First Chechen War
In December of 1994, Russian troops entered Chechen territory to prevent them from seceding from the Russian Federation. The origin of the Russian-Chechen conflict dates as far back as the 19th century, and conflict amongst the two groups have never ceased for long since. In 1991, Chechnya, under the leadership of Dzhokar Dudayev, officially declared itself independent from Russia. After several failed attempts to overthrow President Dudayev by opposition groups who were financially and militarily supported by the Russian government, Yeltsin made the decision to invade Chechnya's capital, Grozny, on December 10, 1994. The goal of the invasion was to have a quick victory and reestablish a pro-Russian government in the territory, but the invasion became only the first of a long series of Russian military operations that were opposed by organized guerrilla forces of Chechen separatists. The result: tens of thousands of lost civilian life and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. After intensive aerial and artillery bombardment of Grozny and the destruction of most residential, public, and military buildings in the city, the First Chechen War ended in 1996. After nearly two years of fighting, both sides reached a peace agreement, but over time, the peace was discovered to be short-lived and conflict once again arose between Chechnya and Russia, eventually leading to the Second Chechen War.
Source Citation:
"Military." First Chechnya War. Web. 12 May 2015.