An illuminated firman from Fathali Shah Qajar (1797-1834) Rewarding Reza Gholi Baig Kojuri,...

With putting Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Tsitsianov (1754-1806) in charge of Caucasian affairs in 1802, Emperor Alexander I of Russia (r.1801-1825) made the outbreak of war between Persia and Russia inevitable. Tsistianov’s notoriously aggressive imperialist policy in the Caucasus was combined with his militant Europeanism and intense loathing for the Persians. He exercised a strong influence on the emperor. While imposing Russian rule on the Caucasian territories, Tsitisianov tried to shift the Russian border beyond the Aras and Kura rivers and sought the annexation of Khoi, Tabriz, and Gilan. He never seemed to be willing to moderate his intolerably harsh demands on the local rulers and always opposed attempts at any peaceful settlement with Persia. When Tsitsianov attacked Ganja in 1803, Abbas Mirza, the heir apparent to Fath-Ali Shah and governor of Azerbaijan, marched to the khan’s aid, but he was too late. In mid-January 1804, Tsitisianov stormed the citadel, massacred between 1,500 and 3,000 inhabitants, made Ganja a district of Georgia and renamed it Elizavetpol in honor of the Emperor’s wife. The Qajars saw the Russian aggression in the Caucasus as a direct threat to their authority there and had to respond. The first Russo-Iranian war (1804-1813) started in June 1804 when Tsitsianov appeared at Erevan with 3,000 troops, but he was beaten back by Abbas Mirza, who encountered him with a superior force of 18,000 troops. In July of that year, the Russians laid siege to the city but had to withdraw again. In early 1805, the Russians undertook an unsuccessful attempt to take Anzali, Gilan, and Qazvin. This farman is to recognize Reza Gholi Baig Kojuri’s military achievements in the war. Reza Gholi Baig Kojuri was one of Abbas Mirza’s senior military commanders and credited with being instrumental in the above-described successful defence of Erevan 1804 against the Russians.