Sack of Shamakhi (1721)

The Sack of Shamakhi took place in 1721,^{[note 1]} when rebellious Sunni Lezgins from within the Safavid Empire, which by then was already in a state of heavy decline, attacked Shamakhi, the capital of the Shirvan province, during the reign of king Sultan Husayn (r. 1694–1722). It resulted in the sack and looting of the city, the massacre of thousands of the Shia inhabitants of Shamakhi, as well as the robbing of the property of its Christian inhabitants and foreign nationals, of which the latter were mostly the many Russian merchants. Several Russian merchants were killed as well by the rebels. The harm done to the Russians in Shamakhi by the rebels was shortly afterwards used by Imperial Russia, then under the reign of Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725), as one of the pretexts to launch the Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723.

Background and attack

By the course of the 1710s, the once prosperous Safavid realm was in a state of heavy decline, with insurrections in numerous parts of its domains.^[4] Then incumbent king Sultan Husayn was a weak ruler, and although his personal inclinations were more humane, less rigid, and relaxed than those of his chief mullah, he followed the line of his chief advisors in the eventual decisions.^[1] He reigned as a "stationary monarch", and, aside from the occasional hunting parties, he preferred to be inside or near the capital of Isfahan at all times, invisible to all "but the most intimate of courtiers".^[4] Having seen not much more of the world other than the harem walls, he had quickly fallen under the spell of the leading ulama, most notably that of Mohammad Baqer Majlesi.^[4] Majlesi, who had already gained his tremendous political power during the reign of Sultan Husayn's predecessor Suleiman I (r. 1666–1694), instignated the persecutions directed towards Safavid Iran's Sunni and Sufi inhabitants, as well as its non-Muslim religious minorities, namely the Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.^[4][5] Though the Christians, mainly represented by the Armenians, suffered less than other groups, they were also targeted from time to time.^[5] Even though Sultan Husayn, as Prof. Roger Savory states, did not show personal hostilities towards Christians, he was persuaded by the clergy, who had an extremely high influence over him, and in particular by Majlesi, to issue "unjust and intolerant decrees".^[5] The tense religious atmosphere in the late Safavid-era, would prove to be a significant factor in the revolts by the Sunni adherents from within the empire.^[1] As Prof. Michael Axworthy notes; "The clearest example was the revolt in Shirvan, where Sunni religious men had been killed, religious books destroyed and Sunni mosques turned into stables".^[1]

The Sunni population in the northwestern domains of the Safavids, comprising Shirvan and Dagestan, felt the burden of the Shia persecution during Sultan Husayn's reign.^[5] Daud Beg (or Daud Khan), a rebel mountaineer chieftain of the Lezgins, who had been imprisoned for a long time in the Safavid city of Derbent by the authorities, was released not long after the Afghan attack on Safavid Iran from within its far easternmost domains.^[3] Hoping that Daud Beg and his Daghestani allies would assist with the revolt on the eastern front, Daud, instead, put himself at the head of a tribal coalition, and subsequently launched a campaign against the Safavid governments forces as well as the Shia population of the empire, eventually marching upon the city of Shamakhi.^[3] Shortly before the sack, the Sunni's of the Shirvan province appealed to the Ottomans, their co-religionists,^[1] and the archrival of the Safavids.^[6] The Lezgin "coalition", subsequently, having mobilized some 15,000 tribesmen, laid siege to Shamakhi on 15 August 1721.^[2] Eventually, the Sunni inhabitants of Shamakhi opened one of the gates of the city; thousands of its Shia population were massacred, while its Christian inhabitants and foreigners were "mainly" only robbed.^[3][1] Several Russian merchants were killed as well.^[3] The stores of the many Russian merchants, were looted, which resulted in grave economic losses for them.^[7] Amongst them, Matvei Evreinov, "reputedly the wealthiest merchant in Russia", suffered huge losses.^[3] The Shia Safavid governor of the city, his nephew, and the rest of his relatives were "cut to pieces by the mob, and their bodies thrown to the dogs".^[1] With Shirvan subsequently completely overrun by the rebels, the Lezgins afterwards appealed to the Ottoman Sultan for protection, which he granted, and one of the rebel leaders, the same Daud Beg, designated by the Sultan, came to be the Ottoman governor of Shirvan.^[8][3]

Aftermath

Artemy Volynsky, Russia's ambassador to Safavid Iran reported on the great damage done to the Russian merchants, to then incumbent Tsar Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725).^[7][3] The report stipulated that the 1721 event was a clear violation of the 1717 Russo-Iranian trade treaty, by which the latter guaranteed to ensure the protection of Russian nationals within the Safavid domains.^[7] With Safavid Iran in chaos, and the Safavid ruler in no possible way able to safeguard the provisions of the treaty, Volynsky urged Peter to take advantage of the situation, and to invade Iran, on the pretext of restoring order as an ally of the Safavid king.^[7][3] Indeed, Russia shortly after used the attack on its merchants in Shamakhi as one of the pretexts to launch the Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723.^[9][10]

See also

• Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam

Notes

References

Sources

• Axworthy, Michael (2010). The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857721938. 
• Brunner, Rainer (2011). "MAJLESI, Moḥammad-Bāqer". Encyclopaedia Iranica. 
• Fisher, William Bayne; Avery, P.; Hambly, G. R. G; Melville, C. (1991). The Cambridge History of Iran. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521200950. 
• Matthee, Rudolph P. (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691118550. 
• Rothman, E. Nathalie (2015). Brokering Empire: Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801463129. 
• Savory, Roger (2007). Iran Under the Safavids. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521042512. 
• Sicker, Martin (2001). The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0275968915.