Qizbech Tughuzhuqo was a Circassian aristocrat, soldier, and military commander who took part in the Russo-Circassian War as a leader of the Shapsug. Qizbech was a cavalry commander, especially successful in raiding behind enemy lines. He refused multiple offers from the Russian Empire to switch sides and join its Imperial ranks. Qizbech's close family, including all of his sons, were killed in the war. Despite being of noble birth, he sided with the peasants in the Circassian Revolution. The Englishman James Bell, who knew him personally, called him "The Lion of Circassia".
Sources and contemporary writers on Qizbech include David Urquhart, secretary of the British Embassy in Istanbul and a supporter of the Circassians who contributed to the Portfolio magazine; Edmund Spencer and John E. Longworth, travellers who reported from Circassia for The Times; and James Stanislaus Bell, who followed Urquhart's lead in writing letters to the British people. The last three of them met Qizbech personally and recorded their memories. Among the Circassian writers of the period, Sultan Khan-Giray provides information about Qizbech. On the Russian side, both the poet Mikhail Lermontov and the Russian Lieutenant General Vasily Aleksandrovich Potto, the first detailed historian of the Caucasian War, mention him. Fyodor A. Shcherbina also provides information about Qizbech. In addition, in oral Circassian tradition, many songs were composed in the name of Qizbech. These songs were unusual because they were written while Qizbech was still alive and were known to him. In these songs, he is referred to as the "Lion of Circassia" ().
The name Qizbech is a shortened form of Qizilbech and is recorded as Guz Bek, Ghezil Bek and Kazbek in various sources. He is referred to as Kizil Bey in Ottoman documents.
Qizbech's original surname was Sheretluqo, while Tughuzhuqo means "son of Tughuzh". The word "Tughuzh" is a Circassian name and also means "wolf" in the Circassian language. Among the Circassians, both surnames and nicknames usually ended with the suffix "-qo", equivalent to the English "-son" suffix.
Not much is recorded about Qizbech's early life, as Circassians did not write down their history, and all knowledge comes from Russian sources. Tughuzhuqo was born in 1777 in the village of Beannash (), to the Shapsug noble house of Sheretluqo. He was the son of Yelmishequ's son Sheretluqo Tughuzh, one of the most prominent figures among the Shapsugs. A theory suggests that the Sheretluqo family comes from Bekkan/Bechkan, which was a branch of Zhaney princes. He was born into a family of seven children. During Qizbech's youth, Jembulat Boletoqo was more influential. Qizbech was 192-193 cm tall.
The Circassian revolution started in Shapsug when Qizbech was 18/19 years old. In this war, the peasants of Shapsug rebelled against their nobles. Despite being a member of the noble class himself, Qizbech took the side of the peasants and was one of the few aristocratic figures that were accepted into the new social structure that came about following the revolution. He fought on the side of the peasants in the Battle of Bziyuqo in 1796 against the nobles, and nearly lost his head in the battle, but survived with a deep scar.
After the revolution, Qizbech does not appear in any sources between 1796 and 1810. According to Circassian oral traditions, during this period Qizbech met with Hasan Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Anapa, and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He returned definitively in 1810 and began to appear again in written records. After this, he continued to fight for the Circassian army. In 1810, the Olginske Fortress was taken by the Circassian forces which Qizbech participated. He gained fame between 1810 and 1839, and almost all major Circassian raids on Russian fortifications during this period are associated with his name.
Qizbech started his struggle once the Russo-Circassian War reached western Circassia. Between the years 1810âÂÂ1840, he stormed the Russian garrisons and settlements with a volley of attacks. His main rival was the Cossack ataman Maxim Vlasov. He rose to fame by defeating Vlasov in 1820. During Vlasov's period, the violence against Circassian villages reached such proportions that Tsar Alexander I removed him from office in July 1826. In 1821, he defeated a Russian campaign on the lands of Shapsug. In the June of the same year, Qizbech attacked the Alexandriyske Fortress with 1,000 men. In October 1822, he was wounded during the assault on the Yelizavetinskaya Fortress. The Circassians believed that Qizbech had met Khidr (Alebiy in Circassian).
