Büyük Kafkas sıradağları Karadeniz'den Hazar Denizi'ne kadar 500 mil boyunca uzayan ve Avrupa ile Asya arasında kocaman bir set gibidir. 10. Yüzyıl coğrafyacılarından birisi olan al-Mas'udi, Kafkasya'ya, "Diller Dağı" adını vermiştir. Günümüzde Kafkaslarda çoğu tanınmış dil ailelerine mensup 50'den fazla dil konuşulmaktadır. Bu dillerin dışında Kafkasya'da tanınmış hiç bir dil ailesine ait olmayan, sadece bölgeye has 37 farklı dil de konuşulmaktadır. Bu özellik bu bölgede yaşayan kabileler arasında iletişim sorunları yaşanmasına neden olabilmektedir. 16. yüzyılın başlarında Dağıstan, İslami ilimlerin öğrenildiği bir merkez olmuş ve çok sayıda insan din bilimleri eğitimi almak için buraya gelmiştir. Bölgede Nakşiliğin yayılmaya başlamasıyla birlikte İslam dininin eğitim dili olan Arapça giderek daha çok insanın okuyup yazdığı bir dil haline gelmiş ve Dağıstan kabileleri arasında haberleşmelerde Arapça kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. 19. Yüzyılda Kuzey Kafkasya dağlı kabilelerinin işgalci Rus ordusuna karşı başlattığı bağımsızlık ve özgürlük mücadelesinin son lideri olan İmam Şamil, bu hareketin tüm Kafkasya'ya yayılmasını istemiş ve bu amaçla Kafkasya'da yaşayan Çerkez kabilelerini, bir kaç kez Ruslara karşı birlikte hareket etmeye davet etmiştir. Bu temaslardan olumlu bir netice çıkmayınca, İmam Şamil, en büyük Çerkez topluluğunun yaşadığı Kabarda'ya gitmiş, orada kendisini karşılamaya gelenlere hitaben yaptığı konuşmayla onları kendisiyle birlikte hareket etmeye ikna etmeye çalışmıştır. Arapça yaptığı konuşmalarla kitleleri harekete geçirebilen Şamil, Çerkezler arasında bu dilin yaygın olmaması nedeniyle konuşmasını Türkçe- Tatarca karışımı bir dil ile yapmak zorunda kalmıştır. Çerkez kabilelerinin bu dili de tam olarak anlayabildikleri kuşkuludur. Ortaya çıkan bu iletişimsizlik sorunu nedeniyle Şamil, Çerkezlerden beklediği ölçüde bir destek alamamıştır. Dış dünya ülkelerinden destek alamayan, içte de kabileler arasındaki iletişimsizlik sorunu nedeniyle saflarını sıklaştıramayan dolayısıyla Rus ordusu karşısında gittikçe güç kaybeden Kuzey Kafkasya'nın bağımsızlık ve özgürlük mücadelesi Gunip kalesinde sona ermiştir

Sea to the Caspian Sea and is like a huge set between Europe and Asia. Al-Mas'udi, who is one of the 10th century geographers named Caucasus "mountain of tongues." Today, more than 50 languages are spoken in the Caucasus, most of which belong to most recognized language families. There are 37 more different languages spoken only in the region, not belonging to any language family. This feature has often caused communication problems between tribes living in this region. In the early 16th century Daghestan has became a center where Islamic sciences were learned, and many people came here to study religious sciences. As the Sufism began to spread in the region, Arabic language which is the education language of the Islamic religion became a language that more and more people can read and write, and as a result Arabic was used in correspondence between the Dagestani tribes. In the 19th century, Imam Shamil, the last leader of the struggle for freedom and independence against the invading Russian army, wanted to spread this movement throughout the Caucasus and for this purpose he invited the Circassian tribes living in the Caucasus to act together against the Russians several times. When there was no positive outcome from these contacts, Imam Shamil went to the Kabarda, where the largest Circassian community lived, and tried to persuade them to act with him by talking to those who would meet him there. Shamil, who can affect the masses when he speaks in Arabic, had to speak with a a language which was a mixture of Turkish and Tatar languages because Arabic language was not common among Circassians. It is doubtful that Circassian tribes can fully understand this language. Due to this problem of lack of communication, Shamil did not get as much support as he expected from Circassians. As a result, the struggle for freedom and independence of the North Caucasus, which has been unable to get support from the outside world and could not to compress its ranks due to the lack of communication between the tribes, has thus lost strength against the Russian army and ended in Gunip castle This study was conducted to investigate the role played by intertribal noncommunication problem in the failure of the war of independence and freedom of the North Caucasus. The North Caucasus is a region where many different languages are spoken. In some cases, two neigbouring villages speak different different languages. The mountain tribes of the North Caucasus, a unique community of nations, share the same geography but belong to different cultures. They were living under the management systems organized as independent khanates and principalities before Russia seized the region. The economic, social and cultural life is organized according to "adats" which can be defined as traditions, behavior styles. The "adats", which were stronger than the laws, played a guiding role in everyday life of people of mountain tribes. Islam, with its entry into the Caucasus, has affected all aspects of everyday life of mountain tribes and people started to follow the principles of “Islamic way of life” leaving “adats” of the past aside. This wind of change caused social conflicts. Majority of Circassian tribes who can not give up their old traditions continue to adhere to "adats" even though they converted to Islam. This constituted a major obstacle to the expansion of the independence and freedom struggle to all of the Caucasus. Naqshbandiyya entered the North Caucasus through the deputies of Ismail al-Shirvani al-Khurdemir, who was the student of Mevlana Khalid Baghdad, one of the caliphs of the Imam Rabbani Ahmad Faruk Serhendi, Has Muhammad, Muhammad al-Yaraghi and Cemalaeddin Kumuki. It has