DEFENSIVE MEASURES OF KARTL-KAKHETI KINGDOM AGAINST PERSIAN ONSLAUGHT IN JUNE-AUGUST 1795
Apolon Tabuashvili
Associate Professor in History at Faculty of Humanities, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Abstract
Presented paper deals with the period before Krtsanisi battle which took place in the 10th -11th september, 1795. the georgians attempted to organize measures for prevention of Persian onslaught. sovereign of iran trying to invade eastern georgia was agha Muhammad Khan Qajar. As seen from the different sources, in June 1795, king of Kartl-Kakheti Erekle II started the mobilization of his army and towards the midst of July numerous army of Kartl-Kakheti together with troops from Imereti Kingdom and mountinous regions of Dagestan were assembled. After that, the events were as foloows: in August 1795 Agha Muhammad Khan had retreated from the Shusha castle (which was propably the tactical manoeuvre). That event was reckoned to be the success by Georgian commanders. They disbanded the major part of the army. But in the end of August the Iranian ruler started marching towards Tbilisi with rush. Erekle II was unprepared, he had only 5000 men-in-arms in his command, that was one of the main reasons of Georgians’ failure at Krtsanisi battle.
