Sack of Shamakhi

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The sack of Shamakhi took place on 18 August 1721, when rebellious

Azerbaijan Republic).[1][2]
The initially successful counter-campaign was abandoned by the central government at a critical moment and with the threat then left unchecked, Shamakhi was taken by 15,000 Lezgin tribesmen, its Shia population massacred, and the city ransacked.

The deaths of Russian merchants within Shamakhi were subsequently used as a

Volga trade route
.

Background

Johann Baptist Homann
)

By the first decade of the 18th century, the once-prosperous Safavid realm was in a state of heavy decline, with insurrections in numerous parts of its domains.

stables".[4]

The Sunni population in the northwestern domains of the

grand vizier Fath-Ali Khan Daghestani (1716–1720).[6] Russia's ambassador to Safavid Iran, Artemy Volynsky, who was in Shamakhi in 1718,[7] reported that, because local officials considered the grand vizier "an infidel", they considered his orders invalid and even questioned the king's authority.[7] Florio Beneveni, an Italian in the Russian diplomatic service, insisted that Shamakhi's inhabitants were ready to revolt against the government for "extorting large sums of money from them".[7] The marauding raids, incursions, and pillages nevertheless carried on; in April of the same year, the Lezgins took the village of Ak Tashi (located near Nizovoi[a]), but not before abducting a number of its inhabitants and plundering a caravan of 40 people on the road to Shamakhi.[6] After these events, numerous additional reports in relation to the rebels are reported.[6]

Attack and sack

Illustration entitled "La Ville de Schamachie en Perse", published in 1729 by Pieter van der Aa

By early May 1718, some 17,000 Lezgin tribesmen had reached a distance of 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Shamakhi, occupying themselves with looting settlements in Shamakhi's surrounding areas.

vali, to form an alliance with Russia with an eye to conquering Iran.[7] Around the same time, in August 1721, Soltan Hoseyn ordered Daud Beg (probably Hadji-Dawud), a rebel mountaineer chieftain of the Lezgins and a Sunni cleric, to be released from prison in the Safavid city of Derbent.[1][6][b] The government's decision to release him came shortly after the Afghan attack on Safavid Iran from within its far easternmost domains.[1][6][10] Soltan Hoseyn and the government were hoping that Daud Beg and his Daghestani allies would assist in countering the revolt on the eastern front, but Daud instead put himself at the head of a tribal coalition, and then launched a campaign against both the Safavid government forces and the empire's Shia population, eventually marching upon the provincial capital of Shamakhi.[1]

Shortly before the siege, the Sunnis of Shirvan province appealed for help from the

Russian merchants were looted, resulting in grave economic losses for them.[15][e] Amongst the merchants was Matvei Evreinov, "reputedly the wealthiest merchant in Russia", who suffered huge losses.[1] The Shia Safavid governor of the city, his nephew, and the rest of his relatives were "cut to pieces by the mob, and their bodies thrown to the dogs".[4][17] After the province was completely overrun by the rebels, Daud Beg appealed to the Russians for protection, declaring his loyalty to the Tsar.[16] Upon being rebuffed, he appealed to the Ottomans, this time successfully; he was then designated by the Sultan as Ottoman governor of Shirvan.[18][1][16]

Aftermath

Artemy Volynsky reported to then Tsar Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725) on the considerable harm done to the Russian merchants and their livelihoods.[15][1] The report stipulated that the 1721 event was a clear violation of the 1717 Russo–Iranian trade treaty, by which the latter had guaranteed to ensure the protection of Russian nationals within the Safavid domains.[15] With the Safavid realm in chaos, and the Safavid ruler unable to fulfill the provisions of the treaty, Volynsky urged Peter to take advantage of the situation and to invade Iran on the pretext of restoring order as an ally of the Safavid king.[15][1] Indeed, Russia shortly afterward used the attack on its merchants in Shamakhi as a pretext to launch the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723.[19][20][10] The episode brought trade between Iran and Russia to a standstill, and made the city of Astrakhan the terminus for the Volga trade route.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. littoral, to the south of Derbent.[8][9] Though it was "hardly" an ideal harbor according to Matthee, Niazabad was only one of few viable ports on the western littoral of the Caspian Sea.[8]
  2. ^ Daud Beg is also referred to in the sources as "Daud Khan", "Davud Khan Lezgi", "Hajji Davud", "Hajji Da'ud", and "Hajji Da'ud Beg".[10][2][11]
  3. ^ The rebel coalition reached Shamakhi on 15 August 1721.[13]
  4. ^ Between 4,000–5,000 Shia's (which includes the city's officials) were killed.[14][7]
  5. ^ According to Atkin, "perhaps half a million rubles' worth of their property was seized".[14] According to Rudi Mathee, the merchants "are said to have lost 70,000–100,000 tomans", citing Bachoud, Lettre de Chamakié, p. 99, for the 70,000 claim, and the Russian consul Avramov for the 100,000 claim.[10] He then later adds that the Russian sources speak of 400,000 tomans in lost merchandise, but that this is likely an exaggeration in an attempt to "bolster justification" for the Russian attack.[16] The more realistic reports according to Matthee are the ones that state 60,000 tomans.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kazemzadeh 1991, p. 316.
  2. ^ a b Mikaberidze 2011, p. 761.
  3. ^ a b c d Matthee 2005, p. 27.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Axworthy 2010, p. 42.
  5. ^ a b c d Savory 2007, p. 251.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Matthee 2012, p. 223.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Matthee 2012, p. 225.
  8. ^ a b Matthee 1999, p. 54.
  9. ^ Lockhart 1958, p. 577.
  10. ^ a b c d e Matthee 1999, p. 223.
  11. ^ Rashtiani 2018, p. 167.
  12. ^ Rothman 2015, p. 236.
  13. ^ a b Matthee 2015, pp. 489–490.
  14. ^ a b c Atkin 1980, p. 4.
  15. ^ a b c d Sicker 2001, p. 48.
  16. ^ a b c d Matthee 2012, p. 226.
  17. ^ Matthee 2015, p. 490.
  18. ^ Sicker 2001, pp. 47–48.
  19. ^ Axworthy 2010, p. 62.
  20. ^ Matthee 2005, p. 28.

Sources

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