Bakhtrioni Uprising

The Bakhtrioni Uprising was a general revolt of the Georgian Kingdom of Kakheti against the political domination of Safavid Persia, in 1659. It is named after the main battle, which took place at the fortress of Bakhtrioni.

The uprising happened during a century of demographic, economic, and political decline of Kakheti. In the first half of the 17th century, Kakhetian king Teimuraz I had time and again struggled to maintain independence, or at least large autonomy, from the Persian Empire. Kakheti was devastated by Shah Abbas in 1616, much of its population massacred or deported. In the following decades, the Persians tried to put Kakheti under control of the more submissive Kingdom of Kartli, led by Georgian prince Rostom, a convert to Islam. When such control had been installed, and Teimuraz had fled to Western Georgia, in the 1650s, in order to repopulate the province and keep an eye on the restive nobles, a policy of colonisation of Kakheti by Qizilbash Turcoman tribes was decided by the Persians.

The forced installation of the Qizilbash was the immediate motive for the uprising. Kakheti had been divided in two administrative regions: the south-eastern part was under the power of the Beylerbey of Karabakh, the rest under that of Nakhichevan. Up to 80 000 Turcomans migrated to Kakheti. They started building a fortress at Bakhtrioni, and transforming the ancient monastery of Alaverdi into one.

The uprising was, as in 1615, inspired by the main noble families remained faithful to Teimuraz I. However, according to Georgian accounts, the mass of the population took part in it, as they were being evicted of their villages and farms by the incomers. The Eristavi Zaal, Duke of Aragvi, one of the main feudal lords in Kakheti, a former supporter of Teimuraz who had made allegiance to Rostom and the Persians in 1648 and thus gained even more power, took the lead of the uprising. Among the leaders were also Bidzina Choloqashvili, Shalva, eristavi of Ksani, and his brother Elizbar Eristvisshvili. Georgian mountain people, such as the Tushs, the Khevsurians and the Pshavs, also joined the rebellion, under the leadership of Zezva Gaprindauli, Nadir Khosharauli, and Gogolauri.

The Georgian forces, once united, attacked the Turcoman fortresses at Bakhtrioni and Alaverdi and vanquished them. They then defeated Turcoman forces in other places of Kakheti. However, the weak organisation and isolation of the rebels allowed the Persians, now under personal direction of Shah Abbas II, to successfully counter-attack and defeat them.

The Eristavi Zaal was murdered by his own nephews at the order of the shah, and his children sent to the Persian court. Upon those news, Bidzina Choloqashvili, Shalva of Ksani and Elizbar Eristvisshvili asked the shah for forgiveness, but he had them delivered to the tribes that the insurgees had massacred earlier. They were tortured and put to death. They would be canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Kakheti remained under Persian rule, even if the rebels had succeeded in defeating the Turcomans, who did not remain in the region. In 1664, the autonomy of Kakheti was restored, as the Persians agreed to have Archil, son of the King of Kartli, installed as King of Kakheti.

The uprising soon entered Georgian collective memory, and many songs and poems were composed about it, while the mountain warriors became well-known folk heroes. The battle at Bakhtrioni, and the heroism of the mountaineers, inspired Vazha-Pshavela his epic poem Bakhtrioni (1892), while Akaki Tsereteli wrote a whole novel about it, Bashi-Achuki.