Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

FOUNDING OF KAJAK DYNASTY 389
Georgia would be invaded. By way of insurance against
such an event Heraclius in 1783 signed a with
Russia, in which he renounced all connexion with Pi
and entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with
the Northern Power. The Empress Catherine, in turn,
bound herself and her successors to protect the integrity
of Georgia.
In 1795 Aga Mohamed, after summoning Heraclius
to do homage, advanced from Ardebil with an army sixty
thousand strong, marching in three divisions. The first
moved by the plain of Moghan to levy arrears of
tribute ;
the second marched on Erivan, which was
garrisoned by fifteen thousand Georgians and the third
;
under the Shah himself undertook the reduction of Shisha,
a hill-fort situated on the left bank of the Aras.
Aga
left a force
Mohamed, after failing in his attack on Shisha,
to blockade it and joined the second division before
Erivan. That famous fortress also was too strong to be
taken by an enemy unprovided with a battering train, and
consequently the Shah was again obliged to leave a portion
of his army to blockade the garrison.
He then marched
to Ganja, where he effected a junction with the column
which had passed through Moghan unopposed. Heraclius,
instead of relying on his fortresses and awaiting aid from
Russia, rashly met the invaders though they outnumbered
him in the proportion of four to one, and the Georgians
after a heroic struggle were overpowered and defeated.
Tiflis was taken by the Persians without resistance. The
old and infirm and all the priests were massacred, and
the able-bodied of both sexes, to the number of twenty
thousand, were carried off into slavery. Erivan surrendered
to the Shah after the fall of Tiflis, but Shisha continued
to resist.
The Coronation of Aga Mohamed Khan, A.H. 1210
(1796). Aga Mohamed had not been formally crowned,
but on returning from his successful expedition into
Georgia he consented to the ceremonial after repeated.
entreaties. He judiciously
refused to wear the fourplumed
crown of Nadir Shah, and contented himself with
a small circular diadem known as Kulla Keiani, or the