Peter the First. Persian campaign
All Caucasian wars of Russia. The most complete encyclopedia Runov Valentin Aleksandrovich
Caspian campaign of Peter I
Caspian campaign of Peter I
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.
For the purpose of reconnaissance in 1711, Prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky, a native of Kabarda, who knew many eastern languages and customs of the highlanders, was sent to the Caucasus, and Artemy Petrovich Volynsky was sent to reconnoiter the situation in Persia in 1715.
Upon his return in 1719, A.P. Volynsky from Persia, he was appointed governor of Astrakhan with great powers, both military and political. For the next four years, his activities were based on measures to bring Dagestan rulers into Russian citizenship and prepare the campaign of Russian troops in the Caucasus. This activity has been very successful. Already at the beginning of the next year, through Volynsky, Moscow received a petition from the Dagestan shamkhal of Tarkovsky Adil-Girey to accept him into Russian citizenship. This request was met kindly, and the shamkhal himself was granted “as a token of his sovereign grace” with valuable furs worth 3 thousand rubles.
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.
Upon learning of this, A.P. Volynsky urgently reported to the emperor: “…according to your intention, it is no longer possible to start more legally than this, and there should be reasons: first, if you please stand up for your own; second, not against the Persians, but against their enemies and their own. In addition, the Persians can be offered (if they would protest) that if they pay your losses, then Your Majesty can give everything he has won. So you can show before the whole world that you deign to have a true reason for this.
In December 1721, Peter wrote to this letter: “I answer your opinion; that this case is not to be missed very much, and we have already ordered a satisfied part of the army to march towards you ... ". In the same year, 1721, the Terek-Grebensk Cossacks were placed under the jurisdiction of the military collegium of Russia and formalized as a military class.
A.P. Volynsky
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.
In the first days of May 1722, the guards were loaded onto ships and sent down the Moscow River, and then along the Volga. Ten days later, Peter set off with Catherine, who decided to accompany her husband on the campaign. Soon the expeditionary corps concentrated in Astrakhan, where Volynsky prepared a good material base for it in advance. On his orders, atamans of the Donets, the commanders of the Volga Tatars and Kalmyks, whose detachments were to take part in the campaign, arrived there to meet with the emperor. Total population Russian troops, intended for the invasion of the Caucasus, exceeded 80 thousand people.
In addition, the Kabardian princes were to take part in the campaign: the brother of Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky Murza Cherkassky and Araslan-bek. With their military detachments, they were supposed to join the Russian army on August 6 on the Sulak River.
On July 18, ships with regular infantry and artillery left Astrakhan for the Caspian Sea. Nine thousand dragoons, twenty thousand Don Cossacks and thirty thousand cavalry Tatars and Kalmyks followed the seashore. Ten days later, Russian ships moored ashore at the mouth of the Terek in the Agrakhan Bay. Peter was the first to set foot on land and determined a place for setting up a camp, where he intended to wait for the cavalry to approach.
The fighting began earlier than expected. On July 23, the detachment of brigadier Veterani, on the way to the village of Enderi in the gorge, 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. Thus began a military expedition, which later received the name of the Caspian campaign of Peter the Great.
Subsequently, Peter acted very decisively, combining diplomacy with armed force. In early August, his troops moved to Tarki. On the outskirts of the city, they were met by Shamkhal Aldy Giray, who expressed his obedience to the emperor. Peter received him very kindly before the formation of the guard and promised not to repair the ruin of the region.
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, presenting her with trays of the best varieties of grapes. The troops received food, wine and fodder.
On August 16, the Russian army set out on a campaign to Derbent. This time the path was not entirely smooth. On the third day, one of the columns was attacked by a large detachment of the Utemish Sultan Mahmud. The soldiers repelled the enemy's blow relatively easily and captured many prisoners. As an edification to all other enemies, Peter ordered the execution of 26 captured military leaders, and the town of Utemish, which consisted of 500 houses, was turned into ashes. Ordinary soldiers were granted freedom under an oath no longer to fight with the Russians.
Highlanders attack
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. All this time, the emperor and his wife, fleeing from the unbearable heat, spent in a dugout specially built for them, covered with a thick layer of turf. The ruler of Derbent, having learned about this, was very surprised. In a secret message to the Shah, he wrote that the Russian Tsar is so wild that he lives in the land, from which he emerges only at sunset. Nevertheless, giving an assessment of the state of the Russian troops, Naib did not skimp on praise.
After taking possession of Derbent, the Russian camp began to prepare for a campaign against Baku. However, an acute shortage of food and fodder forced Peter to postpone it until the next year. Leaving a small detachment in Dagestan, he returned the main forces to Astrakhan for the winter. On the way back, the troops in the place where the Agrakhan River flows into the Sulak River, the Russians laid the fortress of the Holy Cross.
At the end of September, on the orders of Peter, ataman Krasnoshchekin, with the Don and Kalmyks, launched a series of attacks on the Utemish sultan Mahmud, defeated his troops and ruined everything that had survived from the last pogrom. 350 people were captured and 11 thousand heads of cattle were captured. This was the last victory won in the presence of Peter I in the Caucasus. At the end of September, the imperial couple sailed to Astrakhan, from where they returned to Russia.
After Peter's departure, the command of all Russian troops in the Caucasus was entrusted to Major General M.A. Matyushkin, who enjoyed the special trust of the emperor.
Türkiye was alarmed by the appearance of Russian troops on the Caspian coast. In the spring of 1723, a 20,000-strong Turkish army occupied the space from Erivan to Tabriz, then moved north and occupied Georgia. King Vakhtang took refuge in Imeretin, and then moved to the Russian fortress of the Holy Cross. From there, in 1725, he was transferred to St. Petersburg and received by Catherine I. Astrakhan was assigned to him for residence, and the Russian treasury annually allocated 18 thousand rubles for the maintenance of the court. In addition, he was granted lands in various provinces and 3,000 serfs. The exiled Georgian king lived comfortably in Russia for many years.
Fulfilling the will of the emperor, in July 1723 Matyushkin with four regiments made a sea crossing from Astrakhan and after a short battle occupied Baku. 700 Persian soldiers and 80 cannons were captured in the city. For this operation, the detachment commander was promoted to lieutenant general.
The alarm was sounded in Isfahan. The internal situation in Persia did not allow the Shah to engage in Caucasian affairs. I had to negotiate with Russia. Ambassadors were urgently sent to St. Petersburg with a proposal of an alliance in the war with Turkey and with a request for help to the Shah in the fight against his internal enemies. Peter decided to focus on the second part of the proposals. On September 12, 1723, an agreement was signed on favorable terms for Russia. It stated: “The Shakhovo Majesty cedes to His Imperial Majesty the All-Russian in the eternal possession of the city of Derbent, Baku with all the lands and places that belong to them and along the Caspian Sea, also the provinces: Gilan, Mazanderan and Astrabad, in order to keep the army that His The Imperial Majesty will send his Shakhov Majesty against his rebels to help, without demanding money for that.
View of Derbent from the sea
In the autumn of 1723, 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 preempt 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 vassals of Persia, the Sheki and Shirvan khans.
The Persian campaign was generally completed successfully. True, having captured vast territories on the coast of the Caspian Sea, Russian troops lost 41,172 people, of which only 267 died in battle, 46 drowned, 220 deserted, and the rest died of wounds and diseases. The campaign, on the one hand, showed the weakness to the resistance of the rulers of the Eastern Caucasus, on the other hand, the unpreparedness of the Russian army for operations in the southern latitudes, the shortcomings of its medical support, supplies, and much more.
Peter highly praised the military merits of his soldiers. All officers were awarded special gold, and the lower ranks - silver medals with the image of the emperor, which were worn on the ribbon of the first Russian Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. This medal was the first of a large number of awards established for fighting in the Caucasus.
Thus, Peter the Great, proceeding primarily from the trade and economic interests of Russia, was the first of its rulers to set the task of joining the Caspian coast of the Caucasus at the forefront of the empire's policy. He personally organized a military expedition to the Eastern Caucasus with the aim of conquering it and achieved some success. However, the appearance of Russian troops in the Caucasus intensified the aggressive activity of this region also from Persia and Turkey. Military operations in the Caucasus by Russia were in the nature of expeditions, the purpose of which was not so much to defeat the main forces of the opposing enemy, but to seize territory. The population of the occupied lands was taxed with an indemnity, which was mainly used to maintain the occupation administration and troops. During the expeditions, it was widely practiced to bring local rulers into Russian citizenship by means of an oath.
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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.
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 looted goods totaling up to half a million rubles (very much).
About 50 thousand people participated in the Persian campaign, including 5 thousand sailors, 22 thousand infantrymen, 9 thousand cavalry, as well as irregular troops (Cossacks, Kalmyks, Tatars, a detachment of Kabardians, etc.), their exact number is unknown , but very numerous. The supply issues were not easy, given the condition of the roads there, so most of them were sent along the Volga and the Caspian.
