Georgian campaign against the Eldiguzids

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. Ani was thoroughly plundered and a population of 12,000 was allegedly massacred on this Eastern Sunday of 1209.

In retaliation, Zakare raided Ardabil on Ramadan. In 1210, 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. Altogether, it was a journey of about 3,000 kilometers, before going back to the Georgian capital of Tbilissi.