September 1795, Tiflis. Smoke rises over the city: the army of King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti has been beaten and Qajar horsemen fill the streets. Soon they will ride south with many captives. A few weeks earlier the same army had stood for 33 days below the fortress of Shusha in Karabakh and achieved nothing. Who was Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar, why did he come to the Caucasus, and why did his unification drive not change the fate of the khanates?
The rise of the Qajars and their aims
The Qajars were one of the Qizilbash Turkic tribes, and their chiefs had grown strong around Astarabad. After Nadir Shah’s death the Qajars and Karim Khan Zand fought a long struggle for power in Iran, and the Zand won. The Qajar leader Muhammad Hasan Khan was killed, and his son Agha Muhammad Khan was kept as a hostage at Karim Khan’s court in Shiraz. In 1779, as soon as Karim Khan died, Agha Muhammad escaped from Shiraz, gathered his kinsmen and went on fighting the Zands. The last Zand ruler was beaten in 1794; Tehran became the capital of the Qajar state. The southern khanates had already been subdued in the early 1790s; now it was the north’s turn.
The QajarsDefinition
One of the Qizilbash tribes; from Agha Muhammad Khan the dynasty that ruled Iran until 1925.
The shah’s aim was to restore the borders of the Safavid state: the khanates of the South Caucasus and Georgia had been subject to Iran under the Safavids. What is more, in 1783 Erekle II had accepted Russian protection by the Treaty of Georgievsk, and Agha Muhammad feared Russia gaining a foothold in the Caucasus. Historians judge this policy differently: Azerbaijani textbooks see an attempt to conquer the khanates, while Iranian historiography sees the restoration of Safavid territorial integrity.
1795: the first campaign into the Caucasus
In the summer of 1795 the Qajar army crossed the Araz and entered Karabakh. Ibrahimkhalil Khan made an alliance with Mir Mustafa Khan of Lankaran, had the Khudafarin bridge over the Araz destroyed and defended Shusha for 33 days: the fortress had a precipice on one side and sheer rock on the other, and the besiegers were running out of food. Lifting the siege, the shah turned his army toward Tiflis. Some historians write that in 1795 the khan accepted the shah’s terms; the textbook position is that the fortress was not taken. During the Qajar advance into Shirvan, Mustafa Khan, the khan of Shamakhi, dug in on Mount Fit and held up the march toward Derbent (the episode is dated 1795–1796). After this campaign the Iravan khanate also became dependent on Agha Muhammad, while Nakhchivan put up unexpected resistance.
Near Tiflis the Qajar troops defeated the Georgian army, sacked the city and burned it. Despite the Treaty of Georgievsk, Russia did not come to the king’s aid in time. The sack of Tiflis was the peak of Qajar power in the Caucasus, but it also made a Russian response unavoidable.
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1796: the shah’s coronation and Zubov’s campaign
In the spring of 1796 Agha Muhammad was formally proclaimed shah in Mughan, declaring his claim to the Caucasian lands. The same year Russia replied: Russian troops under Valerian Zubov took Derbent and Baku and advanced into Shirvan. But in November 1796 Catherine II died, and the new tsar, Paul I, stopped Zubov’s campaign and recalled the troops. So the Caucasus was left once more between Russia and Iran.
1797: the second campaign and the shah’s death
As soon as the Russian threat receded, the shah marched into the Caucasus a second time in 1797 and again came to Karabakh. Ibrahimkhalil Khan left the fortress, was cut off by the siege and could not return, and the elders surrendered the town. That summer Agha Muhammad Shah was killed in Shusha in a conspiracy. He was succeeded by his nephew Fath Ali Shah (1797–1834), under whom the crown prince Abbas Mirza, based in Tabriz, would prepare for war against Northern Azerbaijan.
Why the attempt failed
The Qajar campaigns were not a voluntary union of the khanates but their subjugation by force; the khans saw it as a loss of independence and resisted. When the shah died, Qajar influence weakened too. But the main result was different: the sack of Tiflis weakened Georgia and sped up Russia’s entry into the Caucasus. In 1801 Russia annexed Kartli-Kakheti, and the conquest of the khanates led on to the Russo-Qajar wars (see «The first Russo-Qajar war (1804–1813) and the Treaty of Gulistan»).
