| Battle of Tbilisi | |||||||||
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| Part of Age of Division | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Kingdom of Georgia
|  Kingdom of Armenia
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Constantine III
| Gagik III
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Battle of Tbilisi was fought between forces of Georgian King Constantine and his Armenian counterpart: Gagik III Hasan-Jalalyan. The Battle ended in decisive Georgian victory, ending eight years of Armenian dominance during The Age of Division.
Background
Leon's attempt at defeating Gagik III at Sevan Lake ended in a disaster, and he was forced to retreat back to his capital Tbilisi (With Armenian King "On his Tail"). Gagik wanted to besiege Tbilisi but lack of troops prevented him from doing so and he returned to Yerevan to assemble more forces, pillaging and raiding small Georgian settlements on his way back. Leon's military incompetence made him extremely unpopular and his supported began to lose faith in him following his defeats. Nobles of Katli knew that Gagik was preparing for a new campaign and that it would surely put an end to the Kingdom. On 15th of October 1728, King Leon was murdered by Mouravi of Tbilisi and Governor of Samshvilde, nobles invited Constantine to Tbilisi, where they swore fealty to him and recognized him as the rightful King of Georgia. Constantine combined his small force with that of his new allies and began preparing for an Armenian attack. Meanwhile, Gagik had already crossed into Southern Kartli and began marching towards Tbilisi, not knowing of Leon's death. Georgian scouts had already informed Constantine that Armenians were approaching from South-West, so he fortified his forces there.
The Battle
Once the Armenians arrived, King Constantine's generals advised him to use his cannons but he declined, wishing to keep his cannons as a secret weapon. Battle started with an Armenian assault, which was quickly repelled, no assaults occurred on that day again. Heavy fog set in on the Second day and both sides refrained from attacking but Georgian cavalry raided the Armenian camp at night hoping to slay the Armenian king, but this attempt failed. on the fourth day, Armenians attacked the City from southeast, but further Armenian reinforcements were cut off by Georgians and the attacking party was repelled by the city garrison. Frustrated Gagik ordered a full assault on the fifth day and he was initially successful at pushing Georgians back, but at this point King Constantine used his cannons which heavily devastated the Attackers. King Gagik was killed in the ensuing cannon fire and his forces began to fall back.
Aftermath
Devastated Armenian Army was chased by the Georgians as far as Ashtarak. Georgians were then confronted by 'Abbas Maraghehid and a day long standoff ensued. The standoff ended indecisively so Georgians retreated back to Province of Lori and 'Abbas retreated to Yerevan, where he crowned late King Gagik's son as the new king of the Armenians. Georgians took all castles and cities in Lori region and began preparing for a final assault against Maraghehids.