Карабахский поход (1805): Как 493 егеря сдержали шахскую армию Аббас-Мирзы

In the summer of 1805, one of the most incredible confrontations in the history of the Russian army took place in the mountains of Karabakh. Colonel Pavel Karyagin's 493 rangers were sent to meet the 20,000-strong Persian army of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza—without reinforcements, without hope, with only one order: to delay the enemy at any cost. The 17th Rangers Regiment left Ganja on June 21 and three days later encountered Pir Kuli Khan's vanguard—3,000 horsemen fell upon a handful of infantry. The rangers formed a square and, for six hours, repelling attack after attack, fought for 14 miles. They took up defensive positions in a Muslim cemetery near the Karkarchay River and held out for five days behind a wall of wagons against the entire Persian army. They lost 197 men and were left without water. At night, they cut out a battery by the river with bayonets, dropping 15 falconets into the water—and didn't lose a single one. Then came a nighttime breakthrough into the Shakhbulag fortress. 13 days of siege. Fake surrender negotiations. An escape to the Mukhrat fortress—179 men, two guns, and 45 rounds of ammunition. And on the way—a ravine on the Tertar River, impossible to cross for the cannons. Then Private Gavrila Sidorov proposed a solution that became legendary: the soldiers lay down in the ditch, and a ton of bronze was dragged across. Sidorov died under a cannon wheel—but both cannons were on the other side. For three weeks, 493 men pinned down half the Shah's army. Tsitsianov managed to rally his troops. On July 15, he relieved the siege of Mukhrat. On July 28, at Zagam, Abbas Mirza was utterly routed. Georgia was saved. 🔍 SOURCES USED IN PREPARATION: V. A. Potto, "The Caucasian War," Volume 1 — "The Feat of Colonel Karyagin" (1887 edition) George A. Bournoutian, "From the Kur to the Aras: A Military History of Russia's Move into the South Caucasus and the First Russo-Iranian War, 1801–1813" (Brill, 2021) A. A. Kersnovsky, "History of the Russian Army," Volume 1 Rodina Magazine — "How Colonel Karyagin Saved Georgia from the Persian Invasion" (2016) N. F. Dubrovin, "Transcaucasia from 1803 to 1806" ⚠️ IMPORTANT: The visuals in this video were created using artificial intelligence technologies (AI image generation). All illustrations are for artistic purposes only and are not historical photographs or documentary evidence. In preparing the images, we strived to convey the details of the era as accurately as possible—uniforms, weaponry, landscape, and architecture of the early 19th century—but they are artistic reconstructions, not literal reproductions of the events. © The historical facts presented in the video are based on academic research, military reports, and the memoirs of participants. Estimates of the Persian army's strength vary in sources from 20,000 to 40,000 men—we present the figures that are most supported by documentation.