In From the Kur to the Aras George A. Bournoutian presents, for the first time, the military history of the First Russo-Iranian War using both Russian and Iranian primary sources of the period.

"In From the Kur to the Aras George A. Bournoutian presents the first military history of the Russian advance into the South Caucasus in 1801 and the ensuing First Russo-Iran War (1804-1813) that was a crucial step in the Russian Empire's eventual expansion into the Caucasus region. Using both Iranian and Russian primary sources, the work vividly describes the strategies, military capabilities and personalities that clashed for ten years, ending with the Treaty of Golestan. Numerous and illustrative maps, as well as informative appendices, add to a balanced view of a struggle between and ancient and an emerging empire"--

After the destructive decades following the fall of the Safavid Empire, the Qajar dynasty inherited a weakened state and the growing threat of European imperial powers, culminating in two wars with Russia. In this book, Maziar Behrooz provides a history of the Qajar dynasty's navigation of this difficult period, beginning with the reign of Aqa Muhammad Shah and ending with that of Fath Ali Shah. Examining the key decisions taken by Qajar, Russian, British and other actors, the book argues that a reevaluation of the early-Qajar period is required, one which acknowledges the failures of its rulers, while recognising the external constraints they were under, and their successes in reuniting a formerly fragmented state in the face of overwhelming technological, economic and military firepower.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1862.