Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო | |||||||||||||||
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| 1762–1801 | |||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||
 Extent of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Tbilisi 41°43′21″N44°47′33″E / 41.72250°N 44.79250°E /41.72250; 44.79250 | ||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Georgian | ||||||||||||||
| Regional languages | |||||||||||||||
| Religion | State and majority Georgian Orthodox Church(Orthodox Christianity)[1] Minority | ||||||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||||||
• 1762–1798 | Heraclius II(first) | ||||||||||||||
• 1798–1800 | George XII(last) | ||||||||||||||
| Regent | |||||||||||||||
• 1800–1801 | Prince David Bagrationi | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Unification ofKingdom of Kartli andKingdom of Kakheti | 1762 | ||||||||||||||
• De jure submission to theZand dynasty | 1762–1763 | ||||||||||||||
| July 24, 1783 | |||||||||||||||
| 1795 | |||||||||||||||
• Annexation to theRussian Empire | December 18, 1800 | ||||||||||||||
• Ratification of Russian annexation | September 12, 1801 | ||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Russia | ||||||||||||||
TheKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (Georgian:ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო,romanized:kartl-k'akhetis samepo) was created in 1762 by the unification of the twoeastern Georgian kingdoms ofKartli andKakheti. From the early 16th century, according to the 1555Peace of Amasya, these two kingdoms were underIranian control. In 1744,Nader Shah granted the kingship of Kartli toTeimuraz II and that of Kakheti to his sonHeraclius II, as a reward for their loyalty.[2] When Nader Shah died in 1747, Teimuraz II and Heraclius II capitalized on the instability in Iran proper, and declaredde facto independence. After Teimuraz II died in 1762, Heraclius succeeded him as ruler of Kartli, thus unifying the two kingdoms.
Heraclius was able, after centuries of Iraniansuzerainty over Georgia, to guarantee the autonomy of his kingdom throughout the chaos that had erupted following Nader Shah's death. He became the new Georgian king of a politically united eastern Georgia for the first time in three centuries. Though Heraclius tendered hisde jure submission to the newly establishedZand dynasty quickly after the unification in 1762, the kingdom remainedde facto autonomous for the next three decades to come. In 1783, Heraclius signed theTreaty of Georgievsk with theRussian Empire, by which he formally laid Kartli-Kakheti's investiture in the hands of the Russian monarch, and made the kingdom a Russianprotectorate. Amongst others, this provided the nominal guarantee for protection against new Iranian attempts, or by any others, to (re)conquer or attack eastern Georgia. By the 1790s, a new strong Iranian dynasty, theQajar dynasty, had emerged underAgha Mohammad Khan Qajar, which would prove pivotal in the history of the short-lived kingdom.
In the next few years, having secured mainland Iran, the new Iranian king set out to reconquer theCaucasus and to re-impose its traditional suzerainty over the region. After Heraclius II refused to denounce the treaty with Russia and to voluntarily reaccept Iran's suzerainty in return for peace and prosperity for his kingdom, Agha Mohammad Khan invaded Kartli-Kakheti,captured and sacked Tbilisi, effectively bringing it back under Iranian control. This was short-lived, however, for Agha Mohammad Khan was assassinated two years later. Heraclius II himself died a year after that.
The following years, which were spent in confusion, culminated in 1801 with the officialannexation of the kingdom byPaul I within theRussian Empire during the nominal ascension of Heraclius's sonGeorge XII to the Kartli-Kakhetian throne. Following theRusso-Persian War of 1804–1813, Iran officially ceded the kingdom to Russia, marking the start of a Russian-centred chapter in Georgian history.
