Atazhukin’s Kabardia

Hat’oxhushchokhuey (Atazhukin’s Kabardia), historically growing out of Kaziyeva Kabardia, representing the political core of Greater Kabardia, was one of the most powerful state formations in the Circassian world in the 18th and the first half of the 19th century.

1. Territory and boundaries
   Kaziyeva Kabardia (named after Prince Kazy Psheapshokov) initially occupied the western and central parts of the country. By the 18th century, the possessions of Hat’oxhushchokhwe (the Atazhukins) became the most numerous and powerful in Greater Kabardia.

• Borders: The lands of the Atazhukin princes were located between the sources of the Podkumok River and the Chegem River.
• Strategic significance: The territory controlled key exits from the mountain gorges to the plain, which allowed the Kabardian princes to keep neighboring mountain peoples (Balkars, Karachays, Ossetians) in vassal dependence, isolating them in the highlands.

1. Political system and social structure
   The political system of this possession is described as an aristocratic republic.

• Administration: Supreme power belonged to the Pshyshkhue (senior prince or Vali), who was elected for life at the national council – Khase. In the 18th century, the Atazhukin princes were one of the four (later six) families entitled to this title.
• Hierarchy: Society was divided into strictly delimited estates:
  1. Pshy (Princes): The Atazhukin clan, descendants of the legendary Inal.
  2. Uerk (Nobles/Uzden): Formed the knightly estate. They were divided into degrees: tl’ak’uel’esh (first-rate nobles, such as the Anzorovs or Kudenetovs), dyzhynygo, beslan-uerk, etc.
  3. Tf’ok’otl’ (Free community members): The bulk of the population, free farmers.
  4. Dependent estates: Pshitli (serfs) and unauts (household slaves).

1. Military power and the art of war
   The military power of Atazhukin’s Kabardia relied on the elite armored cavalry (uerk’ydze), which was considered the best in the region.

• Potential: In the mid-18th century, Greater Kabardia could field up to 15,000 horsemen (half of which were noble cavalry).
• Weaponry: Circassian knights were clad in chainmail (afe), helmets (tash) and armed with famous sabers, daggers, and bows. The Kabardian breed of horses, bred specifically for war, provided incredible mobility and endurance in the mountains and on the plains.

1. Important victories and political influence
   Atazhukin’s Kabardia was the vanguard of Circassian resistance to Crimean-Ottoman expansion.

• Battle of Kanzhal (1708): The greatest victory of Circassian arms. Under the leadership of the supreme prince Kurgoko Atazhukin, the Kabardians defeated the numerically superior army of the Crimean Khan Kaplan-Giray at night (according to various sources, from 30 to 60 thousand people). This victory thwarted the Porte’s plans to seize the North Caucasus and had an international resonance, even affecting the course of the Battle of Poltava.
• Battle on the Malka (1641): The leaders of Kaziyeva Kabardia (Aleguko Shogenukov and Hatokshoko Kaziyev – the grandfather of the founder of the Atazhukin clan) completely defeated the coalition of the Idarov princes and the Russian streltsy who supported them, which consolidated the dominance of this branch of the Inalids in the country.

1. Role in the unified space of Circassia
   Hat’oxhushchokhuey was not just a local possession, but an organic part of the Adyghe Kheku (Land of the Adyghe).

• Unity of the code: The life of society was regulated by an unwritten constitution – the Adyghe Khabze, which created a unified legal and ethical field from the Caspian to the Black Sea.
• Political center: In its heyday (16th–18th centuries), Kabardia was perceived by its neighbors as an “aristocratic republic” and a trendsetter in fashion and etiquette for all of Circassia and the Caucasus.
• Confederation: Despite internal decentralization, Kabardia acted as a single entity in international treaties (for example, the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739, which recognized it as a “free” and independent “barrier” between empires).
  Thus, Atazhukin’s Kabardia embodied the ideal of Circassian statehood of that time: independence based on knightly honor, military superiority, and strict adherence to the Khabze.