Battle of Niakhura | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Lekianoba | |||||||
Battle of Iori river by Nikolay Samokish | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Russian Empire Kartli-Kakheti | Avar Khanate | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ivan Lazarev Vasily Gulyakov Prince Ioane Prince Bagrat | Umma Khan (WIA) Prince Alexander (WIA) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Georgians 3,000 – 10,000 men Russians 1,224 men | Avars 18,000 men Georgians 2,000 men | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Russian: 3 men Georgian: 12 men | 2,004 killed and captured [1] 11 banners [2] [3] |
The Battle of Niakhura, also known as the Battle of Iori River or the Battle of Kakabeti, took place on November 7, 1800, during which the army of the Umma Khan, who was together with the opposition Georgian Prince Alexander, invaded the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, suffered a crushing defeat from two Russian battalions of Major Generals Ivan Lazarev and Vasily Gulyakov , together with the Georgian Princes Ioane and Bagrat.
At the end of the 18th century, the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was the object of frequent attacks from the Persian and Ottoman Empires, as well as systematic raids by North Caucasian mountaineers. This caused irreparable damage to both material and human resources of Georgia. At the same time, in the kingdom itself there was an internecine struggle among the reigning Bagrationi dynasty, which acquired a special turn after the death of King Heraclius II in 1798 and the accession of his son from his second marriage, George XII, to the throne. Despite the fact that the raids of the mountaineers caused significant damage to his kingdom, in order to protect himself from his rebellious brothers, was forced to keep up to 7 thousand of mountaineers (Lezgin corps [4] ) in service for a decent salary, ignoring their willfulness (including robberies and violence [5] ) even in Tbilisi itself. To the most influential of the Dagestan rulers of that time, Umma Khan V, George was forced to pay an annual tribute in the amount of 5,000 rubles, only so that he would not disturb his kingdom with raids, but individual Dagestani rulers continued to carry out private raids on Georgian lands. [6] The people were subject to excessive taxes, and the centralization of royal power was virtually abolished to the extreme. [7]
At the beginning of 1798, a plague epidemic (pestilence) was rapidly developing in Eastern Georgia. In view of all these hardships, many residents simply left the country. [7] [6]
The Russian Emperor Paul I did not yet recognize George as the king of Kartli-Kakheti, contrary to the Treaty of Georgievsk, concluded in 1783 by Catherine II and Heraclius II on the transfer of Georgia to the protectorate of Russia, Paul refused to provide any assistance to the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. In 1798, the Persian Shah Fath-Ali offered George his patronage, otherwise, he made it known that the Persian army would again devastate his land and capital. [8] Not relying on Russia, in the same year George secretly sent Prince Aslan Orbeliani to the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid I with a request to accept Georgia under the protection of the Porte. However, while the latter was still in Akhaltsikhe, George's son David arrived from St. Petersburg to Tbilisi, who informed his father about "the merciful disposition of Emperor Paul towards Georgia." George immediately ordered the return of Orbeliani, [9] and sent the same petition to Paul and, having explained the situation, asked to send 3 thousand (or 5 thousand [10] ) Russian soldiers "with weapons and all military equipment". [11]
On February 23, 1798, the Highest Rescript was issued on sending the General Lazarev Regiment to Georgia. The regiment was equipped and provided with everything necessary (new fittings, ammunition, commissariat allowance, baggage, etc.), and was also thoroughly inspected. [12]
On October 20, 1799 Lazarev with his regiment, a team of Cossacks and an artillery team with 4 guns, as well as with 2 guns for the Georgian troops, [13] set out from Mozdok. The crossing of the Caucasus Mountains was accompanied by great difficulties. There was frost and strong snowstorms in the mountains, and the road itself was not fully adapted for the movement of artillery and carts. During a shootout with the mountaineers (Kists or Ingush), a non-commissioned officer was killed. One officer died of illness. [14] [15]
