A war between these two historic powers ended with one side’s victories at Aslanduz and Lankaran. The author of Woe from Wit was an ambassador of one of these powers to the other when he was killed for sheltering escaped Christian concubines. The southward motion of the border between these two powers from the Terek River to the Aras River ended with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. In a 1722–23 amphibious campaign, one of these powers captured from the other most of the south shore of a shared body of water, including the cities of Rasht, Tarki, and Derbent. One of these powers captured the Erivan and Nakhchivan Khanates from the other, partitioning the lands of the Azeri people. For 10 points, what two powers’ wars over the Caucasus began with Peter the Great launching the Caspian Flotilla against a collapsing Safavid Empire? ■END■
ANSWER: Persian AND Russian Empires [accept Iran or the Safavid Dynasty (until read) or the Qajar Dynasty in place of “Persia”; accept Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Moscow in place of “Russia”] (The author is Alexander Griboyedov.)
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= Average correct buzz position