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

i
4 8 HISTORY OF PERSIA
Russian main body advanced, and the Persians were
routed, leaving their artillery in the hands of the enemy.
In this battle Mohamed Mirza (afterwards Mohamed
who was in command, was actually made prisoner
Shah),
by the Cossacks, but was rescued through the courage of
a Shah Savan chief.
The Battle of Ganja, i6th September, 1826. Abbas
Mirza immediately hastened north with thirty thousand
men to repair the disaster, and was met by General
Paskievich, with an army only half as
strong, on a level
plain to the east of Ganja. The Persian artillery, directed
by its English officer, caused a Russian division to retreat
and two Karadagh regiments charged. Had the entire
line advanced at this juncture the day might have been
won ;
for the Russian artillery
was badly served. Unfortunately
for Persia, Abbas Mirza again behaved as he
had done at Aslanduz, and his sons received orders to
retire. These instructions discouraged the whole army,
which broke up before a shot had been fired by many of
the regiments. Abbas Mirza, who was not a coward, did
his best to rally
his men, but the Asaf-u-Dola, the Vizier,
quitted the field at the first alarm and reached the Aras, a
hundred and fifty
miles distant, by the following night.
The Avarice of Path All Shah. Avarice was the ruling
passion of Fath Ali Shah, and, like the last of the Caliphs,
he preferred
to hoard jewels and gold rather than to expend
money on national defence. For this reason the steps
taken to collect a new army were inadequate. Moreover
his sons refused to serve under the now discredited Abbas
Mirza. The arsenal at Tabriz was found to be practically
empty, the money devoted to it having been embezzled,
and even such cannon balls as there were did not fit the
guns.
An attempt was made to buy lead locally, but
little
very was obtained. Meanwhile winter came on and,
owing to the Shah's refusal to furnish pay, the army was
disbanded. General YermelofF made prompt use of reinforcements
which reached him, and after the Astrakhan
division had driven the Shah's troops out of Derbent
another division crossed the Aras and threatened Tabriz,
which lay
at the mercy of a determined enemy. It was,