Colonel Karyagin's campaign (), also known as Qarabagh-Ganjeh campaign in Iranian sources, were the actions of a small Russian detachment in order to gain time against the Persian army. Russian colonel Karyagin completed his task, although most of the squad was killed or wounded.

Background

In 1805, the Treaty of Kurakchay was concluded, according to which Russia annexed

Karabakh Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Kara ...

. However, at the same time, the

War of the Third Coalition The War of the Third Coalition () was a European conflict lasting from 1805 to 1806 and was the first conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. During the war, First French Empire, France and French client republic, its client states under Napoleon I an ...

was taking place in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Russia took an active part in them and therefore could not maintain large forces in the Caucasus. The Iranians planned to take advantage of this and retake the territory of Karabakh. To do this, they tried to raise 100,000 troops. To counter them, Pavel Tsitsianov gathered two detachments, Lenevich and Karyagin. Lenevich's detachment was already able to defeat the Persians once. Karyagin was preparing to march at that time.

Campaign

Karyagin marched on June 21, and three days later, on the outskirts of Shah Bulakh, he was attacked by a detachment of 3,000 Persians. The Russians successfully repelled the attack but suffered 197 casualties. On the same day, he wrote a letter to Tsitsianov: On June 28,

Abbas Mirza Abbas Mirza (; 26 August 1789 – 25 October 1833) was the Qajar dynasty, Qajar crown prince of Qajar Iran, Iran during the reign of his father Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (). As governor of the vulnerable Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan province, he played ...

launched a new attack with a 15,000-soldier army. The Russians successfully defended for a whole day, but Lieutenant Lisenko's detachment and 32 soldiers betrayed Karyagin and sided with the Persians. This inspired the Persians to launch a new attack, which the Russians also repelled. The death toll rose to 90. Deserters appeared in the squad. However, he had some good news: a small detachment made a sortie and seized supplies in the Persian camp, and the main part of the army captured Shah Bulah castle and exterminated its garrison. New forces were coming to the Persians, and Karyagin decided to buy time so that Tsitsianov could gather troops and begin negotiations and capitulations. They gained time and escaped from the Iranian army at night. The Persians saw this stumble and sent advanced detachments forward, but Karyagin repelled them without loss and arrived in Elisavetpol on July 22. However, Abbas Mirza attacked the remnants of Karyagin's army, who did not have time to come to the city. The Persian army reached 30,000 soldiers. Karyagin gathered 570 people and completely defeated the Iranians, thereby securing Tiflis. After that, he joined up with Tsitsianov.

Aftermath

Karyagin's expedition was a huge success: it thwarted all the plans of the Persians to attack Georgia and Karabakh and bought time for the Russians to attack again, perhaps making it the most important operation of the war.

Memory

The cemetery is now open to the participants of the raid. Karyagin himself received the Order of St. George and the golden sword personally from the tsar.

Reference

Bibliography

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Notes

{{notelist Battles involving the Russian Empire Battles involving Qajar Iran Conflicts in 1805 19th century in Azerbaijan 1805 in the Russian Empire Battles of the Russo-Persian Wars July 1805