The Circassian–Georgian wars were a series of intermittent military conflicts, raids, and uprisings between the Georgian kingdoms and principalities and various Circassian (Adyghe) tribes of the North Caucasus, spanning from the late Middle Ages into the early modern period. These confrontations were closely linked to Georgian political fragmentation, Circassian territorial expansion, and the shifting balance of power across the Caucasus.
Following the death of King Alexander I of Georgia in the early 15th century and the subsequent division of the Georgian kingdom among his sons, several subjugated North Caucasian groups revolted against Georgian authority. In this context, Circassian tribes succeeded in throwing off Georgian control and expanded southward into contested frontier regions. Warfare during this period frequently took the form of border clashes, punitive expeditions, and slave-raiding campaigns rather than sustained large-scale wars.
By the 17th and early 18th centuries, Circassian raids into western and central Georgia—often conducted in cooperation with neighboring North Caucasian groups such as the Lezgins—were noted by contemporary observers. These conflicts formed part of the broader Caucasian struggle involving Georgian polities, North Caucasian societies, and neighboring empires, particularly the Ottoman and Safavid states.
History The Circassians had kept their independence until the early years of the 13th century, when part of their country and Abkhazia were subjected by the Georgians under Tamar of Georgia and re-Christianized in part. This process formed part of a broader phase of Georgian political and cultural domination, which at its height extended over much of the Caucasus. Georgian historians referred to Circassia as "Djiketia" (a variation of "Zichia", the medieval name of Western Circassia). During this period, churches were constructed in various parts of Circassia, the remains of which can still be found scattered across the region. At the same time, important and mutually enriching cultural exchanges took place between the Circassians and Georgians, helping to cement cultural connections that, according to some scholars, persisted long after the end of direct Georgian influence.
Toward the end of the 14th century, the Circassians rebelled against Georgian rule. Around 1390, during the reign of King Bagrat V, the Georgians organized a punitive campaign against Zichia. According to information preserved in the Khobi Monastery records, Vameq I Dadiani led an invasion into Zichia, which was described as "unfaithful" and disloyal to the Georgian state. Vameq defeated the Zichians at the fortress of Gagra and at Ugagi, the latter described as strong and inaccessible, and then ravaged Zichia as far as the Sea of Azov. During this campaign, hostages were taken from those Zichians who submitted, while the lands of those considered rebellious were devastated. Vameq also attacked Zichia from the sea, significantly weakening Zichian naval piracy, although he was ultimately unable to halt the continued expansion of Circassian tribes.
In 1414, the Eristavi of Odishi, Mamia II Dadiani, sought to subjugate the Abkhazians and mobilized an army for this purpose. Circassian king Inal the Great intervened in support of the princes of the House of Sharvashidze against the Georgians. During the ensuing campaign, the Mingrelian army was destroyed and Mamia was killed, while the few survivors retreated back to Odishi. Thus, with the assistance of Inal, the Abkhazian princes succeeded in defeating the Georgian forces.
However, Alexander I of Georgia later arrived in the region with a large army composed of Mingrelians and other Kartvelian contingents. At that time, Inal was engaged in a conflict with the Genoese and was therefore unable to defend Abkhazia. As a result, Prince Chachba was compelled to renew his submission to Georgia. Meanwhile, a group of feudal lords in southern Circassia, led by Prince Ozdemir, rose in rebellion against the authority of Prince Inal. This uprising primarily benefited the western Georgian rulers, who sought to forestall what they feared would be Inal's inevitable and potentially dangerous campaign against Abkhazia.
According to Abadzekh legends, Ozdemir was an Abaza who had settled in the Khamyshi tract. Prince Inal advanced against the rebels with his main forces. Ozdemir's troops were defeated, after which he fled into the interior of Abkhazia. During subsequent military operations in Abkhazia, the rebels were completely routed and Ozdemir himself was killed. Inal, relying on alliances with the Anchabadze and Sharvashidze families, succeeded in subjugating the rebellious rulers. According to R. Trakho, the war lasted from 1433 to 1434, and as a result, Prince Inal's influence in Abkhazia was formally recognized.
With the further continuation of Circassian expansion in the North Caucasus, after the death of King Alexander I of Georgia and the subsequent division of his domains among his sons, the political situation within the Georgian kingdom became weakened and unstable. In these conditions of internal fragmentation and loss of central authority, the previously subjugated North Caucasian peoples of the kingdom rose in revolt against Georgian rule. As a consequence of this uprising, the Circassians were able to throw off the Georgian yoke and free themselves from external domination, effectively ending the period of Georgian control over their lands and restoring their independence in the region. Between 1451 and 1455, the Abazins continued to plunder the Mingrelia region.
In 1509, the Circassians carried out a major raid into the region of Mingrelia (Samegrelo), which at the time was under the authority of the Kingdom of Imereti. According to the Georgian chronicle cited by Brosset, this campaign was led by the Circassian military leader Tsandiya Inal Dafita, known by the epithet "The Hated." During the invasion, Inal Dafita advanced into Imereti, killing many of those who resisted and taking a large number of captives. These captives were later ransomed by the Patriarch of Abkhazia.
