Draft:Battle of Akhaltsikhe (1444)

The Battle of Akhaltsikhe was a battle between the Kingdom of Georgia and the Qara Qoyunlu that was fought in 1444.

Background
In 1440, Alexander I of Georgia refused to pay tribute to Jahan Shah of the Qara Qoyunlu. In March, Jahan Shah surged into Georgia with 20,000 troops, destroyed the city of Samshvilde and sacked the capital city Tbilisi. He massacred 8,000 and enslaved 9,000 in Tbilisi, put heavy indemnity on Georgia, According to Thomas of Metsoph, Jahan Shah imposed a large tax on the Christians living in Tbilisi in order to convert them to Islam. It is not known from other sources how much this tax was and whether Christians paid it or not, after that Jahan Shah returned to Tabriz.

Battle
In 1444, Jahan Shah, attempted a new invasion of Georgia. Alexander’s successor, King Vakhtang IV met him in Akhaltsikhe, where the Georgians and Turkomans fought in a bloody battle that ended without a clear victor. At night, Jahan Shah and his troops escaped to Tabriz, putting an end to the Turkoman invasion.