Haji Ismail Berzeg — “Circassian Washington” from the Ubykh clan
The great commander of the Ubykhs, Circassian Washington, Ubykh’s Shamil, leader of the Circassian world, an implacable freedom fighter, an experienced diplomat, the father of nine sons and a respected Muslim — these characteristics, given by compatriots in the 19th century, equally reflected the life of Haji Ismail Dogomuko Berzeg. Coming from the largest Ubykh family, he dedicated his life to the struggle against the Russian Empire for the freedom of the Ubykh people and Circassia.
Who are Berzegs?
The princely family of the Berzegs is the most influential in the Caucasus in the era of the Caucasian War. Since the 1920s, this family belonged to the supreme authority in Ubykhia, now the territory of Greater Sochi. In the relations of the people and power, the Ubykhs differed from the Adyg-Abkhazian neighbors. The princes of the Ubykhs did not possess the fullness of feudal power. They did not have serfs, society lived relatively freely. Even the poor peasants and slaves owned weapons and campaigned at the first appeal of the princes. Or they defended the land as militiamen. Even the well-to-do peasants of the Ubykhs had the right to own slaves captured in raids. The Ubykhs recognized the right of the princes to own and dispose of the land, but not to the detriment of the people. The largest decisions in Ubykh’s society were taken at public meetings and confirmed by the will of the princes. Aristocrats did not have the right to violate the will of the people and obeyed. Military democracy of the highest form of organization.
In the genus of the Berzegs, according to the custom of atalism, the ruling princes and noblemen of Abkhazia and Circassia were brought up. With the latter, the genus was in close kinship relations. By 1830 the genus of the Berzegs consisted of 400 families, each of which had up to 20 slaves. Berzegi raided up to 3,000 soldiers, and their ancestral villages were located in the valleys of the rivers Sochi, Dagomys and Shahe. Along the last Berzegi formed a single clan with the Shapsug family Shupako (Supako). In those years, the Ubykhs were rapidly dispersed from the mountains to the Black Sea coast, because of which they feuded with the Abazin clans of the princes of Aublaa, owners of coastal lands in the valley of the Sochi River. The Berzegi had an intensive trade with the Ottoman Empire and lived richer than the flat neighbors. In exchange for goods and slaves they acquired salt, cloth, dishes, weapons, metal, lead and so on. In the villages of the clan there used to work popular craftsmen who produced weapons that were in demand throughout the Western Caucasus.
A new enemy — a new leader
Haji Berzeg was born in 1763 somewhere in Circassia. There is no exact information about the place of birth. The family village of Haji Ismail in the adult life was Mytihuasa, on the banks of the Sochi River, 12 kilometers from the Black Sea coast. Aul stretched to the upper reaches of the Psakh River. Today, part of its territory is the Georgian village of Plastunka. In 1823, the eldest Ubykhan ruler, Saad-Girey, Dogomuko Berzeg died. Under him, the Berzeg family became dominant in a stubborn struggle against neighboring Adyghe (Circassian) and Abazin societies. During his lifetime, the Ubykhs first encountered the Russian Empire, which in 1810 conquered Abkhazia. On the council, Haji Ismail Berzeg was elected the eldest prince and military leader of the Ubykhs. For the first time in Russian sources it is mentioned in 1826, when through the mediation of Adyghe (Shapsug) feudal lords Shupako (Supako), he tried to negotiate with Russian commanders. Haji Ismail understood early the harm of the lack of national unity in the fight against the Russian Empire. Since 1827, he started organizing a military alliance of the Black Sea coast communities and peoples from Anapa to Gagra.
In 1835, Haji Ismail led the assault on Gagra, where he received severe injuries. He was already 72 years old. Miraculously, he recovered from his wounds, and the following year he again commanded the Ubykh detachment during the next raid. Two years later, Haji Ismail Berzeg conducted on behalf of Ubykh’s clans ineffectual negotiations with Colonel Alexei Alexandrovich Rozen. In those years, his image was captured by an English scout and ethnographer James Bell in his book Diaries of Stay in Circassia: “He was a tall man with beautiful, lively gray eyes. His influence was determined not only by belonging to the strongest among the Ubykhs and not only by the title of Haji, but also by his ebullient energy, courage and intelligence”. Bell describes him as zealous Muslim, abstemious in eating, sober, violent and fearless man.
