Persian Campaign of 1796

a campaign of Russian troops under the command of Lieutenant General V. A. Zubov into Iran’s Caspian possessions to prevent Iranian feudal lords from gaining a foothold in Transcaucasia.

In 1795 the Iranian Army under Aga Muhammad Khan invaded Transcaucasia and captured and sacked Tbilisi on September 12. In April 1796, in compliance with the Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783, Russia sent the Caspian Corps, with 13,000 men, from Kizliar into the Azerbaijani provinces of Iran. The Russians took Derbent by storm on May 10 and captured Baku and Kuba on June 15 without a fight. They reached the confluence of the Kura and Araks rivers in November. After the accession of Paul I to the throne, Russia’s foreign policy changed, and the troops were recalled from Transcaucasia in December 1796.