Battle of Didgori

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Battle of Didgori

Date	August 12, 1121
Location	Didgori, Georgia
Result	Decisive Georgian victory

Combatants

Seljuk Turks coalition

Georgia

Commanders

Ilghazi

King David IV of Georgia

Strength

120,000-150,000 ^[1]

56,000

Casualties

Unknown, but exceedingly heavy

Unknown

The Battle of Didgori was fought between the Georgia and Seljuk armies at the place of Didgori sixteen kilometers northwest of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on August 12, 1121. Known in the Georgian history as the Miraculous Victory (ძლევაჲ საკვირველი, dzlevay sakvirveli), it is generally considered as the greatest military victory of Georgian arms.

King David the Builder of Georgia had been gradually forcing the Seljuk garrisons out of his kingdom, having recaptured the Seljuk-held fortresses of Zedazeni (1103), Samshvilde (1110), Rustavi (1115), Gishi (1117), and Lore (1118). The Kingdom of Georgia had been making intensive preparations for a decisive battle aimed at liberating the Muslim-held city of Tbilisi.

Alarmed by David’s advances, Sultan Mahmud II of Great Seljuk (1117-1131) sent a strong coalition army under the esteemed general Artuklu Ilgazi to regain the lost lands in Caucasus and defend Tbilisi from the Georgian attack. The Sultan’s brother Turgul, the Melik of Ganja, Atabeg Gundogdu, and Dubeys b. Sadaka were among the Seljuk commanders. A number of the Seljuk army (600,000-800,000) given in the contemporary Georgian, European and Armenian chronicles seems to be exaggerated, but there is no doubt that the Seljuks had a crushing superiority in numbers compared to the Georgian army. The most probable numbers would be 56,000 Georgians and 120,000-150,000 Turks.^{[citation needed]}

King David’s army consisted of 40,000 Georgians, 15,000 Kipchak auxiliaries, 500 Alan mercenaries and 300 French Crusaders.

Ilghazi invaded and reached the vicinities of the town of Manglisi in mid-August, 1121. The two armies clashed at the Mount Didgori on August 12. The Georgian generals encamped in the deep forest and blocked the passage of the gorge to prevent their soldiers’ retreat. Prior to battle, King David sent 200 cavalrymen to the enemy’s camps. They pretended to be renegades and attacked suddenly as they reached the center of the enemy’s camps. Meanwhile, the Georgian main forces under the king and his son Demetre (the future King Demetre I) attacked the Seljuk flanks despite being vastly outnumbered. The fierce, three-hour battle ended in a crushing victory of the Georgians. Myriads of the Seljuks were annihilated and many of the survivors were enslaved. Ilghazi himself was severely wounded in his head.

After the battle, King David expelled the remaining Seljuk garrisons from the country and reconquered Tbilisi after heavy fighting in 1122. The victory at Didgori marked the beginning of the Georgian golden era which would last until the invasion by Mingburnu in 1225.

In commemoration of the 1121 victory, an impressive memorial monument was erected at the place of Didgori in the early 1990s. Georgians to this day celebrate the victory annually as a holiday of Didgoroba (“the Day of Didgori”) on September 2.

King David the Builder’s appeal to his warriors just before the battle (according to the French knight and historian, Galterius):

"...Soldiers of Christ! If we fight with abandon, defending the faith of our Lord, we shall not only overcome countless servants of Satan, but the Devil himself. I will only advise you one thing that will add to our honor and our profit. And raising our hands to Heaven we will all swear to our Lord that in the name of love to Him, we will rather die in the battlefield than run....”