Circassian incursions into Mingrelia did not end with this campaign and continued during the years 1510–1512. Contemporary Georgian sources report that many inhabitants of the region were captured during these raids, enslaved, and subsequently sold in the markets of the Crimean Khanate. Вахушти Багратиони (Vakhushti Bagrationi) (1745). История Царства Грузинского: Жизнь Имерети
In response to these repeated attacks and in an attempt to exact revenge and halt further Circassian raids, the Georgian polities of the Principality of Guria and the Principality of Mingrelia organized a joint naval expedition against Zichia. The allied Mingrelian and Gurian forces landed on the Circassian coast on 30 January 1533. In the initial engagement, despite determined resistance by the Zygii, the allies achieved a victory. However, on the following day, many Mingrelian nobles—exhausted by battle—abandoned their lord, reportedly at the instigation of Tsandia Inal-Ipa, who is identified in some sources as an Abkhaz. As a result, the allied forces were decisively defeated. Mamia Dadiani was captured, disarmed, stripped naked, and killed, while Mamia Gurieli was taken prisoner. Malachia I Abashidze, Catholicos of Imereti and Abkhazia, later traveled to the land of the Zygii, where he ransomed the surviving captives and recovered the bodies of those who had been killed in the campaign.
After the death of Mamia III Dadiani, the ruler of Odishi, power passed to Levan I Dadiani. The new ruler of Odishi soon launched a prolonged naval war against Zichia, a conflict that lasted for approximately three decades. This struggle placed considerable strain on Mingrelia's resources, and Levan I Dadiani ultimately found himself in need of external assistance against the Zichians.
As a result, in 1557 Levan I Dadiani personally sailed from Samegrelo to Constantinople in order to request Ottoman support in his war against the Jiks (Circassians). The Ottoman Sultan did not refuse the appeal of the prince of Odishi and agreed to provide assistance, promising naval support in the form of ships. In a report dated March 1, 1557, Antal Veranchic describes Levan's arrival and intentions as follows:
We already have accurate information about the arrival of the Samegrelo prince. He came by sea... He himself came as an ambassador, although he did so in order to take revenge on the neighboring Circassians, because they killed his father... He is sure that without a navy he could do nothing against the enemy. He brought the Sultan a cup set with precious stones as a gift, in order to ask him for rowing boats. In case of fulfilling this request, the king even assumed a tax, from which he had been free until now. According to the opinion spread here, as a result of the Turkish fleet going to sea, the Samegrelo prince will not immediately receive the boats he requested. The thing is that the Sultan needs this fleet to achieve his much more important goals. It is possible that he gave the Samegrelo prince small boats, which are quite good for military and naval use.
With the assistance he received from the Ottoman Sultan against the Dzhiks, Levan I Dadiani resumed the naval war. However, the extent and nature of Ottoman aid soon proved disappointing. In 1560, the Venetian diplomat Marino Cavalli reported that although the Mingrelian Orthodox Christians were close to the Ottomans and formally subject to them, they attempted to act independently whenever possible. According to Cavalli, four or five years earlier their ruler, Dadiani, had personally traveled to Constantinople after bloody wars with the Circassians to request help from the Sultan and had received six boats. Yet this assistance came at a significant political cost. Ottoman support made it increasingly clear to Levan I Dadiani that he was becoming more dependent on the Sultan and risked turning into little more than an Ottoman client. This dependency, in his view, proved more burdensome than the ongoing struggle against the Circassians themselves. Consequently, the following year he expressed gratitude to the Sultan for the aid already provided but chose to conclude peace with the Circassians, whom he considered more just in their dealings than the Ottomans. This decision effectively brought the long-standing naval war with the Jiks to an end. The conflict with the Jiks, or Circassians, nevertheless produced certain results favorable to Georgia. After the conclusion of peace, pirate attacks from the northeastern Black Sea coast against the Georgian shoreline decreased significantly.
In 1562, the Nikon Chronicle reports a campaign directed against the peoples referred to as the "Mshan" and the "Son" in the Central Caucasus, carried out by the prince of Kabardia, Temruqo the Brave. According to modern historians, the so-called "Son" people are to be identified with the Svans, who are still referred to as "sone" in the Kabardian language. During this campaign, Russian forces under the command of Grigory Pleshcheyev provided military assistance, consisting of an army of approximately 1,000 Streltsy and Cossacks. As a result of the campaign, which lasted for eleven days, a total of 164 settlements were destroyed.
Following the defeat of the Qeytuqo Kabardians by Temruqo Idar, their lands in the Darial Gorge were seized by Prince Alkhas from the clan of Djilakhstan. Between 1584 and 1604, Alkhas, together with the princes Solokh (Sholokh Tepsaruqo), Aitek Murza, Ivak Murza, and others, repeatedly launched raids into Svan territory, devastating large areas and inflicting considerable damage on the local population. The Russian serviceman Rodion Birkin reported one such attack in 1587 in the following terms: