At the beginning of the 18th century, Persia stepped up its activities in the Eastern Caucasus, and soon all the coastal possessions of Dagestan recognized its power over them. Persian ships were full masters in the Caspian Sea and controlled its entire coast. But the arrival of the Persians did not put an end to civil strife between local owners. A fierce massacre was going on in Dagestan, in which Turkey, which was at enmity with Persia, was gradually drawn into.
The events that took place in Dagestan could not but alarm Russia, which through its lands carried on active trade with the East. Trade routes from Persia and India through Dagestan were, in fact, cut off. Merchants suffered huge losses, and the state treasury also suffered.
As soon as having emerged victorious from the Northern War, Russia, proclaimed an empire, began to prepare for a campaign in the Caucasus. The reason was the beating and robbery of Russian merchants, organized by the Lezgi owner Daud-bek in Shamakhi. There, on August 7, 1721, crowds of armed Lezgins and Kumyks attacked Russian shops in the Gostiny Dvor, beat and dispersed the clerks who were with them, after which they plundered goods totaling up to half a million rubles.
At the beginning of 1722, the Russian emperor became aware that the Persian Shah had been defeated by the Afghans near his capital. The country was in turmoil. There was a threat that, taking advantage of this, the Turks would strike first and appear on the coast of the Caspian Sea before the Russians. Further postponing the trip to the Caucasus became risky.
Preparations for the campaign unfolded in the winter of 1721−1722. In the cities along the Volga (Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Uglich, Yaroslavl) a hasty construction of military and cargo ships began.
About 50 thousand people took part in the Persian campaign, including 5 thousand sailors, 22 thousand infantrymen, 9 thousand cavalry, as well as irregular troops (Cossacks, Kalmyks, etc.).
On May 15, 1722, Peter set out from Moscow on a campaign. He walked on a plow called "Moskvoretskaya" along the Moscow River, Oka, Volga. Variable rowers were prepared to speed up the voyage along the entire route. On May 26, Peter I was already in Nizhny Novgorod, June 2 - in Kazan, June 9 - in Simbirsk, June 10 - in Samara, June 13 - in Saratov, June 15 - in Tsaritsyn, June 19 - in Astrakhan.
The departure of ships with troops and ammunition from Nizhny Novgorod to Astrakhan took place on June 2. The ships were divided into five detachments, marching one after the other. In all detachments, there were 45 last vessels and up to 200 island boats, each of which raised about 40 people. In the first half of July, all ships and troops arrived in Astrakhan.
On July 18, the entire flotilla of 274 ships went to sea under the command of Admiral General Count Apraksin. At the head of the avant-garde was Peter I, who was the junior flagship at Apraksin. On July 20, the fleet entered the Caspian Sea and followed the western coast for a week.
2 Endyrey
On July 27, 1722, Peter I landed in the Gulf of Agrakhan and set foot on Dagestan for the first time. On the same day, he sent a detachment under the command of Brigadier Veterani to occupy Endirey. On the way to the village in the gorge, the detachment was suddenly attacked by the Kumyks. The highlanders, hiding in the rocks and behind the trees, put out 80 soldiers and two officers with well-aimed rifle fire and arrows. But then the Russians, having recovered from the surprise, went on the offensive themselves, defeated the enemy, captured the village and reduced it to ashes.
Unlike the Endirean ruler Aydemir, the rest of the northern Kumyk rulers - Aksaevsky, Kostekovsky and Tarkovsky Shamkhal expressed their readiness to be in the Russian service.
On August 13, the Russian regiments solemnly entered Tarki, where they were greeted with honor by the shamkhal. Aldy Giray gave Peter a gray argamak in a golden harness. Both of his wives paid a visit to Catherine, bringing her trays as a gift the best varieties grapes. The troops received food, wine and fodder.
Later, Russian troops entered the small Utamysh possession, located near Derbent. There they were attacked by a 10,000-strong army led by the local ruler Sultan Mahmud. After a short battle with the Russians, the attackers were put to flight, and their village was put on fire.
3 Derbent
Having put an end to the uprising of the Utamysh, Tsar Peter went to Derbent. The loyalty of the Russian emperor to the submissive and his cruelty to the resisters soon became known throughout the region. Therefore, Derbent did not resist. On August 23, its ruler, with a group of eminent citizens, met the Russians a mile away from the city, fell on his knees and brought two silver keys to the fortress gates to Peter. Peter affectionately received the delegation and promised not to send troops into the city. He kept his word. The Russians set up a camp near the walls of the city, where they rested for several days, celebrating a bloodless victory.
Such a warm welcome to Peter I was not given by all Derbent residents, but only by the Shiite part of the city's population, which, being the backbone of the Safavid domination in the region, occupied a privileged position. By the time the Russian troops appeared, Derbent had been under siege for several years. The rebels, led by Haji Dawood, constantly threatened the city, intending to clear it from the occupying Persian-Kyzylbash authorities.
For the peaceful surrender of the fortress, Imam-Kuli-bek was appointed by Peter I as the ruler of the city, granted the rank of major general and a constant annual salary.
On August 30, Russian troops approached the Rubas River and laid a fortress in the immediate vicinity of the Tabasaran territory, designed for a garrison of 600 people. Many villages of Tabasarans and Kyurin Lezgins were under the rule of the Russian Tsar. Within a few days, all the surroundings of Derbent and Muskur, lying between the Yalama and Belbele rivers, also came under the rule of the Russian Empire.
Thus, in a relatively short period of time, Russia subjugated a significant part of the Caspian lands from the mouth of the Sulak to Mushkur.
The reaction of Hadji-Davud and other feudal rulers of Dagestan to the appearance and actions of Russian troops in the Eastern Caucasus was very different. Hadji-Davud himself, knowing that he was called by Peter I the main "rebel", for whose punishment he undertook his campaign, began to intensively prepare for the defense of his possessions. His allies Surkhay and Ahmed Khan took a wait-and-see position, trying to sit out in their possessions. Hadji Dawood understood that he would not be able to resist Russia alone, so at the same time he made attempts to improve relations with the Turks - Russia's main rivals in the Caucasus.
The plans of Peter I included the annexation of not only the Caspian Dagestan, but almost the entire Transcaucasus. Therefore, the Russian army, having captured Derbent, was preparing for further advance to the south.
This campaign of 1722 actually ended. Its continuation was prevented by autumn storms in the Caspian Sea, which complicated the delivery of food by sea. From a leak in the courts, flour supplies partially deteriorated, which put the Russian army in a difficult position. Then Peter left a garrison in Derbent under the command of Colonel Juncker, and he himself with the troops moved on foot back to Russia. On the road near the Sulak River, the tsar founded a new fortress of the Holy Cross to cover the Russian border. From there, Peter went to Astrakhan by sea.
After Peter's departure, the command of all Russian troops stationed in the Caucasus was entrusted to Major General M.A. Matyushkin, who enjoyed the emperor's special confidence.
4 Rasht
In the autumn of 1722, the Persian province of Gilan was under the threat of occupation by the Afghans, who entered into a secret agreement with Turkey. The governor of the province, in turn, turned to the Russians for help. M. A. Matyushkin decided not to miss such a rare opportunity and forestall the enemy. Within a short time, 14 ships were prepared for sailing, which were boarded by two battalions of soldiers with artillery. The squadron of ships was commanded by captain-lieutenant Soimanov, and the infantry detachment was commanded by Colonel Shipov.
On November 4, the squadron left Astrakhan and a month later it began to raid at Anzeli. Having landed a small landing, Shipov occupied the city of Rasht without a fight.
In the spring of the following year, reinforcements were sent to Gilyan from Astrakhan - two thousand infantry with 24 guns, commanded by Major General A.N. Levashov. By combined efforts, Russian troops occupied the province and established control over the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Their individual detachments seeped into the depths of the Caucasus, frightening the Sheki and Shirvan khans, vassal of Persia.
5 Baku
While still in Derbent, on August 24, 1722, Peter I sent Lieutenant Lunin to Baku with “a manifesto inviting the city to surrender. But the Baku residents, incited by Daud-bek’s agents, did not let Lunin into the city and replied that they did not want Russian help, ”although not long before that, a letter was received from the rulers of the city stating that the Baku residents were ready“ according to your Majesty’s decree and to serve the manifesto and, according to our desire, to remain in obedience.
June 20, 1723 Russian fleet under the command of Major General Matyushkin, he left Astrakhan and headed for Baku. 15 heckbots, field and siege artillery and infantry took part in the campaign.
Upon arrival, Matyushkin sent Major Nechaev to the city with a letter from the Persian ambassador Izmail-bek to the sultan, in which the ambassador tried to persuade the sultan to surrender the city. However, the Baku sultan, who was under the influence of Hadji Dawood, refused to allow Russian troops into Baku. Having received a refusal, the Russians began the siege of the fortress, which lasted for seven days.
Meanwhile, in the city itself, Sultan Mohammed-Hussein-bek was captured by supporters of the Russian orientation and thrown into prison. Power in the city passed to the yuzbashi Dergakh-Kuli-bek, who then wrote a letter to Matyushkin stating that the new authorities agreed to surrender the city.
On July 28, Russian battalions entered Baku. Welcoming them, the city authorities presented Matyushkin with four keys to the city gates. Having occupied the city, the Russian troops settled in two caravanserais and took all the important strategic points into their own hands.
Learning that the sultan kept in touch with Hadji Dawood and was going to surrender the city to him, Matyushkin ordered that Mohammed Hussein Bek be taken into custody. Then the Sultan and his three brothers with all their property were sent to Astrakhan. Dergakh-Kuli-bek was appointed the ruler of Baku, elevated by the Russian command to the rank of colonel. Prince Baryatinsky became the commandant of the city.
The occupation of Baku by the Russians allowed them to capture almost the entire Caspian coast of the Eastern Caucasus. This was a serious blow to the positions of Haji Dawood. The loss of the Caspian provinces greatly complicated the task of recreating a strong and independent state on the territory of Shirvan and Lezgistan. The Turks, in whose citizenship Haji-Davud was at that time, did not help him in any way. They were busy solving their own problems.
Preparations for the campaign unfolded in the winter of 1721-1722. In the Volga cities (Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Uglich, Yaroslavl), a hasty construction of military and cargo ships began, and by July 1722 up to 200 island boats and 45 last boats were built and concentrated in Nizhny Novgorod. By this time, the troops necessary for the campaign, including two guards regiments, were pulled into Nizhny Novgorod by this time. About 50 thousand people took part in the Persian campaign, including 5 thousand sailors, 22 thousand infantrymen, 9 thousand cavalry, as well as irregular troops (Cossacks, Kalmyks, etc.). In the summer of 1722, the Russian army, led by Peter I, left Astrakhan on ships, and the cavalry set off on foot from Tsaritsyn.
The primary task of the military campaign of 1722 was the capture of Shemakha - the key point of the Russian-Turkish Caspian conflicts. Important Derbent and Baku also had, and the Russian army had to occupy these two cities independently, and Shamakhi - with the possible assistance of Georgian and Armenian detachments. The King of Kartli, Vakhtang VI, was to lead these combined forces (totaling more than 40 thousand people) and open hostilities against Hadji Dawood, the ruler of Shirvan. Further, the Caucasian allies were to take Shemakha, then break through to the shores of the Caspian Sea and join the Russian army. The unification of the armies was to take place between Derbent and Baku.
