123 The Russian Shamilexpose the imam to cultural monuments such as St Isaac’s Cathedral
and cultural artifacts such as works of literature and theatre produc-
tions. As a result, Shamil and, in particular, the younger generation
were to become “civilized,” which in addition meant they were to ab-
sorb new ideas about technology, consumerism, education, and gen-
der and the family. The fate of the younger generation was of
particular interest to Russian readers, as they had spent less time in
the North Caucasus and could look foward to a longer future within
the Russian Empire. Their personal histories were to take a new direc-
tion, as the North Caucasus in general was offered a different future
as a result of its incorporation into the Russian Empire.
Like the southern borderlands, the lives of those members of the
younger generation who stayed in the Russian Empire did change.
For Russian readers, one career worth following was that of
Magomet-Shefi, the son of Shamil, who as a boy in Kaluga appeared
to Russians to exhibit great promise.^92 From Kaluga, Magomet-Shefi
found a place in Russian service, and in 1865 he was sent to the
Caucasus for the purpose of assembling an escort squadron of moun-
taineers from Dagestan and Chechnia. At the wedding of the tsar’s
daughter in 1866, the emperor himself was said to be particularly im-
pressed by this son of Shamil. Magomet-Shefi grew up to achieve
more than Khadzhio, who eventually served in the Russian bureau-
cracy in Dagestan, or Abdurrakhman, who achieved the rank of lieu-
tenant-colonel and retired to live in Kazi-Kumukh.^93 He eventually
rose to the rank of general-maior, briefly lived in Paris, and served as
the governor-general of Kazan province (although he was not sent to
the Caucasus in 1877).
At the turn of the century, Magomet-Shefi, like a member of ob-
shchestvo, was vacationing at the mineral waters of Kislovodsk.
There he met for conversation and reminiscence with two aging
Russians whose past experience was also closely tied to the Caucasus
War and the Russian colonization of the region. I.N. Zakhar’in was an
officer in the Russian army who had had the opportunity of visiting
Shamil and his family in Kaluga on two occasions in 1860–61.
Magomet-Shefi at that time was just fifteen. General V.A. Potto was a
prolific military historian who published one of the more prominent
histories of the war and various essays on characters such as Shamil
and Hadji Murat.^94 As Shamil’s son approached the seated Potto and
Zakhar’in in the Kislovodsk park, Potto characterized the signifi-
cance and purpose of the occasion: “My, how many tales we could
share about the former heroes of the Caucasus War!”^95 Magomet-
Shefi was thus privy to what had become a common and particularly
Russian pastime of the later nineteenth century for those with a