Chechnia - Civil War, 1991 - Present (Post-Soviet Russia) - History, Chechnia - History

The War in Chechnya

Name: The War in Chechnya
Author: Stasys Knezys
ISBN: 9780890968567

by Stasys Knezys, Romanas Sedlickas

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Overview

The recent war in Chechnya, despite all the media coverage, remains a confusing tangle for many people. The war was the result of many conflicting political, economic, judicial, and military issues that had been fermenting for decades. Only the most fundamental goals became clearly visible: for Moscow, the preservation of its territorial integrity; for Chechens, the struggle for national independence.

In this carefully researched and extensively documented study, Stasys Knezys and Romanas Sedlickas examine the Chechnyan war from a military viewpoint. As they evenhandedly depict the strengths and weaknesses of both the Russians and Chechens, the authors consider how and why Russia, with one of the world’s largest armies, failed to subdue the Chechens, and how the Chechens fought among themselves, yet also fought off the Russian Goliath.

One reason the Chechens had the success they did was the expansion of the relationship of “politics and war” to the triangle of “politics, war, and terrorism.” Knezys and Sedlickas examine this question: “Is military terrorism . . . a new tactical element, ensuring the success of a small country’s resistance to a powerful army?”

The War in Chechnya does not answer all the questions raised by this war, but it presents comprehensive, objective, impartial information about the military strategy and nature and conduct of operations on both sides to allow the reader to begin to answer some of those questions. Military analysts and historians, political scientists, and Eastern European scholars will find The War in Chechnya an illuminating analysis of the military operations there and a valuable source of information for further studies.

Synopsis

In this carefully researched and extensively documented study, Stasys Knezys and Romanas Sedlickas examine the Chechen war from a military viewpoint. As they evenhandedly depict the strengths and weaknesses of both the Russians and Chechens, the authors consider how and why Russia, with one of the world's largest armies, failed to subdue the Chechens, and how the Chechens fought among themselves, yet also fought off the Russian Goliath.. "Military analysts and historians, political scientists, and Eastern European scholars will find The War in Chechnya an illuminating analysis of the military operations there and a valuable source of information for further studies.

Library Journal

During its two-year duration, Chechnya's war for secession became emblematic of the brutal ineptitude of the Russian military. Although apparently vastly superior in force, Moscow was compelled to negotiate a stalemated peace after reducing much of Chechnya's cities to rubble, turning much of its population into refugees, and, according to the authors, committing "countless massive atrocities." This book explains how Russia's divided and overly confident military fell victim to the strategy of ambush and "military terrorist actions." The book's strength is its analysis of the war's phases and use of internal documents translated into English for the first time. Much of the material duplicates Carlotta Gall and Thomas deWaal's Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (LJ 2/1/98) and Anatol Lieven's Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power (LJ 4/1/98), which is superior in explaining the war's larger domestic political context. Knezys and Sedlickas excel in recounting battlefield tactics. For larger academic libraries.--Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

About the Author, Stasys Knezys

Stasys Knezys served in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces before retiring as a colonel. When Lithuania became independent, he joined the staff of the newly formed Lithuanian Defense Ministry and served as inspector of its armed forces, then as military advisor to the president. One of his primary duties was to oversee the withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Lithuania.Romanas Sedlickas, a major in the U.S. Air Force, then a criminal defense attorney in New York, resettled in Lithuania in 1991 to help with its reconstruction. He has traveled widely throughout the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation and presently divides his time between teaching and working as a legal and management consultant to various Lithuanian firms and government institutions.

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Editorials

Library Journal

During its two-year duration, Chechnya's war for secession became emblematic of the brutal ineptitude of the Russian military. Although apparently vastly superior in force, Moscow was compelled to negotiate a stalemated peace after reducing much of Chechnya's cities to rubble, turning much of its population into refugees, and, according to the authors, committing "countless massive atrocities." This book explains how Russia's divided and overly confident military fell victim to the strategy of ambush and "military terrorist actions." The book's strength is its analysis of the war's phases and use of internal documents translated into English for the first time. Much of the material duplicates Carlotta Gall and Thomas deWaal's Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus LJ 2/1/98 and Anatol Lieven's Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power LJ 4/1/98, which is superior in explaining the war's larger domestic political context. Knezys and Sedlickas excel in recounting battlefield tactics. For larger academic libraries.--Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A detailed study aimed at military analysts and scholars rather than the general reading public. The authors (Knezys is a former military advisor to Lithuania's president; Sedlickas is a former US Air Force major) provide only a cursory introduction to the historical background of the Chechens' fight for independence, while the bulk of the book describes in minute detail the events of the war itself. The dry prose and clinical-sounding text is accompanied by numerous maps that provide readers with a general geographic orientation and with carefully prepared plans of battle sites. But Knezys and Sedlickas also move beyond microanalysis of the battlefield, offering opinions on broader political questions raised by the war in Chechnya. To begin with, both authors are of Lithuanian background and use Lithuania and the plight of such newly independent countries as a point of comparison with Chechnya. Asking whether Lithuanians would respond to Russian aggression as did the Chechens, the authors respond positively; they then use the example to support their theory that future wars of independence by small countries will feature military terrorism against larger aggressors. Indeed, the authors' claims for the legitimacy and efficacy of military terrorism lies at the center of their analysis. Knezys and Sedlickas are critical of the West's view of Russia and what they perceive as the West's insensitivity to independence struggles in the former Soviet Union. In short, they assert that the West ought to "delve into the harsher realities" of Russian colonialism and question its own recognition of some massive atrocities (i.e., Kosovo) but not others. Finally, the authors deliberately evaluate therole and personality of Chechen leader Dzhochar Dudajev in a more favorable light than have many, stressing self-sacrifice for the national good over the oft-cited accusations of criminal activity of Dudajev and the "Chechen mafia." Provides a thorough analysis and offers thoughtful and potentially controversial insights into how the West has responded to the fight for Chechen independence.