Gandzha > Gjandza Ganca Azerbaijan

Nizami Ganjavi, an erudite recluse, draws on such earlier Persian poets as Firdawsi without imitating them.

A writer of both odes and romantic lyrics, Nezami's poems convey originality of thought as well as clarity of style.

Considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, he is celebrated for his longer poems, including the philosophical “Treasury of Mysteries,” written in 1174-75, the romantic “Khusrau and Shirin,” written in 1180, and “Laila and Majnun,” written in 1188.

Nizami's “Haft Paikar,” written in 1197, and “The Sikander Nama,” written in 1200, about the life of Alexander the Great, complete the five long dramatic poems known collectively as the “Khamsa.”

Vakhtang VI had encamped at Ganja in September 1722 with a combined Georgian-Armenian army of forty thousand to join the advancing Russian expedition.

After receiving news about Peter’s departure, he returns to Tbilisi in November.

While at Ganja, having secured Shirvan, Agha Mohammad Khan is joined by Javad Khan Qajar and the rest of his right wing contingent.

At Ganja, Mohammad Khan sends Heraclius II his last ultimatum, who receives it in September 1795.

The origins of the first full scale Russo-Persian War can be traced back to the decision of Tsar Paul to annex Georgia (December 1800) after Erekle II, who had been appointed as ruler of Kartli several years earlier by his ruler Nader Shah, made a plea to Christian Russia in the Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783 to be incorporated into the empire.

After Paul’s assassination (March 11, 1801), the activist policy had been continued by his successor, Tsar Alexander, aimed at establishing Russian control over the khanates of the eastern Caucasus.

In 1803, the newly appointed commander of Russian forces in the Caucasus, Paul Tsitsianov, had attacked Ganja and captures its citadel on January 15, 1804.

Ganja's governor, Javad Khan Qajar, is killed, and a large number of the inhabitants slaughtered.

Abbas Mirza’s army arrives too late and retires to the south.

The Qajar ruler, Fat′h-Ali Shah, sees the Russian threat to Armenia, Karabagh, and Azerbaijan not only as a source of instability on his northwestern frontier but as a direct challenge to Qajar authority.

Abbas Mirza, seeing that the main Russian force has pushed far to the southeast, makes a wide swing north and besieges Ganja.

Six hundred Russian infantry route his camp at Shamkir on July 27.