The victory at the Ganja river, not just by firepower and Alexander's brilliant strategy but by the daring strategic execution of General Ivan Paskevich. Which completely shattered the Persian field army and its will to fight. The loss of the crown prince, Abbas Mirza, captured by the Russian's, further demoralized the Qajar court and its remaining forcers.
The path to Persian Azerbaijan now lay open, as General Paskevich executed the next phase of the plan with relentless efficiency. As the immediate priorities were the strategic strongholds of the fortress of Sardarabad, Fortress of Yerevan (Erivan, the administrative capital of the Yerevan Khanate), and the city of Tabriz.
Each captured on July 28th, August 12, and August 25th respectively.
The occupation of Tabriz, Urmia, and Ardabil went well. With the heart of the crown prince's domain under Russian Control. Shah Fath-Ali Qajar had no choice but to sue for peace. The British, who had initially promised aid, had done little but offer diplomatic support and now pushed the Shah to negotiate, fearful of a complete collapse of Persia that would bring Russia to the gates of India.
The signing of the treaty was arranged to take place in a location chosen for its proximity to the Russian occupation forces: the small, insignificant village of Turkmenchay, near Tabriz.
The air in the makeshift signing room—a large, hastily cleared chamber in the best house Turkmenchay had to offer—was cold, filled with the scent of tobacco and damp earth. Outside, the frozen landscape and the imposing ranks of the Russian Imperial Guard provided a silent, absolute backdrop to the proceedings.
The Persian delegation was led by the aging, weary Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi, the same Foreign Minister who had desperately argued against the disastrous jihad two years prior. Standing beside him was the newly released and thoroughly humbled Crown Prince Abbas Mirza, his face a mask of bitter defeat. He wore the finest robes of his rank, but instead of exuding dignity one befitting of royalty by wearing the silver and gold, he felt humiliation.
Opposite them sat the Russian delegation, dominated by the imposing figure of General Ivan Paskevich, his uniform immaculate, his chest glittering with the medals earned from the campaign that had utterly broken the Persian army. The General—already styled as the Count of Yerevan by his grateful Tsar—looked less like a negotiator and more like a butcher ready to slaughter and animal.
Paskevich, without preamble, tapped the parchment that lay between them, addressing the beaten Crown Prince.
"Your Imperial Highness, the terms before you are those of His Imperial Majesty, Tsar Nicholas Pavlovich I. They are non-negotiable. Your refusal to accept them will not result in more favorable negotiations, but a resumption of the advance. And the road to Isfahan is shorter than the one to Tabriz was."
Mirza Abolhassan Khan swallowed hard, his voice trembling as he spoke for his master. "General, the amount of the indemnity... twenty million silver rubles. It will cripple the Shah's treasury for a generation."
Paskevich leaned forward, resting his hands on the table, his eyes glinting. "It is the cost of a war you declared, Khan. The cost of a battlefield that saw your army wiped from the face of the earth for a prize that was never yours. We have been generous. It is a war of defense, and the victors take the spoils. Unless..."
Paused Paskevich as Mirza held his breath in anxiously in anticipation to what he was about to say next. "You cede the resource rights as stated in the treaty and all indemnity will be waived." He said, with a slight smile on his face.
'Why would his imperial majesty waive the indemnity just for some resource rights...' Paskevich thought, but he didn't have time to dwell much as a voice brough him back to earth.
Abbas Mirza finally spoke, his voice low, heavy with suppressed relief and wariness while nodding. "And the demand for the two Khanates? Yerevan and Nakhchivan. They are not merely territory; they are the only territory we rule in the Caucasus."
"They are the price of military incompetence," Paskevich countered brutally. "The Aras River is the only logical and defensible border. You cede the Yerevan and Nakhchivan Khanates—all of it. The border is now permanently fixed." He paused, a hint of steel entering his voice as he looked the Prince in the eye. "And let the Treaty of Gulistan be forever consigned to oblivion. This treaty replaces it."
The Prince slumped, defeated. His eyes glanced at the final, most galling terms: the Capitulations, granting Russian subjects in Persia judicial immunity from Persian law, and the exclusive right to maintain a naval fleet on the Caspian Sea as well exclusive resource rights. It was a treaty that reduced Persia to a subsidiary power.
Mirza Abolhassan Khan took the pen, dipped it in ink, and hesitated, his face a portrait of national grief. Abbas Mirza placed a weary hand on his shoulder, giving the faintest of nods.
With a scratch of the quill that echoed loudly in the silent room, the Persian Empire formally ceded its final claims to the South Caucasus. The Treaty of Turkmenchay was signed, marking the end of a long, bloody conflict and cementing the Russian Empire's dominion over a vast, resource-rich territory, all thanks to the strategic brilliance of a seven-year-old child and Paskevich's military genius
The Treaty of Turkmenchay (1829)
Signed: September 1st, 1829
The High Contracting Parties: His Imperial Majesty, Nicholas I, Autocrat and Tsar of All the Rus; and His Majesty, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, Shahanshah of the Sublime State of Persia.
ARTICLE I: Territorial Cession and Border Finalization
The Sublime State of Persia shall forever cede to the Russian Empire the entirety of the Khanates of Erivan and Nakhichevan (comprising the new Armenian Oblast). The definitive border between the two Empires shall be irrevocably established by the Aras River, granting Russia full and perpetual ownership of the Southern Caucasus.
