# Battle of Meghri

The Battle of Meghri (Armenian: Մեղրիի ճակատամարտ) took place in the spring of 1725 at Meghri Fortress as part of the ongoing Armenian rebellion in Syunik in what is now the Syunik region of Armenia, in the modern-day city of Meghri, between the Armenian forces under the leadership of David Bek and the Ottoman army.

## Background

The main account of the Battle of Meghri comes from the mid-eighteenth-century Armenian work Patmutiun Ghapantsvots (Armenian: Պատմութիւն Ղափանցւոց) by Ghukas Sebastatsi. The battle took place amidst a larger military campaign launched by the Ottoman Empire in the 1720s to secure control over the South Caucasus. The Ottomans encountered fierce resistance by local Armenian princes and lords in Syunik, especially near the town of Meghri which had prevented the Ottomans from crossing the Araxes river down south into Iran, with David Bek, and Bayindur at the head of small make-shift forces.
The Meghri fortress was one of the important border fortresses of the Syunik principality and had a garrison of 400 men. Among the commanders of the Meghri fortress are the names of Kostandin, Hovhannes, Sari, and Arakel. The garrison command decided to arm all civilians within Meghri and the small number of villagers who had taken refuge in the settlement, including women.
The Armenian principality of Kapan found itself in a contradictory situation on the eve of the invasion of the main Ottoman forces. With the liberation of Vorotnaberd on March 29, 1724, the territory of the principality had become fairly complete and was fully controlled by the Armenian military forces under the command of David Bek.
   The hostile garrisons of the Vorotna and Zevu fortresses were destroyed. The semi-sedentary population of the Muslim settlements of Kurdlar, Kis, and the villages of the Levazi gorge (Damali, Shrdi, Pirena, Taghamer) that had the character of "winter shelters" were expelled and partially exterminated outside the borders of Ghapan. The nomads were severely beaten on the Uchtapalar plateau, in Chavndur, and elsewhere. With its impregnable geographical location, purely Armenian population, and warlike and experienced military, Ghapan seemed to be reviving the once powerful national power of the Syunik kings and the Orbelians .
The Ottoman invasion had quickly became a challenge for Shah Tahmasp II, the inability to withstand the Ottoman threat which was approaching the strategic city of Ganja forced the Shah to pursue a policy of courting the command of the Sghnakhs of Artsakh, but his attitude towards the military power of Syunik was negative. The Shah perceived the existence of the authority created by David Bek as a factor disrupting the unity of the rear of the army of the Khan of Yerevan, while the authority, located far from the main communication route of the Persian army ( Tabriz - Nakhchivan - Yerevan ), could not pose a direct threat to the defense system of the Ararat Valley. The khans of Bargushat, Ordubad, Nakhchivan and others, encouraged by the central authorities, did not stop their encroachments. This policy gave the expected "result". At the decisive moment it turned out that they were unable to significantly hinder the advance of the Ottoman army. In August 1724, the Ottomans captured most of present day Armenia, including Nakhichevan and Ordubad which were both of vital strategic importance due to their presence on the Araxes river. The Armenians of Syunik and Artsakh were hence, left alone in the struggle against the Ottoman army.
In the fall of 1724, the command of the Ottoman army moved the fighting to the territory of Goghtn which roughly corresponds to the modern day territory of the Ordubad District. The anti-Armenian stance of the khans contributed to their advance, with Levazi Khan Sefiquli playing a major role in this. In the summer of 1724, the khan, who had suffered several humiliating defeats from the commander of the Chavdurs, known as Toros, retreated to Vordvat. In 1725, Sefiquli managed to unite forces with the troops of the sons of Ordubad's khan and the presumably, Ottoman Sheikh-ul-Islam and marched with an army of 8,000 to Meghri. On the way, Davit Bek marched towards them with a 4,000-strong regiment. He arrived at Kaler, where he attacked the Ottomans and their local Muslim allies in the morning. The Ottomans, seeing David Bek's army, tried to prevent him from crossing the Meghri River and hence took up positions to combat the approaching Armenian army.
The battle lasted a whole day with the Ottomans suffering heavy casualties, and hence being forced to retreat to the starting lines of the battle. Thinking that his advance was no longer possible, David Bek led his army to the Halidzor fortress. Just a day after the departure of the main Armenian forces, the expected help from nearby Ottoman forces had arrived. Together with the 12,000-strong force from Tabriz and Gharadagh, the number of Ottoman troops reached 18,000 in total. Several other Ottoman military units were conducting combat operations on the right bank of the Araks, but Sefiquli did not resort to their help. Destroying the Armenian villages along the way, the Ottomans moved towards Meghri concentrating their forces near Meghri, blocking the retreat routes of the local inhabitants of Meghri from the now besieged town.

