The Battle of Grozny: Urban Warfare, Total Destruction 

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Yeah I was serving in the US Army when these events happened and I remember our sergeants were surprised that the Russian army was doing so poorly. Considering they served when they were led to believe the Soviet Army was some type of juggernaut.

'... Ethnic cleansing. Speaking of which, today's sponsor is MY HERITAGE!'

Grozny was taken back by Chechens in 1996 and forced Russia to withdraw their army and sign a peace treaty in 1997. Chechnya would be invaded again in 1999, this time by Putin. It's been estimated that aroud 300 thousand Chechens were killed in both wars (about 30% of population). 45K of them were children. Interesting fact: The Chechen President Dzhokar Dudaev (killed by russians in 1996) said that he has documents indicating that Crimea is the next target for Russia and also predicted the war between Russia and Ukraine. He also added that Ukrainians will never accept being a part of the Russian Empire and the war with Ukraine will be the end of Russia. Chechen wars took way too much time and resources, forced Russia to delay their plans of invading Ukraine until 2014.

When the Russian army couldnt capture Grozny, they flattened it with tens of thousands of civilians still in the city, leading to tens of thousands of civilians dead.

Setting a prerecorded message at a train station that simply says “Welcome to Hell.” has to be one of THE most badass things ever

I'm so glad you made a video on this. I've seen various footage and images from Grozny. Russian language documentaries show much more than the English ones. It's just rubble, bent metal, grey skies and rotting bodies.

If anyone wants to gain great insight into the two Chechen wars and the Russian military as a whole, I recommend reading the book “One Soldier’s War” by Arkady Babchenko, who served in both. The connections between this war and Ukraine is great

You and the team always make such fantastic content! Thank y'all!

The battle of Grozny is a stark rebuttal to any notion that it's Putin alone who is to blame for today's Russia being so aggressively evil. After all, this horror happened back in the mid 90's during the Yeltsin era, when virtually everyone in the West was pollyannishly optimistic about the prospects for a free and democratic Russia.

Respect for real Ichkerian people. Greetings from Poland. Greetings and great respect for that fight for your freedom.

The way Russia fights wars makes other Superpowers look like they just go into countries handing out pillows. Holy Hell.

Your content is getting better and better on this channel. 10/10. Very well done.

Russia destroyed Grozny ruthlessly regardless of number of civilian casualties.

History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.

Most depressing moment of this war were the two friends turned enemies.

The similarities between this story and the war in Ukraine are astounding

Thank you for the very informative video. I am a bit surprised at the lack of maps and graphics in this video. It could have helped to show some basic maps of the region and the city when describing different parts of the battle. The video is still very informative, thank you for posting.

Urban environments are a nightmare for any attacking military… I was in 1st Battle of Fallujah and we had supposedly a ~10:1 advantage; around 20k of us and 2 or 3 thousand of them… We had air superiority, better training, better equipment and it took us over a month to secure the city, really we never truly did but that’s what historians say… It was a well sized city but everyone other than the militants had left and let’s just say the construction standards for the buildings wasn’t like US or European cities… I can assure you infiltrating a decent sized city even if the opponent is out manned and out gunned is not an easy thing unless you just level the whole place… We did our fair share of leveling in that war so I can’t judge another military for choosing that route…

Such a depressing story. Thanks for covering

The craziest part about this whole video is how he manages to change shirts so fast for that commercial

Warographics is amazing! The Quality of the content is astonishing! I really enjoy your videos, it's incredible to learn history through them!

I did a My Heritage via your discount link ages ago, (two years?) Have ended up with over 1000 people on the tree, and have met up with cousins I didn't know I had, some travelled from New Zealand to the Uk to see us!

I've heard terrible stories of how callous the Russian military treated their own dead & their family members. One example I heard of a mother who came home to her flat to find a coffin with her son inside had been leaned up next to her door because nobody was home when they delivered his body. To make it worse she did not even know he had been a casualty in the first place.

One of the best examples of modern urban combat. Of course, the Ukraine War and the Iraq War and the Syrian Civil War also have some very good examples. The Chechens were able to quickly access the Russian command radio nets (sound familiar?), that, combined with “funneling” tanks into kill zones was a major force multiplier

Try to talk about something about a specific countries is doing. People in comment section: "Bu.. but, America.."

