The collapse of the Mongolian empires in the 14th century was almost as destabilizing to geopolitics as the Mongolian invasions had been in the 13th century. In fact when you juxtapose the dates like that it makes a pretty good argument for treating the invasions and the collapse as all one big century-long disruption rather … Continue reading Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of the Terek River (1395)
Tag: caucasian history
Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Didgori (1121)
Georgian King David IV (d. 1125) is regarded as the restorer of the Georgian nation after its subjugation by the Seljuk Turks in the late 11th century, hence his epithet “The Builder” (or perhaps “The Rebuilder”). He’s also considered arguably the greatest ruler in Georgian history, in addition to being a saint in the Georgian … Continue reading Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Didgori (1121)
Today in Caucasian history: the Battles of Karakilisa, Sardarabad, and Abaran (1918)
It goes without saying that the 1917 Russian Revolution had a considerable impact on the course of World War I. It eliminated the Russian threat on the eastern front, for example, which is the part everybody learns about in history class. But it's biggest impact may actually have been on the Caucasian front. This is … Continue reading Today in Caucasian history: the Battles of Karakilisa, Sardarabad, and Abaran (1918)
Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Bagrevand (775)
When Arab armies moved out of Arabia in the 630s they brought an end to the Roman-Persian balance of power that had defined western Asia for centuries. It’s likely that nobody, apart from the Romans and the Persians, felt this change more acutely than the Armenians. The Kingdom of Armenia had long been a buffer between … Continue reading Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Bagrevand (775)
Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Sarikamish ends (1915)
The Battle of Sarikamish was one of the more overwhelming Russian victories of World War I. It was so overwhelming, in fact, that it put the Russians on the offensive in the Caucasus for good—or, well, until Russia quit the war following its 1917 revolution. Which is why its legacy is hard to judge. Whatever … Continue reading Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Sarikamish ends (1915)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 