1121 წელს საქართველოში შემოჭრილი მუსლიმთა კოალიციური ლაშქრის მიზანი და მარშრუტი

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Date
2018
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Abstract
On 12 August, 1121, the coalition army headed by Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq suffered defeat from the Georgian troops under the command of King David IV Aghmashenebeli. Various questions arising in connection with the battle are still a subject of study. This time, I would like to focus on two issues: what was the goal of the coalition army and what was its route? The first question seems to be easy to answer: the goal was to defeat the Georgians. But we are interested what type of “defeat” was intended to be inflicted on the enemy? Was the objective of the invaders to defeat the king in a pitched-battle, to kill him or to occupy a certain part of Georgia? Could the enemy have some other intentions? I agree with S. Margishvili’s assumption that Ilghazi’s goal was the capture of Tbilisi, and he intended to secure Dmanisi and Ganja. To achieve the goal, the Muslims had to capture Georgian fortresses in the region, and they had to reduce Georgian military power. Since very little information is available and the existing accounts are contradictory, it is difficult to define the route taken by the enemy. To solve the problem, several issues must be clarified. Did the regiments of the coalition army enter Georgia separately and unite later on, e.g. in Trialeti? I think that the Muslim coalition army entered Trialeti as one army. I can assume that Ilghazi moved from Kars in the direction of Ani. The most appropriate site for unification of the troops approaching from Ani and Ganja was Kvemo Kartli. The troops from Ani and Dvin probably united prior to entering to Georgia and were joined by military forces from Ganja. The coalition army had to be united somewhere near Dmanisi. If the Muslim coalition army united in Kvemo Kartli, why did it arrive in “Trialeti, Manglisi and Didgori”? One can assume that as soon as the enemy appeared at the south border of Georgia, spies provided King David with information about the troop movement. David realized that Ilghazi’s intentions were to approach the surroundings of Tbilisi. The Georgian king made changes to his initial plan and tried to lure the enemy into a battle site, which would be unfavourable for the invaders, giving them no way to use their numerical superiority over the Georgian army. In my opinion, the first battle with the coalition army took place in the environs of Dmanisi. The enemy was tricked into thinking that it defeated the Georgians and was then lured in the direction of Trialeti. As to the Georgian army, I assume that it arrived in the environs of Manglisi-Didgori via the Nichbistskali and Kavturi gorges, and probably Tedzami as well.
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დიდგორი, დავით აღმაშენებელი, თურქ-სელჩუკები, ილ-ღაზი
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ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები, XIII, თბილისი, 2018, გვ. 255-275 / Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Institute of Georgian History Proceedings, XIII, Tbilisi, 2018, pp. 255-275
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