Russo-Persian War (1722–1723) in the context of "Shirvan"

The Persian expedition of Catherine the Great of 1796, like the Persian expedition of Peter the Great (1722–1723), was one of the Russo-Persian Wars of the 18th century which did not entail any lasting consequences for either belligerent.

The last decades of the 18th century were marked by continual strife between rival claimants to the Peacock Throne. Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (r. 1762–1796) took advantage of the disorder to consolidate her control over the weak polities of the Caucasus, which was, for swaths of it, an integral Persian domain. The kingdom of Georgia, a subject of the Persians for many centuries, became a Russian protectorate in 1783, when King Erekle II signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, whereby the Empress promised to defend him in the case of Iranian attack. The shamkhals of Tarki followed this lead and accepted Russian protection three years later.

The Russo-Persian Wars (Russian: Русско-персидские войны Rússko-Persídskije Vóiny), or the Russo-Iranian Wars (Persian: جنگ‌های ایران و روسیه Janghâ-ye Irân va Russīye), began in 1651 and continued intermittently until 1828. They consisted of five conflicts in total, each rooted in both sides' disputed governance of territories and countries in the Caucasus, particularly Arran (modern-day Azerbaijan), Georgia, and Armenia, as well as much of Dagestan. Generally referred to as Transcaucasia, this region was considered to be part of Persia prior to the 17th century. Between the War of 1722–1723 and the War of 1796, there was an interbellum period in which a number of treaties were drawn up between the two nations themselves and between them and the neighbouring Ottoman Empire; Turkish interest in the Caucasian territories further complicated the Russo-Persian Wars, as the two belligerents started forming alliances with the Ottoman Empire at different points of the conflict. Finally, as a consequence of the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Persians ceded much of their Transcaucasian holdings to Russia, thus concluding the War of 1826–1828 and resolving their dispute.