The strengthening of power and the expansion of the sphere of influence of
Fatali Khan already alarmed the neighboring rulers. In the first year of his reign, Umma Khan tried to forge an anti-
Quba alliance with other
Dagestani and Caucasian feudal lords. He married his sister Bakhtika to
Ibrahim Khalil Khan of
Karabakh to forge an alliance. The Dagestani coalition of rulers included
Kaitag utsmi Amir Hamza (also, Umma's uncle), ruler of
Mehtuli khanate – Ali-Sultan, Ghāzī Rustam of
Tabasaran, Tishsiz Muhammad (Muhammad the Toothless) - head of
Kazanishche Kumyks; they were also joined by the
Kumyks of Endirey,
Kostek and others. Having gathered a 4,000-strong army, coalition was led by Amir Hamza who marched into
Quba but retreated north where he was ambushed by Fatali's armies. Nevertheless, coalition defeated Fath Ali's army of 8,000 in the
battle of Gavdushan, near the city of
Khudat in July 1774 and forced him to flee to
Salyan.
First invasion of Georgia Meanwhile, the intensification of Russian presence in
Dagestan caused dissatisfaction in
Sublime Porte, which decided to take retaliatory measures. The sultan sent Umma Khan a "salary" of 500
piastres and promised him, upon raiding Georgia, "to satisfy his troops with food and fodder for four months". Sultan's subordinate,
Akhaltsikhe pasha also instigated him. Later on September 16, 1784, news was received in
Tiflis about the entrance of Umma Khan to
Alazan valley with the support of Ali-Sultan of
Mehtuli Khanate at the head of 15,000 strong army. The Georgian king
Heraclius II gathered his own army against him, called on
Ossetians and
Ingush to help. A Russian detachment under the command of Stepan Burnashev arrived to help the Georgians as well. Burnashev immediately moved with his troops to
Signakhi and offered Heraclius to immediately attack the Avars at their crossing of the river. But Heraclius did not dare to leave the stronghold of Signakh. Umma Khan calmly crossed the Alazan and bypassed the Georgian army locked in the fortress, marching on Tiflis. This bold maneuver overturned all the calculations of Heraclius, and he had to rush to the defense of the capital with a forced march. But as soon as Burnashev approached the
Metekhi bridge, Umma changed direction and rushed deep into
Kartli raiding the region. He took the
Agjaqala fortress in
Borchali. In this battle, the Georgian side lost 640 people killed, 860 were taken prisoner. Then the Avars captured the
Akhtala mines and copper smelters, after which they moved towards
Lori and devastated this region. In late October – early November, Umma Khan raided Upper
Imereti and besieged the Fortress of Vakhani. Unable to take the castle by storm, he twice tried to blow it up, but without success. Then he invited Eugenius Abashidze, Grand Master of the Court of Georgia to enter into negotiations, but as soon as the latter arrived at the khan's headquarters, he was detained and made a prisoner. As a result, 700 people were captured, all the men are put to death, except the princes, and the buildings in the castle are reduced to ashes. During the raid, he captured daughters of Eugenius Abashidze, Grand Master of the Court of Georgia. She took the sister Darejan to herself and gave Sofia to his brother-in-law
Ibrahimkhalil in 1786. Both women were converted to
Islam, Sofia renamed to Javahir. Then Umma Khan moved to
Akhaltsikhe and camped there for the winter. The panic caused by him was so great that the
Georgian cavalry did not dare to go on reconnaissance, and therefore hunters had to be hired for a large fee in order to obtain the necessary information. These hunters made their way to the mountains, looked out for the enemy from afar, and then, after waiting for the night, returned to the king in a roundabout way. According to
Vasily Potto, it was clear that "
such people could deliver only the most incorrect information, and belated ones at that, since the enemy, while they were making their way from the enemy camp to the Georgian one, could spark up and down the whole of Georgia." During winter, Umma Khan began to prepare a new campaign from
Akhalkalaki to the
Tskhinvali Gorge. Upon learning of this,
Heraclius II who did not have sufficient forces in those conditions to repulse the enemy, was then forced to accept the condition of peace with the obligation to pay annually 10,000 rubles in silver and ransom the prisoners for 50 rubles per person. In April 1786, Umma Khan went to Karabakh through the
Erivan Khanate from there, through
Georgia and
Shirvan, Umma Khan returned to his homeland, plundering the
Ganja Khanate along the way and taking from
Rahim Khan an indemnity in the amount of 5,000 rubles.
Insurgence in Chechnya After
Sheikh Mansur's emergence in
Chechnya, Umma Khan established contacts with him in March 1785, but didn't think he was powerful enough to join
gazavat, according to
Mirza Hasan Alkadari.
Rivalry with Quba Khanate At the end of 1786, Umma Khan began a punitive campaign against
Shamakhi for the reason that Fath Ali violated the terms of the agreement to pay Umma 5,000 rubles annually. Approaching
Shamakhi, the highlanders suddenly attacked and captured the city. Shamakhi was burned down and the inhabitants were killed. Later Umma Khan aided
Askar Khan to take
Shirvan Khanate for himself after death of Fath Ali in 1789.
Invasion of Nakhchivan and Khoy and struggle with Iran Umma Khan raided
Georgia, and arrived from there to
Karabakh at the request of
Ibrahim Khalil Khan in 1787 with an army according to Armenian historian
Mirza Yusuf Nersesov. Then, Nutsal and Khan moved towards
Nakhchivan and besieged it and captured it after a 17-day siege.
