1864 also marks the beginning of the Russian Empire's anti-semitic Circassian Genocide. The Circassian Genocide was the mass killing and deportation of the Circassian's, who were religiously Islamic, from the Russian Empire. For many years prior to 1864, the Circassians refused to succumb to the Christians in the Russian Empire. This caused the Russian Empire to retaliate using military force in order to either convert Circassian's to Christianity through Russification, or if they refused to convert the Russian Empire would either mass deport or murder them. Throughout the entirety of the Circassian Genocide it is estimated that between 800,000 and 1,500,000 Circassian's were murdered or deported.