The army left somewhere in May. Fedor took his horse, taken last year in Kizlyar, a proven stallion of the Kabardian breed Nalchanin, bold, dark bay with a white muzzle, loyal, sensitive and obedient, he himself, despite his uniform clothes, instead of a uniform sword took a gurda (his Caucasian checker), which caused the interested glances of colleagues. In addition, there was a black cloak, an extremely practical product that replaced a raincoat, fur coat and tent. Fedor, as a person who has visited the Caucasus, understood this. I took my Caucasian clothes just in case.
Princess Elena rushed around the house, gathering for a campaign. It helped that Fedor agreed with one convoy chief to place some of the things, otherwise even the hardy Nalchanin would not have pulled it out.
A fierce massacre was going on in Dagestan, in which Turkey, which was at enmity with Persia, was gradually drawn into it. The events that took place in Dagestan could not but alarm Russia.
The main point of collection of troops was Astrakhan.
The tsar himself and his command sailed along the Volga. Vessels like boats (or sometimes plows). There are five squads in total. There are about forty people on each ship. On the royal plow there were variable rowers. He walked the fastest.
This fleet was commanded by the great Admiral General Fyodor Apraksin. Although in fact the king commanded.
The bulk of the infantry and cavalry marched along the Caspian coast. Masses of Cossack and Kalmyk cavalry approached, Kabardian detachments were expected. Strong army.
Fedor rode in the ranks of the cavalry, standing out with his black Caucasian cloak over a regular uniform, as well as a Kizlyar saber instead of a sword. However, in those days the weapons were quite diverse. It came to the point that experienced soldiers had their own forms in the form of tongs for casting bullets suitable for the caliber. But when needed, they shot everything, even stones. And the caliber was supposed to be a little more than nineteen millimeters (however, such terms were not known then, before Napoleon).
It was much more comfortable in a cloak than in a cloak laid down by the charter. Gunpowder and the musket itself were heated there. Then he changed into Caucasian clothes in his light beshmet and a dark brown Circassian coat with silver gazyrs, left over from last year's reconnaissance, there was a black hat, not too shaggy, instead of a uniform cocked hat. He hung himself with weapons on a silver belt (saber and dagger).
Large masses of cavalry were formed, there was not enough fodder. The Kalmyk horses turned out to be the hardiest of all, which (being unshod, counting on the soft steppe, could suffer on stony roads) dug stony soil, getting food. People understood and endured, but this cannot be demanded of horses.
Cavalry is generally an order of magnitude more difficult than infantry.
Fedor came to an appointment with the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka. He immediately accepted it.
- Mr. Khan, I'm worried about the condition of the cavalry. Yours and the Cossack. Your horses need to be shod urgently for rocky roads and trails. In addition, there is not enough food. The front ones will eat everything, the rest will not get it.
Khan Ayuka was broad-faced and narrow-eyed. Kalmyk. He had a very independent and unpredictable policy.
- I understand it, mister officer, but how to do it? We were not told anything before the trip, but where are we going to get so many horseshoes now? And where will we feed the horses, ours and the Cossacks? Thanks for the advice. You help me with them, but sometimes they betray their own. Remember the Khoshut taisha Ablai. Oh.
“There are many forges in the city we have occupied. Talk to Prince Apraksin, but even with the king, you need to forge horses, otherwise you will ruin your hooves on stony paths. We won’t find so many horseshoes, we’ll have to forge with anything. If only there were enough nails. I myself am a former blacksmith. As for food, I'll try to talk to the locals.
Khan Ayuka looked at Fyodor with some hope.
The conversation was attended by ataman Grigory Semyonov, as well as the head of the Tatar cavalry Khan Ulmasbay himself, the arrived chiefs of the Kabardians Murza Cherkassky and Aslan-Bek. That one, after they dispersed, Ulmasbai called Fyodor.
- Do you see what our horses have turned into? We have traveled the dry steppes to help you. They need to be fed and watered. Kalmyks and Cossacks have better horses, but not for long. What are we without horses? I will talk to Khan Matyushkin. Do something.
Then Fedor received a corresponding order from General Matyushkin. I received a good hardy horse from the Tatars, loaded it with my load, hitched it to the saddle and on my Nalchanin, went to the village, familiar from last year's intelligence, leading the cavalry army. However, the horse walked obediently, Fedor stopped tying it. Nalchanin sometimes strove to perch on her, fulfilling his foalish desires, to which Fyodor waved his hand, remembering his exploits.
Fedor walked ahead. Behind him stretched out a string of riders, sometimes leading uphill tired horses on a leash. The cavalry was exhausted. One must get to good pastures.
Places for Fedor were already familiar from last year. There were Avar villages here. Mariam lived here, his Masha.
And a variegated cavalry army followed him, believing and fulfilling orders.
Mountain paths leading up to the snowy peaks. Noisy waterfalls, mountain rivers. In the Caucasus, rivers do not overflow in the spring, as in Russia, but in the middle of summer, when the glaciers melt. As the pine forests with large trees, sometimes of a bizarre shape, grew smaller, and there were more herbs in alpine meadows. The grass grew taller and thicker, as required.
They made long stops, but the grass was quickly eaten away, there was not enough for the horses. We moved along familiar paths, Fedor was a guide. Then, on the rocks, some horsemen were seen, who pointed with whips at this cavalry armada, then disappeared. Fedor ordered his people to wait, and he, alone, went ahead. Dzhigits were sitting behind the rocks, guns were sticking out. Fyodor waved his hand from afar. The trunks went down. An old acquaintance Niyaz came out to meet him, leaving his gun behind.
- Is that you, Russian prince Fedor? What army is following you?
- They are not going to conquer you, Niyaz. See how many horses there are? We need pastures. Take me, I want to speak with Prince Akhmet. The rest will wait here.
He made a sign to his own people not to move and, accompanied by a group of horsemen, went to the familiar Avar village. Here it is, the tower, here is the mosque. Sakli, located in ledges on the slope of the mountain. The male people poured out to meet them, forming a semblance of a formation, the women crowded behind, looking incredulously and curiously.
However, the lamb has already been slaughtered.
Prince Ahmed descended from the porch. Mulla ran up, which is somewhat indecent for his rank. Everyone was happy with Fedor. Everyone remembered him, his last year's exploits against the abreks. The turmoil with the laying of tables, cheeses, greens, intoxicated ayran, buza, fried lamb quickly appeared.
But Prince Ahmed was restless.
- You have a large army of cavalry below. They will tear us apart right away. What is a village for them? Then there will be war.
As long as I am alive and strong, there will be no war. Believe me, prince, I know war and my hands are covered in blood. I don't love her. I hate this blood, and also this shit, I'm sorry.
The prince nodded forgivingly with his papakha. Fedor continued:
- We go further to Derbent, or wherever we can. Down there there is powerful infantry, artillery, many troops are sailing on ships. The white king himself floats there.
Prince Amkhet thought for a moment. Then he answered:
- You know how to make friends. There are people who know how to be friends. Friendship is a feeling that is given disinterestedly. And then there is love. An even more stupid absurd feeling, which is given disinterestedly, without hope of gratitude. Not everyone can do that. There are ice people. Snow queens. They can only love themselves. Forgive me for this speech, somehow escaped. I understand. Ladies of guides, they will lead your cavalry to the upper pastures. Let them eat. It's better than if they eat themselves here with us. The grass will grow quickly, it will be fresher, and the water flows all the time. Fedor, please. To not attack our women. Our jigits will help you.
In the evening, ataman Grigory Semenov said:
- And what is there, we will scatter their village quickly. There will be booty.
Fedor shook his head.
Everything is dry underneath. And we have a lot of horses. We will go to the upper pastures, there is a lot of grass there and it is fresh. If you do not offend the shepherds, they will show the way. And there is nothing to do here.
Everyone agreed. The next morning, a powerful line of riders stretched up the slope, led by local horsemen.
Higher up the slope of the mountain, the path was hidden in a layer of clouds, where the cavalry went and also hid.
But Fedor remained. He approached Prince Akhmet.
- Mr. Prince, how is Mariam?
He did not look at Fyodor.
Mariam is not here. They kidnapped her like an enviable bride. Old, over thirty years old, with a scar on her face. She's beautiful in her own right, of course. The children, Ibrahim and Umar, were taken by relatives. Go to her shaklya, you will see for yourself.
- But who could do it?
- Ah, there are already Dargin villages over the mountain. There is one prince there. He's just not human. For some reason, she liked him or his son, so he stole it. Neither asked me nor her.
- Mr. Prince, why is he not a man?
- He sometimes flies like an eagle, sometimes like a horned mountain goat, and then like normal person. Miracles can do all sorts of things. Call Prince Mirza. Don't go there, don't.
In the evening Fyodor went to Mariam's shrine. Her brother and his wife were in charge there. His name was Kasym. Little (but grown up) Ibragimchik and Umarchik rushed to hug him, complaining how boring it was without his mother and Uncle Fyodor. The new owners received the guest very kindly, as usual, they did not let him go without a good table. Then, when they ate and drank well, Fyodor began to ask the owner about the road. Kasim shook his head doubtfully.
- You can go to these Dargins, you are Russian, and what army of yours went to the mountains! Anyone will be afraid. I'll show you the way, but I won't go myself, I can't. And why do you need our old sister with a scar, there are so many beautiful girls here!
Fyodor politely explained to Kasym that he had a wife left in St. Petersburg, but this did not bother him at all.
