Battle of Krtsanisi
- When
- 1795
- Where
- Aras river crossing and route through Karabakh to Tbilisi; Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti; Krtsanisi, near Tbilisi, Georgia; Tbilisi, Georgian capital
- Episodes
- 4
At the Battle of Krtsanisi near Tbilisi, fought September 8–11, 1795, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's Iranian army decisively defeated the Georgian forces of Heraclius II of Kartli-Kakheti and Solomon II of Imereti, leading to the sack of Tbilisi and the temporary restoration of Iranian rule over eastern Georgia.
Episodes
- Persian invasion and march on Tbilisi
Agha Mohammad Khan crossed the Aras in August 1795 with a large army, besieged Shusha, then advanced on Tbilisi after an ultimatum.
- Georgian mobilization under Heraclius II
Abandoned by several nobles and denied Russian aid, Heraclius II mobilized about 5,000 troops including Imeretian auxiliaries under Solomon II.
- Battle of Krtsanisi
From September 8 to 11, 1795, Persian forces attacked fortified Georgian positions near Tbilisi; Heraclius and Solomon resisted before a final Persian breakthrough.
- Fall and sack of Tbilisi
Within hours of the final offensive, Agha Mohammad Khan controlled Tbilisi, which was completely sacked and its population massacred.
Background and detail
Background. After Teimuraz II died in 1762, Heraclius II united Kartli and Kakheti as the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, the first politically unified eastern Georgia in three centuries. The Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783 promised Russian protection, and a small contingent arrived in 1784, but it was withdrawn in 1787 when Russia began a new war against Ottoman Turkey.
Campaign and Approach. In August 1795, Agha Mohammad Khan crossed the Aras with a 70,000-strong army divided into three wings. After besieging Shusha in Karabakh and receiving Ibrahim Khan's surrender, he marched on Tbilisi with roughly half his force and sent Heraclius a final ultimatum from Ganja, which arrived in September 1795.
Aftermath. The defeat left Tbilisi destroyed and eastern Georgia temporarily absorbed into Iran. Russia did not intervene, though Catherine the Great launched a punitive campaign in 1796 that was recalled after her death. Agha Mohammad Khan was crowned Shah in 1796 but was assassinated in Shusha in 1797, and Heraclius died in early 1798; Russia absorbed the weakened kingdom in 1801.
People involved
- Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar · Shah of Iran (Qajar ruler), commander of the invading Persian army
- Heraclius II · King of Kartli-Kakheti, Georgian commander
- Solomon II · King of Imereti, Georgian ally and maternal grandson of Heraclius II
Sources
- Battle of Krtsanisi Wikipedia
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