Background
Eastern Georgia, composed of the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti, had been under intermitent Persian suzerainty since 1555. However, with the death of Nader Shah in 1747, both kingdoms broke free of Persian control and were reunited in personal union under the rule of the energetic king Heraclius II (Erekle) in 1762. In 1783, Heraclius placed his kingdom under the protection of the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Georgievsk. A limited Russian contingent of two infantry battalions with four artillery pieces arrived in Tbilisi in 1784, but was withdrawn, despite the frantic protests of the Georgians, in 1787. Despite being left on his devices, Heraclius still cherished a dream of establishing, with Russian protection, a strong and united monarchy, into which the western Georgian Kingdom of Imereti and the lost provinces under Ottoman rule would all eventually be drawn.
The consequences of these events came a few years later, when a new dynasty, the Qajars, emerged victorious in the protracted power struggle in Persia. Their head, Agha Mohammad Khan, resolved to bring the Caucasus once more under the Persian orbit. Finding an interval of peace amid their own quarrels, the Persians demanded Heraclius II to renounce the treaty with Russia in return for peace and the security of his kingdom. Heraclius appealed then to his theoretical protector, Empress Catherine II of Russia, but he was not listened, leaving Georgia to fend off the Persian threat alone. Nevertheless, Heraclius II still rejected the Khan’s ultimatum.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Krtsanisi
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)