played an important role in the development of the independence and freedom struggle of the North Caucasus. However, "loyalty to the adats and language differences" in Circassian tribes hampered efforts to spread this struggle among more tribes, and as a result a noncommunication problem has arisen in the North Caucasus. Personal efforts made by Imam Shamil to overcome this problem have also failed. In this context, Shamil, who went to Kabarda region with his army, made a speech addressing people who met him there but this speech was not as effective as expected on the Kabarda Circassians. Shamil, who can affect the masses when he speaks in Arabic, had to speak with a a language which was a mixture of Turkish and Tatar languages because Arabic language was not common among Circassians. Historians, who studied this subject, said that it was doubtful that Circassian tribes could fully understand this language. As a result, the problem of noncommunication between İmam Shamil and Circassian people of Kabarda couldn’t be overcome. The only common element that can gather the mountain tribes of the North Caucasus together, each of which has different language and cultural characteristics, under a banner was the Islamic religion. Arabic, the education language of Islam, has served as a very useful tool that sets the ground for communication between these tribes. Since the Circassians insisted on organizing their daily lives according to their own old “adats”, not according to Islamic precepts, even after accepting Islam, the Naqshband clergy coming to this region to spread Islam were not effective enough to educate people on Islamic way of living and Arabic language. As a result, Arabic remained a language that only few people could read, write and speak in these regions. The struggle of independence and freedom of the North Caucasus mountain tribes against the invading Russian army, has been the most remarkable movement of the 19th century. None of the independence movements, that have taken place in different parts of the world in the same century, have not been followed with such interest. The first resistance movement that started with Imam Mansur, turned into an independence and freedom struggle against the invading Russian army, under the leadership of Imam Ghazi Mohammed, Imam Hamzat and Imam Shamil. During this long struggle, which lasted for many years, glorious victories were won, which the whole world applauded, and some heavy defeats were taken from time to time. After the Crimean War, the independence and freedom struggle of the North Caucasus mountaineers has gradually begun to lose power against the superior Russian army, which is more powerful both in terms of weapons and number of soldiers, and finally ended with the surrender of İmam Shamil in Ghunip in 1859. While analyzing the independence and liberation struggle of mountain tribes of North Caucasus against the occupying Russian army, under the leadership of Imam Mansur, Ghazi Mohammed, Hamzad, Shamil, some historians described it as a futile effort, but some other analysts said that this independence and liberation struggle has played an important role in preventing the Russian plans which was aiming to go to the south and to seize Iran and Ottoman State. The reasons for the failure of the independence and freedom struggle of the North Caucasus can be listed as follows: As it was mentioned above, the intertribal uncommunication problem prevented this independence and liberation struggle to spread to more mountain tribes. It can be said that if all muslim tribes of the North Caucasus came together the result might not be a failure. Another important reason is that İmam Shamil left alone in his struggle against Russia by the major powers of the region. It was necessary for Imam Shamil to get support from the outside world in order to reach a definite success against Russia, which was the world's greatest military power. For this purpose, Imam Shamil, wrote letters to the Ottoman Empire and the British authorities calling for their support. These calls have coincided with a period that the Ottoman Empire was the most powerless. Due to the limitations in communication technologies at that time, a direct communication channel couldn’t be established between İmam Shamil and the Ottoman Sultan. As explained in detail in the introduction to this study, Europeans and Americans closely recognize and sympathize with Imam Shamil, thanks to memoirs written by travelers visiting the Caucasus. Especially in Great Britain, people would follow all the fights between forces of Shamil and the Russian army day by day. Despite this support of the public, the British administration has not made any attempt to aid Shamil. During the Crimean War, the allied forces of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France were predicted to enter the North Caucasus and support Imam Shamil, but these estimates were not realized, and the mountain tribes of the North Caucasus were abandoned at the mercy of Russia. After the heavy defeat in the Crimean War, the Russian army was loaded with all the power into the North Caucasus. The Russian army started to raid the villages of war tired mountain tribes, that were at the point of exhaustion economically, began to burn houses and pulling the whole villages down. Russian army burned forests, where the mountain tribes seek shelter during raids, and cut large beech trees and opened wide roads in the forests in order to reach mountain villages easily. Then the Russian troops, by making use of these roads, started to occupy all settlements in the North Caucasus. Before these changes, mountain tribes used the forest both as a base of self defence and a shelter to escape from the Russian army raids. Mountain tribes of the North Caucasus who lost this advantage had no choice but to submit to Russian sovereignty