Alexander of Georgia
Encyclopedia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
prince (batonishvili
Batonishvili
Batonishvili was a title for princes and princesses of the blood royal in the Transcaucasian kingdom of Georgia, and was suffixed to the Christian name e.g., Alexandre Batonishvili, Ioane Batonishvili...
) of the Bagrationi family who headed several insurrections against the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
rule in Georgia between 1800 and 1832. He was known in Persia as Eskandar Mirza.
Early career
Alexander was a son of Heraclius II (Erekle), king of Kartli and Kakheti in eastern GeorgiaEastern Georgia
Eastern Georgia commonly refers to the eastern part of the nation of Georgia, which in historic times included the kingdom of Iberia in the Caucasus. The present-day term refers to the territory of Georgia which lies to the east and south of the Likhi and Meskheti Ranges, but excludes the region...
, by his third wife Darejan (Darya). He was educated by the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
missionaries at the court of his father. Following the devastating Persian invasion
Battle of Krtsanisi
The Battle of Krtsanisi was fought between Persian and Georgian armies at the place of Krtsanisi near Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 8 to September 11, 1795, as part of the war intended by the Persian ruler Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar as a reprisal for King Heraclius II of Georgia’s alliance with...
of 1795, 18-years-old Alexandre helped his father to restore the capital Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
. After the death of Heraclius, he was in opposition to a new king, his half-brother, George XII
George XII of Georgia
George XII , sometimes known as George XIII , of the House of Bagrationi, was the last king of Georgia from 1798 until his death in 1800...
(1798-1800), and his pro-Russian politics. Alexander, suspecting that the Russian presence in the country would eventually lead to annexation, was persuaded by the Persian shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
Fath Ali Shah Qajar to leave Tbilisi and join his forces with the Avarian warlord Uma Khan in 1799. Alexander's incursion in Kakheti
Kakheti
Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...
in 1800 ended in a failure after a combined Russo-Georgian force defeated him and his Avar allies at the Battle of Niakhura on November 7 1800. Alexander fled to Karabakh
Karabakh
The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...
and finally to Dagestan.
Alexander's association with the Avars gave origin to legend widespread in the area in the 19th century, according to which Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
, the future leader of Caucasian resistance to the Russian expansion, was his natural son. Apollon Runovsky, an officer in charge of Shamil at Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
, claimed in his diaries that Shamil himself forged this legend in an attempt to win the support of Georgian highlanders.
Struggle against Russia
Alexander's suspicions came true when the Russians annexed the Georgian kingdom in 1801, deposing its native dynasty. In spite of a thorough Russian search, the rebel prince managed to safely reach Persia where the shah gave him a pension and some Armenian-populated villages in AzerbaijanAzerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. When the Russo-Persian war
Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)
The 1804-1813 Russo-Persian War, one of the many wars between the Persian Empire and Imperial Russia, began like many wars as a territorial dispute. The Persian king, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the northernmost reaches of his Qajar dynasty by securing land near the Caspian Sea's...
broke out in 1804, Alexander fought alongside the Persians and had permanent contacts with the opposition in Georgia. He also had talks with the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
diplomats of Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
. In September 1812, he returned to Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
to lead a popular uprising in the Kakheti province. Approximately 4,000 insurgents took control of the province and decided to make Alexander king of Georgia, but were eventually defeated by a regular Russian army from October 1812 to March 1813. Alexander returned to Persia, and with the help of his friend, the heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
Abbas Mirza
Abbas Mirza
Prince, Field-Marshal Abbas Mirza born Amol city , was a Qajar crown prince of Persia. He developed a reputation as a military commander during wars with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, as an early modernizer of Persia's armed forces and institutions, and for his death before his father, Fath Ali...
and the Armenian Catholicos Efrem married the daughter of Melik
Melik
Мelik , from malik ) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as melikdoms encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhchivan, Sevan, Lori, Artsakh, Tabriz and Syunik starting from the Late Middle Ages until the end of the nineteenth century...
Sahak Aghamalian, the secular chief of the Armenians of Erivan. Both Alexander and the Persian government hoped that this marriage would secure Armenian support against the Russians. The prince attempted to stage anti-Russian revolts in various provinces of Georgia. In 1832, part of Georgian nobles and intellectuals organized a plot against the Russian rule and invited Alexander to be crowned as king. The plot however soon collapsed and Alexander had to abandon his hopes. He lived thereafter as a broken man, converted to the Islamic faith and died c. 1844 in Tehran and is buried in an Armenian Church in Ghavam Saltaneh Street in Tehran, Iran.
His oldest son was Haj Abbas Gholi Tehrani [Blourforoush] who moved to Mashad, whose sons were Haj Sheikh Ali Asqar Tehranian, Haj Mohamad Kazem Tehranian (whose eldest son was Haj Sheikh Ahmad Bahar
Haj Sheikh Ahmad Bahar
Haj Sheikh Ahmad Bahar was an Iranian politician, a patriotic poet, prominent journalist writer, publisher and farmer.-Literary career:...
), Haj Sheikh Mohamad Ali Tehranian, Haj Sheikh Mohamad Javad Tehranian, and one daughter Sakineh Tehrani who married Mohammad Kazem Sabouri (whose son was Mohammad-Taghi Bahar (aka Sabouri), later known as Malek o-sho'ara Bahar. Both Mohammad-Taghi Bahar and Haj Sheikh Ahmad Bahar
Haj Sheikh Ahmad Bahar
Haj Sheikh Ahmad Bahar was an Iranian politician, a patriotic poet, prominent journalist writer, publisher and farmer.-Literary career:...
, both noted Iranian writers, poets and politicians are therefore his great grandsons.