The author, Valery Tishkov, details the accounts of many Chechans and Russians who were impacted by these brutal wars, which led to the deaths of tens of thousands and the complete destruction of many Chechan cities, including Grozny (pictured below).
The premise of the book is to determine what started the war and what did people actually think, once you get beyond the propoganda. He discovered that despite information to the contrary, Chechnya at large did not have a mutli-century hatred for Russia. He also found that while it was an easy excuse, Stalin's deportations were not the root cause behind the conflict. Tishkov believes that certain factions, including outsiders, fanned the flames and increased the rhetoric, but that at the end of the day, this was a conflict that got out of hand.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, leaders within Chechnya declared their independence. They raided a Soviet military outpost, looting all the weapons. The Soviets responded by sending troops. The troops were young, inexperienced and underprepared. Many were drunk and committed atrocities. The Chechans responded in-kind leading to a cottage industry of kidnapping.
Each side countered the other's atrocities with greater atrocities. The violence just spiraled out of control.
This account is extremely interesting and does provide some great firsthand accounts of these wars.
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