The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13 ...

By focussing on the information regarding each of the major
invasions provided in the Armenian, Georgian, and relevant
non-Caucasian sources, the specific features of each have
been set forth.
Each successive invasion—Sal juq (llth century, intro-
duced ae a prototypical example), Khwarazmian, Mongol and
Timurid—puahed before it, brought along with it, or
dragged in ita wake into Aaia Minor, thousands of virtually
uncontrollable nomadic warriors who (when totally unchecked)
devastated the cities, searching for plunder, destroyed
the countryside and the complex irrigation systems, turning
cultivated fields into pasturage for their sheep herds, and
reduced the possibilities for internal and international
trade by infesting the trade routes between cities, and
attacking caravans. Following the noted Mongoliat, Bertold
Spuler, we have described this element as Turkmen, under
which is understood not necessarily or solely a Turkic or
Turcophone population, but rather that plunder-hungry element
among the nomads, in contradistinction to those forces
interested in the establishment of stable forms of govern-
ment, and a sedentary or semi-sedentary existence.
Centralizing forces within the various Turco-Kongol societies
described, were obliged to support a very delicate balance.
On the one hand, the warlike Turkmans were the best, most
determined fighters, and so were necessary for victorious
expeditions. On the other hand, the Turkmans' impulse to
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