The Role of Islam in Chechen National Identity.

The article discusses the significance and role that Islam plays in defining the Chechen national identity. Chechnya's embrace of Islam, the author states, developed during a period of colonization as Chechens struggled to stop the Russians from encroaching on their land. Other topics include the 80 years Chechens spent under Soviet rule after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the geographic isolation of the Caucasus Mountains, and the Chechen victory over the Russian Federation during the 1994-1996 war.