On March 12, 1823, Qizbech crossed the Kuban River with an army of 1,500 and attacked a village in construction near Yelizavetinsky. While he was defeating the 200-strong Cossack unit stationed there,reinforcements of 200 Cossacks and two cannons arrived from Alexandrovsky Fortress, and the artillery fire halted the Circassians. Just as Qizbech was preparing for an attack, General VlasovâÂÂs army approached to the battlefield, prompting the Circassians to retreat. The Cossacks pursued and attacked the retreating forces. During the clashes, Qizbech captured a sergeant and two soldiers. Russian artillery took position and opened fire and QizbechâÂÂs eldest son was killed by the artillery, and his body was captured by the Cossacks.
On 9 October 1823, Qizbech unsuccessfully tried ambushing Russian forces near the Alexandrovsky post. Two days later he launched a raid on Elizavetinskaya settlement, and his forces got into an engagement with the defending Cossacks. However, after receiving news of approaching Russian reinforcements, Qizbech hastily turned around, and headed back to Circassia. The Russians intercepted his forces twice, leading to heavy casualties on the Circassian side; however, Qizbech managed to get back to Circassia, heavily wounded and with 3 captives.
Sultan Khan-Giray had said the following about him:Qizbech was part of the team that designed the Shapsug flag. Russia frequently tried to persuade the upper-class Circassians to switch sides, offering them high privileges. Qizbech resisted and rejected these offers. He punished those who accepted such proposals.
In a letter dated November 8, 1824, Colonel Matveyev wrote to Major General Vlasov:Englishman Favell Lee Mortimer said these:
On January 23, 1825, Qizbech gathered a 2,000-strong army and crossed the frozen Kuban River to avenge the Russian attacks on Circassian villages in 1824. Qizbech attacked two Cossack units there and shortly afterwards, General Vlasov and reinforcements from the surrounding positions joined the battle, and intense fighting lasting 6 hours took place.
In 1830, Qizbech attacked Yelizavetinskaya settlement and destroyed it. In July, Qizbech and his brother Batcheriy gathered 2,500 cavalry and 1,500 infantry and fought for days near Mount Satruk against General BezkrovniâÂÂs Cossacks, who were attempting to build a fortress near the Shebsh River. Since the fortress in Satruk was built in a strategically important place on the border of Abzakh and Shapsug, it was frequently attacked by these tribes including the Ubykhs and Natukhajs even during its construction phase. In 1831, Qizbech and his Shapsug unit continued to launch constant attacks on and harass the fortress. On August 14, Qizbech captured the strategic passage roading to Alexeyevskoye Fortress with 3,000 warriors. In September, he attacked Yelizavetinskaya Fortress. On December 1, Qizbech sent several Circassian units across the Kuban to distract the Russian forces, while he himself attacked the Marinska stanitsa with 500 cavalry and 700 infantry.
According to Circassian oral sources, the commander of the fortress at Satruk assigned three collaborator Circassians to assassinate Qizbech. The assassination attempt failed; one of the assassins was killed in the clash, another was captured, and the last one managed to escape.
Due to intense Circassian attacks and harassment, the Russian garrison withdrew from Satruk and abandoned the fortress in 1832. On March 3, about 2 kilometers from the village of Gutehable, a force of 4,000 Shapsug and Abzaks led by Qizbech clashed with a 3,000-strong Bzhedug force with the Cossack support, which they accused of collaborating with the Russians. The Bzhedugs managed to resist the attacks with their defensive positions. On November 24, Qizbech crossed the Kuban River with 700 cavalry and 300 infantry and set fire to the Cossacks' hay depots. The Circassians, noticing Major General Berhman's attempt to quietly trap the Circassians, retreated when they realized that the main Russian force was approaching.
