Russian—Muslim Confrontation in the Caucasus: Alternative visions of the conflict between Imam Shamil and the Russians, 1830

1796	Shamil was born in Gimrah, a mountain village in Daghestan.
1829	Ghazi Muhammad rose up against the Russians in Daghestan as the first imam of a Sufi resistance movement.
1832	Ghazi Muhammad died and was replaced as imam by Hamza Bek.
1834	Hamza Bek died and Shamil became the third imam.
1839	Shamil made an unsuccessful stand against the Russians at Akhulgoh.
1840s–1850s	Intermittent military campaigns waged by Shamil and his followers continued against the Russians in Daghestan and Chechnia.
1851	Hadji Murat defected to the Russians, but was killed in 1852 when he tried to go back to the mountains.
1851–1855	Lev Tolstoi served in the Russian army, first in the Caucasus, and later in the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.
1853–1856	Crimean War.
1859	Shamil made a last stand against the Russians on the mountain plateau of Ghunib, but ultimately had to surrender to them there. Shamil was sent to Kaluga, where he lived until 1866 when he moved to Kiev.
1871	Shamil died on the hajj pilgrimage and was buried in Medina.