The deep essence of Peter's strategic plan was to establish himself on the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea and, together with the Georgian-Armenian troops, liberate Eastern Transcaucasia from Persian domination, defeating the rebels of Daud-bek and Surkhay.
Beginning of the invasion (1722)
On July 27, 1722, Peter I landed in the Gulf of Agrakhan and set foot on Dagestan for the first time. On the same day, he sent a detachment under the command of Brigadier Veterani to occupy Endirey. But this detachment, having fallen into an ambush, was forced to retreat with heavy losses. Then Colonel Naumov was sent to Endirey with a large army, who "rushed to Andreev's village, took possession of it and turned it into ashes." Unlike the ruler of Endirey Aydemir, the rest of the northern Kumyk rulers - Aksaevsky, Kostekovsky and Tarkovsky shamkhal expressed their readiness to be in the Russian service.
View in full size Later, Russian troops entered the small Utamysh possession, located near Derbent. There they were attacked by a 10,000-strong army led by the local ruler Sultan-Mahmud. After a short battle with the Russians, the attackers were put to flight, and their village was put on fire. Having put an end to the uprising of the Ustamysh, Tsar Peter went to Derbent. On August 23, Russian troops occupied this city without a fight. The city at that moment was ruled by Naib Imam-Kuli-bek, who met Russian army as liberators: “a mile from the city; Naib fell on his knees and brought two silver keys to the city gates to Peter.
It should be noted that such a warm welcome to Peter I was not given by all Derbents, but only by the Shiite part of the city's population, which, being the backbone of the Safavid domination in the region, occupied a privileged position. By the time the Russian troops appeared, Derbent had been under siege for several years. The rebels, led by Haji Dawood, constantly threatened the city, intending to clear it from the occupying Persian-Kyzylbash authorities. For the peaceful surrender of the fortress, Imam-Kuli-bek was appointed by Peter I as the ruler of the city, granted the rank of major general and a constant annual salary.
On August 30, Russian troops approached the Rubas River and laid a fortress in the immediate vicinity of the Tabasaran territory, designed for a garrison of 600 people. Many villages and Kurin Lezgins were under the rule of the Russian Tsar. Within a few days, all the surroundings of Derbent and Muskur, lying between the Yalama and Belbele rivers, also came under the rule of the Russian Empire. Thus, in a relatively short period of time, Russia subjugated a significant part of the Caspian lands from the mouth of the Sulak to Mushkur.
The reaction of Hadji-Davud and other feudal rulers of Dagestan to the appearance and actions of Russian troops in the Eastern Caucasus was very different. Hadji-Davud himself, knowing that he was called by Peter I the main "rebel", for whose punishment he undertook his campaign, began to intensively prepare for the defense of his possessions. His allies Surkhay and Ahmed Khan took a wait-and-see position, trying to sit out in their possessions. Hadji-Davud understood that he would not be able to resist Russia alone, so at the same time he made attempts to improve relations with the Turks - Russia's main rivals in the Caucasus. The plans of Peter I included the annexation of not only the Caspian Dagestan, but almost the entire Transcaucasus. Therefore, the Russian army, having captured Derbent, was preparing for further advance to the south.
On this campaign in 1722 actually ended. Its continuation was prevented by autumn storms in the Caspian Sea, which complicated the delivery of food by sea. From a leak in the courts, flour supplies partially deteriorated, which put the Russian army in a difficult position. Then Peter left a garrison in Derbent under the command of Colonel Juncker, and he himself moved on foot back to Russia with the troops. On the road near the Sulak River, the tsar founded a new fortress of the Holy Cross to cover the Russian border. From there, Peter went to Astrakhan by sea. Further military operations in the Caspian were led by General Matyushkin.
In September, Vakhtang VI entered Karabakh with an army, where he led fighting against the rebellious Lezgins. After the capture of Ganja, the Georgians were joined by Armenian troops led by Catholicos Isaiah. Near Ganja, in anticipation of Peter, the Georgian-Armenian army stood for two months, however, having learned about the departure of the Russian army from the Caucasus, Vakhtang and Isaiah returned with the troops to their possessions. In some fortresses, in particular in Derbent, on Rubas and Darbakh, garrisons of Russian troops were left. After the departure of the main forces of the Russian army, these garrisons found themselves in an exceptionally difficult position. Haji-Davud, Ahmed-Khan and some other mountain feudal lords undertook constant attacks on these fortresses, trying to drive the Russian troops out of them.
Soon, the rebels nevertheless managed to return all the lands around Derbent under their control, which made it possible for Haji Dawood and Ahmed Khan, at the head of the united army, to attack the Derbent fortress itself and keep it under siege for a week. Famine began in Derbent.
The invasion of Russian troops on and their occupation of the Caspian territories further exacerbated the already difficult political situation in the region. Russia's intervention and the establishment of control over these territories radically influenced the further course of events in the region and prompted Ottoman Empire for a military invasion. The aim of the Turks was to oust the Russians.
Preparing for an invasion Turkish sultan, took Hadji Dawood into Ottoman citizenship, hoping to use him to his advantage. He was given the title of khan and power over Shirvan, Lezgistan and Dagestan as the supreme ruler. The approval of Haji Dawood as the Khan of Shirvan greatly offended the proud and ambitious Surkhay. From that moment on, Surkhay turned from the main ally of Hadji Dawood into his ardent opponent. He did everything to wrest power from the hands of Haji Dawood and become the ruler of Shirvan himself.
