Persian expedition of 1796

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The Persian expedition of Catherine the Great of 1796, like the Persian expedition of Peter the Great (1722–1723), was one of the Russo-Persian Wars of the 18th century which did not entail any lasting consequences for either belligerent. The last decades of the 18th century were marked by continual strife between rival claimants to the Persian throne. Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (r. 1762–1796) took advantage of the disorder to consolidate her control over the weak polities of the Caucasus, which was, for swaths of it, an integral Persian domain. The kingdom of Georgia, a subject of the Persians for many centuries, became a Russian protectorate in 1783, when King Erekle II signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, whereby the Empress promised to defend him in the case of Iranian attack. The shamkhals of Tarki followed this lead and accepted Russian protection three years later. With the enthronement of Agha Mohammad Khan as Shah of Persia in 1794 the political climate changed. He put an...

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