Mongol Invasions of Georgia

Throughout the 13th century, Mongol conquests of the Kingdom of Georgia, which included Georgia proper, Armenia, and much of the Caucasus, included several invasions and large-scale raids. During the first collapse of the Khwarezmian Empire in the Caucasus in 1220, generals Subutai and Jebe pursued Muhammad II of Khwarezm. Subutai and Jebe went north to conquer Kievan Rus' after a series of raids in which they destroyed the united Georgian and Armenian forces. In 1236, a full-scale Mongol conquest of the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia began. The Assassins were destroyed, and the Kingdom of Georgia, the Sultanate of Rum, and the Empire of Trebizond were subdued. Mongol vassalage was openly accepted by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and other Crusader countries. The Mongols ruled the Caucasus until the late 1330s. During that time, King George V the Brilliant rebuilt the Georgian kingdom for a short time before it fell apart owing to Timur's assaults.

When the Georgian monarchy was still at its peak, ruling much of the Caucasus, the Mongols made their first entry. In the early fall of 1220, the first meeting happened when 20,000 Mongols commanded by Subutai and Jebe chased the deposed Khwarazmian dynasty's Shah Muhammad II to the Caspian Sea. The two Mongol generals set off west on a reconnaissance expedition with Genghis Khan's permission. They defeated around 10,000 Georgians and Armenians led by King George IV "Lasha" of Georgia and his atabeg (teacher) and amirspasalar (commander-in-chief) Ivane Mkhargrdzeli at the Battle of Khunan on the Kotman River. George was shot in the chest and suffered a serious injury. Due to the demands of the battle against the Khwarezmian Empire, the Mongol leaders could not push farther into the Caucasus and returned south to Hamadan. In January 1221, the Mongols returned in force after nearly wiping out the Khwarezmian resistance. After his last defeat, King George was hesitant to fight again, but Jebe and Subutai pushed him to destroy the land and slaughter his people. The battle of Bardav (Pardav; modern-day Barda, Azerbaijan) that followed was a decisive Mongol victory, obliterating Georgia's field army. Although Georgia was stripped naked, the Mongols had come as a small scouting and raiding mission, not a conquest force. As a result, the Mongols marched north, ravaging Armenia's northeast and Shirvan along the way. The Mongols routed the Rus'-Kipchak army in the Battle of the Kalka River, which carried them across the Caucasus and into Alania and the South Russian steppes.

The Georgians were baffled as to who their attackers were after these surprise attacks; one contemporaneous chronicler's report shows that he was unsure of the character of the invaders and did not identify them by name. When the Mongols appeared to have postponed their plans for Georgia in a letter to Pope Honorius III in 1223, King George IV's sister and successor Queen Rusudan said that the Georgians had thought the Mongols were Christians since they opposed Muslims. Regardless, they turned out to be pagans. Inadvertently, the Mongol invasion changed the course of the Fifth Crusade. At the same time that the European crusaders came from the west, Georgia intended to send its magnificent army to establish a second front in the north. Because the Mongols had decimated the Georgian army, the European Crusaders were unable to assist, and they wasted valuable time waiting for their friends who would never arrive. Genghis Khan employed a Chinese catapult force in battle during the invasion of Transoxania in 1219, and they were used again in Transoxania in 1220. Because they already possessed gunpowder bombs, the Chinese may have utilized the catapults to launch them. Chinese weaponry was employed again in the Mongol conquest of the North Caucasus in 1239-1240.

In 1236, the Mongols invaded the Caucasus for the third and last time. The catastrophic struggle with Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, a refugee shah of Khwarezmia, who had demanded in 1225 that the Georgian authorities back his war against the Mongols, had preceded this onslaught, which would prove to be Georgia's undoing. Tbilisi was conquered in 1226 by a Khwarezmian invasion. Much of the Kingdom of Georgia's past power and riches were destroyed, leaving the kingdom essentially helpless in the face of the approaching Mongol conquests. After Mingburnu died in 1231, the Mongols' hands were finally free, and Chormaqan, a famous Mongol commander, led a huge army against Georgia and its vassal Armenian princedoms in 1236. The majority of Georgian and Armenian nobles who held military posts along the border regions either submitted without much resistance or restricted their castles' resistance.