Surkhay made several attempts to enter Russian citizenship, but the Russians rejected him in every possible way. In the end, seeking his personal interests, Surkhay completely deviated from the original course and actually ended up on the other side. He began to wage an independent war against Haji Dawood, raiding Shirvan, Sheki and Ganja. By the end of 1722, the anti-Safevid coalition of mountain feudal lords, which had been formed in due time thanks to the efforts of Haji Dawood, had practically disintegrated. Of the major feudal rulers, only Ali-Sultan of Tsakhursky continued to support Hadji-Davud.
Meanwhile, events took place in Persia itself, which then put an end to more than 200 years of Safavid rule. On October 22, 1722, the Afghans, led by Mir-Mahmud, after a six-month siege, captured the capital of the Safavid state, Isfahan. Shah Sultan-Hussein, having appeared in the camp of Mir-Mahmud along with his courtiers, handed over his crown to him. Mir-Mahmud declared himself Shah of Iran. The Safavid nobility swore allegiance to him. Following Isfahan, the Afghans captured Kashan, Qom, Qazvin and other cities of central Iran.
At that time, the son of Sultan Hussein Tahmasp, who had fled from the besieged capital, was in the northern provinces of Iran at that time to gather an army to fight the invaders. After the fall of Isfahan, he also declared himself Shah of Iran, and anti-Afghan elements began to gather around him. However, Tahmasp, for a number of reasons, was never able to recruit an army sufficient to fight the Afghans.
©site
created on the basis of open data on the Internet
Historian Igor Kurukin about the stay of Peter I in the Caucasus, his foreign policy and campaigns to the east.
The Northern War had not yet ended, and Peter had already conceived another, larger-scale enterprise in the east. The East interested him before. By the way, it was during the reign of Peter I that the first time a Russian person, namely the merchant Semyon Little, came to India. They tried to get there before, but in the end they got only under Peter I. Previously, it was not up to that, since the Northern War took all the forces and means, but when it became clear that this war would be won (it would still continue for quite a long time, but in principle, everything was already clear), here Peter conceived another enterprise, about which somewhat less is known, but which really seems to be very important for understanding Peter's foreign policy and his plans.
In 1715, lieutenant colonel Artemy Volynsky, as a Russian ambassador, went to Iran, and at the same time (1715-1716) several naval officers were sent to the Caspian Sea. Their task was approximately the same: to lay, so to speak, an international trans-Eurasian trade route. Naturally, it existed before - everyone knows what the Great Silk Road is. Now Peter conceived such a transport route (as far as this term is applicable to that era) to turn to Russia, that is, to make sure that the flow of goods from Iran, India, China does not go through Asia Minor and Turkey (the traditional way that merchant caravans went to Western Europe), and through the Caspian Sea, further along the Volga, then to St. Petersburg and from there to Europe. The idea was large-scale - to create a new international structure, a world trade route.
To begin with, it was necessary to simply create geographic Maps, and then they were neither in Europe nor in Russia. Further, according to Peter's plan (everything must be taken into account in relation to the knowledge of that era), the task was as follows. Naturally, the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea, there are some channels and rivers in the Caspian Sea. Peter knew that once the great Central Asian river Amu Darya flowed not into the Aral Sea, but into the Caspian. This is not entirely true in reality, but there really was a channel (by the way, I saw it at one time when I worked in Turkmenistan on an archaeological expedition, so it really exists). The thought of Peter the Great: The Amu Darya is not flowing correctly, it must be turned and forced to flow into the Caspian Sea so that one can sail to India along this great Amu Darya river. You can’t sail to India like that, because there will be mountain ranges Central Asia, which block the way, but then in Europe simply no one knew about it, Peter I did not know either. The task of turning the river and creating a new geopolitical reality was not invented by the Bolsheviks in the 20th century, but by Peter the Great.
The fallback option is through Iran, therefore, in 1717, a trade agreement was concluded with Iran on duty-free trade in the expectation that Russian merchants could travel through Iran, then through Afghanistan to India, that is, this option was also worked out. If we are talking about the waterway, as Peter thought in those years, then, accordingly, there are Central Asian khanates there, they must be made vassals of Russia. To do this, it is necessary to conclude an alliance with the khans (this is the Khanate of Khiva, the Emirate of Bukhara), make sure that these khans recognize the sovereignty of Russia, send Russian soldiers there for order, so that they make up the khan's guard and at the same time help the khans govern, but keep this Central Asian under control space.
These were Peter's plans. He did something right away. For example, an agreement was concluded with Iran. By the way, the ambassadors who arrived in Iran were convinced that this country was in a state of crisis, which was quite true: the authorities were incapacitated, uprisings constantly broke out. The situation was such that by the beginning of the 1720s, Peter assumed that soon there would be no Iran: it would simply fall apart due to internal problems. As soon as the Northern War ended (in 1721, as it is written in any textbook, it ends with the Peace of Nystad), Peter joyfully celebrates it, and literally in a couple of weeks preparations begin for a big campaign to the east.
The campaign was supposed to be both land and sea, so landing ships are urgently built along the Volga and in the cities of the Volga region, where they do not have time to build, they will be taken from local merchants, someone will be paid, someone not, because everything had to be prepared in a very short time, by spring. A special corps of about 40,000 infantry is being created. The infantry should board the ships and sail down the Volga to Astrakhan, the cavalry, dragoons (there were about eight regiments of them) should move across the steppe. The assembly place is Northern Dagestan, on the border there is a Russian Terek fortress, the so-called Terek town. A landing should take place in this area, and then everyone should move east.
