Umma Khan V

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.

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.

[17] 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".

[19] 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.

Umma Khan calmly crossed the Alazan and bypassed the Georgian army locked in the fortress, marching on Tiflis.

But as soon as Burnashev approached the Metekhi bridge, Umma changed direction and rushed deep into Kartli raiding the region.

In late October – early November, Umma Khan raided Upper Imereti and besieged the Fortress of Vakhani.

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.

[20] 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.

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.

[4] Fath Ali was forced to enter into negotiations with Umma Khan, betrohed him his daughter as his future wife, handed over the revenues of Salyan and 200,000 rubles of indemnity.

Having captured, the last stronghold of the Zands - the city of Shiraz in 1791, Agha Muhammad began to prepare troops for the conquest of Transcaucasia.

In 1795, Muhammad Hasan of Shaki, Umma Khan's neighbor expressed his obedience to the Shah of Iran and received from him an army with which he was to conquer Shirvan.

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.

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.

[30] Same year Agha Muhammad Khan arrived at Ganja Khanate and sent Heraclius II his last ultimatum, inviting him to submit.

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.

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.

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.

But Umma managed to gather new forces and received the military support of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and Pasha of Childir.

[35] 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.

The Russian authorities in Georgia, concerned about this, began to strengthen the borders of Kakheti, transferring several military units there.

To assert his power in Avar Khanate, Gebek married Gihilay, the widow of Umma Khan, who later murdered him.

[39] According to Alexander Neverovsky, the Dagestani highlanders “were never so terrible, in general for the entire Transcaucasia, as in the second half of the 18th century, and especially when they had Omar Khan of Avar as their leader”.

"[4] During his reign, a separate 38-letter alphabet in Arabic script for Avar language was developed by Dibirqadi al-Khunzakhi who also compiled a Persian-Arabic-Turkish dictionary under orders of Umma.