18th-century war
The
Persian expedition of Catherine the Great
in 1796, like the
Persian expedition of Peter the Great
(1722?1723), was one of the
Russo-Persian Wars
of the 18th century which did not entail any lasting consequences for either belligerent.
The last decades of the 18th century were marked by continual strife between rival claimants to the
Peacock Throne
. Empress
Catherine the Great
of
Russia
(
r.
1762?1796
) took advantage of the disorder to consolidate her control over the weak polities of the
Caucasus
, which was, for swaths of it, an integral Persian domain. The kingdom of
Georgia
, a subject of the Persians for many centuries, became a Russian protectorate in 1783, when King
Erekle II
signed the
Treaty of Georgievsk
, whereby the Empress promised to defend him in the case of Iranian attack. The
shamkhals
of
Tarki
followed this lead and accepted Russian protection three years later.
With the enthronement of
Agha Mohammad Khan
as Shah of Persia in 1794 the political climate changed. He put an end to the period of dynastic strife and proceeded to re-strengthen the Persian hold on the Caucasus by re-garrisoning the Iranian territories and cities in the area of modern-day
Dagestan
,
Azerbaijan
, and
Armenia
, as well as
ravaging and recapturing Georgia
and reducing its capital
Tbilisi
to a pile of ashes in 1795. Belatedly, the Empress Catherine determined to mount a
punitive expedition
against the Shah. The ultimate goal for the Russian government involved toppling the anti-Russian Shah and replacing him with his half-brother, namely
Morteza Qoli Khan
, who had defected to Russia, and was therefore pro-Russian.
[3]
[4]
Although it was widely expected that a 50,000-strong Russian corps would be led by a seasoned general (
Gudovich
), the Empress followed the advice of her lover,
Prince Platon Zubov
, and entrusted the command to Zubov's youthful brother, Count
Valerian Zubov
. The Russian troops set out from
Kizlyar
in April 1796
and stormed
the key fortress of
Derbent
on 10 May. The Russian court poet
Derzhavin
glorified this event in a famous ode; he would later comment bitterly on Valerian Zubov's inglorious return from the expedition in another remarkable poem.
By mid-June Zubov's troops had overrun?without any resistance?most of the territory of modern-day
Azerbaijan
, including three principal cities?
Baku
,
Shemakha
and
Ganja
. By November they were stationed at the confluence of the
Araks
and
Kura Rivers
, poised to attack mainland
Iran
.
In that month the Empress of Russia died. Her successor, the Emperor
Paul
, who detested the Zubovs and had other plans for the army, ordered the troops to retreat to Russia. This reversal aroused the frustration and enmity of the powerful Zubovs and other officers who took part in the campaign: many of them would join the conspiracy which arranged Paul's assassination five years later.
References
[
edit
]
Sources
[
edit
]
- Gen.
V.A. Potto
.
The Caucasian Wars of Russia from the 16th century onward
. Volumes 1?5. SPb, 1885?86, reprinted in 2006.
ISBN
5-9524-2107-5
.
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Internal
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Tsardom of
Russia
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18th?19th
century
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20th
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21st
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