Eldiguzid_campaign_of_Tamar_of_Georgia
Georgian campaign against the Eldiguzids
1209 military campaign by the Kingdom of Georgia
The Georgian campaign against the Eldiguzids was a military campaign led by the Amirspasalar (Commander-in-Chief of the army) of the Kingdom of Georgia, Zakare II Zakarian for Queen Tamar of Georgia, from 1209 to 1211.
The campaign was a response to the 1209 plundering of the Armenian capital of Ani by the ruler of Ardabil, a vassal of the Eldiguzid Atabeg Nusrat al-Din Abu Bakr. Ani had been left unprotected, as the Georgian court was spending Easter at the Palace of Geguti.[1] Ani was thoroughly plundered and a population of 12,000 was allegedly massacred on this Eastern Sunday of 1209.[2][1]
In retaliation, Zakare raided Ardabil on Ramadan.[2][3] In 2010, Zakare launched a vast campaign against Persia, passing Nakhchivan, and going on to plunder the cities of Julfa, Marand, Tabriz, Meyaneh, Zanjan, Qazvin, and as far as Gorgan.[2] Altogether, it was a journey of about 3,000 kilometers, before going back to the Georgian capital of Tbilissi.[2][3]