 20th century – the origins of the Mountain Republic. The driving force behind the idea of a federation and the protection of the rights of mountain peoples was the young intellectuals of the North Caucasus. In this regard, the reviewer sees parallels with Jadidism in the Volga-Ural region, the activity of the Tatar intellectual youth of the early 20th century, the ideas of national and cultural autonomy. The Muslim peoples of the North Caucasus and the Tatars had much in common: one religious culture, a desire for modernization from educated groups and contradictions in society. Monograph by T.Kh. Matiev shows the multiethnic world of the Russian Empire, at the same time it points to the commonality of many issues and the need for their further scientific study.