Alexander II of Russia, also ironically known as Alexander the Liberator (reigned from 1855-1881). Czar Alexander II ordered General Nikolai Yevdokimov and his army of Cossacks to remove the Circassians and Chechens from their rightful homelands in the Caucasus Mountains and either relocate them elsewhere within the Russian Empire, forcefully expel them to the Ottoman Empire, or slaughter them (he didn’t trust the Caucasians enough to leave them on such a sensitive border and wanted Cossacks to populate the area instead).  After nearly 100 years of unsuccessful attempts to force relocation upon the Caucasians, Czar Alexander II initiated full scale war against the Circassians and Chechens. His brutal military campaign eventually killed 1-1.5 million people and expelled 400,000 to the Ottoman Empire (approximately 200,000 died en route), in what many consider to be modern history’s first genocide.

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