Chronology

1585	Ottoman Empire claims control over Chechnya.
1722–23	Russo-Persian War pits Safavid Iran against Peter the Great’s Russia.
1783	Treaty of Georgievsk implicitly cedes North Caucasus to Russian Empire.
1784	Sheikh Mansur leads first rebellion against Russians.
1785	Russian defeat at the battle of the Sunja River.
1817–64	Caucasus War.
1818	Russians found fort of Groznaya; later becomes city of Grozny.
1834–59	Imam Shamil’s revolt against the Russians.
1859	Chechnya formally annexed to Russian Empire.
1862	Chechnya formally subjugated.
1877–78	Chechen revolt crushed.
1917	Chechnya joins Union of the Peoples of the North Caucasus.
1918	Following collapse of Tsarist Russia, Union of the Peoples of the North Caucasus declares independence.
1918–22	Russian Civil War.
1920	Bolsheviks occupy North Caucasus.
1921	Mountaineer Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic formed.
1924	Mountaineer Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic divided into constituent regions and republics.
1934	Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region formed.
1936	Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic formed.
1944	Stalin orders deportation of Chechen population.
1956	Chechens begin to be allowed home.
1991	October Presidential elections held in Chechnya, won by Dzhokhar Dudayev; he declares independence.
	November Russian President Yeltsin refuses to acknowledge Chechen independence.
1992	March Constituent elements of Russian Federation sign a new federation treaty bar Chechnya and Tatarstan.
	June Split of republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya recognized by Moscow. Chechnya declares itself an independent state. Moscow refuses to accept this.
	December Ingushetia breaks away to become a separate republic within the Russian Federation.
1994	November The Russian-backed Provisional Chechen Council launches abortive coup.
	December Russian forces invade Chechnya ‘to restore constitutional order’.
1995	May Chechen fighters seize hundreds of hostages at Budyennovsk hospital, forcing Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin into negotiations.
	July Ceasefire agreed.
	December Ceasefire falls apart.
1996	April Dudayev is killed by Russian missile; he is succeeded by Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
	August Chechen rebels retake Grozny. Khasav-Yurt Accord signed.
	November Peace settlement agreed; end of the First Chechen War.
1997	January Aslan Maskhadov wins Chechen presidential elections; recognized by Moscow.
	May Yeltsin and Maskhadov sign peace accords.
1998	December Four engineers from Britain and New Zealand are kidnapped and beheaded.
1999	August Chechen extremists launch cross-border attack into Dagestan. Vladimir Putin appointed Russian prime minister.
	September Moscow blames Chechen rebels for a series of apartment bombings.
	October Russian forces move into Chechnya.
	December Putin replaces Yeltsin as acting Russian president.
2000	February Russian forces take Grozny.
	March Putin wins Russian presidential election.
	May Russia announces direct rule of Chechnya.
	June Akhmad Kadyrov appointed head of Russian-backed government in Grozny.
2002	October Chechen terrorists seize the Dubrovka theatre in Moscow, holding 800 people hostage; some 130 hostages die when Russian forces use gas when storming the building.
2003	March New Chechen constitution is ratified.
2004	May A suicide bomber kills Akhmad Kadyrov.
	September Terrorists seize school in Beslan, southern Russia; more than 300 are killed when it is stormed.
2005	March Rebel president Maskhadov is killed.
2006	March Ramzan Kadyrov becomes Chechen prime minister.
2007	March Ramzan Kadyrov appointed Chechen president.
2009	April Kremlin declares ‘counter-terrorism operation’ in Chechnya over. End of the Second Chechen War.

Botlikh, 24 July 2000: Border Troops played a secondary role in the conflict, trying to prevent incursions into other regions of Russia and interdict efforts to resupply the rebels from Georgia. Here a quick-response force in their distinctive green berets scramble in response to reports of a potential cross-border rebel raid into Dagestan. (Stringer/EPA)