younger Zubov to obtain the submission of the east Caucasian khans,
overthrow Aqa Mohammad, and enthrone the latter's brother Morte-
za Qoli, who had been kept in Russia for such an occasion. Valerian
Zubov predicted he would reach Esfahan by September. In fact, he
never came close to that city, nor did he jeopardize Aqa Mohammad's
position south of the Aras; but he did obtain the nominal submission
of most of the east Caucasian khanates and in so doing justified, in
Russian eyes, the conquest of those territories a few years later. The
problems of the Zubov expedition reappeared during the later con-
quest, but the commander's methods were surprisingly moderate when
compared with those of his successors.
Valerian Zubov did not attempt to transform the political systems
in the eastern Caucasus. Any khan who was willing to become a Rus-
sian vassal was left in power; only those who offered violent opposi-
tion were dealt with by military means. In this way, Zubov obtained
the submission of all the khans, except Mohammad of Yerevan. Even
when Zubov discovered a conspiracy among three khans to assassinate
him, he was not provoked. Instead, he gave them a chance to back
down. Two, the khans of Qarabagh and Shakki, submitted, and the
conspiracy was forgotten. The third, the khan of Shirvan, decided to
fight; when he took shelter in a mountain stronghold, Zubov seized
his capital. The only other khan who was deposed was Sheikh 'Ali
of Derbent-Qobbeh, who also refused to submit. Although the siege
of the city of Derbent lasted about two months, the pressures were
mostly on the defenders' morale. There were no heavy casualties as-
sociated with this battle. In both cases in which Zubov deposed local
rulers, he chose their successors from the rulers' families. No attack
was launched against Mohammad Khan of Yerevan, although he con-
tinued to reject Zubov's overtures. The expedition lacked the mili-
tary resources to stage such an attack, which had, in any case, been
forbidden by Catherine, who did not want to risk troop movements
so near the Ottoman border.
Zubov, like his successors, never understood why the khans sub-
mitted to Russia or opposed it. To Zubov, the issue was simple: he
was offering benevolent enlightenment as an alternative to Oriental
despotism. For the khans, the issue was much more complex. Basic-
ally, all the khans would have preferred not to submit to any outside
power. The khans of Yerevan, Qarabagh, and Shirvan all tried to op-
pose Aqa Mohammad in 1795 and Zubov the following year. The
khans' military strength determined the range of options open to
them. For example, Javad Khan of Ganjeh, who had welcomed Aqa
Mohammad's arrival in the Caucasus in 1795, realized that he had
40 Russian Expansion under Catherine the Great