| Cause | Result |
|---|---|
| Treaty of Georgievsk (1783): Kartli-Kakheti under Russian protection | Agha Muhammad launched the 1795 campaign to punish Georgia and push Russia back |
| The khans’ alliance, the destroyed bridge, the fortress’s natural defences | Shusha held 33 days and the Qajar army lifted the siege |
| The sack of Tiflis (1795) | Russia sent Zubov’s campaign (1796); Georgia was weakened |
| Catherine II’s death (November 1796) | Paul I recalled the troops and Zubov’s campaign was left unfinished |
| The shah’s murder in Shusha (1797) | The campaign ended, Fath Ali Shah took the throne and the Qajar push weakened for a time |
| Feature | Fatali Khan of Guba | Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar |
|---|---|---|
| State | The Guba khanate | The Qajar state (Iran) |
| Dates (activity in the Caucasus) | 1758–1789 | 1795–1797 |
| Method | Peace first, then arms | Armed campaigns, subjugation |
| Aim | To unite the khanates around himself | To restore the Safavid borders |
| Common feature | Could not subdue Karabakh | Could not take Shusha in 1795 |
- 1779
Karim Khan Zand dies; Agha Muhammad escapes from Shiraz
- 1783
Treaty of Georgievsk: Kartli-Kakheti under Russian protection
- 1790s
The southern khanates are subdued by the Qajars (early 1790s)
- 1794
The fall of the Zand dynasty
- 1795
Siege of Shusha
- 1795
Tiflis is sacked
- 1796
Agha Muhammad Khan is proclaimed shah in Mughan
- 1796
Zubov’s campaign against Derbent and Baku
- November 1796
Catherine II dies; Zubov is recalled
- 1797
Agha Muhammad Shah is killed in Shusha
- 1797
Fath Ali Shah Qajar takes the throne
- 1801
Russia annexes Kartli-Kakheti
| Person | Date | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar | 1795–1797 | Shah from 1796; besieged Shusha, sacked Tiflis, killed in Shusha |
| Ibrahimkhalil Khan | 1795, 1797 | Khan of Karabakh; led the 33-day defence of Shusha |
| Mustafa Khan | 1795–1796 | Khan of Shamakhi; held Mount Fit |
| Erekle II | 1783, 1795 | King of Kartli-Kakheti; Treaty of Georgievsk; lost Tiflis in 1795 |
| Valerian Zubov | 1796 | Russian commander who took Derbent and Baku |
| Fath Ali Shah Qajar | 1797–1834 | Nephew and successor of Agha Muhammad Shah |
Source: the siege of Shusha
When the shah approached the Araz with his army, it became clear that the khan had had the bridge destroyed and had allied himself with a neighbouring ruler. The army crossed the river, entered the mountain country and besieged a fortress built on a high rock. The fortress had a precipice on one side and steep stone on the other; behind the walls the khan’s warriors and the townspeople defended it together.
As the siege dragged on, food ran short in the camp and no fodder could be found for the horses. The assaults achieved nothing. At last the shah gave up trying to take the fortress and turned his army west, toward the capital of the king who had accepted Russian protection.
Source tasks
Problem
1) Identify the shah, the fortress and the year of the events, none of which is named in the text.
2) Explain one military-natural and one economic (supply) reason why the shah could not take the fortress.
3) Give two consequences of these events that are NOT stated in the text.
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Solution
2) Military-natural: the fortress’s natural defences (precipice, sheer rocks) and the khans’ allied resistance. Economic: shortage of food and fodder in the camp. Marks: both — 1; one — ½.
3) Tiflis was sacked, Georgia was weakened and in 1801 annexed by Russia; Russia answered with Zubov’s campaign in 1796; Agha Muhammad, proclaimed shah in 1796, came to Shusha a second time in 1797 and was killed there. Marks: two consequences — 1; one — ½; lifting the siege is in the text and earns nothing.
Exam-type tasks
Exam task: «not related»
Problem
Which does NOT belong to Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar’s campaign of 1795?
A) the 33-day siege of Shusha
B) Ibrahimkhalil Khan’s alliance with Mir Mustafa Khan of Lankaran
C) the sack of Tiflis
D) the defeat of Fatali Khan of Guba on the Gavdushan plain
E) the destruction of the Khudafarin bridge
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Solution
Step 2: Gavdushan in D belongs to the history of the Guba khanate: Fatali Khan was beaten by Amir Hamza’s Dagestani forces in 1774 — twenty years earlier and a different ruler.
Answer: D.
Exam task: chronology
Problem
Arrange the events in chronological order:
1. Agha Muhammad Khan is proclaimed shah in Mughan
2. The Treaty of Georgievsk
3. Agha Muhammad Shah is killed in Shusha
4. The sack of Tiflis
5. The death of Catherine II
A) 2, 4, 1, 5, 3 B) 2, 1, 4, 5, 3 C) 2, 4, 5, 1, 3 D) 4, 2, 1, 5, 3 E) 2, 4, 1, 3, 5
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Solution
Step 2: 4 is 1795, 1 is the spring of 1796, 5 is November 1796. So the correct order is 4, 1, 5.
Step 3: B swaps 1 and 4, C swaps 5 and 1, and D puts Georgievsk after the sack of Tiflis — all wrong.
Answer: A.
Exam task: «similar to X, different from Y»
Problem
In what respect was Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar’s proclamation as shah in 1796 similar to (a) and in what respect different from (b) the election of Nadir Khan Afshar as shah in 1736? Write the answer as the sequence «ab».
1. Both took place in Mughan
2. Nadir replaced the last Safavid shah, while the Qajars took the place of the Zands
3. Both men were of the Qajar tribe
4. Both were proclaimed in Khorasan
5. Both took place in 1796
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Solution
Step 2: In 1736 Nadir replaced the last Safavid shah, Abbas III, whereas the Qajars took the place of the Zands (2) — that is the difference.
Step 3: Nadir was of the Afshar tribe (3 is false); it was Mughan, not Khorasan (4 is false); the years are 1736 and 1796 (5 is false).
Answer: 12.
After this lesson we return to the internal life of the khanates: the next lesson is «Society, economy and administration of the khanates». The previous lesson was «The Baku, Derbent and Lankaran khanates; communities, sultanates and meliks»; for Shusha and Karabakh see «The Karabakh khanate: Panahali Khan and Ibrahimkhalil Khan».
Remember
- Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar was a hostage at Karim Khan Zand’s court; he escaped in 1779 and beat the Zands in 1794.
- 1795: Shusha held out 33 days and was not taken; the Qajar army sacked Tiflis.
- 1796: Agha Muhammad was proclaimed shah in Mughan; Zubov took Derbent and Baku and was recalled after Catherine II’s death.
- 1797: the shah was killed in Shusha in a conspiracy; his nephew Fath Ali Shah took the throne.
- The campaigns did not unite the khanates; they weakened Georgia and hastened Russia’s arrival in the Caucasus (1801: annexation of Kartli-Kakheti).