In principle, the operation, prepared in a very short time, was a success from a transport point of view: the troops were transported on time (a little late, but that's okay), there was a landing in June, Peter immediately celebrated the anniversary of the Poltava victory, as he always did, it happened at the same time . Then the march of the Russian regiments begins. The cavalry approached, with heavy losses, however: the transition was long, difficult, the food was bad, the water was bad, and the cavalry had already suffered great damage, but approached.
After that, Peter moved further through Dagestan to the south. Dagestan is a mountainous country where there is a western coast of the Caspian Sea from 4 to 40 km - this is a seaside valley where you can walk. Since ancient times, it has been a corridor that connected Transcaucasia with the world of nomadic steppes. North Caucasus and the Volga region, they always walked along this road. Now Peter was walking south along it, he personally led the troops, because of the heat he had to cut his hair. Appropriate measures had to be taken, Peter issued a long order, what you can eat, what you can’t eat, that you can’t drink water excitedly, because it will be bad, that you have to wear hats - this issue was covered in a quite businesslike way.
In a short time, literally in a few days, Peter approached the ancient and glorious city of Derbent, which recently celebrated its anniversary. Derbent is one of the very curious cities (I happened to be there, so I imagine it quite well). Derbent was built in the narrowest place. The Derbent fortress is two parallel walls from the sea to the mountains, which went into the mountains (the remains of these walls have survived to this day), and the citadel of Derbent, built back in the 6th century, still makes a strong impression. Derbent opened the gates to Peter, they brought him a silver key to Derbent (it is still kept in St. Petersburg, you can look at it).
These were Peter's intentions. The most convenient harbor in the Caspian is Baku, Baku Bay, it was necessary to occupy it, especially since Baku is a large trading city. Next, Peter planned to connect with the Georgian king Vakhtang VI, king of Eastern Georgia, and his Armenian-Georgian army, and Russia would gain access to the Caspian shores and main ports. Peter conceived in the Caspian at the mouth of the Kura River to build southern Petersburg, a new city that would become a transport gateway on this great trade route, which he planned. The plans were grandiose. At this time, Iran was really in an extremely difficult situation, Afghan troops invaded, and a few months after Peter's campaign (July 1722), in October 1722, the Shah lost his crown - everything happened as Peter thought.
But further, alas, it did not work out. The problem was that Peter brought a large enough army, that is, he thought that there would be big military clashes. They were not there, but another problem arose: the army had to be fed and watered, and this was very difficult, because it was almost impossible to supply such an army at the expense of the local population: it is not numerous, leaves and is not going to feed others. Provisions were prepared to deliver them by sea, but the ships, which were hastily built in the spring of 1722, were not adapted to sea conditions in the Caspian Sea. The sea is warm, but very stormy, there are always storms (a very curious sea in this sense), there are no convenient harbors, so two whole caravans of ships with provisions were wrecked. Something was saved (it was not quite a disaster): people were saved, and part of the provisions, but after the occupation of Derbent, the provisions remained for a month. To risk a large army in the east, not knowing where you will end up, Peter did not, and he returned.
On the Sulak River in Dagestan, a powerful Russian land base was laid - the fortress of the Holy Cross (now only ruins remain of it, and very inconspicuous ones). He understood that it was useless to operate this army in the east, that is, there was still no enemy equal in strength, but he had to deal with mountain princes or with free mountain communities who could not put up such an army, but fight with them in the mountains very difficult. Here it was necessary to act somehow differently. As a result, the army was no longer sent, at the end of 1722, the Russian landing occupied the city of Rasht on the southern coast of the Caspian - this is the Iranian province of Gilan. In the summer of 1723, another landing occupied Baku. Thus, by this time, Peter considers the campaign successfully completed, the Russian troops received strongholds on the Caspian Sea, and it was possible to proceed further.
Peter was a pragmatic person, he had already calculated the income. Whether we get to India or not is still big question, because, in fact, a war began in Iran - both internal between various groups and external: the Iranians fought with the Afghans, who came to conquer Iran. Peter calculated that the income from the exploitation of the occupied provinces should already be 2 million rubles. This is where he failed.
The provinces were kept interesting enough. The result was the first large-scale colonial experiment: a Russian colonial-style administration was created, troops were deployed at strongholds, Russian officers created an intelligence base, that is, Russian spies run all over this territory and get very curious information. The territory was kept under control, the population swore allegiance, they even began to pay taxes, however, little and badly. But to create what Peter wanted - a corridor along which a stream of Russian goods would flow, goods from China and India would go through Iran, Iranian silk would then go to St. Petersburg - did not work out. Incomes turned out to be an order of magnitude less than expected. As a result, they spent more than they received.
Until his death (and he died in January 1725), Peter hoped that the experiment would succeed. At first it was so, the operation turned out to be quite successful, but it did not lead to that result, and the point here is not only in the new conditions. Imagine a Russian limited contingent in the east in the 18th century. About 70,000 people passed through this grassroots corps, that is, the limited contingent of Russian troops that operated there, in 8 years, half of them died not from hostilities, but from what was called "harmful air": various fevers, dysentery and things like that. The losses were huge. And the acquisitions turned out to be very modest, because in the 8 years that Russia owned these territories, the maintenance of this building cost about 8-10 million, and the income that they received was about 1.5-2 million rubles. The experiment was unsuccessful. Another significant problem was that the troops proved to be quite effective, but it was not possible to economically seize and exploit these territories. There were neither large companies nor business people who would be able to do it. The base for a large colonial possession in the east proved weak.
By the end of the first quarter, Iran's positions in the North Caucasus were greatly shaken due to the ongoing dynastic crisis and the invasion of Afghan tribes into its territory.
In 1722-1723, Peter I decided to take advantage of this favorable moment and conducted the Caspian campaign to conquer Dagestan and the territories of Persia (Iran), which this moment are modern territory Azerbaijan.