- Take a second wife, relatives will take it as an honor. Russian prince! They will give you without a bride price.
- Sorry, dear Kasym, please show me the way to the Dargin village tomorrow.
- I'll show you the way, but be afraid of Prince Mirza. He is not human.
- Heard about him. I saw people and non-humans. I am not afraid of them.
Kasym looked at him respectfully and offered him a lodging for the night. The next morning they harnessed their horses (Kasim envied him Nalchanin) and set off. We saw through the clouds and fog the tail of a powerful horse column, which climbed up the slope. But their journey went further.
Then there was the Dargin aul, which differed little from the past Avar. Only on a flatter mountain. There was a tower, a mosque. Fedor, a warrior, had the idea that such a tower could be completely demolished by modern mountain artillery. But he pushed that thought away. These people did nothing wrong. You cannot organize artillery preparation against them. Fedor somehow got used to them. He just went to the village alone. Kasim stayed and turned back.
Nobody. Only beautiful mountains around. Below, a river roared, into which a stream flowed, covered with forest along the banks. Yes, a huge black mountain eagle flew from above. Then he sat down in front on a stone, somehow lowered his wings and shriveled. Fedor approached. He stood up, straightened his shoulders, threw back his cloak, straightened his Circassian coat and dagger. He was a black-bearded, strong, slender man with a sharp, attentive look.
Fedor got off his horse:
- Hello, Prince Mirza. Heard about you.
- Just don't pretend to be an Avar. You are Russian. Look, what a huge army went to the mountains, to pastures. I saw everything from above. How did you get here alone? Not afraid?
- I am not afraid of anything. I came as a guest.
- Well, come, be a guest. There's a good path over there.
Then he wrapped himself in a cloak, then unfolded his wings and flew away like a huge eagle.
And Fedor went along the indicated path. In the village he was greeted with incredulity. The men were looking at weapons. But when Prince Mirza himself met Fedor, the people relaxed and began to prepare the inevitable table.
The women were bustling about, the men were seated solidly. Prince Fyodor was seated in a place of honor. Mirza and a mullah sat next to him. They slaughtered the obligatory lamb, brought salty cheese, herbs, pies, everyone rubbed their hands in anticipation of the feast. Fedor was no longer afraid of anyone. He too. There were khinkali, fragrant khash, and cheese pieces, so breaded in crackers, mmm, you won’t come off. There was buza, ayran, even grape wine. It turned out to be a whole feast.
But Mirza looked at Fyodor. Then he asked:
- What brought you to our village, forgotten by the Almighty? Your main Russian army is walking along the old road along the coast, your cavalry has gone to the upper pastures to save themselves, and you?
- Mariam.
Prince Mirza thought for a moment. He answered seriously.
- Mariam is with my son, Kudrat. I did not know everything, but he and his kunak stole her from our village and she is now with him. You are a Russian prince and my guest, talk to Kudrat, I will tell him to meet with Mariam.
They met. She was thinner, but somehow prettier. They stood near the sakli, not touching each other. Just look into your eyes carefully and kindly. Kudrat stood nearby and somehow nervously rattled his dagger.
- Masha, how are you?
- Oh, Fedya, how I miss and miss the children, Ibragimchik and Umarchik. But here, even though I am someone else's Avar, I found my destiny. I can't get married anywhere. And then I was kidnapped, and I myself helped in this. What else to do? But I will never forget you. I love you.
- Your brother Kasym has children. They won't send them here. But don't worry about their fate. Kasym good man will take care of them. I love you too, Masha.
Kudrat heard it. He frowned and began fiddling with the dagger for some reason. The next morning was this.
Kudrat appeared in the sakla, in one shirt with a saber in his hand.
- Hey, Russian, take a saber, come out to fight. Do you think Mariam is yours? You think right.
Fyodor shook off his sleep, took out a saber, and also went out in a shirt. There his opponent Kudrat was waiting for him, playing with his blade.
And then the last remnants of sleep flew away from Fyodor. He stood ready. Kudrat went forward, making sharp, unexpected attacks. Fedor has not yet attacked, making circular defensive movements, studying the tactics of the enemy.
And the tactics were sharp, unexpected, unpredictable. Kudrat fenced masterfully. Strikes from above, from below, piercing. Fedor, thanks to many years of experience, coped.
Then there was a clapping of huge wings, a huge eagle landed behind. He unfolded the cloak, raised his hat and looked with attentive eyes. It was Prince Mirza.
- Hey, son, move away from the guest. If there are such antics from you, I will deal with you like a father, like a man. Put away your checker, young fool.
Kudrat nodded his head obediently and immediately looked like an obedient donkey. He lowered his weapon and went to the hayloft. Mirza said:
Don't be angry with this young man. And Mariam herself will figure out who she needs. Nothing threatens you and your horse here. Good night.
And he wrapped himself in a cloak, spread his wings, flew somewhere, an eagle.
But the formidable Kudrat was not so easy to stop. He waited for the eagle prince to fly away, shouted:
- Russian! If you are not a coward, we will fight without weapons.
Fyodor was not a coward, they went out into the courtyard, there they stood against each other. Fight. Kudrat was strong and agile. Fyodor, with his ancient technique, threw him over his thigh, so that he did not immediately get up. Residents began to gather around, watching the fight between Kudrat and the Russian prince. Mariam stood in the crowd, holding on to her handkerchief.
Kudrat grabbed Fyodor's hand well, Fyodor crouched down, rolled over, grabbed the opponent, threw him over his shoulder, and abruptly threw him against the stones. He couldn't get up. They picked him up and carried him away. Fyodor was given clothes. "You honestly won. Help yourself" There was a treat. Sat on carpets.
Such a competition of pahlavans is always an event. And for the participation of the Russian prince, for the first time.
Then the black eagle descended, narrowed its circles, and crouched down. All around were quiet. The eagle folded its wings, hid them in a shaggy black cloak, pulled on a hat, and approached the feasters. It was Prince Mirza.
He threw off his black cloak and sat down good-naturedly in Turkish style (like everyone else). He was given a bowl of lagman, then a lamb arrived. And cheese and greens were present in large quantities. Then Mirza, having eaten and drunk like everyone else, got up and called Fyodor after him. They stepped aside.
- Russian prince Fedor. Do you understand that my son Kudrat kidnapped Mariam? I couldn't help it. But now Prince Akhmed will gather his Avars, there will be war. You saw Kudrat in a fight, I can't control him myself. Thank you for keeping him alive. I saw everything from above.
Then, thinking and pulling on their hats, they parted ways. Fedor, after the conversation, refreshments and this stupid duel, went to Mariam's saklya. She stood on the threshold. They went in together, she flung herself on his neck. She buried her face into his chest. Whispered:
- Have you seen children, Ibragimchik and Umarchik for a long time?
- Most recently, they grew up, they asked about you.
- Oh, longing. Come on, I'll show your daughter.
They went into the inner room, where a child was lying and sleeping peacefully in a hanging cradle. Girl. Mariam:
- Remember last year, our nights? Her name is Mariam, just like mine. Your daughter. In Russian Maria. Or Masha. I wanted the name to sound good in Dagestan and in Russian. Oh, if only there was no war. But Prince Ahmed, my father, will not forgive, there will be a war. I'll be the one to blame! When Kudrat was tying me with jigits, at first she fought, shouted, then she submitted, fell silent. They didn't even close my mouth. They gave me a mare and went with them myself. And they knew what I was carrying from you.
Laughed:
- So now, dear, you are like a relative with us. And for me as a husband. I am your concubine. And I will act like a concubine.
- Masha, let's go to the far corner, while Kudrat is recovering after this fight now at grandmother Radziyat.
In the far corner, Masha completely undressed, they hugged Fedor, like last year. Then Masha resolutely, sharply in a Caucasian way, sat down on all fours, threw Fyodor onto herself. Moaned:
- Take me.
Fedor took it.
When the naked Masha lay exhausted on the couch next to her, the door of the sakli opened and at the entrance was a male figure in the usual Caucasian attire (a black Circassian coat and a beshmet). The gazyry on his chest glittered with silver.
Prince Mirza. The saber and dagger on the belt shone with silver, smart eyes shone with black coals. Papa was furious.
Masha immediately woke up, rushed to get dressed, to which the prince waved his hand.
Fyodor, sensing some kind of threat, jumped up with a dagger, but the prince suddenly threw out his hand, palm forward, and Fyodor felt some kind of soft, unknown blow of force and tumbled back onto the couch.
He came to his senses when the prince soldered him with water from a ladle. Masha lay nearby, carefully covered with a blanket.
- Forgive me, Russian prince, that I did not treat you like a guest. But you are not just a guest. You now know Mariam. Knew her before, she was your concubine. And we know whose child it is. But my son Kudrat took it. You even had a duel, you don't need this anymore. He had the right to challenge you to a fight that is unnecessary and dangerous for us. You understand, now because of this Mariam and my young fool Kudrat, a war with the Avars is coming. We won't give up Mariam. Prince Ahmed of Avar will not give up her children either. Neither the mullah nor I considered Mariam a legal wife, otherwise the Avars had been here for a long time. That's why you didn't break our laws. I do not know what to do.