Kalb-Ali Khan Kangarlu appealed to
Mohammad Khan Qajar of Erivan for help, who in turn sent Kurdish auxiliaries composed of
Zilans and Turkic
Karapapaks. Sides met at
Qarababa and Kalb-Ali was forced to flee from the scene. After some time, the troops of the "seven
Azerbaijani khanates" and soldiers from other places suddenly attacked the Avars. The allied army was defeated and put to flight. The Avars began to pursue them, and as a result, the khanates lost over 500 people. Later Umma Khan, together with the Karabakh army, approached the borders of
Karadagh, overtook and devastated this region. According to
Genichutlinsky, "
in every village, in every city where the troops of Umma Khan broke into, there was always death and destruction." on the charge of treason, led him to re-occupy
Shaki using the opportunity.
Second invasion of Georgia Despite the agreement with
Heraclius II on the payment of an annual salary to Umma Khan, the latter, under one pretext or another, invaded
Georgia and plundered it. In 1796, after the deployment of Russian troops in Georgia, the payment of tribute ceased. Umma Khan, in response, sent his half-brother
Gebek and vizier Aliskandi to plunder
Kakheti. The Avars reportedly burned 6 villages to the ground, and took the inhabitants and livestock with them to the mountains. Umma then turned to
Valerian Zubov with a request to accept him into Russian citizenship. The latter guaranteed that in this case Umma Khan would be given an annual salary in the same amount of Georgian king. Zubov also assured that "
serving the great Empress, the khan will become his brother." However, Umma Khan, according to his own statement, was afraid that, having entered into Russian citizenship, he could be “compared to small lords” and would not receive the due salary, as a result of which he asked to be paid two years in advance in compensation to the tribute he was to take from Heraclius. The conditions put forward by him were not satisfied and the negotiations ended in nothing.
Attack on Ganja Same year
Agha Muhammad Khan arrived at
Ganja Khanate and sent
Heraclius II his last ultimatum, inviting him to submit. However, receiving no reply, shah marched on Tiflis, guided by
Javad Khan. Plundering the city for 9 days and taking thousands as slaves, shah left the city in ruins and moved on to capture
Shaki and
Shirvan Khanates. Having lost his patron after the departure of the Iranian troops for
Khorasan, Javad Khan tried to smooth out his relations with Heraclius. However, in February 1796 latter sent a 3000-strong army to
Ganja under leadership of his son
Alexander. But the latter's army soon deserted him. Immediately after him, Ibrahim Khalil and Umma Khan besieged Ganja in March 1796. While Heraclius was gathering the army for the second time, Ibrahim Khan began negotiations with Javad Khan, and as soon as the news of the departure of Heraclius' troops from
Tiflis reached him, he concluded an alliance with Ganja. Having taken from him an indemnity in the amount of 10000 rubles and Javad's son and sister as hostages, the
Karabakh khan retreated from the fortress. Umma was content with the fact that he received 40 rubles for each of his warriors and also returned to his own domain. Next year enraged Agha Muhammad returned and captured
Shusha fortress. Ibrahim fled to Umma Khan, realizing he wouldn't be able to resist. However, Agha Mohammad Khan was assassinated in
Shusha three days after its capture. Ibrahim then returned to Shusha and gave Aga Mohammad Khan an honourable burial. In order to retain his position and ensure peaceful relations with the shah, he gave one of his daughters to Agha Mohammad Khan's successor to the throne,
Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar. (1800) by
Nikolay Samokish Third invasion of Georgia After the death of Heraclius II, the Georgian throne was taken by his eldest son
George XII. Following his accession, George XII was forced to sign a decree recognizing his half-brother
Iulon as heir to the throne, a decision made by the king to avoid a civil war in a kingdom stuck between the
Russian Empire and a hostile
Persia. However, he hoped to nullify the decree in favor of his oldest son
David, at the time in Russia's military service, a plan quickly discovered by Queen Dowager
Darejan and her sons. In 1799, the Georgian prince
Alexander, dissatisfied with the decision of his brother, turned to Umma Khan with a request to capture Tiflis and enthrone him. Umma Khan succumbed to the persuasion of the prince and moved an army of 15 to 20,000 to Georgia. Alexander and Umma agreed to invade Kakheti, while princes Iulon,
Pharnavaz and
Vakhtang prepared to occupy the
Darial Gorge, the only opening in the
Russia-Georgia natural border, to avoid Russian reinforcements from intervening. The three brothers agreed to divide the kingdom amongst themselves in case of success. In August 1800, the Avars launched their first attempted invasion in Kakheti's
Sagarejo province. However, they were quickly defeated and forced to retrieve by the forces led by princes
Ioane and
Bagrat, sons of George XII, during a battle in Niakhuri, on the shores of the
Alazan river on August 15. But Umma managed to gather new forces and received the military support of
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and Pasha of Childir. Waiting for a new opportunity to attack, Alexander addressed the Georgian people, swearing on the tomb of
Saint Nino that his alliance with Avars was only temporary and was meant to restore the legitimate order in the country. In early November, an army of 12,000 Avars led by Umma and Alexander invaded
Kakheti. George XII, increasingly distant from his royal responsibilities, appointed princes Ioane and Bagrat as responsible for the Georgian forces. Ioane became head of the Georgian artillery and was reinforced by the Russian forces of Lazarev and Guliakov. 2,000
Russians,
Kakhetians, and mountain militants from
Pshavi,
Tusheti and
Khevsureti, had to face the invaders. On November 7, 1800, the two sides met at the junction of the
Iori and
Alazani rivers. During the
Battle of Niakhura on November 7, the Georgian-Russian forces came out victorious. Following the loss of 2,000 men, the Avars ran away and Umma was severely injured. Allies decided to repeat the attack in the spring and spend the winter in Karabakh. However, due to lack of provisions, the khan sent his army home, and he went to
Balaken. Alexander moved on to Karabakh with 2,000 partisans. == Death ==