Ali-Agha Shikhlinski

Ali Agha Ismail Agha oghlu Shikhlinski ( – 18 August 1943) was an Azerbaijani lieutenant-general of the Imperial Russian Army, Deputy Minister of Defense and General of the Artillery of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and a Soviet military officer.

Life and military career

Early life Ali Agha Shikhlinski was born on April 23, 1865, in the village of Kazakhly (now Ashaghy Salakhly), in Kazakh uyezd of Elisavethpol Governate. He wrote that his father, Ismayil Agha, was a member of the Shikhlinski Dynasty, a noble family dating back to as early as 1537. Shikhlinski wrote at the "Officer's Notebook" , a journal he had been working on since 1904, that his mother, Shah Yemen Khanum was the grandchild of Molla Vali Vidadi, an 18th-century poet. Ali Agha Shikhlinsky also had two brothers.

Early military career In August 1876 Shikhlinski entered Tiflis military school and graduated in 1883. thumb

Legacy A short biographical film named "The General", directed by Rauf Kazimovski, was released in 1970. An Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company tanker was named after him in 1980. There is a street in Baku and Gazakh named after him. By the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR dated July 28, 1990, the sixth cotton collective farm in Sabirabad District and 135th secondary school, located in the seventh Micro-District of Baku, was named after him. There is a memorial bass-relief on the building that he lived in. On July 23, 1990, under the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, "General Ali Agha Shikhlinski" scholarship was established for the students of higher education. In 1996, a descendant of the military commander, film director Zia Shikhlinski, made a short documentary film named "Was considered the god of artillery", which was aired on November 16, 2006, in Baku, organized with the assistance of the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan. In 2014, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order on commemorating the 150th anniversary of General Ali Agha Shikhlinski.

A well-known Russian and Soviet military specialist, Doctor of Military Sciences Evgeny Barsukov wrote about him:

Ali Agha Shikhlinski was one of the characters of Russian-Soviet writer Alexander Nikolaevich Stepanov's "Port-Arthur" and "Zvonaryov Family" novels. Despite his rank, there were no signs of arrogance in Ali Agha. Although General Shikhlinski did not finish his military academy, his natural intelligence and practical perception led him to a great influence in artillery science. — Alexander Nikolaevich Stepanov, "Zvonaryov Family" 3rd Class Order of Saint Anne (1896) Bronze Medal "In memory of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty" (1913) Legion of Honour (1913) 3rd Class Order of Saint Vladimir (1913) 1st Class Order of Saint Stanislaus (1915) 1st Class Order of Saint Anne (1915) 2nd Class Order of Saint Vladimir with Swords (1915)