7. David IV of Georgia
Largely forgotten in the annals of history as a great leader and tactician is David IV of Georgia. The Kingdom of Georgia in 1089 was located between Turkey and Russia and the Black and the Caspian Sea, stopped the Turks in their tracks during their seasonal migration. Being located in a strategic zone, Georgia had been conquered by different empires in the past. But under David Aghmashenebeli (the Builder), Georgia got the chance to become the strongest kingdom in the region, if only for a few years.
Taking control of Georgia in 1089 while it still was a vassal kingdom to the Seljuk Sultanate, he stopped paying tributes to the Turks and stopped allowing the Turkish migration. He started raising and leading small armies against isolated Seljuk Turk troops. For the next 30 years, he was able to liberate eastern and southern Georgia gradually. The Turks repeatedly attempted to invade and restore their seasonal migration, but all their efforts failed.
Boosted with 40,000 families from the entire Cuman-Kipchak tribe from South Russia, he was still outnumbered 2 to 1 in 1121 for the final invasion when the Seljuks declared a jihad against him. The fate of the Turks and of David was decided at the Battle of Didgori near Tbilisi, the last Muslim enclave.
As a good tactician, he sent 200 cavalrymen to the Turkish camp and pretended they wanted to join. When their hosts greeted them, they unsheathed their swords and attacked them. Seeing the confusion on the Turkish camp, David IV gave the order to attack. Lacking leadership and full of confusion, the Turkish troops fell in disarray and disorder, and the battle ended in 3 hours. The triumphal victory, passing to history as the “miraculous victory”, allowed them later to take Tbilisi and emerged as a great military power in the region.
In his many victories, David IV never mistreated the Muslim population. He was religiously tolerant and accepted multi-ethnic subjects. Under his leadership, Armenia was also liberated, and the economy and cities flourished.