Abbasid-Georgian Wars (Merveilles des Morte)

Abbasid-Georgian Wars
Part of Expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate
File:Ottoman-army-attack-hassan-raza.jpg The Battle of Antioch, 1580
Date 29 July 1531 – 10 March 1591 (59 years, 7 months, 10 days) Location Anatolia, Middle East, North Africa, Persia Result Overall Abbasid victory Territorial changes Georgia cedes territories in Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Cilicia to the Abbasid caliphate; Tabriz falls under Persian occupation.
Belligerents
Abbasid Caliphate Kingdom of France Jahirid Empire	File:Georgiaking.png Kingdom of Georgia Supported by: Byzantine Empire File:Circassia Flag.png Circassia Spanish Empire
Strength
200,000	300,000

The Abbasid-Georgian Wars were a series of battles and military conflict between the Abbasid Caliphate and the medieval Empire of Georgia. Since the Caliphate's third formation, the goal of the remnant dynasty was to renew their authority over the Near East and to restore the empire that ended in the 13th century following the Mongolian invasion of Iraq.

Following the Conquest of Oman by the Caliphate in 1528, the Abbasid dynasty would establish a renewed focus on the regions of the Levant and Mesopotamia, seeking a full restoration of power in the Middle East through the crushing of the Empire of Georgia. On 22 July 1531, Caliph Abdukrahman would launch an invasion into Syria and Iraq, initiating what would culminate into a sixty-year long war between the Abbasid Caliphate and the Empire of Georgia, with the war marking the return of Islamic hegemony in the outskirts of Europe. Following what Greek scholars referred to as the "Great War", a period of peace between the Abbasids and Georgians would see the tensions sour between the Jahirid Empire and the Abbasids, whom were previously allied. Georgia would later send logistical support to the Byzantine Empire during the Abbasid-Byzantine War (1544–1557).

Following the death of Caliph Abdukrahman I in 1564, his successor Caliph Abdukrahman II would mount another invasion of Georgia with the Battle of Urfa in 1565. By this point, Georgia had re-organized it's military in an effort to re-gain lost territories, and with aid of the Spanish Empire, would the decisively defeat the Abbasids in Upper Mesopotamia and reclaim nominal control over much of Syria, leading to Caliph Abdukrahman II to move the capital back to Cairo. The war would last only three years before fighting would cease for five years, during which time a number of Shi'ite based revolts would occur throughout Caliphate, which while unsuccessful, would lead to the Abbasid dynasty's authority becoming decentralized as a result. Following these losses, Caliph Abdukrahman II would build a slave army and make another attempt at invading Georgia in 1573, which saw some minimal success in re-capturing territories in Syria before ultimately being slain in the Battle of Aleppo, 1575.

Caliph Abdukrahman II's sudden death would lead to a year-long civil war within the caliphate between Abdukrahman II's son, Selim, and his brother, Fakhraddin. With much of the fighting centered across North Africa, the subsequent Battle of Tripoli (1575) and Siege of Tunis (1576) would lead to Selim's ascension while depleting the Cairo treasury. As a result of the civil conflict, the Georgian King Nathan II would oversee the Syrian campaign, and by the end of the 1576, had closed in on Damascus. Fearful that the fall of Damascus would mark the caliphate's days as numbered, Selim would gather remaining men, as well as women, for a final confrontation.

Footnotes