In 1861, Russian Tsar Alexander II publicly declared the imperial policy of the expulsion of all Circassians; followed by the state implementation of settler-colonial Russification and Christianization programs across the Caucasus.

[50][49] Although there had previously been a small Muslim presence in Circassia, significant conversions came after 1717, when Sultan Murad IV ordered the Crimeans to spread Islam among the Circassians.

To counter Persian influence in the region, Russia would require shipyards on the Black Sea, which made Circassia, with its coastline and fertile valleys, a target.

[70] In the same year, the Kabardian princes sent another embassy to the Crimean Khan Devlet IV Girey, requesting his assistance in the inevitable war against tsarist Russia.

[69] The Circassian region of Kabardia, near the Balka River, was attacked on 29 September 1779, and was occupied with the loss of the Kabardian defenders as well as 2,000 horses, 5,000 cattle and 5,000 sheep.

In 1781, the Ottomans built a strong fortress in Circassia to ensure Turkish influence in the region and to act as a base for future operations against Russia in Kuban, the Don, and Crimea.

[76] In 1782, Ferah Ali Pasha arrived at Soghujaq Castle in Western Circassia as a missionary and diplomat from the Ottoman Empire with the aim of Islamizing some Circassians who were still not Muslims.

In 1790, a large Russian army led by General Yury Bogdanovich Bibikov crossed the Kuban River and entered the territory of Western Circassia.

1791, Russian troops led by Ivan Gudovich crossed the Kuban and entered Circassia to capture the Anapa castle, establishing a camp in June.

Sheikh Mansur was captured in the fort; when Russian troops left Anapa on 10 July, he was brought to Saint Petersburg and imprisoned for life in harsh conditions.

[97][98][23] In May 1818, the village of Tram was surrounded, burnt, and its inhabitants killed by Russian forces under the command of General Ivan Petrovich Delpotso, who took orders from Yermolov.

[99] In response to persistent Circassian resistance and the failure of their previous policy of building forts, the Russian military began using a strategy of disproportionate retribution for raids.

With the goal of imposing stability and authority beyond their current line of control and over the whole Caucasus, Russian troops retaliated by destroying villages or any place that resistance fighters were thought to hide, as well as employing assassinations and executions of whole families.

[29] Military forces were sent into Kabardia, killing cattle and causing large numbers of inhabitants to flee into the mountains, with their land appropriated for the Kuban Cossacks.

In Western Circassia, which Russia had previously been merely foraying into, a number of tribes were dominant—including the Besleneys, Abzakhss, Ubykhs, Shapsugs, Hatuqway, and Natukhajs—which Russian propaganda portrayed as savages in a possible attempt to curry favour from the international community.

[citation needed] England also supplied several advisors, while Turkey attempted to persuade Circassia to start a holy war, which would draw support from other nations.

On 18 August, a group of Russian officers commanded by General Veliaminov burned the residency of Hajji Tlam, one of the elderly supporters of the Circassian resistance in Abadzekh, and killed his entire family.

Earl Paskevich ordered the 2nd Ulan division, returning from the Russia-Iran war, to move along the Georgian Military Road to cut off the route of the Circassians toward Kabarda.

[107] Political analyst Khan-Giray observed that the situation changed for Great-Prince Jembulat Boletoqo "after the field marshal Paskevich left the region".

Osman Pasha, the Turkish commander of Anapa, decided to surrender the fort, and Seferbiy himself led the negotiations to avoid potential bloodshed but was taken prisoner by the Russians.

Over the following years, Russia gained increasing control of the coast, but this momentum slowed down after the Circassians defeated the Russian army in the Battle of Abinsk in 1834.

In late 1831, in retaliation for Circassian attacks against Cossack military bases, Russian General Frolov and his task force destroyed several villages.

By 1840, with the support of Polish deserters and Circassians trained by Bell, there were several attacks on Russian forts on the Black Sea and Gelendzhik cordon lines.

Most engagements during this subsequent part of the conflict took the form of either (1) amphibious landings on coastal towns in accordance with the directive laid out by the Tsar to secure possible ports, or (2) routings of Circassian forces entrenched in mountain strongholds.

The following year, Hawduqo Mansur gave a speech addressing the Circassian nation:[77]Even if we lose many of our brave warriors, we have men and young boys to replace them!

[citation needed] As part of an operation launched from the autumn of 1863, Circassian villages and their supplies were to be burned, and this process was repeated until General Yevdokimov was convinced that all inhabitants of the region had died.

Our most humble Petition to Her Magnificent Majesty the Queen and Emperor of England is to the effect that – It is now more than eighty years since the Russian Government is unlawfully striving to subdue and annex to its dominions Circassia, which since the creation of the world has been our home and our country.

But during the last year or two it has taken advantage of a famine caused by a drought with which the Almighty visited us, as well as by its own ravages, and it has occasioned us great distress by its severe attacks by sea and land.

But if it is not possible to afford this help for the preservation of our country, and race, then we pray to be afforded facilities for removing to a place of safety our helpless and miserable children and women that are perishing by the brutal attacks of the enemy as well as by the effects of famine; and if neither of these two requests are taken into consideration, and if in our helpless condition we are utterly annihilated notwithstanding our appeals to the mercy and grace of the Governments, then we shall not cease to invoke our right in the presence of the Lord of the Universe, of Him who has confided to Your Majesty sovereignty, strength, and power for the purpose of protecting the weak.

[181] The Russian army began raiding and burning Circassian villages, destroying fields to prevent return, cutting down trees, and driving the people to the Black Sea coast.