Editing Shusha (section)

===Conflict with the Qajars===
{{See also|Battle of Krtsanisi}}
[[File:Shusha-genplan.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|19th-century map]]
Although Panah Ali Khan had been in conflict with [[Nader Shah]], the new ruler of Persia, [[Adil Shah]], issued a ''[[firman (decree)]]'' recognizing Panah Ali as the Khan of Karabakh.<ref name="adigozel">Mirza Adigozel-bek, Karabakh-name (1845), Baku, 1950, p. 54</ref> Less than a year after Shusha was founded, the Karabakh Khanate was attacked by [[Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar]], one of the major claimants to the Iranian throne. During the [[Safavids|Safavid Empire]] Karabakh was for almost two centuries ruled by Ziyad-oglu family of the clan of [[Qajars]] (of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] origin),<ref>[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], [http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9062092 Qajar Dynasty] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907165527/https://academic.eb.com/ |date=7 September 2021 }}, Online Academic Edition, 2007.</ref> and therefore, Muhammed Hassan Khan considered Karabakh his hereditary estate.<ref name="Mirza Jamal"/><ref name="Bakikhanov">{{Cite web |title=АББАС-КУЛИ-АГА БАКИХАНОВ->ГЮЛИСТАН-И ИРАМ->ПЕРИОД V |url=http://vostlit.info/Texts/rus2/Bakihanov/frametext5.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220125707/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus2/Bakihanov/frametext5.htm |archive-date=20 February 2007 |website=vostlit.info}}</ref><ref name="Adigezal">{{Cite web|url=http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus14/Karabag_name/text1.phtml?id=945|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821124203/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus14/Karabag_name/text1.phtml?id=945|title=МИРЗА АДИГЕЗАЛЬ-БЕК->КАРАБАГ-НАМЕ->ГЛАВЫ 1-6|archive-date=21 August 2010|website=www.vostlit.info}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311021034/http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f3/v10f372.html Encyclopedia Iranica. C. Edmund Bosworth. Ganja.]}}</ref>{{verification needed|date=November 2017}}

Muhammed Hassan Khan besieged Shusha (Panahabad at that time) but soon had to retreat because of the attack on his territory by his major opponent, [[Karim Khan|Karim Khan Zand]]. His retreat was so hasty that he even left his cannons under the walls of Shusha fortress. Panah Ali Khan counterattacked the retreating troops of Mohammad Hassan khan and even briefly took [[Ardabil]] across the [[Aras River]].

In 1756 (or 1759), Shusha and the Karabakh Khanate underwent a new attack from [[Fath-Ali Khan Afshar]], ruler of [[Urmia]]. With his 30,000 strong army, Fath-Ali Khan also managed to gain support from the ''meliks'' of Jraberd and Talish (Gulistan), however, Melik Shahnazar of Varanda continued to support Panah Ali Khan. The Siege of Shusha lasted for six months and Fath-Ali Khan eventually had to retreat.

When Karim Khan Zand took control of much of Iran, he forced Panah Ali Khan to come to [[Shiraz]] (capital of Zand-ruled Iran), where he died as a hostage.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bournoutian |first=George |title=EBRAHÈM KHALÈL KHAN JAVANSHER |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica |access-date=2011-11-04 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ebrahim-kalil-khan-javansir |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117023256/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ebrahim-kalil-khan-javansir |archive-date=2011-11-17 |url-status=live }}</ref> Panah Ali Khan's son Ibrahim Khalil Khan was sent back to Karabakh as governor.<ref name="tapper114">{{cite book |last=[[Richard Tapper|Tapper]] |first=Richard|title=Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997 |pages=114–115 |isbn=0-521-47340-3}}</ref> Under him, the Karabakh Khanate became one of the strongest state formations{{Clarify|date=December 2021}} and Shusha grew. According to travellers who visited Shusha at the end of 18th-early 19th centuries the town had about 2,000 houses and approximately 10,000 population.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}
[[File:Fortress of Shusha.jpg|thumb|left|Shusha fortress in 2021]]
In summer 1795, Shusha was subjected to a major attack by [[Mohammad Khan Qajar|Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar]], son of Mohammad Hassan Khan who had attacked Shusha in 1752. Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's goal was to end with the feudal fragmentation and to restore the old Safavid State in Iran.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} By early 1795, he had already secured mainland Iran and was directly afterwards poised to bring the entire [[Caucasus]] region back within the Iranian domains.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2011|p=409}} For this purpose he also wanted to proclaim himself Shah of Iran. However, according to the Safavid tradition, the shah had to take control over the whole of South Caucasus and [[Dagestan]] before his coronation.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} Therefore, the Karabakh Khanate and its fortified capital Shusha were the first and major obstacle to achieve these ends.

Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar besieged Shusha with the centre part of a 70,000-strong army, after having crossed the [[Aras River]].<ref name="ReferenceW">Donald Rayfield. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PxQpmg_JIpwC&dq=agha+mohammad+khan+conquer+georgia&pg=PA255 ''Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706185522/https://books.google.nl/books?id=PxQpmg_JIpwC&pg=PA255&dq=agha+mohammad+khan+conquer+georgia&hl=nl&sa=X&ei=uxRYVe67HaWQ7AbL_YOADw&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=agha%20mohammad%20khan%20conquer%20georgia&f=false |date=2015-07-06 }} Reaktion Books, 15 feb. 2013 {{ISBN|1780230702}} p 255</ref> The right and left wings were sent to resubjugate [[Shirvan Khanate|Shirvan]]-[[Derbent khanate|Dagestan]] and [[Erivan Khanate|Erivan]] respectively. Agha Mohammad Khan himself led the centre part of the main army, besieging Shusha between 8 July and 9 August 1795.{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=128}} Ibrahim Khalil khan mobilized the population for a long-term defense. The number of militia in Shusha reached 15,000.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Women fought together with men.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} The Armenian population of Karabakh also actively participated in this struggle against the Iranians and fought side by side with the Muslim population, jointly organizing ambushes in the mountains and forests.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

The siege lasted for 33 days. Not being able to capture Shusha, Agha Mohammad Khan ceased the siege{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=126}} [[Battle of Krtsanisi|and advanced to Tiflis]] (present-day [[Tbilisi]]), which despite desperate resistance was occupied and exposed to unprecedented destruction. Ibrahim Khalil Khan eventually surrendered to Mohammad Khan after negotiations, including the paying of regular tribute and to surrender hostages, although the Qajar forces were still denied entrance to Shusha.{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=126}} Since the main objective was Georgia, Mohammad Khan was willing to have Karabakh secured by this agreement for now, for he and his army subsequently moved further.{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=126}}

In 1797, Agha Mohammad Shah Qajar, having successfully resubjugated Georgia and the wider Caucasus and having declared himself shah, decided to carry out a second attack on Karabakh.

Trying to avenge his previous humiliating defeat, Agha Mohammad Shah devastated the surrounding villages near Shusha. The population had not recovered from the previous 1795 attack and also suffered from a serious drought which lasted for three years. The artillery of the attackers also inflicted serious losses on the city defenders. Thus, in 1797 Agha Mohammad Shah succeeded in seizing Shusha and Ibrahim Khalil Khan had to flee to [[Dagestan]].

However, several days after the seizure of Shusha, Agha Mohammad Khan was killed in mysterious circumstances by his bodyguards in the town.{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=329}} Ibrahim Khalil Khan returned to Shusha and ordered that the shah's body be honourably buried until further instructions from the nephew and heir of Agha Mohammad Shah, Baba Khan, who soon assumed the title of [[Fath-Ali Shah Qajar|Fath-Ali Shah]].<ref name="Encyclopædia Iranica 1997">{{cite web | title=EBRĀHĪM ḴALĪL KHAN JAVĀNŠĪR – Encyclopaedia Iranica | website=Encyclopædia Iranica | date=1997-12-15 | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ebrahim-kalil-khan-javansir | access-date=2016-03-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000830/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ebrahim-kalil-khan-javansir | archive-date=2016-03-04 | url-status=live }}</ref> Ibrahim Khan, in order to maintain peaceful relations with Tehran and retain his position as the Khan of Karabakh, gave his daughter Agha Begom, known as Aghabaji, as one of the wives of the new shah.<ref name="Encyclopædia Iranica 1997" />