Peter I set himself such tasks as strengthening the positions of Russia in the Caspian Sea, supporting Georgian and Armenian Christians in the Transcaucasus, developing trade with Persia and the East, countering the strengthening of Turkey in the Caucasus.
The formal reason for the campaign was the robbery of Russian merchants during the ruin of Shamakhi during guerrilla war Dagestan feudal lords against the Iranian Shah.
Against the rebels
In his “Manifesto to the peoples of the Caucasus and Persia”, the emperor stated that “the subjects of the Shah - the Lezgi owner Daud-bek (aka Haji-Daud) and the Kazykum owner Surkhay - rebelled against their sovereign, took the city of Shemakha by storm and carried out a predatory attack on the Russians merchants. In view of the refusal of Daud-bek to give satisfaction, we are forced ... to lead an army against the predicted rebels and all-evil robbers.
True, Hadji Daoud and Surkhay committed these actions as early as 1712, but Peter I realized it only 10 years later, and even under the pretext of protecting the territories of the Persian Shah. The capture of Shamakhi was published in the manifesto of Peter I in 1712 in the following way: “In 1712, the owner of the Lezgi Daud-bek and the owner of the Kazikumukh Surkhay, having rebelled against the Shah, their sovereign, the city of Shemakha, took the city of Shemakha by storm and the Russian people who traded there, chopped and their estates on four million rubles were stolen.
A year before the Persian campaign, Hadji-Daoud repeatedly turned for help to representatives of the Russian authorities in Astrakhan and asked to be accepted into Russian citizenship. The Lezgi ruler offered to exchange Russian iron and lead for Dagestan raw silk. Astrakhan Governor Volynsky wrote to Peter I: “It also seems to me that Daud-bek (the Lezgin owner) is not needed for anything, he answers me that of course he wants to serve Your Majesty, however, so that you deign to send him your troops and a fair number of guns , and he will take away the cities from the Persians, and which are convenient for him, he will leave for himself (namely Derbent and Shemakha), and the rest will be inferior to your majesty, which are on the other side of the Kura River to Ispahan itself, which will never be in his hands, and taco wants your work to be, and his benefit.
Peter is smarter
Hadji Daud tried to use the Russian tsar and his resources to achieve his own, while Peter I would have received "tasteless tops" or "useless roots". Naturally, no assistance was provided to Hadji Daud, especially at that time the preparation of troops for the campaign was in full swing. Also, reliable information reached the Russian authorities that, after being denied Russian citizenship, Hadji Daud asked for Turkish citizenship and with a similar request for help in the fight against Persia.
This information caused concern to Peter I, since the intervention of the Porte would complicate the annexation of the Caspian territories. Hadji Daoud would later become the Khan of Shirvan and never submit to the Russian Empire, choosing in fact Turkish citizenship. For his unpredictability and willfulness, Haji Daoud will be captured when he arrives in Istanbul, and then exiled to Rhodes, where he will die in exile in 1728.
Kazikumikh Khan Surkhay, an ally of Hadji Daud, will accept citizenship of the Russian Empire, realizing that the fight against the Russian emperor will cost him too much.
Asking for forgiveness
When crossing the border, the Enderevsky rulers Aydemir and Chapan-Shefkal with the Chechens dependent on them showed themselves hostile. During the hostilities, not without serious losses, on June 23, Endirey was burned, while Aydemir and Chapan fled. Relations with these characters did not work out due to the fact that they attacked the Cossack town of Terki and gravitated towards the Crimean Khan and the Turkish Sultan.
But after the defeat, the Endyrians sent envoys to Peter with a request for forgiveness and acceptance into citizenship, as well as a request for permission to settle again on the site of the burnt Endirey. The king gave permission and, in addition, generously freed the affected population of Endyrei from taxes.
The Utamysh sultan Mahmud and the Utsmiy Kaitag Ahmet Khan joined the opposition of Russia, whose troops were defeated in the battle on the Inchkha River, which opened the way to Derbent, which was subsequently taken without a fight. As a punishment for resistance, Peter's troops burned Utamysh and nearby villages, and the lands of the Kaitag utsmiy were also damaged. Both, having no other choice, will apply for citizenship and are accepted accordingly.
For the Russian Empire
Not all Dagestan rulers were hostile to the Russian Empire. Shamkhaly Mamet-bek Alypkaevich, Abdul-Girey, Adil-Girey, Ahmet-Khan sent letters during the period of the Persian campaign asking for help, to accept them into Russian citizenship and leave them in their former ruling positions. Confirming their allegiance, shamkhals Adil-Girey and Mohammed made gifts to Peter I on July 28, 1722. Kabardian shamkhals, Prince El-Murza of Cherkasy and Aslambek Kelemetev, voluntarily appeared before the sovereign on August 6 with their people and joined the Russian army.
Later, Derbent was occupied, moreover, peacefully, the Derbent naib received the rank of general, and the local garrison transferred to the service of Peter I, began to receive salaries and perform police functions. And the Naryn-Kala fortress, the main citadel of the city, was given to the Russian garrison as a place of residence.
On July 26, Baku was taken, its population was disarmed, and the war ended formally with the signing of the Petersburg Peace on September 12, 1723. Persia ceded its Caspian territories: Dagestan, Shirvan, Gilan and Mazandaran with the cities of Derbent, Baku, Resht and Astrabad, respectively. In 1724, the Treaty of Constantinople was concluded with Turkey, according to which Turkey recognized Russia's rights to the Caspian lands, and Russia recognized Turkey's rights to Western Transcaucasia.
