it doesn't really matter in the end because the human species will one day be extinct.

would the chechens be in their position now had they never fought? impossible to say, counter-factual conditionals are all unconditionally true. though i'm not sure why you'd assume so...

In exchange for two brutal wars they got 9 years of de facto independence. That's not even very long.

You dont need counterfactuals to ask if it was worth it or compare 9 years to the age of the universe.

Armed revolutions are often lionized and glorified because they form part of most countries' national mythos - the binding agent holding together most national identities.

But, the ugly truth is that most of them are just a tragic waste of human life. Chechnya was very much that.