Caucasus: highlanders, Cossacks and national minorities (second half of 1930s - 1945)

Introduction. Forced relocation in the life of states is a mechanism for implementing state measures, but not its policy. The concept of “repressive policy” is also a failed brand of the time of the 1990s. in the context of heightened feelings in society. No state can call its policy “repressive”. Therefore, when using such a statement, it would be appropriate to consider the possibility of combining verbal generalization with reality. The purpose of the article is to summarize the transformations that the mountain population and the Russian Cossacks underwent, living together for centuries in the North Caucasus. Methods. The region is distinguished by its specificity: multinationality, multi-confessional, rich event series, the difficulties of the conditions of social development, the historical process. In this connection, consideration of the presented problem from different angles is valuable: time limits related to the pre-war and wartime situations, existing assessments of the actual state of affairs under the Stalinist regime, which resorted to the use of such a principle as managing the development of society internationalism. He suggested the use of measures of compulsory order, the strict subordination of peoples and groups of the population. All this necessitated the involvement of a wider range of research methods: historicism, chronological, juxtaposition, balance, and others. This is confirmed by the outlined illustrative material. Results. In the proposed article, on the example of the regions of the Caucasus of Russia and partially of the Transcaucasus, the results and consequences of such punitive measures as forced relocation of citizens and peoples, deportation of population groups are traced. It is based on the principle of resettlement on the eve and during the war of 1941-1945 in the USSR, identifying the reasons for the use of these inhuman, immoral inherently methods of manipulation and punitive actions in relation to the individual. Among them is the formation of a bifurcation state, the attitude of the population towards the state and the authorities. The statistical data that caused the death of the population for this reason are given. Conclusions. The solution of the problem is possible only under the condition of a generalized presentation of the material of the noted processes, both in relation to a group of peoples, and to the Cossacks in the chronological framework of the study. This is the possibility of identifying a certain inconsistency in the assessments of the true situation in the region in the 1940s., and the need to conduct various kinds of sweeps. However, this contradicted measures to consolidate society, contributed to the emergence of a deep divide between power and nations, regardless of their nationality, aggravating the social position of ethnic communities without it in the prewar and wartime conditions of the 1940s. It is definitely necessary to equip the community of nations in such a way that such measures never find application in practice.