The battle of Kars is one of the most important although less well-known in history as there the Ottoman Empire suffered heavy blood and was severely humiliated. The battle was the last major conflict of the Persian-Ottoman War (1743-46) and one of the greatest victories of the great Persian shah and general Nadir.
In the summer of 1745, Nadir was informed that two large Ottoman armies had invaded his territories, one heading towards Kars and the other towards Mosul. He himself had fallen seriously ill after the hard campaign in Dagestan but nevertheless, carried on a stretcher by his men, he decided to face the double threat . After allocating part of the army to the defense of Mosul, he himself with about 80,000 men moved towards Kars.
At the same time the head of the northern Ottoman army, Yegen Mohamed Pasha, with his 140,000 men moved from Kars to the west. Nadir followed him and encamped in the hills of Jegevard. The Ottoman Pasha then approached the Persian camp and ordered the creation of a fortified camp at a distance of about 10 km from the enemy camp.
On August 9, Gegen Pasha left the fortified camp with his entire army and took up positions facing the Persians. The Turkish commander deployed 40,000 infantry, mainly janissaries, and 50,000 cavalry in each wing.
Nadir also had 40,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry. He lined up his infantry against the janissaries covering it on the flanks with cavalry divisions. But he kept in reserve the most and the best of his horsemen.
Massacre on the plain
The Persian infantry of the time was highly trained. Nadir took advantage of this by launching against the janissaries. The Persians came within shooting distance, made a massive salvo, and then charged with swords against the Turks.
The janissaries responded in kind and before long the two masses of infantry found themselves fighting fiercely from the cluster. Gegen Pasha let the infantry battle develop without attempting to attack with his numerous cavalry which was inferior to the Persian in quality.
The battle continued in this manner until the afternoon when Nadir decided the time had come to intervene. He mounted his horse and, placing himself at the head of his elite horsemen, charged against the Turks, striking the right flank of the Turkish infantry , passing through the gap that Gegen had badly left between the infantry and cavalry of his right wing.
The onslaught of Nadir's thousands of determined horsemen swept everything away. Although the brave Nadir lost two horses to the enemy fire and was in serious danger of being killed, his well-timed charge achieved its purpose. The Turks were paralyzed. A body of 15,000 strong horsemen fled without even fighting. Thousands of Turks fell and the rest retreated badly - badly.
Environment
As darkness fell, however, Nadir pursued them no further. But the next day, at first light, he sent a regiment to cut off the supply route of the Turks who were still missing their wounds. Gradually Nadir created an iron fence around the Turkish camp from whom, although they tried, they could not escape.
The Turkish commander attempted to break the blockade by massively using his artillery. But Nadir responded in kind and the better-trained Persian archers easily won the duel. . Guegen attempted on the night of August 10 to slip away with his army. Nadir left the Turks to leave their fortified camp but surrounded them again in an open field where they could not defend themselves as easily.
Gegen and his men, unable to move, their morale at a nadir, remained encircled awaiting help from the other Turkish army marching towards Mosul. On August 19, however, Nadir received the message that this Turkish army had also been crushed. So he saw fit to ask Gegen to surrender. Persian envoys arrived at the makeshift Turkish camp where they found chaos...
The soldiers had mutinied and Gégen was dead – either by suicide or murdered by his own men. And when the Turks saw the Persians, they threw away their weapons and everything that weighed them down and fled in disorder shouting "people of the prophet run!" Of course the Persian cavalry pursued them and destroyed them.
Thus ended the conflict with the complete annihilation of the Turkish army. The Persian Army suffered 8,000 casualties, the vast majority of them all on the first day of the battle. On the contrary, the Turks lost 50,000 men, dead, wounded and prisoners. It was a perfect victory.
The battle of Karas, August 9, 1745.