War and Peace on the Black Sea Shores
With the support of Polish deserters, Haji Ismail Berzeg organized in 1840 an attack on a number of Russian outposts on the Black Sea coast. In February and March, the Ubykhs stormed and destroyed the fortifications of Lazarevskoye, Velyaminovskoe (Tuapse) and Mikhailovskoye (Chepsin), severely damaged the Abinsk fort. Repeatedly attacked the forts of the Holy Spirit (Adler), Golovinsky and Navaginsky (Sochi). In 1841, in a night attack, Ubykhs managed to seize and cut the garrison of Fort Navaginsky. Survived a small group of soldiers locked in a barrack. From the complete ruin this fort was rescued by timely assistance from Abkhazia. Military success aroused serious enthusiasm among Adygs (Circassians) in the struggle against Russia and gave Haji Ismail great popularity in the Caucasus. In the same year of 1841 he organized a punitive expedition against the Abazin clans on the coast, who refused to participate in the anti-Russian struggle. By the end of the year, Haji Ismail convened a meeting of representatives of the Black Sea societies in order to agree on the continuation of the joint struggle against Russia. Not all societies responded to the call. Part of the Adygs from the Natukhai, Abadzekh and Shapsug societies preferred to stay away.
Before the meeting, Haji Berzeg entered into peace talks with the new chief of the Black Sea coastline, General and Count Joseph Romanovich Anrep-Elmt. The delegation also included Abaza prince from the mouth of the Sochi River — Aubla Ali Khan. There were rumours that the delegates had concluded a peace treaty with Russia and submit. Upon his return to his native village, the Ubykh people expressed distrust and arrested Hadzi Berzeg. Later he was released after taking the oath of loyalty in the fight against Russia. Aubla Ali Khan was less fortunate. He managed to negotiate with the Russian command about peace, but the Ubykhs caught and beat the prince. Ali Khan was forced to take an oath to fight the Russian to the last drop of blood. After the meeting, Haji Berzeg hastily headed the Ubykhs and Abazin to conduct battles against the punitive expedition of General Anrep, caused by a failure in the negotiations. According to an eyewitness, detachments of the Ubykhs inflicted a serious defeat on the parts of the general, who lost 600 soldiers and officers killed. At the end of the year the princes again participated in negotiations with Russia in Sochi, but to no avail. The war party prevailed on both sides.
The nephew of the saint
In 1846, Haji Dogomuko Kerentuko (Kerantukh) — Hadji Berzeg’s nephew — first manifested himself. Together they carried out 88 attacks along the Black Sea coastline. The forts in the Ubykh lands suffered most. It is noteworthy that the Russian detachment defended the crew from a ship that crashed off the coast. Ubykhs defeated squad and captured the guns. About 250 people died. Subsequently they tried to use these guns. At that time the Ubykhs already had their own fleet of captured artillery, which they fired on the fort of Navaginsky from Mount Batareika.
In the same year, Haji Ismail Berzeg, went to the second Hajj to Mecca. At that time he turned 83 years old. The road was too heavy, elder could not stand the hard transition and died on the road. Haji Ismail is an example of an intelligent and experienced politician and diplomat of the Caucasian War. He was respected by the common people, princes of Circassia and Abkhazia, he was called Ubykh’s Shamil, and Russian generals revered for the honor of negotiating with him. The idea of uniting Circassians, Abazin and Ubykhs developed for another 18 years, although it brought the Ubykh people to a tragic end. After the death of Haji Berzeg, the Ubykh gathered the People’s Council to elect a successor. Haji Ismail had 9 sons, but all of them died in the course of military operations against the Russian army. The Council elected his nephew as the new leader. At the head of the resistance stood Haji Berzeg Kerantukh, who showed himself in the affair with his uncle, but we will talk about him in the next article.
Read also:
- The rite of supporting the wounded from the Adyge (Circassians) — chapsch;
- Circassian Armenian (Circassgai);
- The Adventures of Agent 007 in Circassia (James Stanislaus Bell);
- Adigean, Circassian or Kabardin — a single ethnic group.
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