Both sides claim victory[1] In Lori:Three infantry regiments(28 infantry companies) & four cavalry squadrons[2]Support from the local Armenian population and partisans[3] The Armeno-Georgian War was a short border dispute that was fought in December 1918 between the newly independent Democratic Republic of Georgia and the First Republic of Armenia, largely over the control of former districts of the Tiflis Governorate, in Borchaly (Lori) and Akhalkalaki.

That included establishing a legislative body, the Transcaucasian Sejm, to which the Commissariat surrendered its authority on 23 January 1918 after the dispersal of the Russian Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks.

[21] The treaty awarded the southern half of the ethnically Armenian Lori subdistrict (uchastok) and Akhalkalaki district to the Ottomans, but it did not firmly delineate the borders between the new Transcaucasus states.

[22] In order to deny the Ottomans a direct route to Tbilisi, Georgian units, supported by German officers, took possession of northern Lori and established outposts along the Dzoraget River.

[24] The Armenian military quickly filled the void by taking control of much of southern Lori on 18 October and, in the absence of any resistance, probed further north.

[25] The first incident between Armenia and Georgia occurred the same day, when an Armenian army detachment seized the railway station in the village of Kober, near modern-day Tumanyan, and refused a subsequent demand from the Germans to withdraw.

[27] On October 26 the invading Armenian forces were ordered to return and left the two villages amid the deployment of a Georgian contingent in the area.

This would be considered all the more unimaginable today, because to cut off Lori form the body of Armenia means to dismember its entire past and its cultural treasures-to concede to looting the magnificent accomplishments of hundreds of generations through the centuries.

Only the immediate withdrawal of Georgian troops from that region can prevent new bloodshed and lead to the restoration of friendly, lasting relations between Georgia and Armenia.

In the event of refusal or evasion on your part, the Armenian government will be obliged to take the necessary measures to protect the citizens of Armenia from the violence and lawlessness of the Georgian troops.

Then, after a period of vassalage to the Seljuk Turks, Lori was included in the realms of the Georgian branch of the Bagratids, but it eventually fell to the Mongols and to Safavid Persia.

Late in the eighteenth century King Iraklii II restored Georgian sovereignty over the district for a few years until all eastern Georgia was annexed by Russia in 1801.

[43] In a session on May 25, 1918, the Menshevik government decided that all laws and resolutions established during the short-lived TDFR, would temporarily carry over to the newly formed Republic.

[45] The memoires of German general von Kressenstein speak of a stubborn Georgian government, that initially refused the implementation of a regular army accordingly to their demands.

[46] Kvinitadze wanted to create three divisions, so that one could at least defend against potential Ottoman thrusts towards and from the direction of Batumi, Artvin, Ardahan and Akhaltsikhe.

Despite being in a terrible state, Georgian troops with the assistance of the People's Guard, managed to stall and fend off further Ottoman and Bolshevik incursions.

[47] Citations from officers often included remarks of poor quality in the majority rank and file, who were only called in for several days, when rewarding the few stand outs who committed commendable action.

[54] Following the Turkish retreat from southern Lori in October 1918, Armenian forces gained control of the region, resulting in a border between Armenia and Georgia.

The following day an Armenian force of 350 men attacked two Georgian units and partisans crushed several soldiers by boulders rolled down a mountainside.

[57] On 13 December, with peaceful negotiations having failed, the government of Armenia ordered General Drastamat Kanayan to force the Georgian troops out of Lori.

[58] Captured documents revealed that Yerevan had made detailed plans to seize territories up to the river Khrami, into Georgia proper.

[10] Kanayan commanded a force of 28 infantry companies, four cavalry squadrons, including reserves and was equipped with 26 machine guns and seven mountain cannons.

Armenia had fewer men, provisions, and ammunition than Georgia, however their troops held the decisive advantage of surprise and penetrating into friendly territory, enjoying the support from the local Armenian population and partisans.

The Armenians had already captured almost a hundred Georgian soldiers, as well as many cavalry mounts, fifty freight cars, a locomotive, and several machine guns and mountain cannons.

The Armenians also captured two fully equipped Georgian armoured trains and Tsulukidze's personal railway coach at the station of Akhtala.

[2] Reinforcements of a thousand infantrymen, a cavalry squadron, and their final armoured train were sent by Georgian War Minister Grigol Giorgadze to Sadakhlu on 18 December.

On 22 December, the Armenians again attacked Sadakhlu and captured its station and the village outskirts, but were again forced back by the Georgian troops and their armoured train.

Jordan suggested all Armenian and Georgian forces withdraw from the disputed territory, which would be policed by British troops until its status was decided at the Paris Peace Conference.

By this time, all of Lori and much of Borchaly had been controlled by Kanayan's forces:[62] Major General Rycroft, now in Tiflis, Chardigny of the French Mission, in company with Zhordania and in the presence of Djamalian, have decided that military activities should cease and, over the protest of Djamalian, have resolved to create a mixed commission of English, French, Armenian, and Georgian representatives to go to the front to effect this decision.

A commissioner general, eventually decided to be Captain A. S. G. Douglas, would administer the zone and have ultimate authority on the number of Armenian and Georgian troops stationed within it.