Georgia Occupation and Inclusion in the Russian Empire
Figure 13. Georgia in the Sixteenth Century
Source: Based on information from Kalistrat Salia, History
of the Georgian Nation, Paris, 1983, 253.
The Mongol invasion in 1236 marked the beginning of a century
of fragmentation and decline. A brief resurgence of Georgian
power in the fourteenth century ended when the Turkic conquerer
Timur (Tamerlane) destroyed Tbilisi in 1386. The capture of
Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 began three centuries
of domination by the militant Ottoman and Persian empires, which
divided Georgia into spheres of influence in 1553 and
subsequently redistributed Georgian territory between them
(see
fig. 13). By the eighteenth century, however, the Bagratid line
again had achieved substantial independence under nominal Persian
rule. In this period, Georgia was threatened more by rebellious
Georgian and Persian nobles within than by the major powers
surrounding the country. In 1762 Herekle II was able to unite the
east Georgian regions of Kartli and Kakhetia under his
independent but tenuous rule. In this period of renewed unity,
trade increased and feudal institutions lost influence in
Georgia.
In 1773 Herekle began efforts to gain Russian protection from
the Turks, who were threatening to retake his kingdom. In this
period, Russian troops intermittently occupied parts of Georgia,
making the country a pawn in the explosive Russian-Turkish
rivalry of the last three decades of the eighteenth century.
After the Persians sacked Tbilisi in 1795, Herekle again sought
the protection of Orthodox Russia.
Data as of March 1994
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