Based on historical analogies, the book examines the social processes that led to the war in Chechnya in the mid-90s of the XX century. An analysis of the actions of the federal and Chechen leadership to reorganize society and their mistakes, which plunged the population of Chechnya and some other Russian regions into severe collisions, which became a common tragedy for all of Russia. The underlying reasons for the fatal miscalculations of the top political leadership of the Russian Federation when deciding on direct military intervention to curb separatism in Chechnya are revealed.