Simon can't even get through an ad copy without going on a tangent

Wild how familiar the "bloodless blitzkrieg" sounds, if they had learned from that mistake the battle for Kyiv could have been very different.

This guy has a million channels. His production schedule must be absolutely insane

Urban warfare is something that is really hard to engage in because its basicaly like entering a fortress full of hundreds of small fortress, any building can be an enemy stronghold. No army in the world has ever been able to go through this kind of warfare and say it was not challenging.

I have never understood the hubris of people who believe that they would be welcomed as liberators, without any resistance. Why can't people realise that "their" reaction would be the same as "your" reaction. People would rather have their own Hitler than a foreign Gandhi.

I highly recommend any of the books Anna Politkovskaya authored on the subject of the Chechen wars.

Barely audible in the background in the video " severnaya" goldeneye 007. Thats absolute class. I was just playing that theme yesterday walking through a big open frozen field at dusk. Such a vibe

Thanks for this videos and keeping us informed simon.

I served in the Soviet army in 1988 and I knew how poorly prepared we were for the next war.

🐺🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️🟥⬜️🟩 Free Chechnya

I'm from Dagestan, it borders with Chechnya. So, population of Chechnya was about 1000 000 people at that time, and in that war Chechnya lost 350 000 people, including 42 000 children. That was real genocide. Chechen warriors fought bravely protecting their homes.

somehow Russia never learned when they invaded Ukraine... the same mistakes committed.

The Russian General in charge of the first assault was drunk and believed Grozny would fall within a day 😂

1:35 - Chapter 1 - Background 3:00 - Mid roll ads 5:10 - Back to the video 9:00 - Chapter 2 - Belligerents & tactics 12:25 - Chapter 3 - The battle 19:35 - Chapter 4 - Aftermath & analysis PS: Since it's the chechen again, can we send Slavoj Žižek to stuck Putin in the "toilets" ?

One of my prized items in life is a draft of a passport. The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria passport. There is a small map where the capital is named Dzokhar not Grozny. It stays right beside with my own national passport.

The narrative is wrong There were two battles for Grozny. In 1995, the Russians lost and negotiated under Yeltsin. In 2001,the Russians flattened Grozny under Puriin. The scriptwriter has both events mixed up.

"Alik, have mercy on your men's mothers.... Its better if you come to me as a guest."

Sometimes the best you can do against a massed-force invasion is to make each one of their objectives as expensive in blood and ammo to gain as possible, and then try to live to fight another day.

Can still see that vid of the young conscript getting a blade in his throat...think the world had there back till beslan

The amazing thing is that Russia is still using the same sledgehammer approach to warfare.

I mean, in terms of the first battle of Grozny, the casualties at the train station from the Maikop motorized Brigade basically tally up to all the western powers losses in other conflicts. Doctorine and negligence are very powerful things

Remember, this is what Putin is willing to do his own citizens.

The Russian Army’s incompetence is staggering.

One thing for sure 2 things for certain: Them chechen boys had Russia SHOOK!

You know what’s funny? Well funny for me. Is the fact that at the start of Chechen war and Ukrainian war there were 1 phrase which literally made me think “well it will end badly for us”. So our propaganda news start saying “ we will take Kiev in 3 days”. So the funniest thing is that Grachev the military man who was mentioned in this video, before invading grozny said “ give me two parachute troops and Grozny will be yours within 2 hours”. Honestly saying the same phrase it’s just so stupid.

10:40 this frame took my breath. Thinking about how many people lost their lives brutally and I know it may sound silly but I can't help thinking about pets. I love cats and seeing this frame was so heartbreaking.

I live in germany and got a russian family as neighbors, of which the father served in the russian army in the 90s and actually fought in Grozny and told me that it was an absolute nightmare to go through. But take a guess what his take on the russian invasion of Ukraine is

Kadyrov when he got the call from Pootie sold his moral convictions. A man like that Isnt worth a lick of spit...

Anyone with enough explosives can level a city...doesn't make them warriors or a functional military force.

last time I was this early, Russia was invading its neighbours Oh wait

*Holy shit, is there a more Russian looking Russian than Boris Yeltsin??* 😅

Omg, this guy is everywhere… youtube keeps recommending his videos every single day

*looks at Ukraine* They never learn! History repeats itself!