In contrast, others chose to flee to safer areas. Queen Rusudan was forced to flee Tbilisi for Kutaisi, and some of her subjects fled to the mountainous regions of Georgia, leaving eastern Georgia (non-mountainous) in the hands of atabek Avag Mkhargrdzeli and Egarslan Bakurtsikheli. They made peace with the Mongols and promised to pay tribute. Iwane Jakeli-Tsikhisjvreli, prince of Samtskhe, was the sole Georgian great noble who stood firm. Iwane had to ultimately capitulate to the invaders in 1238, with the permission of Queen Rusudan, after his large estates were brutally destroyed. The Mongol forces decided not to cross the Likhi Range to pursue the Georgian queen, sparing western Georgia from the wrath. Rusudan sought but failed to obtain the favour of Pope Gregory IX. Finally, in 1243, Atabek Avag negotiated her capitulation, and Georgia formally recognized the Great Khan as its ruler. The nation was obliged to pay a 50,000 gold piece annual tribute and provide an army to support the Mongols.

The Mongols established the Vilayet of Gurjistan, which encompassed Georgia and the whole South Caucasus. They governed indirectly through the Georgian king, who the Great Khan confirmed upon his succession. After Rusudan died in 1245, the Mongols split the Caucasus into eight tumens, resulting in an interruption. The Mongols split the Georgian nobility into two opposing groups, each advocating their candidate for the throne, taking advantage of the complex succession problem. David VII "Ulu," George IV's illegitimate son, and his cousin David VI "Narin," Rusudan's son. Güyük Khan made both pretenders co-kings in the eastern and western halves of the kingdom, respectively, in 1247, after a failed conspiracy against Mongol control in Georgia (1245). The tumen system was abolished, but the Mongols kept a close eye on the Georgian government to ensure a constant supply of taxes and tributes from the subject peoples, who were also conscripted into the Mongol armies. All of the Ilkhanate's great wars were attended by Georgians, and the sons of aristocracy served in the kheshig. Georgians fought in all of the Ilkhanate's major battles, and aristocratic sons served in the kheshig.

At Alamut (1256), Baghdad (1258), and Ain Jalut (1260), large Georgian contingents fought under Mongol banners. Ironically, at least three thousand Georgian auxiliaries fought in the Mongol lines at the Battle of Köse Dag (1243). The Mongols defeated the Seljuks of Rüm while the Georgian prince Shamadavle of Akhaltsikhe was a commander in the Seljuk army. Large Georgian contingents fought under Mongol banners at Alamut (1256), Baghdad (1258), Ain Jalut (1260), and other locations, losing tens of thousands of soldiers, while Georgia and the Caucasus were left without native defenders against Mongol forces dispatched to suppress spontaneous revolts erupting in protest of heavy taxation and the onerous burden of military service.  Ironically, at least three thousand Georgian auxiliaries fought in the Mongol lines at the Battle of Köse Dag (1243). The Mongols defeated the Seljuks of Rüm while the Georgian prince Shamadavle of Akhaltsikhe was a commander in the Seljuk army. Some Georgians living under the Mongols were revered, according to Benedict of Poland, since they were regarded as a powerful and warlike race. Some Georgians living under the Mongols were revered, according to Benedict of Poland, since they were regarded as a powerful and warlike race. Georgia was annexed by the Ilkhanate Mongol kingdom, which was headquartered in Persia in 1256. (Iran).  Georgian nobility commanded by David Narin rose against the Mongols in 1259–1260, successfully separating Imereti (western Georgia) from Mongol-controlled eastern Georgia. David Ulu joined his cousin in revolt but was beaten near Gori and forced to surrender to Mongol authority. In 1261, the Caucasus was the scene of a series of battles between the Il-Khanids and the Golden Horde, a Mongol kingdom based on the lower Volga and with its capital at Sarai.