Peace came, but relations with the most influential Dagestan "owner" of the Tarkovsky shamkhal Adil-Girey did not develop in the best way. Even during the campaign, Adil-Giray provided important assistance to Peter I, supplying him with information about the mood of the population and the hostile Dagestan khans, and after that he provided patronage to the unfortunate resisters, bringing them under the arm of Moscow, for example, the same Aydemir of Endireevsky.
During the war, Adil Giray received part of the territories of the Utamysh Khan, precious gifts from the king and a salary. But this was not enough for the shamkhal, he asked in letters to the tsar, and then demanded that Derbent and the Cossack town of Terki with the settlements surrounding it, which were under the control of Kabardian princes, be given control. But Peter's plans did not at all include the strengthening of Adil Giray at his own expense. Irregular Cossack and Kalmyk units, which were based in Dagestan at that time, did not differ in discipline and regularly robbed the locals, which caused discontent and requests for damages.
Fortress of Discord
But the last straw that overflowed the cup of patience was the construction of the Holy Cross fortress, which was supposed to replace the town of Terki, which was regularly flooded by the Sunzha. The Dagestan rulers were very jealous of the desire of the nearest empires to build any fortresses on their territory that threatened their sovereignty as local rulers. And during the Caspian campaign several of them appeared on the territory of Dagestan.
These contradictions between Adil Giray and the Russian government led to their clash. In 1725, Adil Giray attacked the Holy Cross and other fortresses of the Russian army, but failed, as a result of which he began to quickly lose influence and back down. As a result, Adil-Girey was arrested in 1726 and exiled to the Arkhangelsk province, where he died in 1732, and the Tarkov shamkhalate was liquidated.
Despite the military and political successes of Peter I in annexing the Caspian territories, his successors failed to keep these acquisitions and already under Anna Ioannovna in 1732 and 1735. agreements were concluded with Iran, according to which the borders of Russia returned to the position of 1722.
With the end of the Northern War in 1721, Emperor Peter I turned his highest attention to the South, to the Caspian Sea, where Russia already had significant trade interests.
The expeditions undertaken by Russian researchers long before the Persian campaign speak of the preparation of Peter I for a campaign in Persia. So, in 1714-1715. A. Bekovich-Cherkassky compiled a description of the northern and eastern coasts of the Caspian Sea. In 1718, A. Kozhin and V. Urusov also compiled a description of the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. In 1719-1720. K. Verden and F. Soymonov compiled a description of the western and southern shores of the Caspian Sea. As a result of this expedition, a consolidated map of the entire Caspian was compiled. It is noteworthy that the next time the Russians returned to the study of the Caspian territories only in 1726 (the next expedition of F. Soymonov), that is, three years after the end of the Persian campaign.
The reason for the campaign was the robbery of Russian merchants in Shamakhi. Peter I, by virtue of the trade treaty of 1718, demanded that the Persian side punish the guilty. Having received no satisfaction, at the end of the Northern War, in May 1722, he undertook a campaign to assert Russian influence in the Caspian region.
In June, Peter I arrived in Astrakhan. 22 thousand infantry and artillery were put on ships for transportation by sea, and the cavalry (9 thousand dragoons, 20 thousand Cossacks, 30 thousand Tatars) were sent overland from Tsaritsyn to the Persian regions adjacent to the Caspian Sea.
As a result of successful operations, Peter I forced the Persians to conclude the Petersburg Treaty in 1723, according to which Shah Tahmasp II (1722-1732) ceded Baku, Derbent and the provinces of Astrabad, Gilan, Mazanderan and Shirvan to Russia, and also entered into allied relations with Russia against Turkey. Under the Resht Treaty of 1732 and the Ganja Treaty of 1735, Russia returned the named cities and territories to Persia.
In the Persian campaign, General Admiral F.M. Apraksin commanded the army, and the head of the Secret Office P.A. Tolstoy and Prince D.K. Cantemir managed civil affairs. The three of them made up His Majesty's Council. In addition, Peter I instructed Prince Kantemir, as a connoisseur of the East, to be in charge of the field office.
On the way to the Caspian Sea, with the participation of Kantemir, and possibly on his initiative, measures were taken to preserve the ruins ancient city Bulgar. Peter I then ordered to make copies of the “coffin inscriptions” located there, with which the useful work of this old city was somewhat clarified: about fifty Arabic and Tatar tomb inscriptions were copied and translated into Russian by akhun Kadyr-Makhmed Syungaliyev and a suburban translator Yusun Izhbulatov. The work they performed was later called "almost the first work in Russia, caused not by practical need, but by scientific curiosity." A translation of these inscriptions was published in the 1770s.
Knowledge of the Asian languages allowed Kantemir to play a prominent role in this campaign. He made an Arabic typeface, organized a special printing house and printed in Tatar, Turkish and Persian the Manifesto of Peter I to the peoples of the Caucasus and Persia, composed and translated by him, dated July 15 (26), 1722 “... About printing them (copies of the Manifesto. - P.G.) the following letter from Prince. Dm. Kantemir to Cabinet Secretary Makarov, July 14, 1722: “Please report to His Imperial Majesty: the manifesto, which is now being printed in Turkish, will it be signed by whose hand, or instead of signing, whose name will be printed, or nothing will happen. So, which month and date, and the place where it is printed, to depict in it? .. Half of the manifesto on one side of the sheet has already been printed up to a thousand (copies. - P.G.) , for that I want to know whether exactly 1000 should be printed or more, so that by tomorrow everything will be printed? ”
If at least 1,000 copies of the Manifesto were supposed to be printed in Turkish, it can be assumed that at least twice as many copies were printed in Farsi, the language of the administration of the territory in which the hostilities were supposed to be fought. Thus, the total circulation of the Manifesto in Oriental languages probably amounted to 5,000 copies.
