Battle of Khresili

Battle of Khresili
The general representation of the positions.
Date December 14, 1757 Standort Near Khresili Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Imereti Principality of Mingrelia Principality of Guria Principality of Abkhazia (Samurzakano)	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Solomon I of Imereti Katsia II Dadiani Mamia IV Gurieli Khutunia Sharvashidze  † Papuna Tsereteli Beri Tsulukidze Beso Lortkipanidze Kaikhosro Agiashvili Giorgi Abashidze Zurab Mikeladze Archil Batonishvili	Ali Pasha of Ioannina Gola Pasha  † Kemkha Pasha  † Levan Abashidze  † Rostom, Duke of Racha Pasha of Poti Pasha of Kutaisi Barons of Tsutskvati, Baghdati and Shorapani.
Strength
11,000 main troops 5,000 additional forces Total: 16,000 men	30,000 Turkish army 15,000 Turkish soldiers garrisoned in Imereti 10,000 pro-Ottoman Georgian rebels Total: 55,000 men
Casualties and losses
Few casualties	38,000-40,000

The Battle of Khresili (Georgian: ხრესილის ბრძოლა, Turkish: Hresili Muharebesi) was fought in 1757, between the armies of the Kingdom of Imereti and the Ottoman Empire. The king of Imereti, Solomon I defeated the Turkish army. The battle took place on December 14, 1757. Solomon I established a strong monarchy and unified western Georgia. His actions strained the relations between the Georgian King and Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, in particular, wanted to stop Solomon's struggle against slavery. The Ottomans were in an alliance with rebellious Georgian nobles, one such example was Levan Abashidze, who was fighting against the King of Imereti. Abashidze arrived in Akhaltsikhe and led an Ottoman army to the Kingdom of Imereti. Solomon enticed them into a strategically adroit place near Khresili and decisively defeated them.

Background

In the 17th century, western Georgia was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman garrisons were dispatched to Tsutskvati, Poti and Shorapani fortresses. 12,000 slaves were sold in the Ottoman Empire every year from Mengrelia alone. Realizing that Georgia was facing the threat of heavy depopulation, the King of Imereti, Solomon I prohibited slavery, opposing turncoat Lords and wanted independence from the Ottoman Empire. Sultan sent Gola Pasha with a large army to punish Solomon I and re-establish Ottoman rule over the Kingdom of Imereti.

Battle

Early in the morning, the Georgians started the attack. Ottoman army was cornered exactly where king Solomon I wanted them. Georgian attack was well prepared, numerically smaller Georgian army compensated its small size by high morale and determination to wipe out invading Turks from their land. King Solomon personally led his small army's charge, reached the Gola pasha and cut his head off. Turks panicked and tried to escape. But their leader, Abashidze somehow restored moral in Turkish army and they returned to battle, but soon Abashidze was killed by Georgian soldier: Gegela Tevdoradze (later he was called Gegelashvili). after they saw the death of their commander, Ottomans finally gave up on fighting and Georgians decisively defeated the Ottoman army. A large part of the Ottoman army was destroyed, a part was captured, a small part helped themselves by escaping. In the battle of Khresili, the commanders of the Ottoman army were killed: Gola Pasha, Kemkha Pasha and Levan Abashidze.

Ottomans never recovered from such a massive loss of manpower. Two further attempts to invade Imereti after this battle were with smaller Ottoman armies of 20,000 and 13,000 people strong, and while they were still numerically superior to Solomon I's small army, they were defeated just as well.

Strategic ramifications

After the battle of Khresili, in 1758-1766, the Ottomans attacked Imereti many times, but they could not subjugate Solomon I. Ottomans were eventually forced to sign a treaty with the kingdom of Imereti, which stated that Imereti was no longer an Ottoman vassal but a kingdom under Ottoman protection. the only remnant of past Ottoman glory in this treaty was an annual tribute of 60 women (of any ethnic origin, not necessarily Georgians), which king Solomon failed to honor anyway.