1830s: Czar Nicholas I invades Caucasus, meets fierce resistance.
1859: Russia conquers, incorporates Caucasus.
1917: Russian Revolution; Dagestan (including Chechnya) declares its independence.
1923: Bolshevik troops invade Dagestan and divide region, creating Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
1944: Stalin deports thousands of Chechens to Siberia and Kazakhstan on suspicion of collaborating with Germany.
1957: Chechen-Ingush republic re-established. Chechens return home.
1991: Soviet Union collapses; 14 regions become independent nations. Boris Yeltsin refuses to recognize Chechen independence; sends troops. Confronted by armed Chechens, troops withdraw.
1994: Chechnya continues to assert its independence. Russia invades Chechnya; bloody war ensues.
1995: 10,000 Russian troops occupy Grozny. Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev killed by Russian rocket. Total Russian force numbers 45,000. Chechens take hostages.
1996: Chechens launch major counteroffensive. Russians agree to cease-fire and Yeltsin orders troops withdrawn from Chechnya. 70,000 casualties on all sides.
1997: Chechnya won’t accept Moscow’s authority. Name of capital changed from the Russian Grozny to the Chechen Djohar.
1999: Terrorist bombs explode in Moscow and other Russian cities. Russian authorities blame Chechen paramilitary commanders. Yeltsin sends nearly 100,000 Russian troops into Chechnya. Russians occupy much of Chechnya, driving rebels into hills. 250,000 refugees.
2000: War continues. Russians unable to defeat rebels in mountainous areas. New Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to human rights investigation, continues war.
2002: Chechens approve a new regional constitution, making Chechnya a separatist republic within Russia. It means abandoning claims for complete independence. A spate of Chechen suicide bombings followed throughout the year. 2003: Akhmad Kadyrov, the de facto Chechen president installed three years earlier by Russia, officially becomes president. The election is called into question. During the year, there were 11 bomb attacks against Russia believed to have been orchestrated by Chechen rebels.
2004: Kadyrov is killed in a bombing. Six others are killed and another 60 wounded. The assassination undermines Russian claims that Chechnya has been growing more secure. A warlord, Shamil Basayev, claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Source: www.infoplease.com
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