The campaign lasted 36 days. When on November 26, 1799, the regiment numbered 885 people during the parade, he was 3 versts from Tbilisi; George XII, accompanied by princes, secular and spiritual retinue, came out to meet him. More than 10 thousand residents gathered to watch the arrival of the Russian regiment. The regiment lined up and greeted King George with a loud “Hurray” to the beat of drums. The people, “no longer holding back the surging feelings, swept over the rangers in a living wave, disrupted their ranks and greeted those who came with a brotherly kiss”. [16] On the same day, the regiment entered Tiflis to the sound of bells and gun salvoes. [17]
The Persian Shah Fath-Ali continued to consider the territory of Georgia to be the possession of the Persian Empire, intending to attack Tbilisi again. The plenipotentiary minister, state councilor Peter Kovalensky, who was there, sent letters to Tehran in which he expressed hopes for maintaining friendly relations between the two powers, and, referring to the Treaty of Georgievsk, warned against the invasion of Persian troops into Georgia. [18] However, the Persian army, under the formal leadership of Abbas Mirza, nevertheless set out in the direction of Transcaucasia. The opposition Prince Alexander (brother of George XII), who had previously been in Kars, arrived at the Persian camp in the hope of solving his problems in Georgia with the help of Persian troops. [19] On June 10, 1800, ambassadors from Abbas Mirza arrived in Tbilisi with a firman from Fath-Ali Shah. The ambassadors insisted on a secret audience with the king, but George refused them this, and received them in Kovalensky's house in the presence of Lazarev and all the officers of the Jaeger regiment. Then the ambassador openly set out the Shah's demands for Georgia to be completely subjugated to him, otherwise threatening another invasion of Tbilisi by Persian troops. [20] [21]
Immediately after this became known in Saint Petersburg, the head of the Caucasian division, Lieutenant General Karl Knorring, on July 10, received an order to prepare 9 infantry battalions, 10 squadrons of dragoons and artillery for sending to Georgia. [22] However, it soon became known that the Persian army, having limited itself to plundering the Etchmiadzin monastery, turned back and went beyond the Araxes river. [23] At the same time, P.I. Kovalensky, in his letter dated August 21 to Privy Councilor Sergey Lashkarev, expressed the opinion that there are clearly not enough Russian troops in Georgia. [16]
Soon it was decided to send only the musketeer regiment of General Gulyakov with a Cossack hundred and 4 guns to Georgia. In case of emergency, part of the Russian troops on the Caucasian line near Mozdok remained in full readiness for immediate action. [24] On August 25, 1800, Gulyakov set out from Mozdok and on September 23 arrived in Tbilisi. The musketeer regiment was greeted no less solemnly than the Jaeger regiment that arrived before it. [25]
The presence of Russian troops in Georgia was intended solely to protect it from external enemies. In the same case, if internecine strife begins in it, then, in order to avoid the involvement of Russian units in them, the rescript of October 29 ordered their immediate withdrawal from Georgia. [26]
At the beginning of August 1800, his ambassador Hadji Musa arrived from Umma Khan in Mozdok with a request addressed to Emperor Paul to accept the Avar Khanate under the protection of Russia. In a report dated August 3, Knorring asked Paul for permission to send an Avar ambassador to him, [27] and with a rescript dated September 7, Paul gave permission for the latter to arrive in St. Petersburg. At the same time, it was decided that in the event that Umma Khan and his possessions entered into Russian citizenship, the amount (5 thousand rubles) that the Georgian king paid him annually would be paid by the Russian government as a lifelong pension, as a "reward for his fidelity". However, at the end of August, precisely at the time when this permission was already on the way, Umma Khan and his army moved to the Georgian borders. [28] [29]
A plan for an attack on Tbilisi was drawn up, according to which: Alexander with 2 thousand was supposed to capture Sagarejo, the rest of the army was divided into two groups, one of which was supposed to go directly to Tbilisi and try to take it, and the other, crossing the Kura river and united with the troops of the Imeretian king Solomon II, the opposition brothers of George, Iulon, Vakhtang and Parnaoz, with joint forces to approach Tbilisi from the west. If the first group could not take it, it was planned to do this together with the combined forces of the second. [30] [29]
In mid-October, Umma Khan sent a letter to the Georgian prince David, in which he called George's failure to pay the tribute due to him the reason for his "hostile" actions against Georgia. [31]
