Fath-Ali Khan of Quba
Fatali Khan or Fath-Ali Khan of Quba was a khan of the Quba Khanate who also managed to dominate the Derbent, Baku, Talysh and Shirvan Khanates, as well as the Salyan Sultanate during much of his reign.
Early years
Fatali was born in 1736 in Quba to Husayn Ali Khan of Quba Khanate and Peri Jahan-Bike, daughter of Ahmad Khan, Utsmi of Kaitags. He was related to other Dagestani rulers, such as Umma Khan V, who was his maternal cousin, Amir Hamza, his cousin and brother-in-law, as well as Utsmi of Kaitags, among others. According to the 19th-century military historian Isgandar bey Hajinski, he had no special education and "spent his youth just as sons of other khans, i.e. in idleness." He was sent to subjugate Salyan Sultanate in 1755 or 1756 by his father, a mission he accomplished successfully.His father died in 1758 at the age of 49, leaving the throne to his young son.
Reign
Just seven days after his father's death, the brother of Aghasi Khan of Shirvan, Agharazi beg, invaded the Barmak Mahal of Quba and carried off 200 families. In response, Fatali Khan set out to Shirvan and captured about 400 families and settled them onto his possessions, killing Agharazi in a battle near Old Shamakhi.Fatali, to consolidate his rule in the khanate, introduced several legal reforms. He abolished the system of naibate, who were in charge of taxation of districts of the khanate. Instead, he charged ketkhudas with this job, which would be overseen by yasauls, directly answering to khan himself.
Campaign in Derbent, Shaki and Baku
Soon after victory in Quba, Fatali started to expand his influence. According to Abbasgulu Bakikhanov, he besieged Derbent in 1759 when the inhabitants sent messages inviting him to remove Tahir bey, then their ruler. He took territories of Derbent on the right bank of the Samur River – Mushkur, Niyazoba, Shabran, Rustov, Beshbarmag and also villages of Ulus district from Derbent's khan. In the same year, he campaigned against Gazikumukh Khanate, whose khan Muhammad recently killed Aghakishi beg, Khan of Shaki, and defeated him, installing Muhammad Husayn Khan Mushtaq in his place.Later in 1765, Fatali Khan annexed all of Derbent Khanate with the help of Tarki Shamkhalate, Kaitag Utsmiate, and the Principality of Tabasaran. Subordinating Derbent, Fatali gave a portion of land revenues from Derbent Khanate to Shamkhal and Utsmi, while the ruler of Tabasaran was given monetary compensation. Derbent's ruler Muhammad Hussein Khan was blinded and sent with his five-year-old son Ali beg to Quba, and then to Baku, where he was kept until he died in 1768. Ali lived as the hostage of Khan in Baku until 1796.
Fatali married Tuti Bike, his cousin and sister of Kaitag utsmi Amir Hamza III, in 1766. Despite this, he refused to marry his younger half-sister Khadija Bike to Amir Hamza. Instead, he married her to Malik Muhammad Khan, son of Baku's Khan Mirza Muhammad I, effectively subordinating the Baku Khanate to himself. Control over the ports of Baku, Derbent, and Salyan, as well as their Caspian commerce in salt and crude oil, provided Khan money and reputation.
Disgruntled over the marriage refusal, Amir Hamza captured Derbent and held it for 3 days with the excuse of visiting his sister. Fatali Khan later drove Amir Hamza and his Kaitag tax collectors from Derbent and took away the revenue villages which he presented to Amir Hamza. Fatali then appointed Eldar bek, nephew of Muhammad Khan of Gazikumukh, as a steward of Derbent. These steps further alienated the Dagestani lords from Fatali, and they started to see him as a regional rival.
Campaign in Shamakhi
In 1767/8, in alliance with Muhammad Husayn Khan Mushtaq of Sheki, he invaded Shamakhi, which was ruled by Aghasi Khan and Muhammad Said Khan brothers. Several Dagestani rulers, including Akusha-Dargo Union and Principality of Tabasaran, also joined the march. After victory on the battlefield, the brothers wanted to negotiate. Muhammad Said khan himself went to Fatali Khan's court while Aghasi headed to Shaki. Aghasi khan was blinded by the khan of Shaki while his brother was imprisoned by Fatali.Fatali Khan and Muhammad Huseyn Khan divided the lands of Shirvan Khanate between themselves. The Kessan and Sadanrud districts were given to Shaki, while Fatali took the rest. Fatali ordered the destruction of New Shamakhi and a resettlement of the residents to the older Shamakhi. In one of the documents of period it was written that: “…Fatali Khan gave New Shamakhi to Huseyn Khan, but took himself the older one". Beginning from 1768, in official Russian documents and titular appeals, Fatali was named "high-degree and highly respected Khan of Derbent, Quba and Shamakhi".
Manaf Zarnavai, a naib of the Muhammad Huseyn in New Shamakhi conspired to seize Fatali's lands by force, but Fatali's informants forewarned him, leading him to raise an army of 15,000 and invade the rest of the khanate on 17 August 1768, arresting Manaf himself. The Shaki armies were crushed by the Quba and Gazikumukh alliance on 20 September 1768, Shirvan was fully annexed to the Quba Khanate. A peace agreement was signed in July 1769.
