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The Second Campaign - The Rebel Brother - 1548-1549
Suleiman tried to exploit the disloyalty of Tahmāsp's brother Alqas Mirza. In 1532/33, Alqas Mirza was given the governorship of Astarabad by Tahmāsp.  The kingdom of Shirvan had been conquered by Ismail l, incorporating Shirvan and inheriting Derbent as vassal.
In March 1538 Tahmāsp I ordered Alqas to move against the rebel Shirvanshah, and six months later he was appointed governor of Shirvan, where he remained for the next eight years. During frequent Caucasian campaigns under Tahmāsp's tenure, Alqas was ordered to attack the Circassians, who however defeated him. Afterwards, he was appointed governor of Derbent, but he began an overt revolt there, including minting his own coins.
Tahmāsp, in a winter campaign in Georgia, marched upon Derbent. Alqas fled to Crimea and, by early 1547, Tahmāsp had re-taken Derbent.  Alqas had moved on to the Ottoman court, convincing Suleiman that if he invaded the tribes would rise up and overthrow Tahmāsp. In 1548, Suleiman and Alqas entered Iran with a huge army but Tahmāsp had already "scorched the earth" around Tabriz and the Ottomans could find few supplies to sustain themselves.  Tahmāsp, as before, avoided confrontation with the Ottoman army, choosing to retreat using scorched earth tactics and exposing the Ottoman army to the harsh winter of the Caucasus.
French king Francis I, enemy of the Habsburgs, and Suleiman had formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance in 1536, to counterbalance the Habsburg threat.  French ambassador Gabriel de Luetz, accompanied and gave military advice to Suleiman, including, advising on artillery placement during the Siege of Van.
Suleiman made gains in Tabriz, the Urmia region and Armenia. He established a presence in the province of Van and control of the western half of Azerbaijan, also gaining some forts in Georgia.
Alqas penetrated further into Iran but the citizens of Isfahan and Shiraz refused to open their gates to him. He was forced to retreat to Baghdad where the Ottomans abandoned him as an embarrassment. Captured by the Safavids, his life was spared but he was imprisoned until his death.

In 1544, the Mughal emperor, Humayun, fled to Tahmāsp's court after he had been overthrown by the Pashtun rebel Sher Khan Suri. Tahmāsp insisted on the Sunni Humayun converting to Shi'ism before he would help him. Humayun reluctantly agreed and also gave Tahmāsp the strategically important city of Kandahar in exchange for Iranian military assistance against the heirs of Sher Khan and his own rebellious brothers.
Between 1540 and 1553, Tahmāsp conducted military campaigns in the Caucasus, both inside his territories and beyond it’s borders. Capturing tens of thousands of Armenians, Georgians and Circassians which he deported to Persia. Tahmāsp I took active steps to integrate Georgia into the Safavid domains. Four campaigns against Luarsab I of Kartli (1540–1541, 1546–1547, 1551, and 1553–1554) resulted in the re-occupation of Kartli, and a Safavid force was permanently stationed in Tiflis in 1551.  These campaigns cemented Safavid hold in central-eastern Georgia and, in 1551, the Safavids gained the eastern part of the principality of Samtskhe.  To speed up integration into the empire, Tahmāsp I imposed numerous Iranian political and social institutions, establishing Persian as the official administrative language of Safavid Georgia.

