Collapse of the Georgian realm

The fragmentation of the unified realm started in the 13th century during the Mongol invasions that resulted in the establishment of de facto independent Kingdom of Western Georgia led by King David VI Narin and his successors, even though several reunifications would take place that will bring back monarchy united in fold.


Nevertheless, the reunification came up to be ephemeral as the fragmentation would escalate through dynastic triarchy. Championed under the reign of King George VIII, it continued under Bagrat VI and Constantine II and included the entire country, with clashes all around the realm. The dynastic war began in the 1460s following the separatist pushes of the Principality of Samtskhe, leading to a series of conflicts between the central Kartli-based government of Tbilisi and royal contenders in Imereti and Kakheti. For three decades, Georgia was impoverished and weakened. In 1490, a peace was concluded following the formal division of the unified kingdom of Georgia into three independent kingdoms, thus ending a monarchy that had existed since 1008.


The conflict took place during the major geopolitical changes in the Near East, including the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Simultaneously, the Timurid and Turkoman invasions would result severe political divisions within Georgia that would speed up the fragmentation of the kingdom.

Historical context[edit]

At the dawn of the second half of the 15th century, the Kingdom of Georgia was the most powerful state in the Caucasus after the renaissance observed under the reign of King Alexander I the Great. However, the kingdom suffered greatly after the first Mongol invasion and from the massacres and destruction organized by the warlord Timur in the 1400s. Moreover, unlike the geopolitical situation of the Georgian Golden Age of the 13th century, the powers bordering Georgia strengthened, posing a far greater threat. In particular, the Turkoman tribes would unite to found the Qara Qoyunlu, confederative empire that would sack Georgia from the 1410s.


In 1453, the Ottoman Turks of Anatolia took Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire, the seat of Orthodox Christianity since the 4th century. This isolated Georgia from the western world and the kingdom became the only Christian country in the Near East, which prompted the Georgian royalty and nobility to unite temporarily in order to incite the powers of Western Europe to embark on a new crusade. This effort quickly fizzled out, as the Europeans refused to see the Ottomans as a threat. Georgia had allies no more and found itself all alone surrounded by the powerful Muslim states. The decline in international trade, the disappearance of the kingdom's cultural allies and the growing threats in the Caucasus only sow poverty and desolation across Georgia, providing an ideal context for nobles wishing to gain more power from the central royal government.^[1]