The Hakuchey or Hakuch () were a
Circassian warrior clan who were mostly destroyed in the
Circassian genocide
The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the Russian Empire's systematic mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion of 80–97% of the Circassian population, around 800,000–1,500,000 people, during and after the Russo-Circassian War ( ...
and the
Russo-Circassian War
The Russo-Circassian War ( ady, Урыс-адыгэ зауэ, translit=Wurıs-adığə zawə; ; 1763–1864; also known as the Russian Invasion of Circassia) was the invasion of Circassia by Russia, starting in July 17, 1763 ( O.S) with the Ru ...
. The remaining adherents were assimilated into the
Shapsug
The Shapsug ( ady, шапсыгъ , russian: шапсуги, tr, Şapsığlar, ar, الشابسوغ, he, שפסוגים) (also known as the Shapsugh or Shapsogh) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes. Historically, the Shapsug tribe ...
tribe. They used to speak
Hakuchi, a sub-dialect of the
Shapsug dialect of the
western dialect of the
Circassian language.
History
The Hakuch led the longest resistance against the Russians in the Russo-Circassian War, not surrendering until 1870, and as a result were widely exterminated.
[Тхамокова И.X]
Военные мемуары об окончании Кавказской войны и выселении западных адыгов в Турцию
[Васильевъ Е]
Текст воспроизведен по изданию: Экспедиция в землю хакучей // Военный сборник, № 8. 1872
After defeat, the Hakuch moved to the mountains. The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Caucasian Army, in his report dated 14 June 1865 to the Russian Ministry of War, stated that the Hakuchs preferred to die rather than leave their lands, and that they were fighting to the death by hiding their families and children in deserted and secluded corners and caves. The number of Hakuch rebels sheltering in the mountains was reported by another Russian commander as 8-9 thousand in June 1865.
[Jineps, 2006, Eylül-1, p.16-18] When the Hakuch realised they would lose, they would prefer mass suicide over being captured by Russians. They saw death as liberation and preferred it over life in captivity. Before going to battles they for sure knew they would lose, they took poison that would affect them in a matter of hours. This way, even if they tried to live and surrendered, they would die by poison.
The majority of the Hakuch died in battle or due to harsh conditions of the mountains, and by the end of the 19th century, only a few hundred were left. When it became clear that several hundred Hakuch could not pose a real threat to Russia, they were allowed to return to their homes. Nowadays, most of the Black Sea Circassians in the Caucasus are descendants of these Hakuch.
References
{{Reflist
Shapsugs
Circassian tribes