Everything about Russo-persian War 1804-1813 totally explained
Russian Empire
|combatant2=
Persian Empire
|commander1=
Alexander I Ivan Gudovich Paul Tsitsianov
|commander2=
Fath Ali Shah Qajar Abbas Mirza
|strength1=10,000
|strength2=50,000
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
|}}
The
1804-1813 Russo-Persian War, one of the many wars between the
Persian Empire and
Imperial Russia, began like many wars as a territorial dispute. The Persian king,
Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the northernmost reaches of his
Qajar dynasty by securing land near the
Caspian Sea's southwestern coast (modern
Azerbaijan) and the
Transcaucasus (modern
Georgia and
Armenia). Like his Persian counterpart, the Russian czar
Alexander I was also new to the throne and equally determined to control the disputed territories.
Territorial claims
In
1779, following the death of
Karim Khan, the
Zand dynasty ruler of southern Persia,
Agha Mohammad Khan (reigned 1779-97), a leader of the
Turkmen Qajar tribe, set out to reunify Persia. By
1794 he'd eliminated all his rivals, including
Lotf Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and had reasserted Persian sovereignty over the former Persian territories in
Georgia and the
Caucasus. In
1796 he was formally crowned as
shah (Persian for
emperor). Agha Mohammad was assassinated in
1797 and was succeeded by his nephew,
Fath Ali Shah (reigned 1797-1834). Fath Ali attempted to maintain Persia's sovereignty over its new territories, but he was disastrously defeated by Russia in two wars.
Persia at the time claimed
Karabakh,
Shirvan,
Talysh, and
Shakki (parts of modern Azerbaijan) among its possessions; however, these claims appeared shaky after Russia's
1801 annexation of Georgia, a territory also claimed by the Persians. The Russians, eager to extend and consolidate their advantage, pushed forward militarily into the Persian frontier, planning to expand Imperial Russia's borders to the
Aras River, bordering what is now northern
Turkey.
Unequal forces
The Russians were unable to dedicate a larger portion of their troops in the
Caucasus region, because Alexander's attention was continually distracted by concomitant wars with
France, the
Ottoman Empire, and
Sweden. Therefore, the Russians were forced to rely on superior technology, training, and strategy in the face of an overwhelming disparity in numbers. Some estimates put the Persian numerical advantage at five to one. Shah Fath Ali's heir,
Abbas Mirza, tried to modernize the Persian army, seeking help from French and British experts with a mind to achieving this cause, but this merely delayed the Persian defeat.
Outbreak of war
The Russian commanders
Ivan Gudovich and
Paul Tsitsianov catalysed the outbreak of war when they attacked the Persian settlement of
Echmiadzin, notable as the most holy town in Armenia. Gudovich, unsuccessful in the siege of Echmiadzin due to a lack of troops, withdrew to
Yerevan where he again prosecuted another failed siege. Despite these ineffective forays, the Russians held the advantage for the majority of the war, due to superior troops and strategy; however, Russia's inability to dedicate anything more than 10,000 troops allowed the Persians to mount a fairly respectable resistance effort, the Persian troops being of a low grade, mostly irregular cavalry.
Holy war and Persian defeat
The Persians scaled up their efforts late in the war, declaring a holy war on Imperial Russia in 1810; however, this was to little avail. Russia's superior technology and tactics ensured a series of strategic victories, culminating in
Pyotr Kotlyarevsky's victories at
Aslanduz and
Lenkoran, in 1812 and 1813 respectively. Upon the Persian surrender, the terms of the
Treaty of Gulistan ceded the vast majority of the previously disputed territories to Imperial Russia. This led to the region's once-powerful
khans being decimated and forced to pay homage to Russia.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Russo-persian War 1804-1813'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://russo-persian_war__1804-1813.totallyexplained.com">Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