## Battle
### Initial Attack

The defenders of the village were divided into three parts and took up positions in three districts. The defenders of Meghri were able to successfully repel the first attacks with the right tactics, but they could not resist for long alone and turned to the Armenians of Kaler and Chavndur for help.
   The Meghretians sent a messenger to the Gurham province, Kaler, saying, 'Here are the Ottoman troops, they have captured our small district. And if you don't come to our aid now in two days, we will not be able to resist their army.' And when the messenger reached them, Stepannos Vardanyan, who was from the Shahumyan house and the Ekdastyan village (who was both the deputy and deputy of the Pap military commander), immediately set out at night and went to the Chavndur province, to the military commander Payintur (Bayindur), and informed him that the Meghretians were impatient and in danger.
On the morning of the fifth day of the siege, the Ottomans gathered all their forces and, taking into account previous failures, prepared for the final attack. The Ottomans managed to capture Meghri Pokr Tagh in the second half of the day. While crossing the river over the bridge and through the shallows, a new battle began, which continued until the late evening. In order to gather the necessary forces, the besiegers of Meghri belatedly turn to the nearby Ottoman military units stationed on the opposite bank of the Araxes river. The latter agree, but warned that it will take a day to cross the river and unite with the forces on the northern bank of the Araxes river. Sefiquli had hence now changed the battle plan with a new attack planned to begin at noon the next day, in order to wait for the military units rushing to help and combine their strength.

### Night Attack

After the fierce battle, both sides began to recover as they were tired after fighting without replacements all day. After the decisive attack was stopped, the Armenians prepared for a night raid in efforts of defeating and forcing the Ottomans into retreat. At the same time, the defenders of the fortress realized that the raid might not yield the expected result and hence saw a decrease of morale, though this was minor and insignificant to the outcome.
   "The brave and courageous troops of the Meghri performed feats that night. Crossing the other bank of the river, they unexpectedly entered the enemy army and slaughtered many of them with swords, while the son of Shahislam fled to the city of Orduvar with two thousand men. But because the troops of Meghri were few, they were unable to completely annihilate and eliminate them from there, and they returned to Meghri."
The unexpected attack had yielded great results for the Armenian defenders. The units that crossed the river to the opposite bank had caused significant losses and put the Ottomans to flight, though the Meghretians did not pursue the fleeing Ottomans for long. Having successfully completed their night attack, the Meghretians returned to their starting positions at dawn. Due to the irregular retreat of Ottoman units during the night and the large number of casualties they suffered, the Ottomans were unable to restore the broken order of battle and dissatisfied with the repeated failures, the son of the Ottoman Sheikh-ul-Islam had left the camp of the united army, retreating to Vordvat with his 2,000-strong unit.

### Arrival of Reinforcements

While fighting was going on in Meghri, preparations began immediately after a Armenian courier arrived in Kaler to help. Since the forces in Kaler were insufficient, it was decided to involve the units of Chavndur as well. A unit of about 2,000 men was assembled, which was led by the commander Bayindur, and had begun to move towards Meghri. The rapid mobilization and the maintenance of all the necessary measures for movement during the march are evidence of the internal organization of the newly established Kapan government and the high mobilization capabilities. Bayindur led the unit on a march immediately after the mobilization, which made it possible to cover most of the road in the evening, reach the town of Mazran and spend the night there. Bayindur had learned about the Ottomans units operating on the opposite bank of the Araks. After a short pause, after midnight, Bayindur led the unit up, when the Ottomans soldiers were asleep after the night commotion, and reached the Mets Tagh of Meghri.