Conflict over Samtskhe
In 1462 Qvarqvare II Jaqeli of Samtskhe allied against the King of Georgia, with the Aq Qoyunlu, to gain independence. They defeated the Georgians in battle near Paravani lake and Samtskhe separated from Georgia. The Aq Qoyunlu launched major attacks between 1466 and 1485 and, from 1479, the Ottoman Empire started to encroach. The United Georgian monarchy fell soon after resulting in wars between the three Kingdoms and five Principalities, the majority of which were ruled by members of the same family.  The area was (relatively) easily controlled from outside.
Ruling from 1498, Kaikhosro I kept the peace with the other Georgian Kingdoms, joining with them to assist Safavid Shah Ismail to destroy Aq Koyunlu rule. Ismail I, made the Kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti his vassals early in his reign, but, busy establishing his power in Iran, he did not tighten his hold on Georgia. In 1513, the Kingdom of Kartli conquered neighbouring Kakheti, but, in 1520, the Kingdom was restored by local nobles.
Kaikhosro I died two years after he ascended the throne, succeeded by his brother Mzetchabuk. He nominally obeyed Ottoman Sultan Selim I but, in 1515, he abdicated in favour of his nephew Qvarqvare. Mzetchabuk's younger brother Manuchar overthrew him sending gifts to Selim. In 1518 Qvarqvare, with the help of Safavid troops, attacked Samtskhe, replacing Manuchar as ruler of Samtskhe. Ismail confirmed its status as a vassal, and in 1522, garrisoned Tiflis, in Kartli, with a large Safavid force. Manuchar asked Selim for help, receiving an army, he tried to restore himself as Atabeg, but was defeated by Qvarqvare's forces in battle near Erzurum.
During Qvarqvare III's reign Safavid influence on Samtskhe was growing Samtskhe nobility realised that, under Qvarqvare's rule Samtskhe would succumb to the Ottomans. The nobles allied with Imereti and Kartli to end his rule and protect Samtskhe from the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. In 1535 the allies invaded Samtskhe, defeated and captured Qvarqvare III at the Battle of Murjakheti and occupied the cities of Akhalk’alak’i and Akhalts’ikhe.  Imereti annexed Samtskhe while Adjara and Lazeti went to the Principality of Guria.
Qvarqvare died in prison but, his youngest son Kaikhosro II asked Ottomans to expel the allied forces from Samtskhe. The Ottomans responded with a major invasion, the allies were victorious at Karagak in 1543, but decisively defeated, in 1545, at Sokhoista. Samtskhe became vassal of the Ottoman Empire, and Kaykhosro appointed Governor of the subject territories. Two years later, in 1547, assisted by the Safavids, Kaykhosro revolted against the Ottomans and gained independence. In 1549 a large Ottoman army suppressed the rebellion after a struggle lasting one and a half months.
In 1555 The Ottomans and Safavids signed a Peace according to which Javakhk passed to the Safavids, and Samtskhe was partitioned. In 1578 the Ottoman-Safavid war was resumed, and the Turks again invaded Samtskhe and Javakhk.

Description

The Second Campaign - The Rebel Brother - 1548-1549
Suleiman tried to exploit the disloyalty of Tahmāsp's brother Alqas Mirza. In 1532/33, Alqas Mirza was given the governorship of Astarabad by Tahmāsp.  The kingdom of Shirvan had been conquered by Ismail l, incorporating Shirvan and inheriting Derbent as vassal.
In March 1538 Tahmāsp I ordered Alqas to move against the rebel Shirvanshah, and six months later he was appointed governor of Shirvan, where he remained for the next eight years. During frequent Caucasian campaigns under Tahmāsp's tenure, Alqas was ordered to attack the Circassians, who however defeated him. Afterwards, he was appointed governor of Derbent, but he began an overt revolt there, including minting his own coins.
Tahmāsp, in a winter campaign in Georgia, marched upon Derbent. Alqas fled to Crimea and, by early 1547, Tahmāsp had re-taken Derbent.  Alqas had moved on to the Ottoman court, convincing Suleiman that if he invaded the tribes would rise up and overthrow Tahmāsp. In 1548, Suleiman and Alqas entered Iran with a huge army but Tahmāsp had already "scorched the earth" around Tabriz and the Ottomans could find few supplies to sustain themselves.  Tahmāsp, as before, avoided confrontation with the Ottoman army, choosing to retreat using scorched earth tactics and exposing the Ottoman army to the harsh winter of the Caucasus.
French king Francis I, enemy of the Habsburgs, and Suleiman had formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance in 1536, to counterbalance the Habsburg threat.  French ambassador Gabriel de Luetz, accompanied and gave military advice to Suleiman, including, advising on artillery placement during the Siege of Van.
Suleiman made gains in Tabriz, the Urmia region and Armenia. He established a presence in the province of Van and control of the western half of Azerbaijan, also gaining some forts in Georgia.
Alqas penetrated further into Iran but the citizens of Isfahan and Shiraz refused to open their gates to him. He was forced to retreat to Baghdad where the Ottomans abandoned him as an embarrassment. Captured by the Safavids, his life was spared but he was imprisoned until his death.

