Battle of Garisi

Battle of Garisi
Part of Safavid invasions of Georgia
Date1556
Location
Garisi (present-day Tetritsqaro)
Result Georgian Pyrrhic victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Kartli Safavid Empire
Commanders and leaders
Luarsab I of Kartli †
Simon I of Kartli		 Shahverdi Sultan †
Strength
6,000 25,000
Casualties and losses
3,000 killed or wounded 10,000+ killed or wounded

The Battle of Garisi (Georgian: გარისის ბრძოლა) was fought between the Georgian and Safavid Iranian armies at the village of Garisi (present-day Tetritsqaro) in 1556, and resulted in a stalemate between both sides.

This conflict was an immediate consequence of the Treaty of Amasya signed between the Ottoman and Safavid empires in 1555. This peace deal left a fragmentized Kingdom of Georgia divided into spheres of influence. The kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti, and the eastern part of the principality of Samtskhe, were allotted to the Safavids which had already garrisoned the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Luarsab I, the indomitable king of Kartli, refused to recognize the terms of the Amasya treaty and continued to worry Tbilisi. This provoked another Iranian expedition, the fourth in Luarsab's reign. The Safavid forces, the Qizilbash, placed by Shah Tahmasp I under the command of Shāhverdī Khān Ziyādoghlū Qājār, beylerbey of Karabakh,[3] crossed into Kartli in 1556. Lursab and his son Svimon met the invaders at Garisi. In a pitched battle, the Georgians managed to beat off the Qizilbash, but Luarsab was killed in action.[4][5]

  1. ^ Rayfield, Donald. (2012). Edge of Empires, a History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 219.
  2. ^ Rayfield, Donald. (2012). Edge of Empires, a History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 226.
  3. ^ Maeda, Hirotake (2006). "The forced migrations and reorganisation of the regional order in the Caucasus by Safavid Iran: Preconditions and developments described by Fazli Khuzani". In Ieda, Osamu; Uyama, Tomohiko (eds.). Reconstruction and interaction of Slavic Eurasia and its neighbouring worlds (PDF). Slavic Eurasian Studies, No.10. Sapporo: Slavic Research Centre, Hokkaido University. p. 241. ISBN 4938637391.
  4. ^ Minorsky, Vladimir, "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1993), E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, p. 758. Brill, ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
  5. ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation, p. 48. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3