Upon receiving the first news of the movement of Umma Khan, George sent his sons Ioane and Bagrat with 2 thousand troops, "the best among the Georgians," to the Kakheti in Sighnaghi. There, the princes began to gather local militia. Lazarev himself, however, at first did not attach much importance to the movement of Umma Khan, believing that the latter did not yet know about the retreat of the Persian troops and the arrival in Tbilisi of the Jaeger Musketeer Regiment to reinforce the Jaeger Musketeer Regiment. But soon, having received information about Umma Khan's plans, Lazarev and Gulyakov, each with a battalion from his regiment and a Cossack team (1224 people with 4 guns), set out to meet him on October 28. The remaining units, under the leadership of Colonel Pavel Karyagin, were left in Tbilisi to maintain order and prevent "internal threats" in the capital itself. On October 31 Umma Khan crossed to the left bank of the Alazan river at the ford of Urdo and settled down with his army on the plain near the Top-Karagach tract. The next day, a Russian detachment arrived in Sighnaghi. By that time, under the command of Bagrat, there were already 3 thousand Georgian troops there, which continued to be replenished with newly arriving militia. [32]
Lazarev sent Umma Khan a letter with urgent advice to leave the borders of Georgia, which was under the protection of Russia, pointing out that the actions of the "high-ranking khan" were not comparable with his request for the protection of Russia, which had already been promised to him by the emperor. [33] Umma Khan replied to Lazarev that he did not want to have any "hostility" towards Russia, "except for a single friendship," but having received prince Alexander, out of duty of hospitality, he considered it necessary to provide him with assistance. Umma Khan also noted that he would be sincerely glad if Alexander reconciled with his older brother George. [34] Then Lazarev turned to Alexander with a request and advice to return to Tbilisi and reconcile with his brother, for his part promising full assistance. Alexander, however, remained adamant. [35]
On November 4, the Russian-Georgian army moved further and, reaching the village of Prasiani, stood up for bivouac. The next day, Lazarev decided to attack the enemy and approached him at a distance of 6 miles. Before the attack, he again appealed to Umma Khan with the demand, in order to avoid bloodshed, to leave Georgia within 24 hours. [36] The parliamentarian (Georgian service captain Kalantarov) was ordered to return with an answer no more than 3 hours later, but he was detained in the Umma Khan camp. [37] The latter, meanwhile, having given his troops instructions to avoid a direct clash with the Russian detachment, on the night of November 6, bypassed his camp and moved towards Sagarejo. In the morning, the envoy returned without definite results, and Georgian mounted pickets informed about the movement of the highlanders. The Russian-Georgian army immediately left the bivouac and moved in the opposite direction along the already traveled path parallel to the army of Umma Khan with the goal of hitting him in the flank and forcing him to take battle. To avoid difficult terrain, the convoy, built by Wagenburg under the cover of 100 rangers and musketeers with 2 officers, was left near Prasiani. By evening, the Russian-Georgian army entered a spacious valley and stopped for the night in a convenient place with a water source, [38] while Umma Khan's army, meanwhile, settled down along the edge of the forest near the village of Kakabeti on the right bank of the Iori River.
The location of the battle was an open plain. The Iori River flowed to the south of it, and a ditch ran from the west. To the north of the plain there were low mountains stretching towards Telavi, and to the east there were mountain streams flowing from the Telavi heights to Iori. [39] [40] The very area where the battle took place is called Niakhura. [41]
The total number of the Russian detachment that set out on October 28 to meet the army of Umma Khan was 1224 men (including 129 non-combatants) with 4 guns. [42] [43]
Some sources round up the size of the Russian detachment to 1,200 people.
The total number, 102 people (10 people from each chasseur and musketeer companies with 2 officers) were left to guard the convoy in Prasiani[ka] and did not take part in the battle.
The exact number of Georgian forces remained unknown. In different sources it varies from 3 to 10 thousand men. It is known that by November 2 , prince Bagrat had up to 3 thousand men. Later, both princes (Bagrat and Ioane) already had 4 thousand men. Subsequently, the Georgian army was replenished with hastily assembled militia, which by the time of the battle could reach up to 10 thousand people.
However, a significant number of Georgian militias in manpower did not provide a corresponding advantage, since most of them did not have not only firearms, but also effective bladed weapons. For every 10 people they had 2 guns, and the rest were armed with "whatever they had," most of which had only burnt dogwood "sticks".
The Georgian army also had 2 guns.
The exact number of troops of Umma Khan of the Avar Khanate at the time of the battle remained unknown, and in different sources it varies from 15 to 20 thousand people. This is primarily due to the fact that his army was not concentrated anywhere in one place, but, lacking provisions and forage, as a rule, was scattered to search for them, and at the same time was systematically replenished. [44]
It is known that the opposition Prince Alexander (brother of George XII) with 2 thousand Georgian cavalry also took part in the battle together with Umma Khan. Ali-Sultan of Mehtuli, his brother Hadji-Ahmed Khan of Dzhengutay, Musa-Hadji of Aksay, Qadi of Tabasaran Kazi-mullah, son of Surkhay Khan II of Kazikumukh and other Dagestan rulers joined Umma Khan. [30]
On November 1, General Lazarev, in his report to Lieutenant General Knorring, reported that the number of Umma Khan's troops "according to rumors" ranges from 7 to 8 thousand people. [45] The day after the battle (that is, November 8) Lazarev wrote that "according to the latest rumors," Umma Khan's army extended to 12 thousand. In a detailed report dated November 14, he reported that the total number of troops Umma Khan and his allies were "...at least up to 15 thousand". [30]
On November 17, George XII wrote to Emperor Paul that Umma Khan invaded their possessions with a 20,000-strong army. [46]
Mirza Adigozal bey, who was in Tbilisi at that time, also reported that Umma Khan had an army of 20 thousand. [47]
On 7 November 3 hours before dawn the Russian-Georgian army left the bivouac and after a forced march of 15 miles stopped for a short rest. Continuing its movement, in an hour it came to the open steppe on the left side of the river Iori, from where the army of Umma Khan, who was marching on the opposite side of the river, could be seen. Within 2 hours both armies were marching parallel to each other, approaching each other at a distance of up to 2 versts. Having reached the village of Kakabeti, the army of Umma Khan settled down along the forest for a bivouac. Part of his cavalry dispersed to occupy the neighbouring villages for the purpose of extracting provisions and forage. [48] [40]
Meanwhile, both Russian battalions in two columns turned off the road in the direction of Iori and, having quickened their step, moved to approach the enemy. The right column (flank) was a battalion of the Yeager Lazarev Regiment, the left - a battalion of the Musketeer Guliakov Regiment. In the centre behind the two Russian columns were Georgian infantry and cavalry of prince Ioane and Bagrat. Each of the three columns had two guns. [48] [49]
General Gulyakov's Musketeer regiment was granted by Emperor Paul Maltese banners with the inscription: "For the capture of a banner from the Avar troops at the river Iori on 7 November 1800."
As for their victory, Ioane, Bagrat, Lazarev, and Guliakov were awarded the Order of Saint-John of Jerusalem by Emperor Paul. All the lower ranks who took part in the battle received a silver rouble per man. [50]
In 1901, on one of the hills on the plain near the Iori River and the village of Kakabeti, on the initiative of officers of the Erevan and Kabardian regiments, a monument was erected in honor of the battle. The commander of the Caucasus Military District, General of the Infantry, Grigory Golitsyn, having learned about this project, not only approved it, but also provided great financial support. The consecration of the monument took place on October 1, 1901. [51] [52] [53]
Kakheti is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its administrative center. The region comprises eight administrative districts: Telavi, Gurjaani, Qvareli, Sagarejo, Dedoplistsqaro, Signagi, Lagodekhi and Akhmeta.
The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was created in 1762 by the unification of the two eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti. From the early 16th century, according to the 1555 Peace of Amasya, these two kingdoms were under Iranian control. In 1744, Nader Shah granted the kingship of Kartli to Teimuraz II and that of Kakheti to his son Heraclius II, as a reward for their loyalty. When Nader Shah died in 1747, Teimuraz II and Heraclius II capitalized on the instability in Iran proper, and declared de facto independence. After Teimuraz II died in 1762, Heraclius succeeded him as ruler of Kartli, thus unifying the two kingdoms.
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Prince Alexander of Georgia was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) of the Bagrationi dynasty, who headed several insurrections against the Russian rule in Georgia. He was known as Eskandar Mīrzā (اسکندرمیرزا) in Persia, tsarevichAleksandr Irakliyevich in Russia, and Alexander Mirza in Western Europe.
Bagrat IV, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgia's sovereignty from the Byzantine and Seljuk Empires. In a series of intermingled conflicts, Bagrat succeeded in defeating his most powerful vassals and rivals of the Liparitid family, bringing several feudal enclaves under his control and reducing the kings of Lori and Kakheti-Hereti, as well as the emir of Tbilisi to vassalage. Like many medieval Caucasian rulers, he bore several Byzantine titles, particularly those of Nobilissimus, Kouropalates, and sebastos.
