1.

Where in the Russian Federation would you find

Chechnya?
It can be found in Russia's North Caucasus region.
2. How are the Chechens different from the Russians?
For the past 200 hundred years, Chechens have resisted Russian rule.
3. Did the Chechens gain independence from tsarist Russia
after the 1917 Russian Revolution? Explain.
4 years after the Russian Revolution, the joined Kabardino-Balkaria,
Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, and Ingushetia to form the Mountain
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. However, the following year, the
Soviet Union took over Chechnya and turned it into a Soviet province called
the Chechen Autonomous Oblast. They have experienced short periods of
independence, but they were taken back by the Soviet Union.
4. What did Stalin do to the Chechens during WWII? Why
did he do this?
He deported the entire population to Kazakhstan and Siberia because he
thought the Chechens were cooperating with the Nazis. Several Chechens
died and the survivors were allowed to return home only after Stalin's death.
5. Who changed their fate, and how was their fate changed?
Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, restored the province amid deStalinization. He allowed them to return to their homeland.
6. What was the first Chechen War? [Who started it? When?
Why? Results?]
The First Chechen War was when Russia fought the Chechen Guerillas from
1994 to 1996. The war started when Boris Yeltsin was opposed to Chechen
Independence. Russia was unable to take over the Chechnyas mountainous
terrain, giving Chechnya de facto independence.
7. When was the second Chechen War? [Who started it?
When? Why? Results?]
Five bombs exploded in Russia over a ten-day period, killing almost three
hundred civilians in 1999 because Chechen militants invaded the
neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan to support a local separatist
movement. The Dagestan invasion and the Russian bombings prompted
Russian forces to launch the Second Chechen War, or the War in the North

Caucasus. In February 2000, Russia seized the Chechen capital of Grozny,

destroying a good part of the city center in the process and restructuring
direct control over Chechnya. Tens of thousands of Chechens and Russians
were killed or wounded in the two wars, and hundreds of thousands of
civilians were displaced. Since the end of the second war, Chechen separatist
activity has diminished.
8. Prior to his death in 2006, the separatist Basayev was
deemed to be responsible for the most notorious event to that
point in time. Identify this event. How many deceased
militants in this event were NOT Chechen? Why might this be
a significant change in the Chechen Wars?
In September 2004, Basayev ordered an attack on a school in Beslan, a town
in North Ossetia. More than three hundred people died in the three-day
siege, most of them children. There were thirty-two militants, though only
three or four were Chechens. This would be a significant change because this
was the start of their terrorist reputation and I think it would make people
fear them more.
9. According to the American ambassador to Russia, what
terrorist group is assisting the Chechen rebels? How/why might
Americans who were once sympathetic to the Chechen cause
for independence from the Russian Federation have changed?
The Chechens reportedly have ties with Al-Qaeda. This would change
Americans perspective because Al-Qaeda was part of the attacks in the US
on September 11. They most likely wouldnt support Chechen independence
because theyre working with people who hate the United States.
10.
Do you believe the Russians should grant Chechnya
their independence? Why or why not? [Answer this question
in paragraph format (minimum of six sentences).]
I think the Chechens should gain their independence to teach them a lesson.
The Chechen terrorists are killing innocent Russians thinking it will get them
what they want. Once they are granted their independence, they will fail to
keep up their economy and probably have way more social problems. They
will eventually want to go back to Russia because they wont be able to
handle it anymore. We see a similar situation with Greece because they want
to leave the European Union, but they know if they leave that they will fall
into poverty and they wont be able to keep control over their country.
Chechens economy relies on Russia using their oil because thats the only

place they get all their oil from. Without Russians paying for their oil, their
economy will be completely destroyed.
Bhattacharj, Preeti. "Chechen Terrorism (Russia, Chechnya, Separatist)." Council on
Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 08 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.