Battle of Krtsanisi

Coordinates: 41°36′35″N 44°54′10″E / 41.60972°N 44.90278°E / 41.60972; 44.90278
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Battle of Krtsanisi
Part of
Krtsanisi [ka], Tbilisi
41°36′35″N 44°54′10″E / 41.60972°N 44.90278°E / 41.60972; 44.90278
Result Iranian victory
Territorial
changes		 Tbilisi conquered and sacked, eastern Georgia briefly reoccupied by Iran[1][2][3][4]
Belligerents Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti
Kingdom of Imereti Qajar IranCommanders and leaders
Solomon II
Agha Mohammad ShahStrength

Per-Georgian sources: 3,000[5]
2,000[5]

Per-Persian sources:

10,000[6][7] 30,000[8][9] or 40,000[10]Casualties and losses 4,000 military death[8] 13,000 dead[8] 15,000 Georgian civilian captives moved to mainland Persia[10][11][12]

The Battle of Krtsanisi (

Krtsanisi near Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 8 to September 11, 1795, as part of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's war in response to King Heraclius II of Georgia’s alliance with the Russian Empire.[13] The battle resulted in the decisive defeat of the Georgians, capture, and complete destruction of their capital Tbilisi,[11] as well as the temporary absorption of eastern Georgia into the Iranian empire.[3][4][14][15]

Although the Russian Empire had officially declared in the

punitive campaign against Iran in 1796, but it was soon recalled after Catherine's death the same year. The reestablishment of Iranian rule over Georgia did not last long, for the shah was assassinated in 1797 in Shusha, and the Georgian king died the year after. With Georgia laying in ruins and the central authorities in Iran occupied with the question of succession, the way was opened for Georgia's annexation by Russia several years later by Tsar Paul
.

As Iran could not allow the cession of

Kura rivers.[16] After these wars, Iran ceded Transcaucasia and Dagestan to imperial Russia per the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) and the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828).[16]

Background

Gilan.[22] Unlike Peter I, Catherine, the then ruling monarch of Russia, viewed Georgia as a pivot for her Caucasian policy, as Russia's new aspirations were to use it as a base of operations against both Iran and the Ottoman Empire,[23] both immediate bordering geo-political rivals of Russia. On top of that, having another port on the Georgian coast of the Black Sea would be ideal.[22] A limited Russian contingent of two infantry battalions with four artillery pieces arrived in Tbilisi in 1784,[20] but was withdrawn, despite the frantic protests of the Georgians, in 1787 as a new war against Ottoman Turkey had started on a different front.[20]

In the next several years, Russia would be too occupied with Turkey (due to the 1768-74 war),

Gudovich, commander of the Russian Caucasian Line, for renewed military aid, but the government in St. Petersburg did not judge it expedient to send troops again to Georgia.[20] In 1792, Gudovich told Heraclius that he would receive only diplomatic support in the advent of any Iranian onslaught.[8] Despite being left to his own devices, Heraclius still cherished a dream of establishing, with Russian protection, a strong and united monarchy, into which the western Georgian Kingdom of Imereti and the lost provinces under Ottoman rule would all eventually be drawn.[11]

The consequences of these events came a few years later, when a new dynasty, the

Persia. Their head, Agha Mohammad Khan, as his first objective,[24] resolved to bring the Caucasus
again fully under the Persian orbit. For Agha Mohammad Khan, the resubjugation and reintegration of Georgia into the Iranian Empire was part of the same process that had brought
wali of Georgia.[20]

Finding an interval of peace amid their own quarrels and with northern, western, and central Persia secure, the Persians demanded Heraclius II to renounce the treaty with Russia and to reaccept Persian suzerainty,

Catherine II of Russia, pleading for at least 3,000 Russian troops,[8] but he was not listened to, leaving Georgia to fend off the Persian threat alone.[11] Nevertheless, Heraclius II still rejected the Khan's ultimatum.[25]

Battle

The capture of Tbilisi by Agha Muhammad Khan. A Qajar-era Persian miniature from the British Library.

In August 1795, Agha Mohammad Khan crossed the

Aleksandre,[8] the Khan of Karabakh, Ibrahim Khan, eventually surrendered to Mohammad Khan after discussions, including the paying of regular tribute and to surrender hostages, though the Qajar forces were still denied entrance to Shusha.[27] Since the main objective was Georgia, Mohammad Khan was willing to have Karabakh secured by this agreement for now, for he and his army subsequently moved further.[27] While at Ganja, having secured Shirvan, he was joined by Javad Khan Qajar and the rest of his right wing contingent.[26]
At Ganja, Mohammad Khan sent Heraclius his last ultimatum, who received it in September 1795:

Your Highness knows that for the past 100 generations you have been subject to Iran; now we deign to say with amazement that you have attached yourself to the Russians, who have no other business than to trade with Iran... Last year you forced me to destroy a number of Georgians, although we had no desire at all for our subjects to perish by our own hand...It is now our great will that you, an intelligent man, abandon such things... and break relations with the Russians. If you do not carry out this order, then we shall shortly carry out a campaign against Georgia, we will shed both Georgian and Russian blood and out of it will create rivers as big as the

Kura....[8]

According to the author of the Fārsnāma-ye Nāṣeri, Ḥasan-e Fasāʼi, a contemporary Qajar era historian, Agha Mohammad Khan had declared in the letter:

"Shah Ismail I Safavi ruled over the province of Georgia. When in the days of the deceased king we were engaged in conquering the provinces of Persia, we did not proceeed to this region. As most of the provinces of Persia have come into our possession now, you must, according to ancient law, consider Georgia (Gurjistan) part of the empire, and appear before our majesty. You have to conform your obedience; then you may remain in the possession of your governorship (wali) of Georgia. If you do not do this, you will be treated as the others".[28]

