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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
102
On his death his son, powerfully aided by the Katholikos
Anton, became king of Karthlia as well (1762-1798) ; and the
whole of East Georgia was thus reunited.
Then came the last tragic but noble chapter in the Georgian
nation’s long and heroic fight for freedom. With all the
vigour at his command this remarkable monarch, firmly
supported by the Katholikos, laboured to restore his unhappy
country by introducing a stable government, encouraging
trade, cultivating and rebuilding depopulated districts, stimu
lating industry and mining operations, and promoting educa
tion and civilization generally. Above all, he laboured to set
it free from its external enemies.
He was a splendid general, one of the greatest, perhaps, in
that century. From east to west the lion-hearted leader swept
like a whirlwind, annihilating the armies of his enemies. His
victories over the Turks, Persians, and Lesghians often came
with the suddenness of a thunderbolt. But his many foes
returned with fresh hosts, and his own little force of faithful
adherents dwindled away till the preponderance of the enemy
became too great. The enormous sacrifices necessitated by
continual wars against many different foes, and the impossi
bility of securing peace, were crushing the life out of the
people ; and as if the burden were not heavy enough, there
were the exactions of the nobles, and their never-ending
dissensions, to paralyse the national power of resistance.
Other disasters supervened also, such as the fearful pestilence
°f T 779> which carried off five thousand people in Tiflis alone.
The king applied to Russia for help. In 1769 the Russian
general Todleben marched through the Daryal Pass to Tiflis
with four hundred men and four guns, and fought side by
side with the Georgians against the Turks. In 1783 Heraklius
signed a treaty with Catherine of Russia, by which he acknow
ledged her suzerainty in return for Russian military assistance.
The Russians now began to construct a military road through
the Daryal Pass, and in the autumn of the same year two
Russian battalions and four guns arrived at Tiflis, but were
soon withdrawn again, leaving the dauntless king wholly
dependent once more upon himself and his own followers.
In 1795 Georgia was attacked by the new Persian shah, the
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