Javad Khan (); 1748 – 1804) was a member of Ziyadoghlu Qajar, a clan of the Qajar tribe, as well as the sixth and the last khan of the Ganja Khanate from 1786 to 1804 before it was annexed by the Russian Empire.
Background
Javad was born in 1748 to Shahverdi Khan and his wife Sharafjahan Khanum. He fled to Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh in 1778 when his elder half-brother Muhammad Khan of Ganja usurped the throne and started to kill all his relatives.
Early reign
Javad Khan succeeded his brother Rahim Khan after his deposition through Georgian-Karabakh intervention in 1786. With the accession to power, Javad Khan faced a threat from Georgia. In order to somehow appease Heraclius II, Ibrahim Khan decided to cede Shamkhor to Georgia. He managed to convince Javad Khan that such a step is being taken for the sake of the security of Ganja from Georgia. Javad Khan's representative, Armenian melik Misael (head of Gazakh Armenians), Ibrahim Khalil's envoy Hazrat Qoli and Prince Kaikhosro Andronikashvili (Georgian ambassador to Karabakh) went to report to Heraclius that Ganja has no claims to Shamkhor. In turn, the representative of Javad Khan, melik Misail, reported that as a sign of friendship, Javad sends half of his annual income to the king. However, at the insistence of colonel Stepan Burnashev, head of the Russian military-diplomatic mission in Georgia, Heraclius refused the treaty and demanded from Ibrahim Khalil to abandon Ganja to his authority in full.
Outraged by these demands of Heraclius, the envoys of Karabakh returned home. These events greatly worsened relations with Georgia, and by the end of 1786 they took on a clearly hostile character. At the beginning of 1787, Heraclius, who had up to 6000 soldiers under arms, suggested that colonel Burnashev make a joint Russian-Georgian campaign against Ganja and Karabakh. However, pursuing a wait-and-see policy, Burnashev evaded this proposal, arguing that Karabakh was allegedly an Iranian possession thus attacking it could potentially resume hostilities with Iran. Heraclius also supported the Armenian meliks Abov and Mejlum - respectively meliks of Gulistan and Jraberd - who had been at enmity with the khan of Karabakh all these years. Armenians from the territory of the Ganja Khanate in the amount of 2500 households also decided to move to Georgia under the leadership of melik Misail, the former envoy of Javad Khan. However, melik Misail could not put his plan into practice, because he was soon arrested by the supporters of Javad Khan.
Yet another unrest started the same year in Ganja, trying to use opportunity in September 1787, a combined Georgian and Russian army under the command of Colonel Burnashev marched to Ganja. However, Ibrahim Khalil Khan's march on Armenian meliks and stopped any hope for support from southern side. However, the meliks, who had been waiting for this campaign for a long time, turned to Heraclius II with a request to help them resettle in Georgia. Heraclius II sent a 4000-strong army led by Prince Orbeliani and his son Prince Iulon to help them. The negotiations that began with Javad Khan were suddenly interrupted, because on September 13 an order came from Pavel Potemkin on the immediate withdrawal of Russian battalions from the South Caucasus due to the start of the Russian-Turkish war. Burnashev, who, nevertheless, wanted to fulfill the order of Heraclius, but couldn't waive the order of his superiors, stayed at Ganja for another three days. His request, sent by courier to Potemkin, to leave the battalion in Georgia at least until spring, was also rejected. In early October 1787, Burnashev's Russian battalions left for Vladikavkaz. After a series of battles and depriving of one more ally, the Georgian troops were also forced to retreat. A fragile peace ensued and the Georgian king Erekle II granted Javad Khan control over Shamshadil, in return Javad returned part of the inhabitants of Borchali and Qazakh to the Georgian king.
Meanwhile, Heraclius II managed to establish diplomatic relations with Fath Ali Khan of Quba. For this purpose, Prince Georgi Tsitsishvili and Gurgen bek Enikolopashvili were Georgian ambassadors to Quba, while Mirza Rahim, Fatali Khan's envoy Haji, was sent to Tiflis. This circumstance made it possible for Heraclius not only to strengthen his rear, but also to have an ally in the fight against the Karabakh Khan, who dominated Ganja. In December 1788, Heraclius now allied with Fath Ali Khan of Quba and Muhammad Hasan Khan of Shaki was able to capture the outskirts of Ganja. In early 1789, Georgian troops led by the son of Heraclius, Prince Vakhtang, defeated Javad Khan. The matter worsened for Karabakh by the fact that the ally of Ibrahim Khan, Umma Khan of the Avar Khanate, due to illness, could not help his ally.
Fatali Khan and Muhammad Hasan Khan met with King Heraclius in January 1789, inside the Ganja Khanate, on the left bank of the Shamkhor River. Javad Khan also took part in this meeting, shortly before that he presented the “keys to the fortress” to the Quba Khan. Allies worked out a plan of coordinated actions against Karabakh Khanate and divided the spheres of influence: Heraclius took the entire South Caucasus, Fatali Khan was to control Iranian Azerbaijan. Heraclius II and Fatali Khan decided to actively fight against the newly rising threat of Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar and "act ... under the auspices of Russia," according to contemporary historian Abbasqulu Bakikhanov. Heraclius decided to return the Shamshadil to the Ganja, but received a certain autonomy. However, immediately after the meeting Fath Ali Khan fell ill, left for Baku to stay with his sister and died there on 22 March 1789, which made it easier for Javad Khan to resume his reign.