His advisors divided, Heraclius ignored the ultimatum, but, sent couriers to St.Petersburg. Gudovich, who sat in

Solomon II and some Imeretians headed southwards of Tbilisi to fend off the Iranians.[8]

Agha Mohammad Khan at the same time marched directly on

Kura River and outflanked the decimated Georgian army. Heraclius II attempted to mount a counterattack, but he had to retreat to the last available positions in the outskirts of Tbilisi. By nightfall, the Georgian forces had been exhausted and almost completely destroyed. The last surviving Georgian artillery briefly held the advancing Persians to allow Heraclius II and his retinue of some 150 men to escape through the city to the mountains. The fighting continued in the streets of Tbilisi and at the fortress of Narikala. In a few hours, Agha Mohammad Khan was in full control of the Georgian capital which was completely sacked and its population massacred. Among those killed in the city was the archbishop of Tbilisi, Doistheus.[30] The Persian army marched back laden with spoil and carrying off some 15,000 captives.[11][12] The Georgians had lost 4,000 men in the battle, the Iranians 13,000; a third of their total force.[8]

An eye-witness, having entered the city several days after the bulk of the Iranian troops had withdrawn, described what he saw:

I therefore pursued my way, paved as it were, with carcases, and entered Tiflis by the gate of Tapitag: but what was my consternation on finding here the bodies of women and children slaughtered by the sword of the enemy; to say nothing about the men, of whom I saw more than a thousand, as I should suppose, lying dead in one little tower! (...) The city was almost entirely consumed, and still continued to smoke in different places; and the stench from the putrefying, together with the heat which prevailed, was intolerable, and certainly infectious.[10]

Aftermath

Entrance of the Russian troops in Tiflis, 26 November 1799, by Franz Roubaud, 1886

On his return, after the conquest of Tbilisi and being in effective control of eastern Georgia,

Tsar Paul I
, who succeeded Catherine in November, shortly recalled it.

Agha Mohammad Shah was later assassinated while preparing a second expedition against Georgia in 1797 in

Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) would eventually force the cession of the aforementioned regions to Imperial Russia per the Gulistan and Turkmenchay
of 1813 and 1828 respectively.

See also

References

  1. ^ Yarshater, Ehsan (2010). Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 8. Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 72. (..) Aga Mohammad Khan then proceeded to punish Erekle and capture Tbilisi, which resulted in the bloody conquest of eastern Georgia.
  2. ^ Fisher, William Bayne (1991). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press. pp. 128–129. Agha Muhammad Khan remained nine days in the vicinity of Tiflis. His victory proclaimed the restoration of Iranian military power in the region formerly under Safavid domination.
  3. ^ a b Axworthy, Michael (2010). Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant. I.B.Tauris. p. 283. The Qajars eventually won the struggle, and under Agha Mohammad Khan set about re-establishing Persia's traditional boundaries. Agha Mohammad Khan reconquered Georgia in September 1795.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0141903414
  5. ^ a b Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia (1986), v. 10, p. 670
  6. ^ Saeed Nafisi, Social and political history of Iran in the contemporary period p. 71
  7. ^ a b Ates 2014, p. 49.
  8. ^
    ISBN 1780230702
    p 255
  9. ^
    University of Wisconsin
    - Madison p 351
  10. ^ a b c d e Fisher et al. 1991, p. 128.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Lang, David Marshall (1962), A Modern History of Georgia, p. 38. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  12. ^ a b Malcolm, Sir John (1829), The History of Persia from the Most Early Period to the Present Time, pp. 189-191. London: John Murray.
  13. ^ "Tiflis", in: Yust, Walter (ed., 1952), The Encyclopædia Britannica - A new survey of universal knowledge. Volume 14, p. 209.
  14. ^ a b Fisher, William Bayne (1991). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press. pp. 128–129. (...) Agha Muhammad Khan remained nine days in the vicinity of Tiflis. His victory proclaimed the restoration of Iranian military power in the region formerly under Safavid domination.
  15. ^ Yarshater, Ehsan (2010). Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 8. Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 72. (..) Aga Mohammad Khan then proceeded to punish Erekle and capture Tbilisi, which resulted in the bloody conquest of eastern Georgia.
  16. ^ a b c Fisher et al. 1991, pp. 329–330.
  17. ISBN 9781780230702
    . Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  18. ^ Suny 1994, p. 55.
  19. ^ Hitchins 1998, pp. 541–542.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i Fisher et al. 1991, p. 328.
  21. ^ Perry 1991, p. 96.
  22. ^ a b Fisher et al. 1991, p. 327.
  23. ^ Mikaberidze 2011, p. 327.
  24. ^ a b Mikaberidze 2011, p. 409.
  25. ^
    ISBN 0-253-20915-3
  26. ^
    ISBN 0-521-58336-5
    .
  27. ^ a b c Fisher et al. 1991, p. 126.
  28. ^ Ḥasan-e Fasāʼi, Fārsnāma-ye Nāṣeri, tr. Busse, p 66
  29. ^ სანიკიძე, ლევან (1991). წიგნი მოწამეთა (in Georgian). ხელოვნება.
  30. ^ Ioselian 1866, p. 190.
  31. ^ Cronin, Stephanie (2011). "ARMY iv a. Qajar Period". Encyclopaedia Iranica. In the late 18th century Āḡā Moḥammad Khan, with the military forces he was able to muster, successfully established Qajar rule throughout Iran and temporarily drove the forces of the advancing Russian empire back beyond Tbilisi, reasserting Iranian supremacy over the kingdom of Georgia (cf. Atkin, 99-122).
  32. ^ a b c Fisher et al. 1991, p. 329.
  33. ISBN 9639241989
    p 204

Sources
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