Battle of Aslanduz

The Battle of Aslanduz took place on 31 October and 1 November 1812 between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813).

Battle of Aslanduz
Part of the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813)
Date 31 October–1 November 1812 Location Aslan Duz, North Bank of the Aras River (South Caucasus) 39°26′38″N 47°24′20″E Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Persian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Pyotr Kotlyarevsky	Fath-Ali Shah Qajar Abbas Mirza Dowlatshah
Strength
2,000	5,000 or 30,000 13 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
28 killed, 99 wounded	2,000 killed and more than 500 captured 11 artillery pieces lost
class=notpageimage| Location within Iran Battle of Aslanduz (Caucasus Mountains)

Background

In March 1812, the British ambassador to Persia signed a peace treaty to ally the country with Persia. In the same year, Napoleon's troops invaded Russia. The Russian Empire tried to make peace with Persia but were unable to come to an agreement.

Battle

The Persian commander Fath Ali Shah stationed his forces, led by his two heirs, Abbas Mirza and Dowlatshah, in Aslanduz. Russian forces under the command of Major General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky launched a surprise night attack and routed the Persians, who were still sleeping. Kotlyarevsky then quickly moved on to storm Lankaran successfully in early 1813 which ended any Persian hope of continuing the war or settling on a stalemate for both parties.

The Persian casualties numbered around 2,000 killed and 500 captured. The Russians lost 38 men with 99 wounded. Among those killed during the battle was Charles Christie, a British officer in the service of Iran.

See also

• Battle of Sultanabad
• Siege of Lankaran

Sources

• Atkin, Muriel (1980). Russia and Iran, 1780–1828. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816609246.
• Behrooz, Maziar (2023). Iran at War: Interactions with the Modern World and the Struggle with Imperial Russia. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0755637379.
• 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. Brill. ISBN 978-9004445154.