May 5, 1852
Was killed Hadji MuradAvar leader, naib (that is, deputy) of the imam ShamilThe hero of Leo Tolstoy's story, one of the most relevant works today.
Hadji Murad was born in the Avar region of Khunzakh, possibly in 1816. He was the foster brother of the Avar khans. His childhood coincided with the start of the Caucasian War, the war to annex the North Caucasus to Russia. He grew up fearless:
When my grandfather sent me for the horse in the dead of night, my barefoot foot stepped on something soft and fluffy. I instantly reached down and picked it up. It turned out to be the hare I'd been holding by the ears. It was my first act of courage.
In August 1834 Imam Gamzat-bek summoned the Avar khans to negotiations, killed them, and seized Khunzakh, the capital of the Avar Khanate. In September, an assassination attempt was staged on the imam, in which Hadji Murat participated. Gamzat-bek was killed. For a time, Hadji Murat became the leader of the Khunzakh people. The Russian General Klugenau appointed him governor of Avaria.
В 1840 He was arrested due to denunciations from rivals for power. He was accused of ties to Imam Shamil, the Russian Empire's most bitter enemy in the Caucasus. His house was destroyed, his property confiscated, and he was sent into exile. He escaped en route, throwing himself off a cliff and dragging two guards with him.
In the same 1840 He entered Shamil's service and was his right hand for 10 years. 1843 He became the naib of Avaria, which became part of Shamil's imamate. Hadji Murat's name became legendary due to the virtuoso technique of his raids.
He was nicknamed "the phantom." Elite Russian units were dispatched to areas where he was likely to be encountered. He stole a herd of horses from one of them—quickly and without a single casualty. Before the expedition, he ordered the horses to be shod backwards to confuse his pursuers.
В 1851 A rift occurred between Shamil and Hadji Murat. Hadji Murat defected to Russia. But trusting relations between him and the Russians did not develop. In April 1852 Hadji Murad fled and was killed in a shootout. His head was sent to St. Petersburg, where the skull was kept at the Military Medical Academy, and later at the Kunstkamera under the inventory number "Exhibit 119."