4 Introduction
of the Church in the second half of the seventeenth century; and the
rebellion of Sten'ka Razin (1670-1671), which centered on the Volga
region and severed communications between Muscovy and Iran. There
were also recurring wars with Poland, Sweden, and the Ottoman Em-
pire. Trade with Iran was also imperiled by marauding raiders along
the lower Volga and in the Caucasus, as well as by the irregular exac-
tions of Iranian officials. Despite numerous obstacles, Russo-Iranian
trade, especially in silk, continued into the eighteenth century, al-
though its international significance decreased after several Western
nations established direct contact with the markets of India.
Peter the Great, having established Russia as one of the major pow-
ers of Europe, turned his attention to Iran. In 1717, as the Great
Northern War neared its end, he sent Artemii Volynskii on a mission
to Shah Soltan Hosein, the last member of the Safavi dynasty to rule
all of Iran. Volynskii was to explore the possibilities for increased
trade with Iran and India and for military cooperation with Iran and
Georgia against the Ottoman Empire. As a result of the treaty nego-
tiated by Volynskii, Russia sent consuls to Esfahan (the capital),
Shirvan (in the eastern Caucasus), and the Caspian coastal province
of Gilan. Peter hoped the Gilani establishment would be the start of
a Russian colony that would stretch along the coast from Derbent in
the west to Astarabad in the southeast and could rival the Western
establishments in India. As the Iranian government weakened rapidly
over the next few years, Peter became determined to intervene with
or without the shah's consent in order to prevent Ottoman expansion
to the shores of the Caspian.
The formal justification for Peter's Iranian campaign was an attack
made in 1721 by several tribes of the eastern high Caucasus (Daghes-
tan) on Shirvan. Some Russian merchants who traded in the provin-
cial capital, Shemakhi, were killed and perhaps half a million rubles'
worth of their property was seized. (Iranian officials and other Shia
Muslims in the city fared still worse. Between 4,000 and 5,000 of them
were massacred by the Sunni mountaineers in reprisal for Iran's anti-
Sunni policies.) As Peter gathered his forces for the coming campaign,
the Iranian government entered the final stages of collapse. In Octo-
ber 1722, Shah Soltan Hosein was overthrown by the Afghan tribal
leader Mahmud Ghalzai, who had besieged Esfahan for eight months.
Two months before the fall of Esfahan, Peter led more than
100,000 Russian soldiers to the Caspian coast near the northeastern
end of the Caucasus. The expedition's most significant achievement
was the capture of the city of Derbent in September. This marked
the end of the first stage of the Russian campaign. Peter still wanted