Battle of Sultanabad

The Battle of Sultanabad (Persian: نبرد سلطان‌آباد) occurred on February 13, 1812 between the Russian Empire and the Persian Empire. In the resulting battle, the Russians were surrounded and routed.

Battle of Sultanabad
Part of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)
This painting once decorated Abbas Mirza's palace. Depicted on this huge canvas is the defeat of the Russian Trinity Infantry Regiment in the battle near Sultanabad, which took place on 13 February 1812. Persian soldiers wearing European uniforms bear Persian banners, on which a lion holds a sabre in its paw against a background of the rising sun.[1]
Date 13 February 1812 Location Sultanabad, Aras River, Qajar Persia (nowadays Azerbaijan) Result Persian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Qajar Iran
Commanders and leaders
Col. Oleshnikov (POW)	Abbas Mirza
Strength
900[2]	2,300[2] – 14,000[3]
Casualties and losses
343 killed, 500 captured[3]	140 killed – 300 killed[3] (including 2 British sergeants)[2]

The Persians, numerically superior, were led by Abbas Mirza and fought the Russians. A Persian offensive into Georgia, with Persia's British and French-trained Nezam-e Jadid infantry,^[4] initiated the battle. The Persians had also obtained European cannons from the French.^[4]

The Persians won the battle by moving faster than the Russians and by attacking them near their camp with the reformed European-style infantry.^[5] However, the Battle of Aslanduz and the Siege of Lankaran followed soon after, shifting the momentum of the war firmly in Russia's favor.^[5]

The battle is considered the most shameful page of the war for the Russians^[6]

See also

• Battle of Aslanduz
• Siege of Lankaran

References

1. "Battle Between Persians and Russians". State Hermitage Museum. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
2. Atkin, Muriel (1980). Russia and Iran, 1780–1828. University of Minnesota Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-0816609246.
3. Bournoutian 2021, p. 203.
4. Building a new Army:Military reform in Qajar Iran, Stephanie Cronin, War and Peace in Qajar Persia, ed. Roxane Farmanfarmiaian, (Routledge, 2008), 53.
5. Serim (2021-12-17). "Anglo-Persian Relations: The British Military Mission to Persia, 1810-1815". www.qdl.qa. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
6. Егоршина 2023, p. 499.

Bibliography

• Roxane Farmanfarmiaian (editor). (2008) War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and Present. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-42119-5
• Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, Volume 36, Tehran ^[which?] Author, Article Title, page numbers needed
• Atkin, Muriel. (1980). Russia and Iran, 1780 - 1828. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-5697-4
• Kazemzadeh, Firuz. (1974). Russian Penetration of the Caucasus. In Russian Imperialism: From Ivan the Great to the Revolution, ed. Taras Hunczak. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-0737-5
• Bournoutian, George (2021). From the Kur to the Aras. A Military History of Russia’s Move into the South Caucasus and the First Russo-Iranian War, 1801—1813. Iranian Studies, Volume 22. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-44515-4.
• Егоршина, Петрова (2023). История русской армии [The history of the Russian Army] (in Russian). Moscow: Edition of the Russian Imperial Library. ISBN 978-5-699-42397-2.