Timur ' s invasions of Georgia Georgia , a Christian kingdom in the Caucasus , was subjected , between 1386 and 1403 , to several disastrous invasions by the armies of Turco - Mongol conqueror Timur , whose vast empire stretched , at its greatest extent , from Central Asia into Anatolia . These conflicts were intimately linked with the wars between Timur and Tokhtamysh , the last khan of the Golden Horde and Timur ’ s major rival for control over the Islamic world . Timur officially proclaimed his invasions to be jihad against the region ' s non - Muslims . Although he was able to invade parts of Georgia , he was never able to make the country Muslim and even recognized Georgia to be a Christian state . In the first of eight invasions , Timur sacked Georgia ' s capital , Tbilisi , and captured the king Bagrat V in 1386 . Georgian resistance prompted a renewed attack by the Turco - Mongol armies . Bagrat ’ s son and successor , George VII , put up a stiff resistance and had to spend much of his reign ( 1395 - 1405 ) fighting the Timurid invasions . Timur personally led most of these raids to subdue the recalcitrant Georgian monarch . Although he was not able to establish a firm control over Georgia , the country suffered a blow from which it never recovered . By the time George VII was forced to accept Timur ' s terms of peace and agree to pay tribute , he was a master of little more than gutted towns , ravaged countryside and a shattered monarchy . History . Amir Timur ' s first appearance in the Caucasus was a response to Khan Tokhtamysh ’ s marauding inroad into Northern Iran through the Caucasian lands in 1385 . This marked an outbreak of outright hostility between the two Islamic monarchs . Timur responded by launching a full - scale invasion of the small frontier countries , which lay between the western border of his emerging empire and Tokhtamysh ’ s khanate . After having overrun Azerbaijan and Kars , Timur marched into Georgia . The official history of his reign , " Zafarnama " , represents this campaign in Georgia as a jihad . Timur set out from Kars and assailed Samtskhe , the southernmost principality within the Kingdom of Georgia later in 1386 . From there , he marched against Tbilisi which the Georgian king Bagrat V had fortified . The city fell on November 21 , 1386 , and King Bagrat V was captured and converted to Islam at sword point . The " Georgian Chronicle " and Thomas of Metsoph mention the apostasy of the king but represent it as a clever ruse which enabled him to earn a degree of trust of Timur . Bagrat was given some 12 , 000 troops to reestablish himself in Georgia whose government was run by Bagrat ’ s son and co - ruler George VII during his father ’ s absence at Timur ’ s court . The old king , however , entered in secret negotiations with George who ambushed Bagrat ’ s Islamic escort , and freed his father . In the spring of 1387 , Timur returned to Georgia to take revenge for the ambush and escape . Bagrat and George managed to evacuate the civilian population of the frontier regions to the mountains and forests , and began organising their defences . Khan Tokhtamysh ’ s reappearance in Iran forced Timur to temporarily withdraw . However once the Golden Horde was defeated , Timur returned to attack Georgia again . In 1394 , he dispatched four generals to the province of Samtskhe , with orders to apply the Islamic law of ghaza ( i . e . the systematic raiding of non - Muslim lands ) . The same year , Timur in person punished the mountainous Georgian communities in the Aragvi Valley whom the " Zafarnama " calls " Kara - Kalklanlik " ( " with black bucklers ” , i . e . , the eastern Georgian mountaineers , the Pshavs and Khevsurs ) , and returned via Tbilisi to Shekki upon hearing of yet another offensive by Tokhtamysh . In 1395 the desperate Georgians allied themselves with Sidi Ali of Shekki and inflicted a crushing defeat on the invading armies of the Timurid Miran Shah who was besieging Alindjak ( near Nakhichevan ) , and captured the Jalayirid prince Tahir who was shut up in it . This event prompted Timur to return , later in 1399 , to inflict massive revenge on the general population of the region . He took Shekki and devastated the neighboring region of Kakheti . In the spring of 1400 , Timur moved back to destroy the Georgian state once and for all . He demanded that George VII should hand over the Jalayirid Tahir . George VII refused and met Amir Timur at the Sagim River in Lower Kartli , but suffered a defeat and retreated deeper into the country , being relentlessly chased by Timur . The " Amir " destroyed the Georgian capital Tbilisi , left a garrison there , and laid siege to Gori where George had entrenched . The king made a bold sortie westward , but having failed to thwart the enemy ’ s advance at the fortresses of Dzami and Savaneti , fled to the inaccessible forests of western Georgia where the armies of the Islamic ruler could not penetrate . Timur turned back in fury and thoroughly pillaged the rest of Georgia . This bloody campaign lasted for several months , with Timur ’ s armies systematically moving from province to province . Virtually all major cities and towns were destroyed and their populations decimated ; the countryside ( with its villages and food - sources ) was burnt ; monasteries and churches were systematically razed to the ground . Of those who survived the fighting and reprisals , many thousands died of hunger and disease , and 60 , 000 survivors were enslaved and carried away by Timur ' s troops . In late 1401 , Timur invaded the Caucasus once again . George VII had to sue for peace , and sent his brother with the contributions . Timur was preparing for a major confrontation with the Ottoman dynasty and apparently wished to freeze the currently prevailing situation in Georgia , until he could return to deal with it more decisively and thoroughly at his leisure . Thus , he made peace with George on condition that the king of Georgia supplied him with troops and granted the Muslims special privileges . The Amir nonetheless undertook some preventive measures and attacked the Georgian garrison of Tortum i , demolishing the citadel and looting the surrounding area . Once the Ottomans were defeated , Timur , back to Erzurum in 1402 , decided to punish the king of Georgia for not having come to present his congratulations on his victory . George VII ’ s brother , Constantine , who was then on bad terms with his brother , arrived with gifts as did the king ’ s defiant vassal Iwane Jaqeli , prince of Samtskhe . Sheikh Ibrahim I of Shirvan went to estimate the revenues and expenses of Georgia . George sent new presents but Timur refused them and summoned George to appear in person . In the meantime , he himself laid siege to the impregnable fortress of Birtvisi , stubbornly defended by a tiny Georgian garrison . Having captured the fortress in August 1403 , Timur sent his army to plunder and clear the frontier regions of Georgia and set out in pursuit of the retreating king George VII as far as Abkhazia . Timur ' s historian reports that 700 towns were destroyed and their inhabitants massacred . Timur only stopped his army when the ulema and the mufti decided it was possible to grant the king of Georgia clemency ( " aman " ) . George VII had to pay a huge tribute including 1 , 000 tankas of gold struck in the name of Timur , 1 , 000 horses , a ruby weighing 18 mithkal s , etc . Timur then passed through Tbilisi , destroying all monasteries and churches on his way , and went to Beylagan early in 1404 . All the territories from Beylagan to Trebizond were officially given by Timur as an appanage to his grandson Khalil Mirza . Timur then finally left the Caucasus and headed for Central Asia where he died on February 19 , 1405 .