Khanjali (ხანჯალი)      
 


 is a Georgian reminiscent of the Roman gladius, is owed mainly to the fact that softness of copper and bronze it was originally made of did not allow for longer blades. Later, with introduction of steel, it became longer and narrower, with the blade’s shape starting to resemble that  of a poignard. However, its older version, called satevari, refused togive any ground, managing to survive three millenniums and remain as a sidearm. short sword that dates back as far as III century B.C. Its small size.

 In that period Georgian tribes had close relations with the cultured peoples of the Ancient East. This,naturally, did not exclude military clashes. Assyrian and Urartian kings used to  carryout violent raids to the Transcaucasia. Nomadic mounted archers  from the north, Cimmerians and Scythians, ped as a hurricane over the Transcaucasia from the north in the 8th-7thcenturies BC. The Georgian tribes fought against the Persians and Greeks from the second half of the 6th century BC and against the Macedonians in the 4th century BC. So, by the time when the Old Georgian or Iberian Kingdom was formed, i.e. by the end of the 4th century,the forefathers of the Georgians had already gained huge military experience through fights against the best armies of the world. This very experience served as a foundation for the military organization of old  Georgian Kingdom and art of the warfare of its armed forces. Historical records attest that in the period of Iberian prosperity, at the outset of the new era, the fully mobilized army of the political unit included from 60 000 to 80 000 warriors, one fourth of which were horsemen.

                                                              Br knuckles



commonly known as knuckledusters, were used in Georgia for millennia, being
most widespread in Mtianeti region, where a fighting tradition (not just
boxing, but all-out fighting, frequently with tragic outcomes) has been
carefully preserved over the centuries. More than 12 variations of br
knuckles were discovered in Khevsureti alone. Three prevalent types include
those with rounded tips for combat training, with bladed tips for slashing
strikes and with sharpened spikes for puncturing strikes. Traditional fighting
with br knuckles had numerous rules, many of them quite unsettling – for
example, combatants were advised to aim for the scalp when delivering punches
to the head, so that the hair would conceal the bruises and cuts.

Ancient authors credited Iberian warriors with their outstanding martial skills. Foreigners appreciated Iberian lancers and archers as well as the heavy cavalry of nobles. Iberian infantry, having an excellent command of open battle as well as of guerilla warfare tactics, could successfully fight a cavalry. The social composition and structure of the Georgian army modified along with the development of economic and social relations. The role of the infantry made up from peasants, once the most numerous part of the army, gradually diminished, while the ratio of the noble cavalry increased to make 50-60 percent in the mid1st millennium BC. Little by little the army acquired a feudal nature. 
Military engineering was developed in Georgia, which is evidenced by the surviving remains of fortifications.

                                  Colchis and Iberia (ancient western and eastern Georgia)



Flexible military organization, remarkable fighting efficiency, belligerent spirit and the art of warfare,along with the peculiar geographical properties of the country and the advanced fortification system, were among the strategic factors that determined the sustainability and development of Kartli (Iberia) against the background of frequent wars and raids.

This is it for now, if you enjoyed this article please subscribe and Vote, it will be good motivator for me to continue writing new interesting articles