18 August 1721

(18 August) The Sack of Shamakhi occurred when around 15,000 rebellious Sunni Lezgin tribesmen attacked and looted Shamakhi, the capital of Shirvan in the declining Safavid Empire (present-day Azerbaijan). The assault led to a large-scale massacre of the city’s Shia population and the plundering of foreign merchants, including Russian traders.