According to Stepan Sharipin and Egor Zamyatin, Russian merchants from Astrakhan, "Huseyn khan wanted to possess all seized lands in Shamakhi and then to be its ruler, but no one can repudiate Fatali Khan from it."
Meanwhile, the blinded ex-ruler of Shamakhi, Aghasi Khan, escaped and urged Shaki to attack Fatali to retake Shirvan. This alliance was joined by Muhammad IV, Nutsal of Avars. He sent an armed detachment under his sons Bulach and Muhammad Mirza. The warring parties met at the outskirts of Shamakhi and decided to negotiate first. However, soon a fight broke out and turned into a full-blown battle. Both sons of Avar Khan died during the battle, while the khans of Shaki and Shamakhi escaped the scene.
In 1774, Avar nuts again marched on Shamakhi and captured the city briefly. In response, Fatali set out to Shirvan with an army and detachment led by Malik Mahammad Khan, khan of Baku, in alliance with his traditional allies Akusha-Dargo Union and Principality of Tabasaran. Nutsal was defeated near Old Shamakhi. Fatali promised him safety and invited him to discuss terms, where Muhammad was murdered by Dargins of Akusha.
Struggle in Dagestan
The murder of Avar Khan alarmed the neighboring rulers in Dagestan. New Avar leader Umma Khan tried to forge an anti-Quba alliance with other Dagestani and Caucasian feudal lords by marrying his sister Bakhtika to Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh.Having gathered a 4,000-strong army, the coalition was led by Amir Hamza, who marched into Quba but retreated north where he was ambushed by Fatali's armies. Nevertheless, the coalition defeated Fatali's army of 8,000 in the battle of Gavdushan, near the city of Khudat, in July 1774, forcing him to flee to Salyan. Muhammad the Toothless of the Dagestani forces perished during the battle; Eldar-beg, Fatali's viceroy in Derbent, and Maysum Shaykh-Ali of Tabasaran were killed on the Quba side.
Muhammad of Gazikumukh seized Quba as a result, while Aghasi Khan re-established himself in Shirvan. Meanwhile, Amir Hamza attempted to capture Derbent, which was ruled by his sister Tuti Bike during the absence of her husband. Amir, accompanying body of perished Tishsiz Muhammad, approached the city and informed his sister that Fatali Khan had died and that he brought the body. Tuti, according to legend, ordered the city’s defenders to open fire, which forced Amir Hamza to retreat to Mushkur. Soon Amir Hamza gathering an army, raided Baku Khanate and besieged Derbent. Meanwhile, Fatali entered Derbent and started gathering adherents.
While in a difficult situation, Fatali sent his envoy Mirza Bey Bayat from Salyan to Petersburg with a letter in which he appealed to Empress Catherine II for help, offering vassalage to Russian Empire in return. The Empress sent 2,350 soldiers under the command of General Johann von Medem in 1775. The arrival of Russian army alarmed Muhammad of Gazikumukh, who evacuated Quba; it was then retaken by Fatali. The Khan met von Medem near Darvag and led them to Derbent. In response, Amir Hamza raised the siege of Derbent and tried to battle Medem, but was defeated by the Russian army in Iran-Kharab. Fatali recaptured Derbent and sent keys to the city to Catherine II, also asking her to grant him citizenship of Russia.
On 10 May 1775, Fatali marched on Kaitag Utsmiate and Principality of Tabasaran with a Russian detachment led by major Cridner. Amir Hamza attacked them near Bashlykent, "but he was overthrown by an action of the artillery with great losses and took to flight." According to Mirza Hasan Alkadari, Fatali also defeated Muhammad of Gazikumukh's armies and took neighboring Kura plain.
The anti-Quba coalition asked for peace and offered hostages, but also demanded Fatali to vacate Derbent, a condition which Russian command rejected. In March and April 1776, the sides convened a meeting in Darvag. A peace consensus was reached in the April meeting, according to which the Kaitags and Tabasarans were required to leave Derbent and Quba and not to interfere in trade between Russia and Quba. The Russian envoy at the meeting, Major Fromgold, reported that "there will never be a desired calmness here. Despite Utsmi and Qadi agreed not to harm the Khan, it is a matter of time for them to only turn on him again".
To further weaken his foes, Fatali drew Shikhmardan Bek, second son of Muhammad of Gazikumukh Khan, to his side. Fatali granted him a part of a Kura district which had earlier belonged to Derbent Khanate, and the revenues of Guney district that belonged Quba. He also granted Amir Hamza's nephew Muhammad beg 100 families from Quba and founded the eponymous village of Mamedkala for him.
Fatali also aided the Tabasaran princes Muhammad Husayn, Sohrab, Shir Ali, and Mustafa, whose ruling cousin Novruz bek was killed by Ali Qoli in 1776. Fatali then detained Ali Qoli in Derbent and exiled him to Salyan, and installed Muhammad Husayn beg as new prince. Kizlyar's Russian commandant wrote to the government that Fatali was more powerful now that he could attack Kaitag Utsmi with help from Tabasaran.