Video 8 of asking Simon to do a Syrian civil war video or perhaps more, as well as a Rise and Fall of ISIS (for Into the Shadows tho) Would be greatly appreciated

This video reaffirms my lack of understanding as to how any Chechens can fight for Putin in Ukraine.

Considering how badly it has gone for Russia in Armenia, Chechnya and Georgia I wonder why the hell they figured Ukraine, a country much much bigger and much much more capable, would go down smoothly?

I'm glad this was addressed. I wasn't told about this in school. (Indiana) thank you

I read a book called "My Jihad" in 2002 that went into a bit of the battle for Grozny.

орки и одного бы дня не продержались на Чеченской земле без поддержки авиации артилерии и вертушек

I really miss hearing you say “Nagorno-Karabakh “ 😂👍🏻

Incredible video

Rest in peace to those that passed away.

Great episode!!! It honestly blows my mind how much the Russian military and govt get away with time after time, war after war. They have the same playbook but we clearly haven’t read that play book. 🙈

There's a recording of one the Chechen General's radio'ing his old friend who was the Russian General begging him to not invade. Also that if he did he couldn't do anything to save him. He served in the Russian army previously

There’s a video “On the road to death” (?) filmed on a video camera by a Russian soldier. Absolutely savage.

This is Russians learning quicker than usual. The first battle of Kiev in WW2 had roughly 500,000-700,000 casualties. 98.5% attrition rate is rarely how things are drawn up. At some point you have to wonder if its really just a semi-regular purge.

That myheritage ad was a crazy change of pace 😅

Russia is the worst neighbor on the block.

Thanks

Ah Russian Warfare. Severely Underestimate Enemy, Enter single file, ambushed, no supplies, have to level the city to win. 😂 It’s amazing how consistent they are.

You’d think that by now, they would’ve learned their lesson, but based on the war in Ukraine, it’s obvious that Russia hasn’t learned anything! I hope they don’t and this horrible war is over soon with Ukraine winning and keeping their independence!! Excellent video. The various Chechen wars are so rarely covered, so this was thorough and very interesting. Well done Simon and team 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Shame on you for all these commercials. 5 minutes in and half of that has been ads for companies that are already on every other channel. Last video I've watched from you. Monetization yes but not like that.

All the comments are so on topic, I just came here to say that I love you.

This battle was like Mariupol but somehow worse

Ukraine paid attention to this. Russia did not.

Lol the cc said anti doodie....doodie😂😂😂

Can you do something about Czech history? We have a lot of interesting stuff too. Hello from Olomouc the city of forts 👋

Thank your heritage for the video, very good

History repeats itself. But this time no Brave Defender will yield. Slava Ukraini.

kadyrov looks like hasbullah on growth hormones

I only know of Chechnya because of khamzat chimaev 🐺

These episodes are getting incredibly better & better!

Worse urban warfare ever witnessed? You miss WW2? Battle of Berlin, Stalingrad, Lenningrad, Manila, I could go on but you get the point.

Hitting the lead and rear of a vehicle column? Wow imagine falling prey to that and failing to learn from it. The second best military in the world surely wouldn't do that

Looks like it got fixed up nicely.

I'm just old enough to vaguely remember hearing about Chechnya but too young to understand the implications and so it became a bit of a forgotten conflict, but it's shocking how near-identical all the problems Russia has had in Ukraine (And Georgia before that) were played out in Chechnya as well. You could almost copy/paste this video and replace every mention of Chechnya with Ukraine and have a competent video on the current conflict. Everything is repeated; poor planning, moronic tactics, the "Russia Stronk" mentality, the assumption they'll be welcomed as saviours, the reliance on flattening cities with artillery, poor training, reliance on conscripts, poor communication.

Самую " сильную" армию мира, победило немногочтсленнное, плохо вооруженное чеченское ополчение, поэтому российская власть, не гнушаясь, использовала самые грязные методы, чтобы добиться реванша, но только еще больше опозорилась.

Can you do Estonian war of independence some day in the future. Love your videos.

Great video!

ah things never change for russia

How many channels does this man have

Ahhh Chechnya… the Number One Exporter of LiveLeak and BestGore Videos! Haha

Grinder, the term of the year 2023 . Piss pounding, adrenaline stimulating meat grinding. That is war.

It's surprising that the Russians didn't "understand" urban combat considering that they had used urban combat tactics to their advantage against the Germans during Stalingrad.