ABSTRACT
T he Emperor Nicholas, though disappointed with the meagre results obtained in 1844, saw no reason to alter his opinion as to what might, and should, be done with the means he had placed at the disposal of his generals in the Caucasus. At the end of that year he called on General Neidhardt to prepare a plan of campaign for 1845, on receipt of which he wrote with his own hand a memorandum approving in general what was proposed, and declaring that (1) Shamil’s hordes must be routed if possible ; (2) the expedition must penetrate to the centre of his dominions ; and (3) establish Russian authority there. Further, he mentioned Andee as the possible objective, and decided that the Samour division, instead of co-operating, as suggested, in the main movement, should confine itself to an attack on one of the hostile communities in southern Daghestan, with the object of being in a position later on to build a fort at Gherghébil. The Emperor repeated emphatically that the 5th Army Corps, which did not belong to the Caucasus, could not be allowed to remain there for more than another twelve months, and declared that only the attainment of the results he had specified could justify its presence in the Caucasus at all. He held that the Daghestan and Tchetchnia columns should move simul taneously on Andee, and that, having taken and destroyed
“ that nest,” the latter force should be employed in com pleting the fort at Vozdveezhenskoe and, if time allowed, building a new one at some other point on the same parallel-the former in fortifying Andee, and perhaps a line of posts between that place and the Soulâk.1
