'Report on the Persian Army' [‎25v] (50/170)

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who replaced Yermoloff, were defeated all along the line. The
war, which lasted about a year and a half resulted in Persian
discomfiture, and practically ending when the Russians entered
Tabriz, 27th November, 1827,* found its close in the Treaty of
Turkmancha'i in February, 1828.
Regarding the Persian forces immediately before and during
the war, Dr. E. Eichwald gives the following particulars in his
“ Reise auf dem Caspischen Meere und in den Kaukasus ”
(Stuttgart, 1834-37):—
“ Abbas Mirza employed French and English officers, and formed regular
troops to the extent of 18 battalions of sarbaz. He also erected a cannon
foundry and a gun factory An East India Company trading post. at Tabriz, from which his army was supplied with
cannon, muskets, pistols, etc. The Shah also formed some regular infantry,
but this was known as Jaribaz, and there were only 10 battalions of it. The
Persian irregular troops are composed of the nomad tribes, and there are
50 tribes, numbering 439,600 families, viz. : 15 Turkish with 92,000 families,
18 Kurdish with 149,600,9 Lur with 157,000, and 8 Arab with 41,000 families.
Every five families being obliged to furnish one armed horseman, Persia’s
irregular cavalry consists theoretically of 87,900 men, but this number can
be increased considerably. Since the introduction of regular infantry
the irregular cavalry has been somewhat neglected, and has, in consequence,
much declined in efficiency. The Kurds make the best cavalry. The
‘ gholaim,' who form the bodyguard of the Shah and other members of the
royal family, number about 8,000, the Shah having 2,000 and Abbas Mirza
1,800. It is not possible to estimate the number of the irregular infantry,
which, since the introduction of sarbaz and janbaz, is used only for
garrisoning fortresses.
“ Before the outbreak of the war Erivan, Abbasabad, Serdarabad, Teheran,
and Meshed were garrisoned by Mazandarani tufangchis numbering 5,000
altogether. The sarbaz consisted of the following foj (battalions) :
“ 1 Khaseh (Guards).
“1 Tabriz.
“ 1 Mazandaran.
“ 1 Nakhchivan.
“ 2 Erivan.
“ 2 Shakaki.
“ 1 Maragha.
“ 1 Germs.
“ 2 Urumia or Afshar (with the remains of Colonel Drouville’s
dragoons).
“ 1 Russian deserters.
. “ 1 Khoi.
within fifty paces of the Russians, halted, and commenced a sharp fire by
platoons. Paskievitch charged their line in front and Hank, a mode of attack
which puzzled them, and they were soon completely bioken ; but he confesses
that the fate of Georgia was for a moment doubtful. . . .”
* Fowler, mentioning that the Petersburg newspapers reported that the
Russian troops took Tabriz after an obstinate resistance on the part of the
Persians, and captured a number of colours, also that the governor of the
city gave up its keys, states that there was no resistance whatever, Colonel
Espejo riding into the town unmolested with a few Cossacks ; Paskievitch
came later; that the eight “captured colours,” which he afterwaids saw iii
Jh? Kremlin at Moscow with the inscription, “Taken by Count Erivansky at
Tabriz,” had been ordered in the bazar long after the arrival of the Russians
and duly shot at before despatch to Moscow, and that the keys had been
specially made by “ M. A. Khan,” who was instructed to make them look as
ancient as possible. He observed that there were fifteen keys, although
Tabriz had only seven gates.