He sat down, took off his hat, thought.
Fyodor also resolutely sat down. He drank water, coming to his senses. I thought about the prince's words.
Answered.
“We won’t bring Miriam’s boys back here. We can't. Prince Ahmed will not give them up. Let Kudrat make others for her. There will be no war.
- How will you do it, Russian prince? You can not. Even I, the mountain eagle, cannot prevent this battle.
- I can. Just let me talk to Maria. And so that Kudrat does not get into a fight.
- It won't work. How are you feeling?
After the invisible blow, Fedor felt unwell. Mirza shook his head.
- Are you going to ride a horse?
- Will try.
- Get dressed, follow me. Now it will be better.
Fedor got dressed with the help of Masha. Nalchanin already harnessed. Contrary to his custom, Mirza did not turn into an eagle, but mounted a black horse and moved along an inconspicuous path. Fyodor followed him. The trail went through the most beautiful, but wild places, where trees grew between the rocks. We saw a stream with some orange banks.
"Iron oxide," Fyodor defined. The stream flowed out of the rock like a small waterfall. Mirza gave Fyodor a ladle.
- Drink this water.
The water was cool and had some kind of salty taste and an unusual smell. Everything came out in bubbles. However, Fedor tried it on the second ladle and liked it.
Mirza said:
- Enough, no more. Let's go further.
Now Fyodor mounted a more cheerful horse.
The path on stony ground was almost invisible. Then again the sound of water was heard ahead, and they drove out into a clearing surrounded by bushes.
Rather, it was a flat stone (rock), in the center of which something like a bath was hollowed out, in which a stream of water with bubbles swelled and a stream flowed out. Mirza said:
- Undress, lie down. Just don't drink this water.
The water was warm, softly tickling and tingling with bubbles.
Mirza stood nearby, smiling good-naturedly:
- Look how big she is! She was pounded by people of enormous stature unknown to us. I saw their graves. You are a child compared to them. Now quickly get out, run to those bushes.
Why bushes, thought Fyodor, but suddenly his stomach told him that he needed to go into the bushes immediately.
Having dressed, Fyodor jumped on his horse very briskly, in general he felt cheerful and fresh. Mirza rode alongside:
“No one knows where these giants came from or where they have gone. Do you think I would have been able to fly as an eagle if not for these springs? Do you think, I'm afraid, that you will bring your army here? I can change the way so that even those who have been here will not find anything. Or will go to the poisoned springs. But don't be afraid. Feel the power. There is one buried nearby. I can show you if you're not afraid.
Fedor wanted to take a look. Then Mirza turned his horse, ordered Fyodor to follow him and rode to a huge mountain that was nearby. The path on the rocks is not visible. There were drawings on the rock, where huge people with spears hunted a mammoth. Then they had to lead the horses on a lead along a narrow rocky cornice above a cliff, clinging to a rock where a river roared far below. Mirza said:
- Don't look down.
Then they saw the entrance to the cave. We went in and brought in the horses, which felt restless. We went further. The eyes quickly got used to the darkness, especially since the light was breaking through the crack from above and falling on the stone shelf.
Fyodor shuddered. There was a skeleton on the shelf. He was huge, two times larger than a man, more than two fathoms. Elongated skull of a strange shape. Man of another world. Fedor approached cautiously. I looked, dumbfounded. Mirza touched his sleeve.
- Let's go, time is running out. And he has eternity. There are still such graves, only far away.
The return journey was not easier. Again we drove past the springs, and Fedor experienced a surge of strength. But he was thoughtful, silent, thinking about what he saw.
The next day, Fyodor, taking a compass, a sextant, paper and pencils, went to Nalchanin (which was carefully harnessed by his owners). The path went along the sheep (or animal) paths to the mountain. Having chosen a convenient place, Fedor determined the coordinates, sketched the calculations, and then admired the mountains. Rocks, then snowy peaks in the distance. But something for myself noted and noticed. Yes, there will be a fight between the Avars and the Dargins, which is not needed. It takes strength to prevent it. Great strength.
He went down to the village, Fedor was greeted warmly. Nalchanin, who had fattened on mountain herbalists, was once again well fed. Everyone praised Fedor for the horse, but here they knew a lot about it. They also fed Fyodor himself well, as an honored guest. Prince Mirza was friendly, but gloomy.
- Prince Fedor, the Avars are coming. Our horsemen are watching and talking. I saw it from above. As long as they are gathering. There will be many.
This is what Fyodor imagined while fiddling with his instruments, map and pencil. So, now, if only ours managed to come in time. Let's figure it out. While the Dargin horsemen were arming themselves, they saddled their horses. Women and children gathered in towers, others in shelters. Cattle were driven behind the walls. And Fyodor looked at his compass and watch. He regretted that there was no intercom to communicate with his own.
Haven't figured it out yet. He felt it would be greatly needed in the far future. To speak at a distance, so that the connection between close people, relatives, the connection of times is not interrupted.
Local horsemen dispersed on foot in the bushes, in familiar places. But from above, from the slope of the mountain, hats and barrels of guns were shown. Now something will happen. Fyodor was touched on the shoulder. It was Mirza.
- There are Avars. Will start now.
- It won't start. Look up.
A powerful cavalry column appeared from above along the slope. Good well-fed horses, in some places banners, in some places bunchuks. Cossacks, Kalmyks, Tatars, Kabardians. A cavalry army resting in the upper pastures. And the barrels of the guns somehow immediately disappeared from behind the rocks.
A rider in Caucasian garb rode forward. Black-bearded, with a bold face. Ataman Grigory Semenov. Strong, good.
He also recognized Fedor.
- Hey, Mr. Colonel, are you going to fight here? He looks like an abrek himself, God forgive me.
We drove up and hugged. Semenov said:
- We have loaded a lot of hay on spare horses. And so, ate. Lambs in the upper pastures are inexpensive. They ate and stocked up.
Indeed, many of the second horses were hiding under a pile of hay, from which their neighbors strove to grab a tuft. Ataman continued:
- We need to go to connect with the main army, we need convenient ways, we need guides and we don’t need fights with the locals.
- I know the local convenient roads. Did a survey last year. I will be the guide myself. Let's go to the main near-Caspian road, further south. There we will meet with the main army.
And their army, without entering the villages, moved after Fedor. Finally, Mirza said:
- Avars are no longer visible. They understood what was happening. I will meet and talk with Prince Akhmed, there, shalyk-mashlyk. And I will always be grateful to you for everything. Come to our region. Look how beautiful it is here. What air, what water! You will go to the plain, there are always clouds, fog, some kind of humid air. And it's good here!
Fyodor heartily thanked Mirza, but the horse column stopped, waiting for him. And he galloped forward, showing familiar roads. The road sometimes became steep, the horses rested on their hooves, from under which pebbles fell. Fedor confidently led his army until the sea shone in the distance. And sometimes a black eagle appeared from above.
Troops were moving along the Caspian coast along the road. Infantry with folded banners, artillery with gunners sitting on carriages and charging boxes, wagon carts. Everyone there started up, even the cannons were quickly and skillfully unharnessed and began to turn towards the cavalry. Fyodor commanded loudly:
- Deploy banners, bunchuks, everything that is.
The cavalry stopped. Fedor, Semyonov, Ayuka, someone from the Tatars and Kabardians galloped forward. One of the Cossacks put a white rag on his pike and waved. The rest waited on the side of the mountain, displaying their pennants and peaceful intentions. And a mounted group of officers rode out to meet Fedor and his negotiating group. They stopped, and the entire land army, convoy and artillery also stopped. Then the general drove up with his retinue and slowly went to the cavalry. It was Major General Mikhail Afanasyevich Matyushkin himself, who was very familiar to Prince Fyodor. They got to know each other. And in Poltava and the unfortunate Prut campaign and work in the Military Collegium.
Historical reference.
Matyushkin was the Sovereign's second cousin. Once was his attendant. One of the first entered the amusing. Enjoyed the confidence of the king. In battles against the Swedes, he proved himself a hero. After the departure of one of the active troops in the Caucasus, he took over the overall command. Subsequently, he experienced the death of the Sovereign as a personal grief.
Colonel Prince Pereslavsky? You are just like a Circassian robber. Hello, Semyonov, Ayuka, Ulmasbay. Good luck you've arrived. We were in dire need of cavalry. How are you? The horses are good, I see. There were clashes, losses?
- No, your Excellency, it wasn't. The locals were very helpful.
- Well, otherwise look, the owner of the Lezgin land, Daud-bek, and the steward of the Kazikumyk district, called Surkhay, are not asleep. They have succumbed to the Turks and are gathering all sorts of troops against us.
And Fyodor noticed a huge black eagle in the sky, which slowly described circles around them.
The army was on the move. They stretched out along the old Caspian road, now the arrived cavalry went ahead.
And in the evening Fyodor had a confidential conversation with Matyushkin. Matyushkin spoke.
- What were these khans Haji-Daud and Sukhrai doing in Shamakhi? Our merchants and clerks were robbed, beaten, their goods worth many ... millions were taken away. The sovereign ordered this not to be forgiven. Yes, and trade routes are needed. So that our Russia is not locked in a land bag! I read your last year's note after your Caucasian intelligence about the importance of the Caspian, the Caucasus and Persia. You've done a great job. That's why I need you.
