War Russo-Iranian woman (1804 - 1813)

Territorial claims

In 1779, after the death of Karim Khan, the sovereign of the dynasty Zand which reigned on the south of Iran, Aga Mohammad Khan, a chief of the tribe Turkmène of the Qajar, reunifies Iran. Towards 1794, it had eliminated all its rivals, of which Lotf Ali Khan, last sovereign of the dynasty Zand. Moreover, it had also restored Iranian sovereignty on the territories of the the Caucasus and in Georgia. In 1796, it was crowned Shah of Iran. Aga Mohammad was assassinated in 1797 it is its nephew Fath Ali who succeeded to him. It tried to maintain sovereignty Iranian on these territories, but it was beaten by Russia during two wars.

At that time, Iran asserted the Karabakh, the Shirvan, Talysh and the Shakki (of the areas of the modern Azerbaïdjan). However, these claims became precarious when the Russians annexed the Georgia in 1801, a territory which was also asserted by the Persan ones. The Russians, wanting to consolidate and extend their advantage, pushed their troops towards the Iranian border. They planned to push the borders of imperial Russia to the river Araks, at the border of what today is the Turkey.

Unequal forces

The Russians were unable to assign most of their troops to the area of the the Caucasus, parce the attention of Alexandre was continuously distracted by the wars with the France, the Othoman empire and the Sweden. The Russians were thus obliged to be based on a higher technology, the drive and the strategy opposite an army which exceeded them of much of number. Certaiens estimates speak about a numerical advantage for Iranian at a rate of five against one. The heir to Fath Ali, Abbas Mirza, tried to modernize the Iranian army, while seeking of the assistance near French and British experts, but that delayed only little the Iranian defeat.

Beginning of the war

The Russian commanders Ivan Gudovich and Paul Tsitsianov catalyzed the war when they attacked the Iranian installation of Echmiadzin, famous like the holiest city in Arménie. Gudovich, which was not victorious with the head office of Echmiadzin, was withdrawn with Erevan, where it still missed a seat. In spite of these incursions inefficcaces, the Russians kept the advantage during the majority of the war, thanks to their better trained troops and with their strategy. However, the inability of Russia to devote more than 10.000 men to the war made it possible to the Iranians to resist in a honourable way. The Iranians had troops much trained and the army was mainly made up of irregular cavalry.

Holy war and end of the war

Iranian concentrated their efforts towards the end of the war, by declaring an holy war on imperial Russia in 1810. But the result was tiny. The technology and the tactics of the Russians ensured a series of strategic victories to them, culminating with the victories of Piotr Kotliarevski with the Bataille of Aslanduz (1812) and with Lenkoran (today Lənkəran in Azerbaïdjan) (1813). When Iran went to the defeat, the terms of the Traité of Golestan yielded the vast majority of the grounds disputed to Russia. Previously powerful, the Khan S of the area were decimated and forced to pay homage to Russia.

See too

Wars Russo-Iranian women

References

NR. Dubrovin. ИсториявойныивладычестварусскихнаКавказе, volumes 4-6. SPb, 1886-88.

Internal bonds

posterior Period: the Big game (géostratégie) with interference of the British

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