After Nader Shah's death in 1747, Heraclius II and Teimuraz II capitalized on the eruption of chaos in mainland Iran. In the ensuing period Heraclius II made alliances with thekhans of the area, established a leading position in the southern Caucasus, and requested Russian aid.[3] In 1762, he succeeded his father as king of Kartli, and with already being king of Kakheti, eastern Georgia thus became politically unified for the first time in three centuries.[3] Around 1760, it had become evident as well thatKarim Khan Zand had become the new ruler of Iran. Shortly after, in 1762–1763, during Karim Khan's campaigns inAzerbaijan, Heraclius II tendered hisde jure submission to him and received his investiture asvali ("governor", "viceroy") ofGorjestan (Georgia), the traditional Safavid office, which by this time however had become an "empty honorific".[4] Karim Khan died in 1779 however, with Persia again being engulfed into chaos.[3]
Seeking to remain independent, but also realizing that he would need a foreign protector with regard to his kingdom's foreign policy, King Heraclius II concluded theTreaty of Georgievsk withRussia in 1783, resulting in the transfer of responsibility for defense and foreign affairs in the eastern kingdom,[5] as well as importantly, officially abjuring any dependence onIran or any other power.[3] However, despite these large concessions made to Russia, Heraclius II was successful in retaining internal autonomy in his kingdom.[5]
Heraclius II's "curiously ambivalent position" in these decades is reflected in the coins issued by him in his realm.[6] Silver coins were struck with the name ofIsmail III on it, or with theZand-style inscriptionya karim ("O Gracious One"), whereby an epithet to God was invoked, which actually referred toKarim Khan Zand.[6] These coins were minted inTbilisi up until 1799 – some twenty years after Karim Khan Zand's death.[6] In the same decades, the copper coins struck at Tbilisi bore three types oficonography; Christian, Georgian, "and even"Imperial Russian (such as thedouble-headed eagle).[6] By minting the silver coins with a reference to Karim Khan Zand on it they were usable for trade in Iran, whereas the copper coins, struck for only local use, reflected Heraclius II's political orientation towards Russia.[6]
While Heraclius II's court maintained a certain Persian-type pomp, and he himself dressed in the Persian style as well, he launched an ambitious program of "Europeanization" which was supported by the Georgian intellectual élites; it was not overwhelmingly successful however, because Georgia remained physically isolated fromEurope and had to expend all available resources on defending its precarious independence.[3] He strove to enlist the support of European powers, and to attract Western scientists and technicians to give his country the benefit of the latest military and industrial techniques.[3] His style of governing resembled that of contemporaryenlightened despots inCentral Europe.[3] He exercised executive, legislative, and judicial authority and closely supervised the activities of government departments.[3] Heraclius's primary objective in internal policy was to further centralize the government through reducing the powers of thearistocracy.[3] For this purpose, he attempted to create a governing élite composed of his own agents to replace the self-minded aristocratic lords in local affairs.[3]
In the last few decades of the 18th century, Georgia had become a more important element inRusso-Iranian relations than some provinces in northern mainland Iran, such asMazandaran or evenGilan.[7] UnlikePeter I,Catherine, the then ruling monarch of Russia, viewed Georgia as a pivot for her Caucasian policy, as Russia's new aspirations were to use it as a base of operations against both Iran and the Ottoman Empire,[8] both immediate bordering geo-political rivals of Russia. On top of that, having another port on the Georgian coast of theBlack Sea would be ideal.[7] A limited Russian contingent of two infantry battalions with four artillery pieces arrived in Tbilisi in 1784,[9] but was withdrawn, despite the frantic protests of the Georgians, in 1787 as a newwar against Ottoman Turkey had started on a different front.[9]
The consequences of these events came a few years later, when a new dynasty, theQajars, emerged victorious in the protracted power struggle in Iran. Qajar shah, Agha Mohammad Khan, as his first objective,[10] resolved to bring theCaucasus again fully under the Iranian orbit.For Agha Mohammad Khan, the re-subjugation and reintegration of Georgia into the Iranian Empire was part of the same process that had broughtShiraz,Isfahan, andTabriz under his rule.[9] He viewed Georgia, like theSafavids and Nader Shah before him, no different from the provinces in mainland Iran, such asKhorasan.[9] As theCambridge History of Iran states, its permanent secession was inconceivable and had to be resisted in the same way as one would resist an attempt at the separation ofFars or Gilan.[9] It was therefore natural for Agha Mohammad Khan to perform whatever necessary means in the Caucasus in order to subdue and reincorporate the recently lost regions following Nader Shah's death and the collapse of the Zands, including putting down what in Iranian eyes was seen as treason on the part of thevali of Georgia.[9]
Finding an interval of peace amid their own quarrels and with northern, western, and central Persia secure, the Iranians demanded Heraclius II to renounce the treaty with Russia and to re-accept Persian suzerainty,[10] in return for peace and the security of his kingdom. The Ottomans, Iran's neighboring rival, recognized the latter's rights over Kartli and Kakheti for the first time in four centuries.[11] Heraclius appealed then to his theoretical protector, EmpressCatherine II of Russia, asking for at least 3,000 Russian troops,[11] but he was ignored, leaving Georgia to fend off the Iranian threat alone.[12] Nevertheless, Heraclius II still rejected the shah'sultimatum.[13]
Agha Mohammad Khan subsequently crossed theAras River, and after a turn of events by which he gathered more support from his subordinate khans ofErivan andGanja, he sent Heraclius a last ultimatum, which he also declined, but, sent couriers toSt. Petersburg. Gudovich, who sat inGeorgievsk at the time, instructed Heraclius to avoid "expense and fuss",[11] while Heraclius, together withSolomon II and some Imeretians headed southwards of Tbilisi to fend off the Iranians.[11]
With half the number of troops Agha Mohammad Khan had crossed the Aras river, he now marched directly upon Tbilisi, where it commenced into a huge battle between the Iranian and Georgian armies. Heraclius had managed to mobilize some 5,000 troops, including some 2,000 from neighboringImereti under its King Solomon II. The Georgians, hopelessly outnumbered, were eventually defeated despite stiff resistance. In a few hours, the Iranian king Agha Mohammad Khan was in full control of the Georgian capital. The Persian army marched back laden with spoil and carrying off thousands of captives.[12][14][15]
By this, after the conquest of Tbilisi and being in effective control of eastern Georgia,[16][17] Agha Mohammad was formally crownedShah in 1796 in theMughan plain.[16] As theCambridge History of Iran notes; "Russia's client, Georgia, had been punished, and Russia's prestige, damaged." Heraclius II returned to Tbilisi to rebuild the city, but the destruction of his capital was a death blow to his hopes and projects. Upon learning of the fall of Tbilisi GeneralGudovich put the blame on theGeorgians themselves.[18] To restore Russian prestige, Catherine IIdeclared war on Persia, upon the proposal of Gudovich,[18] and sent an army underValerian Zubov to the Qajar possessions on April of that year, but the newTsarPaul I, who succeeded Catherine in November, shortly recalled it.