- Thank you, Your Excellency. Allow me to be in the forward detachment, to get people under subjugation, I myself will select from my own, fire supplies, food, and the grass here, frankly, is not like on the upper pastures. Our great armada will eat it all. Rivers and streams seem to dry up too. And cavalry is hard work. Horses, okay, you can not wash for some time, although it’s not the case, but you always need to drink. And here is an army! I have trusted people from the local area, they will lead our horsemen through the nearby pastures. They will help!
- Do not get excited, Prince Fyodor. You went wild in these mountains. He completely became a local bearded abrek.
- Excuse me, Your Excellency. Let me change into my uniform and start my clerical duties.
Matyushkin looked at him critically.
- No, dear Fedor. Stay as you are. For reconnaissance, this is what you need. Gather your detachment of cavalry, just don't take all our cavalry with you, you need reconnaissance, laying the path. You speak Avar and Dargin quite well, I felt it. You know the ways, the local people. You know how to talk to them. Look, our fleet is coming here, the Sovereign himself is there. We need to prepare a landing site, secure it. Don't lose sight of our army. I order. To carry out reconnaissance, combat protection and preparation of a bridgehead for landing. Try to do without clashes with the locals. And remember our enemies who succumbed to the Turks, especially Haji Daoud and Sukhrai. The nearest main target is Derbent. Further way to Baku.
Fedor selected good fighters on good horses. Cossacks, Tatars, Kalmyks, Kabardians. Reliable, experienced, proven people who became friends on the road and battles. Excellent squad. A hundred people, like a Cossack hundred. Squadron. Dressed assorted. Cossacks in caftans, Kalmyks in robes, Kabardians in Circassians. The weapons were also different. It was worse. Fedor gave them a review. Drill training consisted in the fact that the soldiers on foot somehow held the rifle chain, and in the horse formation they kept the horse formation, like a Cossack lava. But the people were experienced.
Fyodor took his musket ball.
He began to walk through the rows and try on the trunks. But it didn't fit everywhere. At that time, the accuracy of the caliber was not always respected (nor was the size of the bullet). And in battle, such a bullet will jam in the barrel when charging or firing!
There will be trouble. Fedor went to the convoy, demanded pieces of lead, then from his fighters molds for casting bullets, which everyone had. Then there was a hot fire, smelting lead and tin, casting bullets. They repaired harness, strengthened and refurbished horseshoes.
Gunpowder was fine. The rest is fine too.
In the remaining time, Fedor diligently sharpened and corrected his wonderful checker.
The army was being built, stretched out in a column along the narrow Kaspisky road. It so happened that Prince Fedor, as it were, led the avant-garde. The difficulty was that it was impossible to break away from the main forces, and the infantry was moving too slowly. They found a way out in the fact that a group of horsemen rode forward for reconnaissance, and behind the same group followed to communicate with the army. They also understood the problem and groups of horsemen appeared from there to support Fedor's detachment. Fyodor constantly looked back, forward and at the sea through a telescope. And there appeared numerous sails. It was the fleet of Peter the Great.
Finally, on July 27, 1722, Peter I landed in the Gulf of Agrakhan and set foot on Dagestan for the first time.
Peter was impatient. On the same day detachments were sent. Fights have begun. But the majority of the North Kumyk rulers - Aksaevsky, Kostekovsky and Tarkovsky shamkhals expressed their readiness to be in the Russian service.
The main battle was near the large village of Utamysh, where the army was attacked by Shamkhal Sultan-Mahmud at the head of ten thousand soldiers. As a result, the attacks were repulsed, and the enraged Russians burned down the village of Utamysh.
The next ruler, the shamkhal of the village of Tarki Adil-Girey, shocked by what had happened, prepared a campsite for the army, offered three hundred arbs for a convoy, two hundred and fifty heads of cattle and kindly asked the king to be his guest, which made him happy.
Then the path went to Derbent. The services of Prince Fedor were no longer particularly needed, there was no more resistance and attacks, the locals met with bows and swore friendship, showed the way, however, it had already existed for thousands of years and was known.
And the ruler of Derbent, Naib Imam-Kuli-Bek, wrote a letter (signed also by the most distinguished people and the clergy), and sent it towards the Russian army. There he asked for help, swore allegiance and obedience, there was a traditional request not to send troops into the city in order to avoid excesses.
Fedor understood the behavior of the naib. The surrounding Sunnis, supported by the Turks (the same Sunnis), continuously besieged the predominantly Shiite Derbent and the Shiites hoped for Russian help. Naib Imam-Kuli-Bek met the Russian army a mile away from the city and on his knees presented the king with two silver keys to the city. Local people expressed genuine joy at the arrival of the Russian army. There was one hitch. The main gate of honor, where a whole delegation was waiting for the king and generals, was on the other side of the city, and Peter, as usual, was impatient. He pointed to the nearest gate and ordered them to be opened. He was politely and carefully pointed out that these gates were intended for caravans, donkeys and did not lead to the best part cities. It is shameful for the ruler to enter them. To which Peter replied:
- Some gates cannot disgrace me.
Historical reference.
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.
Fedor, along with his detachment, were located outside the walls of the city in tents. The hobbled horses grazed closer, although they gnawed out all the grass and brought hay from the cart. And there was enough water, streams with clean water flowed. Fyodor examined his weapons, which he did not really need in this war, once again cleaned the barrels, lubricated the locks, changed the flints, adjusted the saber and dagger. Then he went out, sat down, took out paper and a pen and wrote his travel notes (a diary with some important information).
Derbent roared nearby. Big city blocking the Caspian gates since the times of the Great Silk Road. The army was resting and preparing for a further march to the south. The fleet, lowering their sails, anchored in the vicinity.
On the twenty-eighth of August, Fyodor was also sitting near the tent in the evening, but something alerted him. The horses were restless. Dogs barked in the city. A damp wind blew. The sky was covered with clouds. Ataman Semyonov approached.
- Say there's going to be a storm. I ordered the tents to be fixed. Here the autumn storms begin, it will not be enough.
The gust of wind was like a blow. The tents were blown off and they flew like birds. Hats flew off the jumping people. The Caspian rocked with waves. Fedor saw how his Nalchanin rushed about with tangled legs. Shouted to his:
- Get down, get down!
He himself rushed to Nalchanin, forced him to lie down, he lay down next to him, cuddling up.
The storm ended by morning.
People got up, collected things, put up tents, in a word, restored the camp. Many local residents came from Derbent and began to help. But worse, some of the ships were washed ashore, and some disappeared.
Management held a meeting.
The sovereign's adjutant (whom he habitually called a batman) ran to Fyodor.
- Your Excellency, Mr. Colonel, you are invited to the military council.
It is clear that he is now a Caucasian intelligence officer, he was needed.
He girded his Circassian coat, did not take a weapon, went to the hastily restored headquarters tent. The generals had already gathered there, and soon the Sovereign himself came and began to ask about the losses from the storm.
Admiral General Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin got up:
- Sovereign, losses in ground forces insignificant, but the fleet suffered heavy losses. Transport ships with valuable cargo were sunk. Worst of all, we brought provisions by sea, and now they are gone. On the surviving ships, the flour is almost all spoiled.
General Matyushkin:
- Provisions are left for no more than a month, then there will be no army. Worse than in the Prut campaign.
The king thought. For a long time. Everyone was silent. Then Peter said:
- No more Prut. We retreat to Astrakhan. Here we leave the garrison. The local khan and the inhabitants favor us.
Fedor raised his hand. Peter:
- Oh, it's you, Colonel. I didn't recognize you with the beard. You would have caught me in the ninety-eighth year, you would have ordered me to shave. Okay, let's talk in St. Petersburg. What do you have?
- Sovereign, the ordered campaign against Astrakhan will be difficult. The horses ate all the grass along the way, there will be starvation. We will lose many. I propose to lead most of the cavalry through the mountain pastures along the routes explored by me.
- Did you hear that we have provisions for a month? Enough for Astrakhan. Stop reasoning. Listen to my command. Matyushkin will command the rest. You, Apraksin, organize the unloading of the remaining supplies and take the ships there too. If it is possible. You, Colonel Pereslavsky, look like a Circassian, and you know the local languages. Stay here for mining exploration. You are doing well. You will report to Matyushkin, and if necessary, do not be shy to me personally.
The tsar shook a heap of cards and notes lying in front of him, written by Fyodor.
- Act!
Everyone dispersed, and the camp began to move. Many locals came to help. They unloaded everything that was possible from the ships thrown ashore, loaded onto carts and carts, and turned off a huge parking lot. Yes, the lessons of Prut in 1711 were not in vain for the king. Fedor sympathized with the garrisons who remained here, since they would have a hard time. And he, following the royal order, began to saddle Nalchanin and the Tatar filly. Checked the horseshoes, in order, took a spare with nails, mountain roads are no joke. The batman Ivan turned to him.
- Your honor, where are you without me? Alone again? Is it easy?
Fedor considered. Ivan Shapovalov is an experienced soldier, owns a horse and weapons, is brave and devoted, tested in campaigns and battles.
Ivan, aren't you afraid?
