On December 11th, 1994, the Russian army launched a massive military operation aimed at crushing the secessionist regime that was in control of the Chechen Republic since 1991. During this conflict, 80,000 people would be killed either by artillery shelling or air raids, and several hundred thousand would become war refugees. The conflict was witness to the worst war atrocities ever witnessed. Human rights violations were rampant on both sides, and civilians bore the brunt of the indiscriminate viciousness. More civilians were lost than military personnel during the conflict. UN action during this conflict was minimal, and little was done to prevent further violence from escalating. But this raises the question: just because peacekeepers didn't intervene in Chechnya, if they had, would it have helped"

Both sides can be blamed for the massive civilian deaths in the Chechen conflicts. Chechen rebels would hide in civilian areas, sometimes using civilians as human...