George VII of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king (mepe) of Georgia from 1393 to 1407. George put up a stiff resistance and had to spend much of his reign fighting against Timur.
The Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 was one of the many wars between the Persian Empire and Imperial Russia, and, like many of their other conflicts, began as a territorial dispute. The new Persian king, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the northernmost reaches of his kingdom—modern-day Georgia—which had been annexed by Tsar Paul I several years after the Russo-Persian War of 1796. Like his Persian counterpart, the Tsar Alexander I was also new to the throne and equally determined to control the disputed territories.
George XII, sometimes known as George XIII, of the House of Bagrationi, was the second and last king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1798 until his death in 1800.
Javad Khan Qajar ; c. 1748 – 1804) was a member of Ziyadoghlu Qajar, a clan of the Qajar tribe, as well as the sixth and the last khan of the Ganja Khanate from 1786 to 1804 before it was lost to Russia.
The Timurid invasions of Georgia were eight invasions between 1386 and 1403 of the Kingdom of Georgia in the Caucasus by the Timurid Empire. Led by Timur, the Timurids ultimately conquered the Christian monarchy and made it a tributary state that kept its independence and religion.
The nation of Georgia was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty by the King Bagrat III of Georgia in the early 11th century, arising from several successor states of the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia. The Kingdom of Georgia flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries under rulers such as King David IV the Builder and Queen Tamar the Great. The kingdom fell to the Mongol invasion by 1243, and after a restoration under George V the Brilliant it fell again to the Timurid Empire in 1403. By 1490, Georgia was fragmented into several petty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout the Early Modern period struggled to maintain their autonomy against Ottoman and Iranian domination until Georgia was finally annexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. After a brief period of independence as Democratic Republic of Georgia, the country soon ended up being a Soviet Republic until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The current republic of Georgia has been independent since 1991.
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The Kingdom of Kartli was a late medieval and early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centred on the province of Kartli, with its capital at Tbilisi. It emerged in the process of a tripartite division of the Kingdom of Georgia in 1478 and existed, with several brief intervals, until 1762 when Kartli and the neighbouring Georgian kingdom of Kakheti were merged through dynastic succession under the Kakhetian branch of the Bagrationi dynasty. Through much of this period, the kingdom was a vassal of the successive dynasties of Iran, and to a much shorter period Ottoman Empire, but enjoyed intermittent periods of greater independence, especially after 1747.
Before the 10th-century unification of the country by the Bagrationi dynasty, several Georgian states subsisted between the Roman Empire on the west and the Sassanid Empire on the east. Between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Kingdom of Georgia was a major regional power which withstood invasions by the Seljuk, Mongol and Timurid Empires before its fragmentation and submission to the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. Many Georgians fought in the armies of empires that ruled the country since the 16th century, be it the Safavids, the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union. Since 1991, independent Georgia has taken part in a number of wars; its conflict with Russia culminated in the 2008 Russo–Georgian War, and its alliance with the United States led to Georgia's participation in the Afghan and Iraq Wars.
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Iulon was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) of the House of Bagrationi, born into the family of King Heraclius II and Queen Darejan Dadiani. He advanced claim to the throne of Kartli and Kakheti after the death of his half-brother George XII in 1800 and opposed the Russian annexation of Georgia until being apprehended and deported in 1805 to Tula. He died in St. Petersburg and was buried at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Ilia, also known as Elizbar (ელიზბარი), was a Georgian prince royal (batonishvili), a son of George XII, the last king of Kartli and Kakheti, by his second marriage to Mariam Tsitsishvili. After the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, Ilia accompanied his mother into exile to Russia. He then received military training and served in the Russian army, fighting with distinction at the battle of Borodino against the French in 1812 and retiring with the rank of colonel in 1823. He had 13 children of his marriage with Princess Anastasia Obolenskaya and his descendants, bearing the surname of Gruzinsky, have survived in the 21st-century Russian Federation.
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Umma Khan V Avar nicknamed Great or Mad — Avar nutsal, ruler of Avar Khanate from 1774 to 1801. Under Khan, the Avar Khanate expanded its borders both by subordinating the Avar free societies, and at the expense of neighboring territories. Khan was paid tributes by the Georgian king Erekle II, Derbent, Quba, Baku, Shirvan, Shaki khans and Akhaltsikhe pasha.
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