Suchergebnisse

Basing on the data of written sources and historical literature, the author of the article presents the state of domestic and foreign policy in Southern Dagestan in the first third of the 18th century when the interests of many world powers, most regularly the interests of Russia, Iran and Turkey, collided and entwined here. The internal political state of Dagestan was characterized by political decentralization, diversity of ethnic composition of the population, complex relationships between individual feudal estates and unions of rural communities, interference of neighboring countries in the internal affairs of societies, it all heightened already tense situation in the region. The state of the Dagestan people at the beginning of the 18th century was so tragic and they were so embittered by outrage of Persian administration that contemporaries predicted the inevitability of the people's rising, which ultimately happened. In the article, key problems of the East Caucasus and West Caspian region are considered against the wide background of international events. The author gives a balanced and objective assessment of the foreign policy orientation of the leaders of the peasant masses, local feudal lords and rulers in the anti-Iranian uprisings, which took place in the first third of the 18th century. It is established that a distinctive feature of the political life of the peoples of Southern Dagestan during this period was a definite orientation toward Russia in the course of the struggle against Iranian domination and active opposition to the aggressive aspirations of Turkey. It did not meet the foreign policy interests of the Iranian and Turkish authorities, which were incited by Western European states, primarily by Britain and France, to the conquests in the Caucasus.

The article is devoted to the study of main directions of foreign policy of Fatali Khan, the khan of Derbent and Quba, in the 80s of the 18thcentury. The study has shown that Fatali Khan conducted rather an active foreign policy. He had the closest contacts with the Russian Empire. Fatali Khan many times addressed a request to the Imperial Court to get Russian citizenship, sent his ambassadors to discuss and solve various problems including normalization of trading relations with Russia. In his letters, the Khan asked for trade privileges for Derbent merchants, on his part he gave Russian merchants the right for duty-free trade in the Derbent-Quba khanate and other territories under his influence. The author of the article analyzes FataliKhan's policy on expanding the territory of his possession on account of other Dagestan and Azerbaijan lands, and his allied relations with ShamkhalTarkovsky.The Khan's relationswith other Dagestan rulers were not easy as they stood against his policy of expanding the borders of the Derbent-Quba khanate. Another direction of the foreign policy of the Khan of Derbent and Qubawas his relationship with the Georgian prince Alexander, whose actions were directed not only against the Kingdom of Kakheti and Kartli, but also against the Russian authorities. Therefore, Fatali Khan refused to support the Georgian prince.