Later reign
Year 1789 also marked the start of the reign of Agha Muhammad in Iran. Javad Khan was the first to submit to him and acknowledge him as shah. In August 1795, Agha Mohammad Khan crossed the Aras river with a 70,000-strong army.Donald Rayfield (2013).Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia Reaktion Books, p. 255 This force was divided in three: the left wing was sent in the direction of Erivan, the right one parallel to the Caspian Sea into the Mughan across the lower Aras towards Dagestan and Shirvan, while the Shah headed the centre force himself, advancing towards the fortress of Shusha in the Karabakh Khanate, which he besieged between 8 July and 9 August 1795. Having abandoned the siege of Shusha due to stiff resistance, which was further aided by Georgian crown prince Aleksandre, the Khan of Karabakh, Ibrahim Khan, eventually surrendered to Agha Mohammad Khan after discussions. He paid a regular tribute and surrendered hostages, though the Qajar forces were still denied entrance to Shusha. Since the main objective was Georgia, Agha Mohammad Khan was willing to have Karabakh secured by this agreement for now, for he and his army subsequently moved further. While at Ganja, having secured Shirvan, he was joined by Javad Khan, Armenian meliks Abov and Mejlum and the rest of his right wing contingent.
At Ganja, Agha Mohammad Khan sent Heraclius II his last ultimatum, inviting him to submit. However, receiving no reply, the shah marched on Tiflis, guided by Javad. After a three-day battle which resulted in the destruction of the Georgian forces, Agha Mohammad Khan and his army marched into Tiflis. Massacring, burning, and plundering the city for 9 days and taking thousands as slaves, the shah left the city in ruins and moved on to capture Shaki and Shirvan Khanates. Having lost his patron after the departure of the Iranian troops for Khorasan, Javad Khan tried to smooth out his relations with Heraclius. However, in February 1796 Heraclius sent a 3000-strong army to Ganja under the leadership of his son Alexander to punish Javad for siding with the Qajar shah. But the latter's army soon deserted him. Immediately after him, Ibrahim Khalil and his brother-in-law Umma Khan besieged Ganja in March 1796. While Heraclius was gathering the army for the second time, Ibrahim Khan began negotiations with Javad Khan, and as soon as the news of the departure of Heraclius' troops from Tiflis reached him, he concluded an alliance with Ganja. Having taken from him an indemnity in the amount of 10,000 rubles and Javad's son and sister as hostages, the Karabakh khan retreated from the fortress. The Avar Khan was content with the fact that he received 40 rubles for each of his warriors and also returned to his own domain.
When in May 1796 the troops of Heraclius II approached the walls of Ganja, they were able to return 400 prisoners who were in Ganja and, not wanting to complicate the situation, returned to Tiflis, waiting for promised Russian support, as Queen Catherine used the sack of Tiflis to justify an invasion of the South Caucasus in March 1796, and issued a manifesto, written in Persian and Armenian, addressed to all the khans and other lords. Thus, Persian Expedition of 1796 started, which was headed by Russian general Valerian Zubov. Javad Khan, in his September appeal to Zubov, mentioning the Iranian threat, asked for the speedy arrival of Russian troops in Ganja. Such a motivation, apparently, was chosen by Javad Khan to please the Russian government, to whose protection he wanted to join due to the threat from Karabakh and Kartli-Kakheti.
Soon on December 13, a detachment of Russian troops reached Ganja and occupied the fortress without resistance. Javad Khan personally presented the keys to the city gates, trying to show himself as a loyal man and even signed swore of fealty.Dubrovin (1886), p. 184-185 Then, at the request of the Russian general, Javad Khan was forced to clear the fortress from the inhabitants and place a Russian garrison in it. He himself received permission to stay with his family in the fortress for a maximum of 6 days. However, this occupation didn't last much as Catherine soon died and Paul I recalled Russian troops back. However, the Russian government did not want to deal with the recalcitrant and unreliable Javad Khan in the future. In this regard, according to Abbasqulu Bakikhanov, "when the Russians left the Ganja fortress, they gave it not to him (i.e. Javad Khan), but to the Georgian Wali - Heraclius Khan of Georgia. Ibrahim Khan of Karabakh and Selim Khan of Sheki came with troops to Ganja in order to approve Ali-Sultan of Shamshadil as its ruler on behalf of Heraclius Khan. Javad Khan wanted to escape, but his wife Shukufa Khanum stopped him and sent Ali Sultan a reminder that when he was in prison and was doomed to death, she asked Javad Khan for freedom and forgiveness. Touched by the memory, Ali-Sultan immediately appeared to Javad Khan, submitted to him and renounced all claims to control. Then the people and all other khans, marveling at his generosity, left Javad Khan with his dignity". Javad Khan again managed to maintain his power in Ganja. Soon Agha Muhammad returned to Caucasus in 1797 after his Khorasan campaign to punish Azerbaijani khans for submission to Russia. Javad hoping for his old merits, at the demand of Agha Muhammad Shah, in early June, appeared in Shusha. But, accusing Javad Khan of not showing resistance to the Russians, Agha Muhammad Shah, under the threat of execution, imprisoned him. But his campaign cut short on June 17, 1797 when he was assassinated in Shusha fortress. Javad Khan, using the opportunity, escaped from prison.
Last years