united country. However, he also saw great casualties to his people, particularly in the Siege of Akhoulgo in Dagestan in 1839, where he lost around 4500 of his own people. But he continued to rule until 1859, when Emperor Alexander II of Russia offered Shamil a peaceful surrender - he would even be a guest of the imperial palace. Shamil agreed, and the Caucasian Imamate was no more. However, fighting did not immediately cease. The fate of Imam Shamil As Charles King notes, Whereas previous enemies of the empire had been imprisoned, killed or exiled, Shamil became a national celebrity [in Russia]. After his surrender, he settled into a comfortable retirement in Kaluga, southeast of Moscow. In 1859, Shamil wrote to one of his sons: "By the will of the Almighty, the Absolute Governor, I have fallen into the hands of unbelievers... the Great Emperor... has settled me here... in a tall, spacious house with carpets and all the necessities." Fourth Imamate After the Russian Revolution of 1917, an attempt to reestablish the Imamate with the help of Turkey, during March–April 1918, was made by the son of one of Shamil's naibs, Najmuddin Hotso. This name stems from the Dagestani settlement of Gotso (when he was awarded nobility by Tsar). He was pronounced the fourth Imam of the North Caucasus and deposed the Soviet power, but was soon defeated by the Soviets. Hotso only had support in Dagestan, and there he carried on his fight (in Chechnya, meanwhile, North Caucasian nationalists of various creeds similarly went into guerrilla war against the Russians). Both rebellions were finally quelled in 1925. See also Caucasian War Russian conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan Galashkin naibdom Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (1917–1922) North Caucasian Soviet Republic (1918) North Caucasian Emirate (1919–1920) Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1921–1924) Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (1989–2000) Caucasus Emirate (2007–2016) References Further reading Pokrovsky N. I. Caucasian Wars and the Imamate of Shamil / Foreword. N. N. Pokrovsky, introduction. and approx. V. G. Gadzhiev. — M.: ROSSPEN, 2000. — 511 p. — ISBN 5-8243-0078-X. Kaziev, Shapi. Imam Shamil. "Molodaya Gvardiya" publishers. Moscow, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2010 Kaziev, Shapi. Akhoulgo. Caucasian War of 19th century. The historical novel. "Epoch", Publishing house. Makhachkala, 2008. Derluguian, G (2005). "Chapter Three: Historical Formation" A World History of The Noxchi (https://web.archive.org/web/20091229135530/http://www.yale.edu/agrarianstudies/papers/11noxchi.pdf) Cahoon, B (2002) "South and the Caucasus: Daghestan" Russian Civil