On November 2nd, 1858, Alexandre Dumas left Astrakhan, as recounted in his
travel book
En Russie,
and set off by carriage into the Caucasus, then
(as now) a lawless, war-torn mountain chain lying north of Iran, east of
the Black Sea, and west of the Caspian Sea. His traveling companions
included the artist Moynet, and a Russian student (Kalino) to act as
translator.
From time immemorial, Caucasian mountaineers have periodically plundered
the Russian and Ukrainian farmers of the plains to the North. A series of
Russian generals attempted to secure their country's southern border by
"pacifying" the Caucasus, and gradually expanding the zone of military
occupation southwards. There followed more than a century of warfare,
during which the Russians won most of the major battles, and captured most
of the large towns, including what is now Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan,
and the cities of Erevan, Baku and Tiflis.
However, the Caucasian tribes retreated into their mountain fastnesses, and
continued to fight, kidnapping and murdering travelers, pillaging unwary
villages and towns, and fighting pitched battles if necessary.
In 1858, the Caucasus was definitely not pacified, and Dumas' party
traveled armed and with an escort of Cossacks. Departing Astrakhan, Dumas'
party traveled southwest to Kizilyar. From Kizilyar, they forded the Terek
River, traveled to Khazavyurt, and then penetrated the mountainous
interior of Daghestan, where they moved from one Russian military post to
the next. Between posts, the party had several encounters with Daghestani
rebels/bandits/locals. In one (possibly fictional) engagement, two
Cossacks and one Daghestani were killed. Dumas also went on a night patrol
with the Russian forces, during which the patrol ambushed and killed a
Daghestani returning from a raid carrying a woman kidnapped from a local
village.
After a difficult crossing, they ultimately arrived at the ancient city of
Derbent, from which they followed the shore of the Caspian Sea to Baku. At
Baku, Dumas witnessed a Parsi (Zoroastrian) religious ceremony illuminated
by natural petroleum seepages (a harbinger of the development of the
Russian oil industry). The party then turned inland and traveled to the
capital of Georgia, Tiflis (now Tblisi). Dumas stayed a month in Tiflis,
writing two romances:
La Boule de Neige, and
Sultanetta. The former is
based on a story translated for him by Kalino, and the latter is based on a
story told to Dumas in Derbent.
In December 1858, Dumas tried to return to Russia over the Caucasus, but
found the passes closed by snow, getting lost and nearly freezing to death
in the process. Dumas then went west to Poti, on the Black Sea coast, and
caught a boat to Trebizond (in Turkey) where a French steamer took him
home.
Dumas' trip through the Caucasus was probably his most difficult and
dangerous expedition, one of his most exciting pieces of travel literature,
and a vivid picture of a moment in the turbulent history of the Caucasus, a
history that is mostly unknown to most Europeans and Americans, but which
shapes international political developments (such as the Chechen rebellion)
today.