ARTICLE II: War Indemnity and Economic Waiver
In consideration of the severe economic consequences of the recent hostilities upon the Sublime State of Persia, His Imperial Majesty the Tsar hereby agrees to fully and perpetually waive the entirety of the demanded War Indemnity of Twenty Million Silver Rubles that would have been required to be paid by the defeated party. This waiver is granted exclusively in exchange for the perpetual economic concessions stipulated in Article V.
ARTICLE III: Caspian Sea Supremacy
The Sublime State of Persia permanently cedes all naval rights and privileges on the Caspian Sea to the Russian Empire, which shall maintain the sole and exclusive right to operate military vessels upon its waters, a right first secured by the Treaty of Gulistan (1813).
ARTICLE IV: Strategic Economic Corridor (Right of First Refusal)
For the duration of this Treaty, the Sublime State of Persia covenants to grant the Russian Empire the exclusive right of first refusal on all proposals to survey, finance, construct, and operate any major artery for modern transport (railway, road, or canal) running in a general North-South direction within Persian territory.
ARTICLE V: Perpetual Northern Resource Monopoly
In full discharge of the War Indemnity (Article II), Persia hereby grants the Russian Empire a sole and exclusive monopoly for the exploration, extraction, and refinement of all subterranean minerals, including petroleum, natural gas, and rare earth metals, within the entirety of the Persian territory north of the 34o parallel, for a period of 50 years. This monopoly shall supersede any existing or future Persian domestic law.
ARTICLE VI: Commerce and Jurisdiction
Russian subjects and merchants operating within Persia shall enjoy capitulatory rights, including exemption from local jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, and shall be subject only to the authority of Russian Consular officials. Furthermore, all goods imported from Russia to Persia shall be subject to a fixed transit duty of no more than 5% ad valorem.
***
The news of the Treaty of Turkmenchay being signed arrived in Saint Petersburg on the fastest courier possible, yet it felt like an eternity to the Tsar.
Nicholas I, seated in his private office—a room characterized by a military severity of design—finished reading the final dispatch. It was not the usual list of territorial acquisitions, but a dizzying array of concessions: an entire, clean border secured by the Aras River; the waiver of a massive indemnity in exchange for a Perpetual Northern Resource Monopoly; and the Strategic Economic Corridor clause. Among the treaties signed Nicholas notes its among one of the unusual ones, since indemnity was exchanged for resource rights...
"Twenty million rubles, gone," he muttered, running a calloused thumb over the paper, "but ownership of the earth beneath half their kingdom secured for fifty years... I hope that was the right call."
He summoned his heir immediately.
Alexander entered, composed and neat, his seven-year-old frame seeming strangely substantial for its age. Nicholas regarded him with a complex mixture of, pride, utter reliance, and... another feeling he can't quite place his hand on, was it shame? no as the Tsar he couldn't feel shame because of a simple 7 year old..., The boy had been right about the Decembrist plot, right about the Persian invasion, and stunningly right about the strategy that led to the early, total destruction of the Persian army. Well, to an extent, as even he didn't anticipate that Paskevich could pull of such an encirclement and annihilate the enemy.
"The treaty is signed, Alexander," Nicholas stated, gesturing to the dispatch. "The concession you suggested to replace with indemnity—the resources and the right of passage—have been secured. You have helped give Russia not merely land, but an also access to future resources. But I'm curious, but how did you know the Persians would so easily dismiss subterranean rights over immediate currency?"
Alexander knew he could not mention the word "petroleum" or "natural gas." So he decided to ground his explanations from what he learned from his tutor, Kankrin.
"Father, Count Kankrin taught me that in matters of commerce, one must seek value, not price," Alexander replied, his voice clear. "The Shah is a man consumed by immediate needs—the payment of his army, the filling of his empty treasury. Twenty million rubles is an immediate, crippling price. The minerals lie buried, unseen, yielding no immediate benefit. To the Persians, it is an easy trade: a future promise for a present impossibility. We, on the other hand, have purchased the industrial foundation of the next century for the price of this year's military expenses."
Nicholas nodded slowly, but still continues asking. "and what do you mean by industrial foundation? You did mention it previously but I don't quite get it."
After thinking for a while Alexander comes up with a way. "By industrial foundation I mean that the resources, like Oil, Petroleum or Gas are going to be one of the most important in the future. And we have just gained exclusive access to such a resource, well, a potential one anyways. You can think of it this way, like a cost benefit analysis. If I'm correct in my prediction that Oil, Gas, Petroleum or whatever do indeed become one of the most important resources in the world, which may be required for potential military and industrial use, that means we just got control of it. More specifically, what may have belonged to Persia.
Thus meaning, the Sublime Persian State would have to get it from us, effectively colonizing them economically. If we had simply asked for an indemnity, then that would be that, but a potential puppet state of Persia is far better."
"Very well. The Persian matter is closed. Now, as you predicted, the Ottoman Empire has taken steps that cannot be ignored. They rejected the Treaty of London, insulted the Western Powers, and now... they have closed the Dardanelles and revoked the Akkerman Convention. In other words... They seek war."