d Subtitle - NPS Publications - Naval Postgraduate School

In other words, in both cases the expansion paralleled
the Caucasian chain, which circumstances somewhat
facilitated. Yet only once, in the Russian case, did a
great power succeed in dominating the whole area by a
direct crossing of the chain of the Caucasus. This
crossing was without doubt aided by a technology unknown
to the previous periods. "15
Both of these general characteristics of Caucasian
history apply strongly in the case of the Circassians. Of
all of the various tribes or tribal groups which inhabited
the Caucasus, the Circassians were, until their eventual
conquest by the Russians, the most independent from other
Caucasus groups and the most willing to enter into pacts
with larger empires without relinquishing their own inde­
pendence. Additionally the Circassians retained their
strongholds in the central mountain regions of the North
Caucasus and therefore were able to retain a greater
degree of autonomy than the peoples of the coastal plains
and steeps.
The first known empire to reign over the Northern
Caucasus was the Kimmerian empire which was probably
Th . 16. .. d . t d f . 1
raClan In orlgln an eXlS e rom approxlmate y the
13th century B.C. until approximately 750 B.C. when it was
succeeded by the Scythian Empire. Shortly after the
establishment of the Scythian Empire, Greek settlements
began appearing along the Black Sea coast and it is through
the works of the Greek historian Herodotus that a great deal
is known about the Scythian Empire. These colonies became
lSrtalasi-Kun, T. "Historical Setting," The Caucasus,
p. 266, Human Relations Area Files Inc., 1956.
16Ibid., p. 268.
17