Aliaga Ismail aga oglu Shikhlinsky was born on April 23, 1865 in the village of Gazakhly, Gazakh region. In 1876 he graduated from a private gymnasium in Tbilisi, in 1883 - a military gymnasium in Tbilisi, in 1886 - an artillery school in St. Petersburg. Having been assigned to Alexandropol (Gyumri) in the 39th artillery brigade, he served in this brigade until 1900 and rose to the rank of captain. In 1900, Shikhlinsky, sent to the artillery division in Transbaikalia, was temporarily appointed as the acting commander of the 2nd battery instead of Samed-bey Mehmandarov, who was sent to St. Petersburg for a 6-month course in May 1902. Shikhlinsky participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 as part of the 4th East Siberian Rifle Brigade. For his courage during the war, Shikhlinsky was awarded 4 orders, the rank of lieutenant colonel and a number of valuable gifts.

Shikhlinsky in May 1905 was sent to the 15th artillery brigade of the Odessa military district, and a year later - to the Artillery officer school in Tsarskoye Selo. Although he finished his studies in August 1906 and returned to the brigade, in early 1907 Shikhlinsky was again invited to the same school to teach artillery. In 1908, while working there, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. Shikhlinsky, who in 1912 was awarded the rank of major general, in 1914 served for some time as the head of the artillery officer school in Tsarskoye Selo.

In September 1914, Shikhlinsky became the head of the defense of Petrograd from artillery fire. At the beginning of 1915, he was sent to command the North-Western Front, and from May of the same year he was appointed commander-in-chief. In April 1916, Shikhlinsky was appointed inspector of artillery on the Western Front. Shikhlinsky, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in April 1917, was appointed commander of the 10th Army of the Western Front on September 10 of the same year. However, two months later, Shikhlinsky was relieved of this post for health reasons and sent to the reserve of the Caucasian Military District.

For his service in the Russian army, Shikhlinsky was awarded all three degrees of the Order of St. Stanislav, all four degrees of the Order of St. Anna, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees of the Order of St. Vladimir, the 4th degree of the Order of St. George the Victorious, was awarded foreign orders and medals, valuable gifts.

On December 11, 1917, the Muslim Corps was organized. Shikhlinsky had been appointed as its commander. Under his leadership, the officers and command staff of two infantry divisions, a special cavalry brigade and two rifle and artillery brigades included in the golden corps were formed, the foundations of military service among the Azerbaijani population were laid, combat training of troops was organized, an attempt was made to create the first military school for the training of national frames. Shikhlinsky was also the commander of the Separate Azerbaijan Corps, created on the basis of the Muslim Corps on June 26, 1918. He repeatedly traveled to the front line to control and organize the combat activities of the Azerbaijani military units and volunteer detachments that were part of the Caucasian Islamic Army, and during the operation to liberate Baku (1918) he was directly involved in the management of the battles from the headquarters around the city.

On December 29, 1918, Shikhlinsky was appointed a Deputy Minister of Defence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, he was entrusted with the management of artillery and fortification units, as well as military educational and technical institutions, an artillery and fortification warehouse. At the beginning of 1919, Shikhlinsky was appointed a chairman of the commission that compiled the salary tables for troops, departments and enterprises. This commission was also instructed to prepare a draft uniform for the personnel of the Azerbaijani army.

On January 10, 1919, Shikhlinsky was appointed a member of the Provisional Military Council of the Ministry of Defense. He was instructed to prepare the charter of the Military Council. He was also a member of the established Small and Large Military Councils. The meetings of the latter were chaired by Shikhlinsky. In addition, he chaired a donation committee set up to help thousands of Turkish citizens affected by the genocide committed by Armenians in the Turkish province of Aydin. In this regard, on March 16, 1920, he addressed the citizens of Azerbaijan.

After the April occupation (1920), Shikhlinsky, who did not serve long in the ranks of the Red Army, was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in June 1920. But thanks to the intervention of Nariman Narimanov, he was released from prison. In August 1920, when Shikhlinsky and S. Mekhmandarov were sent to Moscow to work in the General Staff, N. Narimanov wrote to V. I. Lenin: “... To strengthen our position and in order to help our common cause, we decided to send they are at your disposal for work at headquarters, as they are indispensable as military specialists. One of them, Shikhlinsky, was considered the "god of artillery" in the tsarist army ... " In the summer of 1921, both of them returned to Azerbaijan and were accepted into the service of the People's Commissariat of the military and navy. Shikhlinsky was appointed deputy chairman of the military scientific society of the Baku garrison, in 1924 deputy head of the Azerbaijan Joint Military School, and in 1925 editor of the Azerbaijan Military Translation Board. For health reasons, he retired in 1929.

Shikhlinsky introduced innovations in artillery theory ("Shikhlinsky's triangle", "Shikhlinsky's formula"). Shikhlinsky is the author of such articles and books as; "The use of field artillery at the front", "Russian-Turkish Concise Military Dictionary", "Shooting over the heads of their troops", "War of the Future", "Features of artillery fire in the mountains", etc. In 1942, Shikhlinsky wrote his memoirs at the suggestion of the prominent Azerbaijani thinker Heydar Huseynov, who was then deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. The book was published nine months after the death of the general - in May 1944. This book was published in "Azernashra" in 1984 with additions and explanations in Azerbaijani and Russian in mass circulation (60 thousand books).

Aliaga Shikhlinsky died on August 18, 1943 in Baku.

Recommended literature:

1. Nəzirli, Şəmistan Əmiraslan oğlu. General Əliağa Şıxlinski ömrü / Ş. Ə. Nəzirli ; red. K. Vəliyev. - Bakı : Uğur NPM, 2005. - 248 s.
2. Nəzirli, Şəmistan Əmiraslan oğlu. General Əliağa Şıxlinski və silahdaşları : hərb tarixindən araşdırmalar / Ş. Ə. Nəzirli ; elmi. məsl. M. S. Süleymanov ; red. P. Səmədova. - Bakı : n. y., 2012. - 494 s.
3. Нәзирли, Шәмистан Әмираслан оғлу. Азәрбајҹан ҝенераллары / Ш. Ә. Нәзирли ; ред. Т. Мухтарова. - Бакы : Ҝәнҹлик, 1991. - 204,[16] с.
4. Шыхлински, Әлиаға Исмајыл оғлу. Хатирәләрим / Ә. И. Шыхлински ; гејд. Ш. Ә. Нәзирли. - Бакы : Азәрнәшр, 1984. - 218,[12] с.
5. Назирли, Шамистан Амраслан оглы. Расстрелянные генералы Азербайджана / Ш. А. Назирли ; пер.: Р. Бабаева, М. Мамедова, Э. Шарифова-Сейшельского ; авт. предисл. Ч. Мамедов ; ред. Ш. Рустамов. - Баку : Bizim kitab, 2015. - 576 с.
6. Ибрагимов, Сабир Давуд оглы. Генерал Али Ага Шихлинский : жизнь и деятельность / С. Д. Ибрагимов. - Баку : Азернешр, 1975. - 138 с.