In 1834, heading a force of 700 cavaliers along with Hawduqo Mansur, he brutally defeated a 14,000 soldier Russian troops in the Battle of Abinsk. Again, in the same year, he headed 1,200 cavaliers to victory over 6 thousand Russian soldiers. In the same year, with 1,200 cavaliers, Qizbech encountered a Cossack detachment of less than 300 men. Admiring the courage and determination of the Cossacks, Qizbech withdrew some of his own cavalry to equalize the numerical advantage. The sides fought with equal numbers, and Qizbech's side won the battle. During the wars, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and also visited Egypt. The Egyptian rulers wanted to recruit him into the Egyptian army, but Qizbech rejected the offer.
Russian military historian Vasily Potto, who served in the Russian army in the Caucasus, said these about Qizbech:
In October 1836, Qizbech attacked the Marinska Fortress with 700 men. On December 16, he attacked a Russian unit sent from Georgiy-Afipsky Fortress to cut wood with 200 warriors. In April 1837, Cossack forces who had attacked and destroyed the Abzakh villages near the Ilik and Sup rivers were ambushed during their retreat by Abzakh warriors led by Qizbech. The retreat was marked by nearly continuous engagements, during which Qizbech wounded seven times.
The Shapsug nobles criticized Qizbech for maintaining close relations with commoners. In response, Qizbech gave an ironic and mocking reply, saying that he is fighting together with the commoners against the Russian aggression, because of that many commoners were already being killed in these clashes: "I am taking revenge on them on behalf of all of you: I take them to the Russians, and there hundreds of them are being killed!.."
Russian settlers established by Russia along the Kuban River decided to return because of disease and famine. They lost their way in a snowstorm and arrived near a Circassian village. The Circassians helped them and reported the situation to Qizbech. When Qizbech arrived at the village he said the settlers were ordinary people and ordered that they be helped. The settlers stayed for three months until the end of winter. In the spring they were given horses and food and sent to the Circassian border.
Over many years, he raided several hostile Russian garrisons; Maryanskaya, Georgie, Afepskaya, Apenskaya, and in 1837 while crossing through a field, he was identified by Cossack peasants, who out of their great fear, fled the place leaving behind them 200 sickles. In the same year of 1837, Qizbech stormed the coastal castle of Nikolayev and seized all its properties. At the beginning of June 1837, he attacked the guards of the Nikolaevsky fortress (now Shapsugskaya village) alone, captured a soldier, and seized 9 rifles.
In 1837, accompanied by 250 men, he attacked the right bank of the Kuban Russian fort and captured 200 prisoners. As a warrior, Tughuzhuqo enjoyed great respect among opponents. Tsarist generals entered into negotiations with him and repeatedly offered him to join the service of Russia, he rejected all offers. After the failure of his generals to convince him, Tsar Nicholas I tried to personally approach Qizbech to dissuade him from continuing his acts. Qizbech rejected offers of money and continued his raids on Russian garrisons.
Qizbech was against any kind of compromise with Russia. In 1838, he launched an attack against the Zhaney Circassians of the Karakuban region, who had sworn allegiance to Russia. In April, Qizbech attacked the Georgiy-Afipsky Fortress. On October 1, the Cossacks, who could not find a village to attack where they were said to be, started to return and on their way back, they captured a flock of sheep from the Circassians, and accidentally came across to the camp set up by Qizbech with his 100 men on the banks of the Afips River. The Circassians launched an intense attack to recapture the herd and increased their pressure with the arrival of 500 cavalry, killing several Russian dignitaries, but they retreated because the artillery fire increased their losses. In this clash, Qizbech's son Alibiy was shot and seriously wounded, later died from his wound. According to James Bell, who was present there, Qizbech was not affected by this and saw it as fate. On October 8, a 2,100-strong Russian detachment decided to return due to bad weather conditions while on its way to attack Circassian villages. On the way back, the detachment was ambushed by Circassians but repelled the attack with artillery fire. Subsequently, QizbechâÂÂs 200 cavalry attacked separately until they were driven back by artillery fire. In this battle, Qizbech was seriously wounded by a gunshot to his right arm and suffered a broken elbow.
