Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T14:46:14.660Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Strange Death of Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Qarabagh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Muriel Atkin
Muriel Atkin*
Affiliation:
George Washington University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the octogenarian ruler of Qarabagh in the southern Caucasus, was shot by Russian soldiers on the night of June 14, 1806. In one sense, there is nothing mysterious about the khan's death. Qarabaghi, Russian, and Iranian sources agree that he was killed for having sided with Iran against Russia's attempt to take control of his khanate and all the lands between the High Caucasus and the Aras River. However, this explanation raises more important questions which have gone unanswered. For years Ibrahim Khalil had sided with Georgia and then Russia against Iran. What made him switch sides in time of war? Russia did not plan to supplant rule by khan in Qarabagh and did not kill every ruler it deposed. Why then did the Russians kill this khan? How was it possible for the execution of Russian policy to slip out of St. Petersburg's control?

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Winter 1979 , pp. 79 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Dunbuli, Abd al-Razzaq Ma'āsir Sulṭānīyyah (Tehran, 1392/1972-3), p. 171Google Scholar; Javanshir Qarabaghi, Mirza Jamal Istoriia Karabaga (Baku, 1959), p. 139Google Scholar; Plea of Javanshir Khanum [a wife of Ibrahim Khalil] to Tsar Alexander, January 16, 1807, Report of the elders and inhabitants of Shusha [capital of Qarabagh] [to Russian authorities], 1806, General I. V. Gudovich [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Minister of land War Froces Viazmitinov, August 21, 1806, Major D. T. Lisanevich [commandant of Russian garrison in Shusha] to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, Russia, Viceroyalty of the Caucasus, Akty sobrannye kavkazskoiu arkheograficheskoiu kommissieiu (12 vols., Tiflis, 1866-1904Google Scholar, hereafter referred to as Akty), III, 343, 341, 331, 335. The dates of the Russian documents are “old style,” i.e., according to the Julian calendar then in use. In the eighteenth century, it was eleven days behind the Gregorian calendar, in the nineteenth, twelve days.

2. Lang, D. M. The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy, 1658-1832 (New York, 1957), pp. 170, 183 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Session of the State Council, February 23, 1792, Russia, State Council, Arkhiv Gosudarstvennago Soveta (5 vols., St. Petersburg, 1869-1904Google Scholar), I, part ii, col. 795; Manifesto announcing the Russian annexation of Georgia, September 12, 1801, Tsar Alexander to Lieutenant General K. F. Knorring [commander of the Caucasian Line (of forts in the northern Caucasus)], September 12, 1801, Akty, I, 432, 436.

3. Catherine II to General V. A. Zubov [commander of the 1796 expedition to conquer the eastern Caucasus and Iran], February 19, 1796, Dubrovin, N. F. Istoriia voiny i vladychestva russkikh na Kavkaze (6 vols., St. Petersburg, 1871-1888), II, 69-78.Google Scholar

4. Gordon, R. “Journal of Robert Gordon in Transcaucasia and from Tiflis to Moscow,” British Museum, Additional Manuscripts, 43, 217, f. 26Google Scholar; Kh. Kh. Steven, “Mémoire sur les provinces qui avoisinent le Caucase, tiré du Voyage fait au Caucase en 1810 par le conseiller de collège Stewen,” Le Moniteur Universel, III (February 28, 1812), 240Google Scholar; General A. P. Tormasov [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Active Secret Counsellor Gur'ev, August 2, 1810, Akty, IV, 39.

5. Javanshir, Ahmadbeg “O politicheskom sushchestvovanii karabakhskogo khanstva (s 1747 po 1805 god),” translated and edited by Shukiurzade, E. B. Istoriia Karabakhskogo khanstva (Baku, 1961), p. 70.Google Scholar

6. Javanshir, p. 72; Tormasov to Gur'ev, August 2, 1810, Akty, IV, 37-39; Keppel, G. T. Personal Narrative of a Journey from India to England through Persia (London, 1818), p. 280Google Scholar; Mignan, R. A Winter Journey through Russia, the Caucasian Alps and Georgia thence to Koordistan (2 vols., London, 1839), I, 92Google Scholar; Bronevskii, S. Noveishiia geograficheskiia i istoricheskiia izvestiia o Kavkaze (2 parts, Moscow, 1823), I, 28.Google Scholar

7. Javanshir, pp. 69-70, 73-75; Aqa Bakikhanov, Abbas Quli Giulistan-Iram (Baku, 1926), pp. 127-28Google Scholar, 130, 136, 142; Khan Hidayat, Rida Quli Rawzat al-Ṣafa-yi Naṣiri (10 vols., Tehran, 1960), IX, 297.Google Scholar

8. Javanshir, p. 75; Bakikhanov, p. 138; Qarabaghi, p. 130.

9. Qarabaghi, p. 130; Dubrovin, II, 40-41, 51-52, 149, 175; Brosset, M. F. Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'antiquité jusgu'au XIXe siècle (4 parts, St. Petersburg, 1849)Google Scholar, II, part ii, 224, 252, 263.