-Your honor, you are not afraid.
- Okay, Ivan, thanks. Both are more fun.
And Fedor went to Ataman Semyonov and begged for a good Don horse with a saddle and harness. Since Semenov already knew Prince Fedor well, he did not refuse.
Fyodor and Ivan loaded horses, Nalchanin, a Tatar filly, which was never named, and a Donchak, which Ivan saddled. And in such a caravan they went to the mountains. Semyonov, Murza Cherkassky, Aslan-Bek, Ayuka, Ulmasbay, and others came out to see them off.
Semyonov crossed Fyodor onto the road.
- God bless you, Colonel.
- God bless you, Ataman Gregory. Take care of people and horses.
And Aslan-Bek said:
- Beware of Haji Dawood, Sukhrai and their people. May Allah protect you.
They hugged, said goodbye and moved on.
Preparations for the campaign unfolded in the winter of 1721-1722. In the Volga cities (Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Uglich, Yaroslavl), the 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. Derbent and Baku were also of no small importance, and the Russian army was to occupy these two cities on its own, and Shamakhi - with the possible assistance of Georgian and Armenian detachments. The King of Kartli, Vakhtang VI, was to take the lead of 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 Endyrean ruler Aydemir, the rest of the northern Kumyk rulers - Aksaevsky, Kostekovsky and Tarkovsky Shamkhal expressed their readiness to be in the Russian service.
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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 the 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 fought 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. The intervention of Russia and the establishment of control over these territories radically influenced the further course of events in the region and pushed the Ottoman Empire to a military invasion. The aim of the Turks was to oust the Russians.
In preparation for the invasion, the Turkish sultan accepted 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.
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Background and goals of the Persian campaign of Peter I
On August 7, 1721, a 6,000-strong detachment of highlanders, Lezgins and Kazykumyks, rebelled under the leadership of their rulers Daud-Bek and Surkhay against the Shah of Persia, captured the city of Shemakha (west of the Caspian) subject to him and subjected him to a terrible pogrom. The highlanders attacked the Russian merchants who found themselves here and from the Gostiny Dvor “chased them with sabers and beat others”, and “all the goods were plundered”. The Shamakhi incident became a pretext for unleashing hostilities in the Caspian lands.
What prompted Peter I to turn his eyes to the east, to the Caspian countries - the Central Asian khanates of Khiva, Bukhara and Persia? The answer here is clear. Same national interest, which forced the king to fight for twenty years for the Baltic Sea, and encouraged him to fight for the Caspian. Almost all the conquest aspirations of Peter I had the peculiarity that they led Russia to the seas, which gave the great continental power access to the “big world”.
By the beginning of the 18th century, Russia owned only the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, having here the fortress city of Astrakhan, stretching from the Terek River to the Yaika (Ural) River. The southern border of Russia passed along the line Kiev, Perevolochna, Cherkassk, the upper reaches of the Kuma, the course of the Terek - to the Caspian Sea, and the eastern border - from the Caspian Sea along the Yaik, so that Russia's neighbors in the Caspian Sea basin were in the west and south of Persia (including Kabarda) , and in the east Khiva and Bukhara.
The assertion of Russia in the Caspian led her to the riches of the Caspian lands: to the gold placers of the Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya rivers, deposits of copper, marble, deposits of lead ore and silver in the mountains of the Caucasus, to the oil-bearing sources of Azerbaijan; Caucasus, Persia and middle Asia instead of traditional Russian goods (linen, timber, grain), they would supply the Russian market with raw silk, cotton, wool, silk and cotton fabrics, paints, precious jewelry, fruits, wines and spices. All this would give a powerful impetus to the development of manufactories, dear to Peter's heart, in shipbuilding, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, gunpowder production, cloth and silk weaving, etc., which would promise prosperity to Russia.
Peter I thus prepared for Russia the great fate of a mediator in relations between East and West.
The focus of all these plans of the king was the Persian campaign. The Northern War tied Peter's hands to launch campaigns here, in the Caspian and Volga regions. Although Russia still had something here.
Here stood the Cossack Grebensky towns, fortresses (Terki, Astrakhan and the cities of the Volga region), and a fortified line stretched from Tsaritsyn on the Volga to Panshin on the Don (ditch, rampart and four earthen fortresses).
But all these fortifications could not reliably secure the southeastern borders of Russia. The largest of the fortresses - Astrakhan, as its governor A.P. Volynsky saw, was “empty and completely ruined”, in many places it collapsed and “everything was bad”.
Meanwhile, the situation on the southeastern borders has remained extremely tense for many years now. Here, the “small” war between Russia and the so-called owners of frontier lands, mostly Muslims of Turkic origin, blazed without fading away.
Karakalpaks and Kirghiz-Kaisaks (Kazakhs) ran from the Trans-Volga steppes: in 1716, a 3,000-strong detachment invaded the Samara province, and in 1720, the Kirghiz-Kaisaks reached Kazan, burning villages, crops, seizing property and people.
In 1717, the desultan of the Kuban Bakhty-Girey led the Tatar horde near Simbirsk and Penza, capturing several thousand people here and driving into captivity.
The Russian Caspian region (Grebenki, Terki) suffered from the attacks of the Nogais and Kumyks (Persian citizenship). In November 1720 they "started a clear war" against graters and combs; By May 1721, the Russians had lost 139 people, 950 wagons (another 3,000 people) of “Gentiles”, but at the same time captured 30 households of the Terek Tatars and 2,000 head of cattle.
In the summer of 1720, there was a danger of uniting the Kumyk, Circassian and Kuban nomad feudal lords under the leadership of the Crimean Khan for a campaign in the lower provinces of Russia. And by 1722, the threat of the capture of Dagestan and Kabarda by Turkey was looming.
Both Dagestan and Kabarda represented a conglomeration of many small political units - feudal estates, the heads of which were princes. There was no strong central authority here, and petty princely strife raged.
In 1720, Peter ordered the Astrakhan governor A.P. Volynsky not to disregard Dagestan and Kabarda, inclining Dagestan owners and Kabardian princes into Russian citizenship. In the autumn of 1721, Peter ordered A.P. Volynsky to march in a detachment to the Terek: first to the fortress of Terki, and then to the Cossack Grebensky towns. “Having obtained” Terka, he, where by force, and where by “exhortation”, forced the Dagestan owners to ask for Russian patronage. In Grebeny, Volynsky “persuaded” the Kabardian princes to reconcile. The princes took an oath of allegiance to the Russian Tsar.
But the fact that in Dagestan and Kabarda the owners recognized their dependence on Russia did not at all mean the real power of Peter I in these lands. Andreevsky owners, for example, now and then attacked the Russian settlements of Terki and Grebensky towns. The governor rightly wrote to Peter: "It seems to me that it is impossible to win over the local peoples by politics to your side, if there are no weapons in the hands."
Persia was in deep decline, and the main reason for this was the ruin of the peasantry - Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Afghans, Lezgins and all other conquered peoples, put on the brink of physical extinction due to the brutal exploitation of the feudal lords. The country was shaken by uprisings, banditry and sectarianism flourished in it.
The shah's treasury often turned out to be empty, and the shah had nothing to support the troops. The Persian infantry was armed with the already obsolete "wick gun", and the cavalry was such that even the Shah's guard, due to the extreme lack of horses, acted "on donkeys and mules." Weak-willed and mired in vices, Shah Hussein (1694-1722), according to A.P. Volynsky, did not rule over his subjects, but he himself was their subject.
In 1720-1721. uprisings broke out in Kurdistan, Luristan and Balochistan. Daud-Bek and Surkhay, who captured Shamakhi in 1721, waged a holy war between the faithful Sunnis (ie Lezgins and Kazykumyks) with the Shiite heretics (Persians) and intended to seize power in Dagestan and Kabarda. As A.P. Volynsky found out, Daud-Bek planned to “clear the coast from the Persians from the city of Derbent to the Kura River.”
At this time, Persia was barely holding back the invasion of the Afghan nomadic tribes.
The fact that Persia, shaken by uprisings, was weakening and, moreover, subjected to the invasion of the Afghans, seemed to make the strategic goals of the Persian campaign easily achievable. However, Turkish aggression threatened from the west of Persia and there was a fear that the shah himself would come under the authority of the Turkish sultan.
The Georgian kingdom of Kartli and the Armenian province of Karabakh, possessions through which Turkish troops could only pass to the Caspian Sea, could close access to the Caspian Sea, as through the only gates.
The assertion of Russia in Armenia and Georgia would close these gates and thus make it easier for her to fight the Muslim feudal lords. But this could lead to a clash with the same Turkey and Persia, since by the beginning of the Persian campaign, the western regions of Armenia and Georgia remained under the rule of Turkey, and the eastern ones - Persia. Moreover, Armenia did not even have its own statehood.
Before the Persian campaign, Peter I started lively negotiations with Armenian and Georgian leaders, trying to get Armenia and Georgia as allies. And he succeeded in this.
In response to his request, the Gandzasar Catholicos Isaiah wrote: “We and the entire Armenian people ... from a sincere heart, without change, with all thought and a clear conscience, according to your will and promise, indicated to us, we wish to bow under the power of your majesty.”
