The Chechen Wars – “a Mistake”, “Disgrace” or “National Tragedy” of Russia? The Image of Russian-Chechen Conflicts in Russia’s History Textbooks

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show the reception of the Chechen wars in contemporary Russian history textbooks in order to answer the question how nowadays contemporary Russian society looks at these traumatic events. Analyzed in the article fragments of Russian history textbooks, historical studies and the results of public opinion polls convince that the Chechen wars are events still associated with numerous controversies and contradictions. The textbooks present a criticism of Russian government and military incompetence, but there are also frequent attempts to justify the actions of the federal authorities. Particular attention should be paid to the omission of the issue of Russian war crimes. Instead, the Chechen wars are located in the context of the international fight against terrorism. Mentioned remarks lead to the conclusion that the creation of cultural memory based on the textbooks is directed to the reformulation of the extremely negative memories of the Chechen conflicts. This is done through deliberate concealment and highlighting the problem of the fight against Islamic extremism. In this way the gradual purification of the Russian collective memory from the memories of war mistakes takes place and at the same time including in the collective memory the additional justification of military actions in Chechnya is done, which should strengthen the collective identity of the Russians.