Russia Wins The Southern Caucasus ...!


On September 15, 1826 (all dates according to our era!) during the Russo-Persian War (from 1826 to 1828)



... stand east of the city of Baku on the Caspian Sea near the village of Shamkhor (today Shamkir, Azerbaijan), directly at the famous Shamkhor minaret ...



... a Persian and a Russian army ready to fight.

The Persians are 10,000 strong and are led by Sardar Abbas Mirza, the second son of the Shah of Persia and designated heir to the throne ...



Opposite them are 4,300 regular Russian soldiers and 2,000 Azerbaijani soldiers under the command of Lieutenant General Walerian Grigorjewitsch Madatow ...:



The matter is decided quickly:

The Russians succeed in capturing the Persian soldiers, who are much stronger in number (but incompetently led and poorly armed) ...













... to outstrip and after a preparatory cannonade to break through the Persian center with a bayonet attack.





The Persian core force, the Shah's guard, is almost completely wiped out by the Russian cavalry!



At the end of the battle the Russians lost 27 soldiers and the Persians over 2,000.

After further battles, all of which the Persians lose, the "Peace of Turkmanchai" (February 22, 1828) will come ...



... and Russia win today's Azerbaijan and other parts of the South Caucasus (including Khanate of Yerevan, Khanate Nakhichevan).



During the Russian deployment to battle, one episode went down in military history:

Russian soldiers formed (probably not entirely voluntarily!) With their bodies a "human bridge" over a deep trench to enable the artillery to advance quickly ...:

Take that, Persians!

OUCH!!!

Interesting post Martin. I wonder who the artist is who depicted the cavalry charge and the gun teams crossing the "human" trench - looks like the same person, whose work on Russian military history is exceptional.

Phil