Georgia's cohesiveness was destroyed; aristocrats were urged to revolt against the throne, which aided Mongol dominance of the nation. In 1266, the khan Abaqa awarded Prince Sargis Jakeli of Samtskhe (with Akhaltsikhe as the capital) special protection and favour, granting him virtual independence from the Georgian crown. Demetre II, "the Devoted" (1259–1289), the next (eastern) Georgian king, attempted to revive his country by manoeuvring in the intrigues that divided the Il-khans. Still, after being suspected in an abortive coup against Arghun Khan, he had to agree to surrender and be executed to save Georgia from invasion. The kingdom after that descended into near-anarchy. While western Georgia clung to dangerous independence from the Ilkhans, eastern Georgia was burdened by hefty tribute and an insecure political environment. In addition, the Mongols were largely tolerant of religion, although many churches and monasteries were taxed. Though long-lasting, David VIII's revolt did not result in Georgia's freedom, but it did spark a series of deadly punitive expeditions. The Mongols sought to maintain authority over Georgia by establishing and bringing down rival kings and stirring civil war. Still, their grip over Georgia progressively eroded as the Il-khan rule in Persia crumbled.

Under George V the Brilliant (1299–1302, 1314–1346), there was a brief period of reunion and rebirth. George defeated his domestic opponents who remained independent of the Georgian crown with the help of Chupan, the Ilkhanate's ulus-beg. Before the last effective Ilkhan Abu Sai'd death, George V invaded Imereti and united the Georgian Kingdom. In 1319, George and the Mongols put down a rebellion led by Qurumshi, the Ilkhanid governor of Georgia. Almost all Mongol forces in Georgia departed in the 1320s, perhaps owing to internal turmoil between the Mongol khanates and ilkhanid generals. Ani and the surrounding areas of Georgia were free from all taxes under the Ilkhan Abu Sai'd (d.1335). Bishop of Avignon addresses schismatic people (Georgians) who are members of the Tatar Empire in a letter sent in 1321. (Ilkhanate).  The most spectacular incident of the Il-Khan Abu Sa'id's rule happened in Persia in 1327, when the once-all-powerful minister Chupan was disgraced and executed.

George had lost his patron at the Mongol court as a result of this. Mahmud, Chupan's son and commander of the Mongol garrison in Georgia, was captured and killed by his men. Iqbalshah, Qutlughshah's son, was appointed as the Mongol administrator of Georgia (Gurjistan).  George V the Brilliant seized Imereti in 1330-31, unifying Georgia as a result. In Persia in the year 1327, the once-all-powerful minister Chupan was humiliated and killed, which was the most dramatic occurrence of the Il-Khan Abu Sa'id's reign. As a result, George had lost his patronage at the Mongol court. Chupan's son and leader of the Mongol garrison in Georgia, Mahmud, was kidnapped and murdered by his soldiers. Qutlughshah's son, Iqbalshah, was after that selected as Georgia's Mongol administrator (Gurjistan).  In 1330-31, George V the Brilliant conquered Imereti, uniting Georgia. As a result, four years before the last effective Ilkhan Abu Sai'd death, two Georgian kingdoms reunited. Abu Sai'd appointed Shaykh Hasan of the Jalayir as the Ilkhanid administrator of Georgia in 1334. Much of the Kingdom of Georgia's former vassals were still under the control of the Mongol Jalayirids and Chobanids before the Timurids arrived. Between 1386 and 1403, the Georgian kingdom saw eight onslaughts from the Turco-Mongol invader Timur. As a result, Georgia was broken into several tiny kingdoms and principalities by 1491. They battled to retain their independence against Safavid and Ottoman dominance throughout the Early Modern era until the Russian Empire ultimately conquered Georgia in 1801.