Questions of teaching history are an important part of the formation of human identity. The purpose of the article is to consider the reflection of the history of the Caucasus and its peoples on the pages of modern Russian school textbooks in the post-Soviet period. The paper provides a brief overview of the state of school history education in the modern period. It is noted that because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, a few historical figures and events were reassessed, which led, on the one hand, to the de-ideologization of school history education, and on the other hand, to difficulties in assessing facts and events by teachers, which negatively affected the educational process. The result of this long process and public discussion was the creation of the Historical and Cultural Standard, in accordance with which several lines of school textbooks on the history of Russia have been created today. The author analyzed five lines of textbooks used today in Russian schools and written in accordance with the Historical and Cultural Standard. Several plots of the late Soviet period are singled out, which became the basis of interethnic and political conflicts in the region in the future. First, the events in the South Caucasus during the collapse of the Soviet Union, which led to the rise of national movements in the union republics, are considered. Special attention is paid to the history of the Russian North Caucasus and the peculiarities of its description on the pages of school textbooks. The author deals with the interpretation of events in North Ossetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. It also considers plots related to the aggravation of interethnic relations in the early 1990s. Much attention is paid to the "Chechen crisis" from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the end of the counter-terrorist operation in 2020. In addition, the author refers to the foreign policy of post-Soviet Russia and its "Caucasian" vector aimed at the South Caucasus and the independent states formed there. The role of Russia in the creation of the CIS, relations between individual countries of the South Caucasus and Russia is emphasized. Not ignored are the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the coverage on the pages of modern school textbooks of the "Five-Day War".