History of Tbilisi - Mongol Domination and The Following Period of Instability

Mongol Domination and The Following Period of Instability

Tbilisi's Golden Age did not last for more than a century. In 1236, after suffering crushing defeats to the Mongols, Georgia came under Mongol domination. The nation itself maintained a form of semi-independence and did not lose its statehood, but Tbilisi was strongly influenced by the Mongols for the next century both politically and culturally. In the 1320s, the Mongols were forcefully expelled from Georgia and Tbilisi became the capital of an independent Georgian state once again. An outbreak of the plague struck the city in 1366.

From the late 14th until the end of the 18th century, Tbilisi came under the rule of various foreign invaders once again and on several occasions was completely burnt to the ground. In 1386, Tbilisi was invaded by the armies of Tamerlane (Timur). In 1444, the city was invaded and destroyed by Jahan Shah (the Shah of the town of Tabriz in Persia). From 1477 to 1478 the city was held by the Ak Koyunlu tribesmen of Uzun Hassan. In 1522., Tbilisi came under Persian control but was later freed in 1524 by King David X of Georgia. During this period, many parts of Tbilisi were reconstructed and rebuilt. From the 17th-18th centuries, Tbilisi once again became the object of rivalry only this time between the Ottoman Turks and Persia. The Kings of Kartli held court in Tbilisi under Persian patronage, as witnessed by Jean Chardin during his travels in 1672. King Erekle of Georgia tried on several occasions to free Tbilisi from Persian rule, but Tbilisi was burnt to the ground in 1795 by Shah Agha-Mohammad Khan during a punitive Persian expedition. At this point, believing that Georgia could not hold up against Persia alone, Erekle sought the help of Russia, which led to a more complete loss of independence than had been the case in the past centuries, but also to the progressive transformation of Tbilisi into a European city.