Caucasus Campaign (1735)
| Caucasus Campaign | |||||||||
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| Part of the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35) and Naderian Wars | |||||||||
 An artist's illustration of an Armenian-Persian border town in the Caucasus |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Lezgis
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Nader Tahmasp Khan Jalayer |
Köprülü Abdullah Pasha † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 55,000-80,000 | ~200,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Minimal | 50,000+ killed & wounded | ||||||||
The Caucasus Campaign of 1734-1735 was the last great campaign of the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35) which ended in a Persian victory allowing Nader to recast Persian hegemony over almost the entire Caucasus, region, reconconquering it for the Safavid state.
The Caucasus had fallen under Ottoman control since 1722 with the collapse of the Safavid state. The first target of the campaign was the reconquering of the Shirvan Khanate, with its capital Shamakhi falling in August 1734 freeing up the Persian forces to march west and lay siege to Ganja. The battlements of Ganja as well as its garrison of 14,000 soldiers provided a formidable defence. After Tahmasp Khan Jalayer engaged and routed a joint Ottoman and Crimean Tatar force in the south east Caucasus Nader cut their line of retreat further west dealing them another crippling blow, scattering them into the mountains north.
The mountains to the north in Avarestan made any pursuit of the defeated foe a daunting prospect especially considering the approach of winter, so Nader chose to turn west and besiege Ganja where he was drawn into an intense effort to capture the surprisingly formidable fortress. The Persian artillery was still severely lacking in strong siege guns and consisted mostly of field batteries which were effective in battles but unable to make significant impact against city walls and battlements.
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Wikipedia