The Kartli king Vakhtang VI announced his readiness to “accept the service” of the Russian tsar. This opened both Armenia and Georgia the prospect of liberation from Turkish and Persian oppression, and provided Russia with a rear in the struggle for the western and southern Persian possessions in the Caspian.
Expedition to Khiva, embassies to Bukhara and Persia
Back in 1716, the tsar sent an expedition of Prince A.B. Cherkassky to Khiva. Peter wrote in the instruction: to occupy a harbor on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea near the former mouth of the Amu Darya (near the Krasnovodsk Bay) and build a fortress here for 1 thousand people, to persuade the Khiva Khan into Russian citizenship, and the Bukhara Khan - to friendship with Russia.
Petrine’s “Eastern strategy” also included super-tasks: Cherkassky was to send an embassy of merchants to India, Lieutenant A. Kozhin was to go with him “under the image of a merchant’s wife”, looking for a waterway to India. In addition, it was ordered to send a reconnaissance party in search of gold, to build a dam on the Amu Darya River in order to turn the river along the old channel into the Caspian Sea (Uzboi).
Peter's ideas still amaze the imagination - the mere thought of turning the Amu Darya is worth something! Cherkassky were allocated in general
then insignificant forces concentrated in Astrakhan: three infantry and two Cossack regiments, a detachment of dragoons, a detachment of Tatars, about 70 ships, and in total there were 5 thousand people on the expedition.Cherkassky began his campaign in September 1716, when the Caspian flotilla left Astrakhan, with troops on board, and moved along the eastern coast, stopping for reconnaissance and landing troops. So the bays of Tyub-Karagan, Alexander-Bey and Krasnye Vody were occupied. Here Cherkassky immediately launched the construction of fortresses.
And in the spring of 1717, he already went on a campaign to Khiva, gathering 2,200 people for this. Moving southeast. Cherkassky approached the Aral Sea and was drawn into the Amu Darya valley. So far, he did not meet opposition, but when he began to approach Khiva, at Lake Aybugir he was attacked by Khan Shirgazy. He threw an army of 15-24 thousand people on the Cherkassky detachment. A stubborn battle ensued, which lasted three days. It seemed that the Khivans would crush the Russians with their numbers. But this did not happen. The Russians fought bravely, skillfully using fortifications and artillery. Shirgazy lost the battle.
Then he went to the trick. Having entered into negotiations with Cherkassky, he suggested that he divide the detachment into five parts, allegedly in order to best resettle the troops and provide provisions. Cherkassky accepted the offer and thereby destroyed the detachment. The Khiva Khan attacked his dispersed units and defeated them. Cherkassky was also killed. The Russian expedition ended in failure.
The king had a plan for the Persian campaign...
And a year before that, Peter went on a deep diplomatic reconnaissance, sending the embassy of A.P. Volynsky to Persia. Volynsky came to Persia when, one after another, the peoples subject to him rebelled against the Shah: Afghans, Lezgins, Kurds, Balochs, Armenians. The empire was going through a collapse and the weak-willed Shah was not able to even stop it. Volynsky informed Peter: “I think that this crown will come to the last ruin if it is not renewed by another check ...”. He urged Peter not to delay with the start of the Persian campaign.
What was the threat? Daud-Bek and Surkhay, having raised an uprising against Persian domination, having captured Shemakha, expressed their readiness to recognize the supreme authority of the Turkish Sultan and asked him to send troops to take Shemakha.
One conclusion followed: it was necessary to seize an advantageous foothold on the Persian coast of the Caspian Sea and thus prevent the Turkish invasion.
Peter wrote to Vakhtang VI in 1722: “for this reason they hurried, in order to get at least a foot in the Persian borders.”
Peter's campaign against Derbent, Baku and Shemakha
On June 15, 1722, when the Russian troops were already sailing on ships down the Volga to Astrakhan, Peter I sent a manifesto to Astrakhan, Shemakha, Baku and Derbent urging residents not to leave their homes when the Russian troops approached. The manifesto, which did not say a word about declaring war on Persia, indicated only that “the subjects of the Shah - the Lezgi owner Daud-bek and the Kazykum owner Surkhay - rebelled against their sovereign, took the city of Shemakha by storm and carried out a predatory attack on Russian merchants. In view of Daud-bek's refusal to give satisfaction, Peter declared, "we are forced ... to bring an army against the predicted rebels and all-evil robbers." “Bring in an army,” however, had not a tactical, but a strategic scope. The strategic goal of the Russian campaign in the Persian possessions was to capture Shemakha and prevent Turkish troops from entering it, and indeed on the western and southern shores of the Caspian Sea.
Specifically, the plan was expressed in the fact that as the immediate strategic task (in the campaign of 1722) to capture Derbent, Baku and Shemakha, and the occupation of Shemakha was declared the main thing, so that the campaign at that time was called the “Shemakha expedition”. Further, through Shemakha, Peter planned to conduct operations in a western direction (Ganja, Tiflis, Erivan), that is, deep into the Transcaucasus, along the western coast of the Caspian Sea and the Kura valley, bypassing the mountains of the Greater Caucasus, but before that, create a line of operational bases that would include Astrakhan - the island of the Four Hills - the fortress of the Holy Cross - Derbent - Baku - the mouth of the Kura. This had to be done to provide the army with provisions, people and weapons, ammunition. Actions in the western direction, therefore, included a campaign in Armenia and Georgia. Peter expected that while the Russian army would advance towards Derbent, his ally King Vakhtang VI of Kartli would open military operations against Daud-bek, joining the Armenian troops, occupy Shemakha and make his way to the shore of the Caspian Sea to join the Russian army. According to Peter's assumption, the connection could take place on the route between Derbent and Baku. In July 1722, Peter conveyed these thoughts to Vakhtang VI, sending him a courier with a letter.
The deep essence of Peter's strategic plan thus consisted in establishing himself on the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea and, together with the Georgian and Armenian troops, liberating Eastern Transcaucasia from Persian domination, defeating the "rebels" Daud-bek and Surkhay.
Peter I, as a commander, did not like to put off once a decision was made on the back burner. The shots of the Northern War died down - and he began with feverish haste to build ships and island boats on the Upper Volga (in Torzhok and Tver), entrusting General N.A. Matyushkin with supervision. 20 four-company infantry battalions with artillery (196 guns) transferred from the Baltic States, Matyushkin put on ships in the upper Volga, and guards regiments(Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky) planted by Peter himself in Moscow. I swam with them.
In Saratov, Peter met with the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka and ordered him to send a detachment of his cavalry on a campaign.
Regular dragoon regiments set out from Kursk by land. The Cossack units from the Ukraine and the Don went the dry way.
By July, Peter had concentrated significant sea and land forces in the Caspian region (in Astrakhan and on the Terek). The replenished Caspian flotilla had 3 shnyavs, 2 heckboats, 1 hooker, 9 shuits, 17 talaks, 1 yacht, 7 evers, 12 gallots, 1 plow, 34 flippers and many island boats. The ground forces included: infantry consisting of 4 regiments and 20 battalions numbering 21,495 people; regular cavalry (7 dragoon regiments); Ukrainian Cossacks - 12,000 people; Don Cossacks - 4300; Kalmyks - 4000 people. On August 6, when Peter was already moving with an army to Derbent, the Kabardian princes Murza Cherkassky and Aslan-Bek joined with their detachments on the Sulak River. Peter I took command of all these forces. The Persian campaign began and it seemed that success itself was coming to him.
Campaign of Peter I in 1722
Even before leaving Astrakhan, the tsar ordered the cavalry unit - three dragoon regiments and the Don Cossacks of ataman Krasnoshchekov under the general command of the brigadier Veterani - to attack and take the Andreev village, go to the mouth of the Agrakhani river and equip “piers” here, so that when The Caspian flotilla, it would have landed infantry here without interference.
Before that, the veterans stood on the Terek near the Cossack town of Gladkovo, left on July 15, and advanced to Andreeva village only on July 23. Here he had to endure a battle with a five thousandth detachment of the Andreevsky owner. The veterans won the battle, but delayed, so that when his advanced cavalry detachments approached the mouth of the Agrakhani River on August 2, here Peter had already landed infantry from the Ostrov boats.
The tsar withdrew the Caspian flotilla from Astrakhan on July 18, and ten days later he was already building a retrenchment on the Agrakhan Peninsula. At this time, five regiments of dragoons under the command of Brigadier G.I. Kropotova and the Ukrainian Cossacks of Ataman D.P. Apostol, going “on dry land”, were just moving forward to the Agrakhan Peninsula.
Peter did not wait for the entire cavalry, but on August 5, with the infantry and the Veteran cavalry unit that came to the rescue, he moved to Derbent. A day later, at the Sulak River, the Apostle caught up with him. Kropotov was not there, and Peter had to leave an infantry detachment under the command of M.A. Matyushkin to guard the crossing.
The situation in Derbent was more than alarming. In those days, when Peter was going to Derbent, the naib of the city, Imam-Kuli-bek, reported to him: “... now it’s another year for the rebels, having gathered, to Derben caused a great ruin ...”