10. Catherine to Prince G. A. Potemkin [in charge of Russia's relations with Asia], May 5, 1783, Shilder, N. K. ed., Sbornik Imperatorskago Russkago Istoricheskago Obshchestva, XXVII (1880), 256.Google Scholar

11. Dubrovin, II, 32, 34.

12. Ibid., II, 29-30.

13. Fisher, A. W. The Russian Annexation of the Crimea, 1772-1783 (Cambridge, 1970)Google Scholar, chapters 4-7.

14. Dubrovin, II, 41.

15. Lang, p. 183.

16. Dubrovin, II, 35-36; Butkov, P. G. Materialy dlia novoi istorii Kavkaza s 1722 po 1803 (3 vols., St. Petersburg), II, 144.Google Scholar

17. Lang, pp. 226-29; Dubrovin, III, 39-42; Bakikhanov, 143; Hidayat, IX, 268, 271.

18. Hidayat, IX, 262-68; Dunboli, p. 24.

19. Hidayat, IX, 267.

20. Ibid., IX, 263-64; General P. D. Tsitsianov [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Ibrahim Khalil Khan, September 2, 1805, Akty, II, 665.

21. Qarabaghi, p. 134; Javanshir, p. 78.

22. Dubrovin, III, 133, 136, 139-53, 172-75, 179-80, 184-88, 190-91, 195.

23. Lang, 219.

24. Dubrovin, III, 133-34, 180-81.

25. Ibid., III, 120-23, 142; Bakikhanov, p. 145.

26. Dubrovin, III, 146, 148, 149.

27. Ibid., III, 149.

28. Ibid., III, 149-53.

29. Paul to Ibrahim Khalil, May 2, 1797, Akty, II, 1143.

30. Paul to the khans of Yerevan, Ganjah, and Qarabagh, August 1800, ibid., I, 108-9.

31. Kalb Ali Khan [of Nakhjavan] to Archbishop Hovannes, n.d. (1800), ibid., II, 634; Tuchkov, S. A. zapiski Sergeia Alekseevicha Tuchkova 1766-1808 (St. Petersburg, 1908), p. 190.Google Scholar

32. Javanshir, p. 93; Qarabaghi, p. 136; Hidayat, IX, 314-15.

33. Qarabaghi, p. 136; Bakikhanov, p. 148; Knorring to Tsar Alexander, August 9, 1802, Akty, I, 376.

34. Brosset, II, part ii, 270-71; I. P. Lazarev [commandant of Russian garrison in Georgia] to Knorring, October 6, 1800 and February 20, 1801, Knorring to Tsitsianov, December 4, 1802, Akty, I, 159, 593, 410.

35. Dubrovin, III, 418-19; Meeting of the Secret Committee, March 31, 1802, Mikhailovich, Grandduke Nikolai ed., Graf Pavel Aleksandrovich Stroganov (3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1903), II, 205-6.Google Scholar

36. Imperial rescript, September 8, 1802, Akty, II, 3.

37. Tuchkov, p. 197.

38. Tsitsianov to Alexander, March 12 and April 27, 1803, Tsitsianov to Ja˓far Quli Khan Dunbuli, June 24, 1804, Akty, II, 610, 289, 855.

39. Tsitsianov to Foreign Minister A. Czartoryski, September 26, 1805, ibid., II, 1037.

40. Alexander to Tsitsianov, January 30, March 19 and 20, 1803 and February 5, 1804, Czartoryski to Tsitsianov, February 14, 1805, ibid., II, 16, 782-83, 594, 63.

41. Javad to Tsitsianov, n.d. [December, 1803], Tsitsianov Javad, December 9, 18, and 28, 1803, ibid., II, 589-91.

42. Dunbuli, pp. 109-10; Qarabaghi, p. 136; Hidayat, IX, 389-90; Brosset, II, part ii, 279-80; Tsitsainov to Chancellor A. R. Vorontsov, January 13, 1804, Akty, II, 592.

