Battle of Mollahasanli

Safavid Iran

• Safavid Qızılbash troops.

The Battle of Mollahasanli took place on 28 November 1578 during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590) in the town of Mollahasanli on the banks of the Agsu River in Shirvan. The Safavid army, under the command of the Crown Prince Hamza Mirza, defeated the army of the Ottoman ally, the Crimean Khan, under the command of the kalga Adil Giray. Adil Giray himself was taken prisoner.

Background

By the mid-autumn of 1578, the Ottoman army occupied

The battle for Shamakhi began on 9 November 1578 and lasted for several days.^[8][11] On the morning of the third day, the brother of the Crimean Khan, Adil Giray, at the head of 15 thousand Tatar horsemen, came to the aid of the Ottomans, this decided the outcome of the battle and the Safavids were defeated.^[2][12][13] Aras Khan and his son were taken prisoners by the mirakhur Adil Giray and were executed.^[5][10][14] The losses on both sides were enormous.^[9][15]

Raid on Aras Khan's camp

Osman Pasha rewarded the

At this time, the Safavid emirs learned that another detachment crossed the recuperation in another place and attacked their rearward. In disorder, they retreated to the camp, causing panic. Those in the camp did not have time to escape when the Tatars attacked them. Capturing women and children, plundering supplies, Adil Giray on the same day withdrew across the river with his booty and returned to Shirvan.[16] All historians noted that the Tatars suddenly attacked the camp and captured a huge number of trophies.^{[2][17][10][14]} “The treasury of Eresh Khan, 70 of his beautiful daughters and wives, and about 50 of his beautiful concubines were captured, and his young son was captured too”.^[18] The contemporaries of these events (Ibrahim Rahimizadeh, Mustafa Ali Gelibolulu and Dal Mekhmed Asafi) condemned the attack and the robbery because they took place in the month of Ramadan.^[14] Pechevi argued that the Tatars did not launch the raid on the camp on their own initiative; the historian stated that Osman Pasha sent the Tatars to destroy the Aras Khan camp.^[18]

Battle

The Safavids gathered an army led by the heir to the throne Hamza Mirza, however, in fact, the vizier of the

According to Oruj-bek and Sharaf-khan, Mirza Salman attacked Adil Giray who was imprudent in choosing the place for the camp and did not post sentries.[19] In total, Adil Giray had 12 000 Tatars and four to five thousand Lezgins. The Tatar army was dispersed, as each dragged and guarded their prey, and for Adil Giray only about 2 000 guards remained.^[22][23] The Tatar prince carelessly got indulged in amusements and entertainment that, according to Rahimizadeh "was blinded by the beauty of his captives", therefore he was unable to organize a rebuff in the battle that had begun.^[24][22]

The first to attack the Tatars were the advanced units of the Safavid army under the commandment of Hamza Khan Ustajlu.^[16]

The descriptions of the battle vary. According to Iskandar Beg Munshi and Sharaf-khan, the Tatars courageously resisted, the battle lasted all day,^[16] while according to Oruj-bek: the Safavids acted quickly, and when the Tatars came to their senses from the attack, more than a half of them were killed, and Adil Giray had already been taken prisoner.^[25][26] According to Ibrahim Pechevi: “The endless rain pouring down from heaven did not give them the opportunity to act with their hands and feet, and the enemy masses surrounded them from all sides”.^[25] Historians call the arrogance and carelessness as reason for the defeat of the Tatars.^[23]

According to Ibrahim Rahimizadeh, Adil Giray himself "like an angry lion rushed into battle".^[27][28] The Safavid warrior named Baba Kalifa Dankaralu threw the Tatar leader off his horse with a spear and wanted to kill him, but Adil Giray gave his name and was captured.^[16][29] Left without a leader, the Tatars fled and many of them were killed. The Lezgins and Shirvans, familiar with the area, managed to escape. When the victors saw the rich booty, they abandoned the pursuit of the Tatars. Almost everything that the Tatars seized in the Aras Khan camp ended up in the hands of the victors at Mollahasanli.^[16] About 30 noble Tatars and 2 000 ordinary soldiers were captured. The Ottoman sanjak-bey Aresha Piyale-bey, was also captured.^{[2][19][22][27]}

Aftermath

The Ottoman troops were in a depressed estate. Osman Pasha hid the news of the defeat of the Tatars and announced their victory. To give credibility to the story, he ordered to fire the cannons, but the truth was revealed and the soldiers began to massively desert.^[30]

The Qizilbash army from Shamakhi went to Aresh. After the murder of the Ottoman commanders and the burning of the Aresh fortress, the Safavid army returned to Karabakh.^[22] Most of Shirvan came under the control of the Safavids. However, they failed to consolidate their successes.^[14]

References

Sources