Reestablishment of Iranian rule over Georgia was short-lived this time, and the next few years were years of muddling and confusion. In 1797, Agha Mohammad Khan was assassinated in his tent inShusha, the capital of theKarabakh khanate, which he had taken just some days earlier.[18] On January 14, 1798, as King Heraclius II died, and he was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son,George XII (1746–1800) who, on February 22, 1799, recognized his own eldest son, theTsarevich David (Davit Bagrationi-batonishvili), 1767–1819, as officialheir apparent. In the same year, following the power vacuum in Georgia that got created mainly due to Agha Mohammad Khan's death, the Russian troops enteredTbilisi. Pursuant to article VI of the 1783 treaty, Emperor Paul confirmed David's claim toreign as the next king on April 18, 1799. But strife broke out among King George's many sons and those of his late father over the throne, Heraclius II having changed thesuccession order at the behest of his third wife, QueenDarejan (Darya), to favor the accession of younger brothers of deceased kings over their own sons.
The resulting dynastic upheaval prompted King George to secretly invitePaul I of Russia to invade Kartli-Kakheti, subdue theBagrationi princes, and govern the kingdom fromSt. Petersburg, on the condition that George and his descendants be allowed to continue to reign nominally – in effect, offering to mediatise the Bagrationi dynasty under theRomanov emperors.[19] Continued pressure from Persia, also prompted George XII's request for Russian intervention.[20]
Paul tentatively accepted this offer, but before negotiations could be finalized, he changed his mind and issued a decree on December 18, 1800annexing Kartli-Kakheti to Russia and deposing the Bagratids.[21] Paul himself wasassassinated shortly thereafter. It is said that his successor, EmperorAlexander I, considered retracting the annexation in favor of a Bagratid heir, but being unable to identify one likely to retain the crown, on September 12, 1801, Alexander proceeded to confirm annexation.[21] Meanwhile, King George had died on December 28, 1800, before learning that he had lost his throne. By the following April, Russian troops took control of the country's administration and in February 1803 Tsarevich David Bagrationi was escorted by Russian troops from Tbilisi to St. Petersburg.
As it was impossible for Iran to give up Georgia, which had made part of the concept of Iran for centuries like the rest of its Caucasian territories,[18] the annexation of Kartli-Kakheti led directly to the Russo-Persian Wars of the 19th century, namely that of1804–1813 and1826–1828. During the 1804–1813 war, the Russians scored a crucial victory over theIranian army at theZagam river saving Tbilisi from Iranian reconquest. The war eventually ended with theTreaty of Gulistan, which forced Iran to officially cede eastern Georgia,Dagestan, as well as most of the modern-dayAzerbaijan Republic to Russia. By the 1826-28 war, Russia took modern-dayArmenia, theNakhichevan Khanate, theLankaran Khanate andIğdır from Iran. Thus, by 1828, the Russians had gained an immensely strong foothold in the Caucasus. Parts of western Georgia were added to the empire during the same period through wars with theOttoman Empire.
By the year 1800, the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was home to approximately 45,000 households,[22] amounting to a total population of around 320,900 individuals, of whom approximately 220,000 were ethnically Georgian.[23] In addition toGeorgians, the kingdom was inhabited by various ethnic groups, includingTurkoman tribes,Armenians,Ossetians,Jews, andGreeks. Notably, the demographic composition varied considerably across different regions of the kingdom. Areas such asAbotsi,Lore-Tashir, Bambak, and various parts ofLower Kartli (e.g., theDmanisi Gorge,Trialeti, andSomkhiti) were almost entirely depopulated. Sabaratiano was likewise affected, though not entirely depopulated. Conversely, regions such asInner Kartli, theKsani Valley, theAragvi area, as well as various parts ofKakheti (e.g.,Ertso-Tianeti, Outer and Inner Kakheti, Kiziki, and Thither Region), were relatively more densely populated. Regarding the highland regions —Dvaleti,Khevi,Mtiuleti,Pshavi,Khevsureti, andTusheti — each was home to several thousand inhabitants.
| Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Heraclius II
| (1720-11-07)7 November 1720 – 11 January 1798(1798-01-11) (aged 77) | 8 January 1762 | 11 January 1798 | Son ofTeimuraz II of Kakheti | Bagrationi |  |
George XII
| (1746-11-10)10 November 1746 – 28 December 1800(1800-12-28) (aged 54) | 11 January 1798 | 28 December 1800 | Son of Heraclius II | Bagrationi |  |
(...) Agha Muhammad Khan remained nine days in the vicinity of Tiflis. His victory proclaimed the restoration of Iranian military power in the region formerly under Safavid domination.
Media related toKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti at Wikimedia Commons
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