43. Dubrovin, IV, 143; Tsitsianov to Alexander, May 29, 1804, Tsitsianov to the akhundof Elizavetpol', May 14, 1805, Akty, II, 601, 285.

44. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, February 4, 1804, Akty, II, 696.

45. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, May 26, 1805, Tsitsianov to Major D. T. Lisanevich, January 16, 1805, Tsitsianov to Muhammad Hasan Aqa [Ibrahim Khalil's eldest son], January 16, 1805, ibid., 697-99, 700.

46. Tsitsianov to Czartoryski, May 29, 1804, Russo-Qarabaghi treaty, May 14, 1805, ibid., II, 697, 705.

47. Russo-Qarabaghi treaty, ibid., II, 705.

48. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, June 28, 1805, ibid., II, 711

49. Dunbuli, pp. 117-20; Tuchkov, pp. 242-44, 249; Lang, pp. 252-55.

50. Tsitsianov to Alexander, July 1, 1805, Tsitsianov to Czartoryski, July 10, 1805, Akty, II, 835 and 1030.

51. Qarabaghi, p. 138.

52. Bakikhanov, p. 156; Dunbuli, pp. 161-62; Brosset, II, part ii, 287, Dubrovin, IV, 489-90, V, 3-9, 13, 37-38, 44-48, 50-51, 69.

53. Tsitsianov to Alexander, November 28, 1805, Akty, II, 725.

54. Qarabaghi, p. 138; Dubrovin, V, 38-41.

55. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, July 19 and 20, 1805, Akty, II, 709, 715.

56. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, August 17, 1805, ibid., II, 717.

57. Tsitsianov to Ibrahim Khalil, January 9, 1806, ibid., II, 727.

58. Tsitsianov to Lisanevich, August 27, 1805, ibid., II, 718.

59. Tsitsainov to Lisanevich, June 28, October 28, and November 23, 1805, ibid., II, 834, 722, 723.

60. Tsitsainov to Lisanevich, December 1, 1805, ibid., II, 726.

61. Gordon, ff. 12-13.

62. Tsitsianov to Alexander, May 22, 1805, ibid., II, 704.

63. Monteith, W. Kars and Erzerum (London, 1856), p. 49.Google Scholar

64. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, Meliks Jamshid and Feridun to Tsar Paul, n.d., Ukase of April 22, 1799, Akty, III, 334, I, 633-34, II, 1149.

65. Gudovich to Foreign Minister A. Ia. Budberg, November 23, 1806, Abbas Mirza to Ja˓far Quli Aqa, Ẕu al-Qa'da, 1226 A. H. [1811), Ja˓far Quli to Marquis F. O. Paulucci [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus], n.d. [181]], General N. F. Rtishchev [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Secret Counsellor Veidermeier, May 16, 1815, ibid., III, 339, V, 132, 134, 585-86.

66. Major General P. D. Nesvetaev [in charge of Russian troops along the Aras River] to Gudovich, July 18, 1806, ibid., III, pp. 330-31.

67. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, Lieutenant Colonel P. S. Kotliarevskii [commander of troops north of the Aras River] to Nesvetaev, August 22, 1806, III, 334, 333.

68. Dunbuli, p. 180.

69. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, Aktg, III, 334.

70. Plea of Javanshir Khanum to Alexander, January 16, 1807, Reports of the elders and inhabitants of Shusha, 1806, ibid., III, 343, 341; Dunbuli, p. 171.

71. Dubrovin, V, 56.

72. Report of the elders and inhabitants of Shusha, 1806, Akty, III, 341.

73. Gudovich to Nesvetaev, August 20, 1806, Gudovich to Viazmitinov, August 21, 1806, ibid., III, 331.

74. Lisanevich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, ibid., III, 334.

75. Ibid., III, 335.

76. Gudovich to Viazraitinov, August 21, 1806, ibid., III, 331.

77. Lisanvich to Gudovich, September 4, 1806, ibid., III 335.

78. Gudovich to Nesvetaev, August 20, 1806, ibid., III, 331.

79. Dubrovin, V, 56.

80. Mahdi Quli Khan to Prince Abkhazov, June 21, 1827, General I. F. Paskevich [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus] to Foreign Minister K. Nessel'rode, February 25, 1828, Nessel'rode to General Rozen [commander-in-chief in the Caucasus], April 4, 1833, Rozen to Mahdi Quli, October 4, 1836, Akty, VII, 458-59, VIII, 479-80, 498.

81. Stanislavskaia, A. M. Russko-angliiskie otnosheniia i problemy sredizemnomor'ia (1798-1807) (Moscow, 1962), p. 248.Google Scholar