Battle of Khresili

Battle of Khresili

The general representation of the positions.
DateDecember 14, 1757
Location
Result Georgian victory[1]
Belligerents

Kingdom of Imereti

Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Strength
  • 11,000 main troops
  • 5,000 additional forces
Total: 16,000 men[2]
  • 30,000 Turkish army
  • 15,000 Turkish soldiers garrisoned in Imereti
  • 10,000 pro-Ottoman Georgian rebels
Total: 55,000 men[2]
Casualties and losses
Fewer casualties[3] 38,000–45,000[3]

The Battle of Khresili (Georgian: ხრესილის ბრძოლა, Turkish: Hresili Muharebesi) was fought on December 14, 1757, between the armies of the Kingdom of Imereti and the Ottoman Empire. King Solomon I of Imereti established a strong monarchy and unified western Georgia. His actions strained the relations between him and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, in particular, sought to stop Solomon's struggle against slavery. They were in an alliance with rebellious Georgian nobles who opposed their monarch. One of them was Levan Abashidze, who lead an Ottoman army to the Kingdom of Imereti. Solomon enticed his enemies into a strategically adroit place near Khresili where his forces would gather to engage them.[4]

  1. ^ Šotʻa Mesxia, An Outline of Georgian History, (Tbilisi University Press, 1968), 32.
  2. ^ a b Javakhishvili, Book 2, p. 127
  3. ^ a b Battle of Khresili
  4. ^ Iobashvili g. Georgian Soviet History; tome 11, page 508, Tbilisi., 1987.