Battle of the Didgori
| date | August 12, 1121 |
|---|---|
| location | Mount Didgori, near Tbilisi , Georgia |
| exit | Decisive Georgian victory |
| consequences | Unification of Georgia |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| clear superiority, perhaps 100,000–250,000 | around 55,600, including 200 European crusaders |
| losses | |
|
Entire army fallen or fled |
Small amount |
The Battle of Didgori ( Georgian დიდგორის ბრძოლა ) took place on August 12, 1121 on Didgori Mountain, 40 km west of Tbilisi . A clearly outnumbered Georgian army led by King Dawits IV defeated a Seljuk overwhelming power. The outcome of the battle enabled Tbilisi and large parts of the Caucasus to be retakenwho were under Islamic domination. The victory, which contemporaries hailed as a supernatural miracle, established the medieval heyday of Georgia and still occupies an important place in Georgian identity today. King Dawit IV the builder was referred to as the sword of the Messiah during his lifetime and is venerated as a saint by the Georgian Orthodox Church . As a reminder of the battle, a monument was erected on Mount Didgori in the early 1990s, where annual commemorations take place.
prehistory
Originally obliged to pay tribute to the Seljuk Empire, from the 1090s the Georgian King Dawit IV used the short period of weakness of the Seljuq rulers caused by the First Crusade for territorial expansion. His main goal, the recapture of the old Georgian city of Tbilisi, which at that time had been under Islamic rule for over 400 years, was initially closed to him. In response to Georgian ambitions, the Sultan of the Seljuks, Mahmud II , called for holy war . In 1121 a huge Islamic army, led by Ilghazi , the emir of Mardin and Aleppo , gathered to invade Georgia.
Course of the battle
On August 10, 1121, Ilghazi's army set up camp on a plain near Mount Didgori. King Dawit IV had already taken precautions before the invasion and evacuated the lands that were on the Seljuk incursion route. He brought his army up from Mtskheta and divided it into two parts, a main force which he led himself and a smaller one led by his eldest son and heir to the throne, Prince Dimitri. While he was to attack the Seljuks head-on with his army, Dimitri occupied the mountain ranges and then fell into the flank of the enemy on signal. King Dawit also ordered the retreat route to be blocked with felled tree trunks to prevent his troops from escaping and to let them fight to the death.
On the morning of August 12, 200 cavalrymen left the camp on the orders of the Georgian king to surrender to the Seljuks. When they were in the middle of the enemy camp, they drew their swords and attacked. Taking advantage of the resulting chaos in the Seljuk camp, Dawit IV attacked with the entire army. After only three hours the battle was over and the remnants of the Seljuk army were on the run. The following year Dawit IV conquered Tbilisi and made it his capital.
literature
- Heinz Fähnrich: The Battle of the Didgori , in: Georgica 17, 33–39 (1994)
Web links
- Summary of the battle of didgori (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 'Miraculous Victory:' Battle of Didgori, 1121. Retrieved September 27, 2015 .
- ↑ 'Miraculous Victory:' Battle of Didgori, 1121. Retrieved September 27, 2015 .