According to oral sources, the Shapsugs under the command of Qizbech advanced toward a Cossack fortress to attack. The Cossacks in the fortress were prepared for the attack due to information provided by Circassian collaborators who were working to Russians. The Circassians launched multiple attacks in groups of dozens but could not capture the fortress. They reorganized and withdrew to the Kuban River with their main forces to make decisions to decide whether to continue the assault or not. While the wounded and dead were being brought from the battlefield, QizbechâÂÂs son was brought back dead. QizbechâÂÂs friend Kerekhuqo advised him to withdraw the army and carry out the procedures for his sonâÂÂs funeral. After thinking in sadness for a while, Qizbech said that the death of a single soldier would not cause the army to retreat. He turned to his soldiers and said that each of them was like his own son and he grieved for them the same way, then said this was the only thing that could be done for his son. Following this, they attacked the fortress again, where the Cossacks who were preparing to pursue the Circassians were located, defeated the Cossack army and in the battle Qizbech was wounded three times and returned to his sonâÂÂs body.
In October 1839, Qizbech attacked Yekatirininske Fortress. Qizbech was seriously injured during the assault on the same fortress in December. The fortresses built by Russia on the Circassian coast didn't allow Ottoman and British ships to dock. Russian armies landed thousands of soldiers on the shore and built 17 fortresses in a short time. The Circassians attacking the fortresses under construction were unsuccessful due to artillery fire opened from the ships. Food shortages, blockade, and epidemic diseases led the Circassians to think that dying in battlefield was better than dying from starving or illness, prompting them to launch major attacks on the Russian fortresses. Meanwhile, despite being severely wounded and under care, Qizbech acted against the warnings of the healers and sent messengers to the various Circassian leaders leaders, then went to the Ubykhs. In February 1840, the Ubykh leader Gerandiqo Berzeg, the Natukhaj leader Hawduqo Mansur, Qizbech from the Shapsugs, and Hajji Yismel from the Abzakhs gathered for a meeting and secretly determined to destroy the coastal fortresses. In 1840, Qizbech, heading a group of Circassian cavaliers, captured the garrisons of Waya, Tuapse and Shaps.
The song written for Qizbech by the Circassian bard Osman the Blind, who was a contemporary of Qizbech, goes like this:
British adventurer James Bell was impressed by the courage of Qizbech. He witnessed the fear in the hearts of Russian soldiers when hearing Qizbech's name, and how they dispersed before him after they had seen him.
Russian General Olshevsky wrote:
Qizbech Tughuzhuqo died of wounds received in action on February 28, 1840, during the Siege of Veliaminovsky. He had six different fatal wounds at the time. Some other sources claim he died in battle. According to other sources, he died on December 12, 1839 or March 12, 1840. Before his death, he made a speech:
According to oral sources, two more people were buried next to his grave, in accordance with his will. After his death, he appeared in Cossack legends as a figure that haunted the Cossacks. In Circassian legends, he was a figure dressed in white with armor who supported the Circassians in battles.
Qizbech was born into a family of seven children. In the later years of his life, he witnessed the death of his children in the war. He was a devout Muslim and made the pilgrimage to Mecca. James Bell mentioned that Qizbech loved music. There is also information that he loved dancing and sang well. According to oral sources, QizbechâÂÂs horse was named Gu'ale (ÃÂÃÂIðûÃÂ). The name is derived from the Circassian word meaning "beany" "eager" or "restless". Sources report that the Russian Tsar wanted a photograph of Qizbech and tried to buy it, but Qizbech refused.
In 2014, in the 150th anniversary of the end of Russo-Circassian War, a group of Circassian nationalists organized the constructing a monument of Qizbech in the village of Afipsip. As of June 2015 the fundraising was completed and the statue was built. The Republic of Turkey created a postage stamp in memory of Qizbech.