All this required urgent and bold decisions, which was in the spirit of Peter. He ordered: 1. To the commanders of the squadrons, captains K.I. Verden and F. Vilboa, who had already gone to sea, all ships loaded with provisions, artillery and ammunition, lead directly to Derben”; 2. lieutenant colonel Naumov to go to Derbent, taking soldiers and dragoons from the ships of Verdun, bring them into the city and take command over them.
In this way, Peter planned to speed up the capture of Derbent by introducing an advanced detachment into it.
How did events unfold? Captain Verden led his squadron - 25 ships - from the island of Chechenya and found himself under the walls of Derbent on August 15th. On the same day, Lieutenant Colonel Naumov showed up here with his team of 271 people. Naib did not think to resist. Meanwhile, the Russian army, led by Peter, advancing, without a fight, occupied the capital of the Shakhmalism of the Tarkovsky arch. It was hot, and there was nowhere to hide from it: the black steppe, burnt from the sun, stretched around. People and horses were tormented by thirst ...
On the day when Captain Verden and Lieutenant Colonel Naumov easily captured Derbent, the marching columns of the Russian army, stretched for many miles, approaching the Inchke-Aus River, ran into a 10,000-strong detachment of the Sultan of Utemysh Mahmut deployed in combat formation and a 6,000-strong detachment - killing the Khaitak Ahmed Khan. Peter quickly reorganized the troops from the marching position to the combat position, and they withstood the attack of the highlanders. And then he threw dragoon and Cossack regiments on the mixed battle order of the highlanders, and they overturned the enemy. The Russian cavalry pursued him at a distance of 20 versts.
Having passed through the possessions of the Khaitaksky, the Russian army entered Derbent on August 23. As soon as Vakhtang VI found out about this, he entered Karabakh with a 30,000-strong detachment, drove the Lezgins out of it and captured Ganja. An 8,000-strong Armenian army under the command of the Gandzasar Catholicos Isaiah also approached this city. Here the Georgian and Armenian troops were to meet with the Russian army and, interacting, take Shemakha further.
Peter also wanted to go to Baku and Shemakha at once. However, circumstances forced us to act differently. The storm, which began on August 27, wrecked 12 last ships from the squadron of Verden, loaded with flour, at the mouth of the Milikent River near Derbent. And the Vilboa squadron, consisting of 17 last ships loaded with flour and artillery, was caught by a storm in early September near the Agrakhan Peninsula: some ships were smashed, others were thrown aground. The collapse of two squadrons meant the loss of provisions and almost all of the artillery.
All this forced Peter, reluctantly, to refuse to continue the campaign. He left the garrisons in Derbent, the Agrakhan retrenchment and in the fortress of the Holy Cross laid on the Sulak River, and returned in October to Astrakhan. And in November he left for St. Petersburg, entrusting the command of the army to General M.A. Matyushkin.
At that time, the Georgian-Armenian army, commanded by Vakhtang VI, stood near Ganja, waiting for the Russian army. But having learned that she had left Derbent, Vakhtang and Isaiah, having stood for two months, returned with the troops to their possessions.
Thus, in the summer of 1722, Peter failed to achieve everything he had planned. The Russian army only occupied the Agrakhan peninsula, the fork of the Sulak and Agrakhani rivers (the fortress of the Holy Cross) and Derbent.
Petersburg Treaty of 1723
In December 1722, a detachment of Colonel Shilov was occupied to guard against attacks by opponents of the Shah of Rasht. In July 1723, General Matyushkin occupied Baku. According to the Russian-Persian treaty (1723), signed in St. Petersburg, Russia provided military assistance to Persia. In return, Russia ceded the entire western and southern coast of the Caspian Sea (Derbent and Baku, the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Astrabad) to Russia. The firm position of Russian diplomacy did not allow Turkey, whose troops invaded Transcaucasia at that time, to continue the offensive against Persia. According to the Russian-Turkish treaty (1724), Transcaucasia (Armenia, eastern Georgia and part of Azerbaijan) remained for Ottoman Empire, and the Caspian coast - for Russia. The death of Peter crossed out the surge of Russian activity in the south. After the death of the king, Persia tried to return the lost lands in the Caspian. In the next decade, frequent military clashes between Russians and Persians took place in this area, not only with the troops of local princes. As a result, a quarter of the entire Russian army was used in the Caucasian-Caspian region in the second half of the 1920s. In parallel, negotiations were underway on the return assignment of these areas. Constant military skirmishes, raids, as well as high mortality from diseases (only in 1723-1725, diseases claimed the lives of 29 thousand people in this area) made Russia's Caspian possessions of little use both for trade and for economic exploitation. In 1732, the powerful ruler Nadir Shah came to power in Persia. In 1732-1735. Empress Anna Ioannovna returned to Persia the Caspian lands conquered by Peter the Great. The last impetus for the return of the lands was the preparation of Russia for the war with Turkey (1735-1739). The successful conduct of hostilities with the Turks required, in particular, the settlement of territorial relations with Persia in order to ensure a peaceful rear in the south.
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Caspian campaign of Peter I
The Caspian or Persian military campaign of Peter the Great lasted a year from 1722 to 1723. The main objectives of this operation were the strengthening of Russian influence in the East, the capture of rich trade routes, most of which at that time passed through the territory of Persia. At the same time, the king personally led the campaign. But first things first.
Reasons for the Caspian campaign of Peter I
In 1721, the Russian Empire triumphantly ends the Northern War with Sweden, which lasted for twenty-one years. Due to the absence of serious external enemies on the horizon, the sovereign decides to implement the plan to annex the lands located near the Caspian Sea. Modern historians distinguish the following factors as the main reasons for the Caspian campaign:
- protection of the Orthodox inhabitants of the Caucasus;
- the desire to exercise control over the trade routes of Asia and India passing through the Caspian Sea;
- the desire by all means to weaken the power positions of the Ottoman Empire in the East.
The beginning of the Caspian campaign
The beginning of the Persian campaign of Peter the Great falls on July 18, 1722. It is on this day that two hundred and seventy-four ships descend into the Caspian Sea down the Volga. The tsar entrusted the command of the fleet to Admiral Apraksin, who showed excellent results in naval battles against Sweden in the Northern War. On the twentieth of the Russian fleet goes to sea and continues to move along the coastline.
The city of Derbent was chosen as the first target by Peter, where the infantry and ships moved. In total, the infantry numbered twenty-two thousand people, which were based on regular Russian army, as well as Tatars, Kabardians, Cossacks and Kalmyks.
The first battle happens a month later. On August 19, near the town of Utemysh, Russian troops beat off the pressure of Sultan Magmud. In the same period, the Kumyk Shah Adil Giray, acting in alliance with Russia, captures the cities of Baku and Derbent. Peter's troops enter this city on the twenty-third of August without fighting or loss.
However, the further movement of the army to the south was stopped, because the Russian fleet, carrying out its supply, was defeated as a result of a storm. Peter the Great leaves his army and leaves urgently for Astrakhan, where he begins preparations for a military campaign, which will begin in 1723. Thus, the first stage of the campaign ends.
The course of hostilities
In the second stage of the Caspian campaign, Perth the First entrusts the command of the army to Matyushkin. The Ruchk troops left in the direction of Baku on the twentieth of June and reached their goal already on the sixth of July. Immediately the siege of the city begins, because the townspeople rejected the offer of the commander to surrender and open the gates. The plan for the siege of the city prepared by the sovereign was simple, but very effective:
- The infantry took up positions and was ready at the first order to repel enemy sorties. The first such sortie took place the day after the start of the siege.
- The Russian fleet anchors near the fortress and begins regular shelling, which completely withdraws enemy artillery and partially destroys the fortress wall.
- As soon as the enemy positions were weakened, the Russian troops begin the assault.
Thanks to the strict adherence to each point of the plan, the Persian campaign had a fairly high chance of success. The beginning of the assault on Baku is appointed by the commander on the twenty-fifth of July, making the main key figure the fleet, which was supposed to deliver the main blow to the fortress. However, strong winds prevented the implementation of the plan and this operation was canceled. On July 26, 1723, the fortress surrenders without a fight.
Results of the Caspian campaign
This victory was a huge success for Russia and no less a huge setback for its opponent Persia, which, given the current situation, had to look for a reason to conclude a settlement agreement with Peter the Great.
The Persian or Caspian campaign of Peter officially ends on September 12, 1723, when a peace treaty between Russia and Persia is signed in St. Petersburg, which will go down in history as the Persian Peace of 1723. According to the text of the terms of this document, the Russian Empire departed Rasht, Derbent, Baku, as well as others settlements located along the southern coastline of the Caspian Sea. The ruler of Russia was able to realize only one of the many undertakings and was not going to stop there.
As we mentioned at the beginning, historians agree that Emperor Peter the Great did a very important thing by deciding to annex the Eastern Territories to the Russian Empire. However, unfortunately, his successors, who ascended the Russian throne, could not hold these positions. According to the treaties of 1732 and 1735, the ruler of Russia, Empress Anna, returns all the Caspian lands to Persia, thus canceling out all the efforts and strength spent by Peter.
Thus was completed the history of the Caspian campaign of Peter the Great.
Scheme: goals and results of the Caspian campaign of Peter I
Historical table: Caspian campaign of Peter I
Video lecture: Caspian campaign of Peter I
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