Pavel Dmitrievich Tsitsianov

Born Sept. 8 (19), 1754, in Moscow; died Feb. 8 (20), 1806, near Baku. Prince; Russian military leader. General of the infantry (1804).

A member of the ancient Georgian princely clan of Tsitsishvili, Tsitsianov assumed command of a regiment in 1786. He took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–91 and in the suppression of the Polish Uprising of 1794. In the Persian Campaign of 1796 he was assistant commander in chief under V. A. Zubov. Tsitsianov retired in 1797.

In 1802, Tsitsianov was appointed governor-general (glavnonachal’stvuiushchii) of Georgia and governor-general (general-gubernator) of Astrakhan; he concluded treaties of friendship with a number of Dagestani feudal lords in the same year. Tsitsianov subdued the Dzhar-Belokan’ region in 1803 and the Gandzha khanate in 1804. Overcoming the resistance of the Georgian feudal aristocracy through negotiation, he effected the incorporation of Imereti and Migrelia into Russia. During the Russo-Persian War of 1804–13, Tsitsianov turned back Abbas-Mirza’s offensive in 1804–05, defeating the Persians a number of times. In 1805 he brought about the incorporation of the Shuragel’ sultanate and the Sheki, Karabakh, and Shirvan khanates into Russia. After leading a detachment of Russian troops to Baku, Tsitsianov was treacherously murdered during negotiations with the khan of Baku.