Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims
12
so the Azerbaijani union formed around Guba at their predecessor’s
time gradually fell apart.
Domestic and foreign political situation featuring Azerbaijan in
late 18th – early 19th centuries was quite complex indeed. Social and
economic backwardness of the country furthermore aggravated by
never-ending attacks of the Russian and Iranian troops into Azerbai-
jan on the one hand, and personal ambitions of local Khans unwilling
to get along with each other on the other hand, left little room for
the unification of Azerbaijani lands. Given this situation, the real force
capable to withstand imperial plans of Russia and Iran towards Azer-
baijan was missing, so there was no one able to counter their overt
intents to get the whole of the Caucasus under their control.
The Azerbaijani lands were targeted by the Russian Empire back
in the late 17th-early 18th centuries with Russia’s significant rise under
Peter I followed by pressing need to get access to abundant resour-
ces in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan in particular. However the first
phase of Russian campaign of conquest failed to yield the desired
outcome. The early 19th century launched the second phase in the
region’s takeover. The local Christian population, first and foremost
ethnic Armenians, were mostly counted on by the Russian troops as
the social base in the course of the conquest. With no state of their
own, the Armenians in turn viewed the Russians as their advocates.
Meanwhile, a number of Azerbaijani khans considered Turkey
and Iran in particular an even a greater threat given the fact that the
Russian policy towards Azerbaijan had been rather cautious then. At
that particular period, what Russia was striving for was not too much
the conquest of the Azerbaijani khanates, but, rather, binding their
rulers with various treaties and thus making them dependent this way
or another. As far their unlimited within their duchies is concerned, it
remained intact. E.g., taking benefit of the existing relationship be-
tween the Khanate of Guba and the Russian authorities, the Treaty
of Georgiyevsk was signed in 1802 whereby Sheikhali-Khan retained
control over Guba and Derbend Khanates in exchange for their natu-
ralization by Russia.
Consequently, the Russian campaigns evolved into a pure con-
quest. In 1801, Eastern Georgia was conquered by the Russian Empire.
Gazakh and Shamshadil Sultanates, previously dependent on Geor-
gia, also fell under the Russian control. Jaro-Balakan jamaats (com-