THE SWORD OF ALLAH
Shamyl, the third imam of Dagestan, joined the dozens of warriors trying to escape the mountain stronghold of Akhoulgo on 21 August 1839. After a bloody 80-day siege, the Russians had finally succeeded in capturing the fortified village. As the conquerors methodically cleared the highland village one stone hut at a time, Shamyl and a handful of compatriots lowered themselves by rope down a sheer cliff under in the black of night.
After resting in a cave halfway down the cliff, they continued their descent the next day reaching the river at the bottom of a shaded gorge. To deceive Russian pickets guarding the river, they launched a raft with straw dummies downstream and then walked upstream.
Evading renegade tribesman who wanted to bring his head to the Russians, Shamyl journeyed east to the dark forests of Chechnya where he remained in hiding through the winter. When he reappeared the following year, he was more uncompromising than ever before. Although he had previously negotiated with the Russians, he vowed never to do so again.
“We have never had an enemy so savage and dangerous as Shamyl,” wrote Yevgeny Golovin, who