### Final Attack

Bayindur informs the defense forces of Meghri town about the intelligence information he knows about the military units deployed on the other bank of the Araks. In order to prevent the unification of the Ottoman forces, the Armenians decide to launch a new offensive. The commander also involvesd all the forces of the people of Meghri who have been in battles the entire previous day and who participated in the night offensive. The Armenian commander Bayindur, had reached Meghri with his 2,000-strong army in complete secrecy, bypassing all the Ottoman observation posts. In response to the commotion that began on the walls of the fortress, Bayindur does not take preventive measures. Excluding the possibility of an offensive, the soldiers are allowed to sleep in the morning.
   The Meghretians hastily prepared food for them (those who came to help). Then Payintur, who was the prince and the commander of the army that came with him, did not let them go, saying: "We will not eat anything until we drive away our enemies by the mercy of God"... Because the day before, the foreigners had written to the Ottoman soldiers who were on the other side of the Yerask River to come and help them, and they were ready to come in many regiments to help them.
The situation was favorable for the Armenians. General Bayindur decided to divide the forces into three equal parts: “each regiment with eight hundred and sixty armed men.” The Armenian commander sent the units into the attack in a staggered formation, the purpose of which was to create conditions for the fire of a large number of Ottomans during the battle, as a result of which it would be possible to defeat them. No reserves were set aside to increase the power of the first strike of a small number of forces. From the point of view of military art, it is exceptional that the attack should be initiated not by the advancing wings, but by the center remaining behind. That idea of the Armenians provided an opportunity to overtake the Turkish camp from the first minutes, to strike the first blow with a big forehead, to leave maximum freedom of action for the fire of units armed with firearms, and to if possible, move the wings even further forward and turn the wing pass into a bypass.
   Then (Bayindur) sent one regiment forward to face the Ottomans, and the other two regiments shouted and celebrated, and attacked the Ottomans troops from the right and left, and from the sixteenth hour of the day to the twentieth hour, they surrounded them, and took among them the multitude of the lawless troops, and that day they massacred more than eleven thousand of them, and they pursued the others to Orduvar, and Haji Shapi, who was the most prominent, was arrested.
The Armenian attack began at noon when most of the Ottomans were asleep, some of the Ottoman troops who wake up in the morning are not armed and dressed. The center unit begins the battle, which is almost equal in number to the forces that participated in the Meghri night attack. The Ottomans were not aware of the forces that came to the aid of the defenders of the fortress. The Ottomans, alarmed, raised their troops without forming a battle order, after which they launch a counterattack. The units of the wings arrive on the battlefield and attack the Ottoman wings gathered against the center wing. The second blow was even more unexpected for the Ottomans, who had not yet formed a battle formation, whose units quickly turned to the right and left. Under heavy crossfire (flank fire), the Ottomans tried to retreat to escape the flanking blows. The Ottomans tried to escape through the remaining corridor under crossfire from both sides.
The Ottoman center began to retreat, and the wings - in the opposite direction of the Armenian military units lined up in front of them, blocking the retreat of the center forces. Taking advantage of the panic that has arisen among the Ottomans, the Armenian military units in the center begin to move forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Ottomans, who maintain a numerical superiority, thanks to which they manage to slow down the advance of the Armenian center. After the retreat of the Ottomans wings, the relatively liberated Armenian wings move forward and begin to surround those remaining on the battlefield. The latter, after several unsuccessful attempts to retreat, stop their attempts at resistance and surrender. The commander of the Ottoman military unit is also taken prisoner by the Armenians. The Ottoman troops, concentrated not far from the battlefield, on the other bank of the Araks do not cross the river and retreat. This frees the Armenian troops from the threat of a flank attack, with the Armenian troops pursuing the retreating troops all the way to Vordvat. And by that, effectively routing the Ottoman army from Meghri and securing a victory over the Ottoman invasion.

## Aftermath

The liberation movement organized in Syunik and Artsakh led to the creation of autonomous Armenian principalities. Neighboring countries also took this reality into account. Evidence of this is the Persian court's recognition of the authority of David Bek and his successor, Mkhitar Sparapet. Taking into account the Ottoman threat, Shah Tahmasp II offered David Bek an alliance in the fight against the invasive Ottoman hordes. The next step in strengthening the emerging Armenian-Iranian military-political union was the Shah's granting David Bek the right to mint his own currency. In that historical period, this meant de facto recognition of the independence of the Armenian principality of Syunik. Meanwhile, the Battle of Meghri became one of the most important battles of the Syunik rebellion and sparked further hopes for independence amongst the Armenians of Syunik.