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The second war between Russia and Persia took place at the end of the reign of Catherine II. This war was provoked by the Persian king, Agha Mohammad Khan Ghajar, who had attacked Georgia and reduced the city of Tbilisi to ruins. Tsarina Catherine II sent an army, led by Valerin Zoubof, to the rescue of Georgia. The result was that Georgia, after a couple of years (1801), was annexed to the Russian Empire.

At one point, Catherine II planned to intervene in the Armenian Question and asked Souvarof to prepare a plan for bringing Armenia under Russian protection. 10 A serious discussion matter between Catherine II and her closest man, Potemkin, it was even decided that Potemkin, after the realisation of the plan, would become ruler of Armenia. This preparation continued 11, but were never implemented as the advancement of Russia was stopped at the Georgian borders in 1797.



The third Russian-Persian war, which raged between 1803 and 1807, began when the Persians tried to re-conquer Georgia. The Russian army, led by the Georgian commander Tsitsianof, drove back the Persian army, led by Prince Abbas Mirza. Having taken the city of Ganja, Tsitsianof continued the war and attacked Persia. He crushed the Persian army at the Araxes River, near Nakhichevan (June 1804), but could not take the fortress of Yerevan which was bravely defended by the Persians and the Tartars.

In year 1805 the Russians conquered the cities of -Shushi and Nokha, almost without combat, through negotiations with the Khans in Karabakh and Shahi. In 1806 Tsitsianof was preparing to take Baku in similar fashion, but the Khan in Baku, by making false promises ofnegotiation, lured him into an ambush and murdered Tsitsianof.

After a short recess, from 1807 to 1809, the war resumed, against both Persia and the Ottoman Empire. 13 The Russians, led by the famous commander Yermolov, took the city of Akhalkalak from the Turkish defence. In a decisive battle at Aslandoz on the Araxes River the Russians wreaked heavy losses on Abbas Mirza.

On October 24, 1813, Persia signed the Gulistan Treaty, according to which the Persians gave up their right to Georgia and handed over Azerbaijan and Karabakh to the Russians.

During their earlier advance southward, the Russians had taken control of the Armenian settlements in the northern Balkans, northern Caucasus and Hashtarkhan, and by annexing Georgia and Karabakh to their empire they had also taken control over a part of the northern Eastern Armenia (the provinces of Lori, Dilidjan and Nagorno Karabakh). Nevertheless, the major part of Eastern Armenia, including Yerevan and Nakhichevan, was still in Persian possession.

These provinces were conquered by the Russians during the fourth Russian-Persian war, between 1826 and 1827. This war was initiated by the rapid advance of the indefatigable Prince Abbas Mirza's forces, numbering around 35,000 men, who made a lightning attack on the cities of Gyumri (Alexandropol) and Ganja (Elisavetpol). These two cities fell almost immediately into the hands of the Persian forces. The wind of danger blew towards Tbilisi and the city was expected to fall at any moment. But the tables were turned after six weeks of intensive and courageous defence of the fortress in -Shushi, where the Armenians in the city, together with the garrison of the city which was limited to only 350 men under the leadership of colonel Reout, withstood the Persian army. 17 The resistance was reinforced with the brilliant victory in September 2, 1826, in Shamkhor, masterminded by General Madatian. This Armenian general defeated the 10,000 strong Persian army with his 2,000 men and retook the city of Ganja. 20