you know, if the Chechens were not mohammedan, I would sympathize with them, but I am prejudiced against Mohammedanism.
I read Tolstoy’s works on this and did a lot of reading on the Chechens or rather the VAinakh/Nokhchiy — they are an ANCIENT people, like the Kartveli (”Georgian”). The Vainakh are among the most ancient indigenous peoples of the Caucasus region. Unlike neighboring populations who migrated during various imperial expansions, the ancestors of the Chechens have inhabited the northern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains for millennia.
i kinda think the Vainakh are related tot he ancient Hurrian and Urartian civilizations (Bronze age and earlier). Before the Mongol invasions, Chechen society had a feudal structure with local kings and lords. The utter devastation of the wars caused a societal revolution. The Chechens overthrew their own feudal elites and established a fiercely egalitarian clan system that defines them to this day.
They latched on to Mohammedanism because of Muscowite — their turn to Islam was purely REACTIONARY - a response to Muscowite expansion. Islam became fully cemented in Chechen society because it served as a unifying ideological banner against the Christian expansion of the Russian Empire.
Just as with the Uyghurs (who were originally Nestorian Christians), the Vainakh were weak Christians under Georgian influence but the actions of the Muscowites pushed them into Islam - the Russians in 1864 basically committed ethnic cleansing.
They, like the Dagestanis, Buryats, Yakuts, etc are not merged with Muscowite slavic entities and if not for the religious angle, I would say they should be independent
As the introduction points out, Wahabism with its extreme discipline was especially attractive as this area faced the harsh treatment of the Muscovites. Disciplined unity was an important survival mechanism, unfortunately it does not treat women very well. The important element Wahabism also has contributed to this area is the equality of all men, which as you point out led to overthrow of elites. Hopefully, should those areas gain independence as Putin/Moscow power falls apart, women will have better opportunities. As they leave Moscow influence, they will restore access to international cell phone and internet influence. With so many men killed or crippled by Putin’s willingness to kill all the Buryats and other ethnicities that he could sign up, there will be a majority of women in the population. Hopefully women will be able to gain additional influence and opportunities if the future plays out to give those areas more independence.