The following information can serve as an indirect confirmation of the mentioned volume of the Manifesto's circulation: “On the 24th (July. - P.G.) the Emperor sent Guards Lieutenant Andrey Lopukhin to Tarkha to Shamkhal with Manifestos (that is, copies of the Manifesto. - P.G.) in Turkish and Persian with a command, giving a few of them to Shamkhal himself, distributing the rest to Derbent, Shemakha and Baku; for this distribution, 30 people were given to him from the Terek Tatars. If we assume that each of the messengers had at least 100 copies, then the circulation of the Manifesto in Turkish and Farsi alone was at least 3,000 copies.
Ivan IV, having accepted Kabarda into Russian citizenship in 1557, became so indifferent to it that in 1561 he married a Kabardian princess, the daughter of the supreme prince of the Kabardians, Temryuk Aidarov, by his second marriage. And Russia has always had its supporters among the Kabardian nobility. The Russian government took care of friendly relations with Kabarda, which kept all the neighboring mountain tribes - Abaza, Ingush, Ossetians, Mountain Tatars - in dependence and controlled all roads leading from the plain to the most convenient pass through the Main Caucasian Range.
During the Persian campaign, the Kabardians, despite the threats of the Crimean Khan Saadet IV, sided with Peter I: their troops joined Russian army and took part in the march.
Adil Giray met Peter I near Tarki and escorted him to the camp prepared for the Russian troops. The emperor visited the Shamkhal's residence in Tarki and presented the owner with a gold watch. Meanwhile, a delegation from Derbent arrived in Tarki in response to the imperial manifesto, expressing readiness to receive Russian troops.
On August 23, Naib Imam Kuli-bek presented Peter I with a silver key to Derbent. Here the emperor spent three days, paying a visit to the house of Kuli-bek. In Derbent, envoys of the utsmi, qadi and maysum of Tabasaran came to Peter I with a request to accept them into Russian citizenship.
In a camp on the Rubasa (Melikent) River, which became the extreme point of the Persian campaign, Peter I issued a letter of commendation to the inhabitants of Derbent and another one separately to Kuli-bek with the award of his portrait with diamonds and thousands of chervons. On September 6, the main forces of the Russian expeditionary force moved back after the emperor, who had left the day before.
Let's return to Cantemir. For him Persian campaign was more of a scientific expedition than a military enterprise. So, in Derbent, the attention of Prince Dmitry was attracted by the ancient fortress "Naryn-Kala". He carefully examined it, took measurements, copied the discovered Arabic inscriptions. This study of Arabic inscriptions was presented in the collection "Collectanea orientalia" ("Oriental Collection").
On the way, Cantemir kept a literary diary. For us, the pages devoted to Derbent are of the greatest interest. Along with the description of what he saw, legends about the city and stories about its fortifications recorded from the words of the population were included in the diary.
Upon arrival in Derbent, Kantemir visited the grave of the elder Korkut and left a description of it and brief information about Korkut itself. Kantemir's notes about the Derbent elder, whom many Turkic-speaking peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia revered as a saint, are the first in Russian.
In Derbent, Kuli-bek presented Peter I with a Persian manuscript Tarikh-i Derbend-name - "The Book of the History of Derbent" as a gift. Cantemir took up the translation with interest, but did not have time to implement his plan.
Notes:
Berezin I. Bulgar on the Volga. Kazan, 1853, p. 29.
Saveliev P.S. Oriental Literature and Russian Orientalists // Russian Bulletin. 1856, v. 2, book. 2, p. 119.
History of domestic oriental studies until the middle of the 19th century. M., 1990, p. 46-47.
Pekarsky P. Science and literature in Russia under Peter the Great. T. II. SPb., 1862, p. 652-653.
Tarki is an urban-type settlement in Dagestan, near Makhachkala. At the end of the XV - beginning of the XIX century. the capital of Tarkov Shamkhalate, one of the Dagestan principalities, which from the first half of XVII v. was under the control of Russia.
Russian state archive ancient acts (RGADA): F. 121 "Kumyk and Tarkov affairs" (1614-1719). Cm.: Kusheva E.N. The policy of the Russian state in the North Caucasus in 1552-1572. // Historical notes of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. T. 34, 1950; She is. The peoples of the North Caucasus and their relations with Russia in the second half of the 16th - 30s. 17th century M., 1963.
Shamkhal is the title of rulers in Dagestan. Here we are talking about Adil Giray (1700-1725) from the Khalklavchi dynasty (1641-1858).
Golikov I.I. Acts of Peter the Great. T. 9. M., 1838, p. 154-155.
RGADA: F. 115 "Kabardian, Circassian and other affairs" (1578-1720). See: Kusheva E.N. UK. op.
See: Kabardino-Russian relations in the 16th–18th centuries. Documents and materials. In 2 vols. M., 1957.
Kurkin I.V. Persian campaign of Peter the Great. Grassroots corps on the shores of the Caspian Sea (1722-1735). M., 2010, p. 64-65.
Here: viceroy.
Kurkin I.V., With. 67.
Ibid, p. 71.
Trunov D. Light from Russia. Makhachkala, 1956, p. 29-30.
See: History of World Literature. T. 3. M., 1985, p. 588-590; Kitab-i dedem Korkut. Transl. V.V. Barthold. M.-L., 1962.
Korogly H. Dmitry Kantemir and culture of the East. - In the book: The legacy of Dmitry Kantemir and the present: Sat. Art. Chisinau, 1976, p. 108.
Trunov D., With. thirty.
An article from the collection of Pavel Gusterin " Russian empire and the Caucasus” (Saarbrücken, 2014)
Loading...