[1] He received his initial education at the Ganja Male Gymnasium and later entered the Law Faculty of Moscow Imperial University.

[1][7] During his time in the Duma, he sharply criticized the Tsarist policies of resettlement in the outskirts, the ethnic massacres in the Caucasus, and Russia's treatment of Azerbaijanis.

[14][15] In May 1907, the "Defense" organization was founded under his leadership, with the purpose of spreading education and culture among Muslims, protecting legal rights, and punishing those who trample on justice and conscience.

[22][23] To help the people in the region, on March 28, 1918, Ismayil Khan Ziyadkhanov arrived in Shamakhi with a 500-strong cavalry unit he had gathered in Ganja and cleared the city of Molokan and Armenian fighters.

[26][27] On May 28, 1918, General Khosrov Bey Sultanov was appointed as the Minister of Defense in the first cabinet established in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

[35] The forces participating in the Karabakh movement included the 9th and 106th Turkish regiments, national volunteer units, and the 1st Azerbaijani division.

[38][39] On March 25, 1919, Ismayil Khan Ziyadkhanov led an extraordinary diplomatic mission sent by the Azerbaijan Republic to conduct negotiations with the Qajar state in Tehran.

[40][41] They were tasked with initiating initial discussions on opening diplomatic representations of the Azerbaijan Republic in Tehran, Tabriz, Rasht, and Mashhad, as well as preparing general provisions for future conventions on trade,[42] postal and telegraphic services, customs, and agreements regarding sea, rail, and road transportation, and coordinating mutual measures for border protection.

[43][44] On June 4, 1919, Ismayil Khan Ziyadkhanov signed a draft contract consisting of 14 articles with the representative of the Qajar state's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Motesamol Sultan.

[45] As a result of the activities of this mission, agreements were reached on the establishment of the Permanent Diplomatic Representation of the Azerbaijan People's Republic in Tehran and the opening of consulates in several regions of the Qajar state.

He was then shot on Nargin Island on June 6, 1920, by the order of Semyon Pankratov, the head of the Special Department of the Political Administration of the XI Red Army.

[57][58] In 2014, in the Quba Memorial Complex dedicated to the March Genocide and related to the Shamakhi district, there is a section with photos of Ismayil Khan Ziyadkhanov and information about the struggle he led against the Dashnaks during that period.

[59] In 2021, by the decision of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan, the monograph "Ismayil Khan Ziyadkhanov" authored by Enver Chingizoglu and Aydin Ziyadkhanli was published.