Allah's Mountains

A mixture of travelogue, history and war journalism, Allah's Mountains tells the story of the conflict between a nation of mountain tribes and the might of the Russian army. Ancient travellers called the Caucasus the mountain of languages. Greeks, Persians, Romans, Goths, Arabs, Mongols and Turks have all passed through the region; poets and artists have been inspired by its rugged beauty. Yet its history is a tragic one - for centuries it has been ravaged by virtually continuous conflict. The Caucasus is a hugely strategic part of the world - sandwiched between Iran, Turkey and Russia and crossed by some of the most valuable oil pipelines in the world. The latest conflict to sweep across the area began when Vladimir Putin invaded Chechnya in 1999. Thousands of Russian soldiers and thousands more Chechens - both rebels and civilians - died and Chechnya's towns and cities were bombed beyond recognition. Sebastian Smith travelled to Chechnya during this period. Allah's Mountains is the story of the history, people, and cultures of the Caucasus and of tiny ethnic groups struggling for both physical and cultural survival.