In 1544, the Mughal emperor, Humayun, fled to Tahmāsp's court after he had been overthrown by the Pashtun rebel Sher Khan Suri. Tahmāsp insisted on the Sunni Humayun converting to Shi'ism before he would help him. Humayun reluctantly agreed and also gave Tahmāsp the strategically important city of Kandahar in exchange for Iranian military assistance against the heirs of Sher Khan and his own rebellious brothers.
Between 1540 and 1553, Tahmāsp conducted military campaigns in the Caucasus, both inside his territories and beyond it’s borders. Capturing tens of thousands of Armenians, Georgians and Circassians which he deported to Persia. Tahmāsp I took active steps to integrate Georgia into the Safavid domains. Four campaigns against Luarsab I of Kartli (1540–1541, 1546–1547, 1551, and 1553–1554) resulted in the re-occupation of Kartli, and a Safavid force was permanently stationed in Tiflis in 1551.  These campaigns cemented Safavid hold in central-eastern Georgia and, in 1551, the Safavids gained the eastern part of the principality of Samtskhe.  To speed up integration into the empire, Tahmāsp I imposed numerous Iranian political and social institutions, establishing Persian as the official administrative language of Safavid Georgia.

Conflict over Samtskhe
In 1462 Qvarqvare II Jaqeli of Samtskhe allied against the King of Georgia, with the Aq Qoyunlu, to gain independence. They defeated the Georgians in battle near Paravani lake and Samtskhe separated from Georgia. The Aq Qoyunlu launched major attacks between 1466 and 1485 and, from 1479, the Ottoman Empire started to encroach. The United Georgian monarchy fell soon after resulting in wars between the three Kingdoms and five Principalities, the majority of which were ruled by members of the same family.  The area was (relatively) easily controlled from outside.
Ruling from 1498, Kaikhosro I kept the peace with the other Georgian Kingdoms, joining with them to assist Safavid Shah Ismail to destroy Aq Koyunlu rule. Ismail I, made the Kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti his vassals early in his reign, but, busy establishing his power in Iran, he did not tighten his hold on Georgia. In 1513, the Kingdom of Kartli conquered neighbouring Kakheti, but, in 1520, the Kingdom was restored by local nobles.
Kaikhosro I died two years after he ascended the throne, succeeded by his brother Mzetchabuk. He nominally obeyed Ottoman Sultan Selim I but, in 1515, he abdicated in favour of his nephew Qvarqvare. Mzetchabuk's younger brother Manuchar overthrew him sending gifts to Selim. In 1518 Qvarqvare, with the help of Safavid troops, attacked Samtskhe, replacing Manuchar as ruler of Samtskhe. Ismail confirmed its status as a vassal, and in 1522, garrisoned Tiflis, in Kartli, with a large Safavid force. Manuchar asked Selim for help, receiving an army, he tried to restore himself as Atabeg, but was defeated by Qvarqvare's forces in battle near Erzurum.
During Qvarqvare III's reign Safavid influence on Samtskhe was growing Samtskhe nobility realised that, under Qvarqvare's rule Samtskhe would succumb to the Ottomans. The nobles allied with Imereti and Kartli to end his rule and protect Samtskhe from the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. In 1535 the allies invaded Samtskhe, defeated and captured Qvarqvare III at the Battle of Murjakheti and occupied the cities of Akhalk’alak’i and Akhalts’ikhe.  Imereti annexed Samtskhe while Adjara and Lazeti went to the Principality of Guria.
Qvarqvare died in prison but, his youngest son Kaikhosro II asked Ottomans to expel the allied forces from Samtskhe. The Ottomans responded with a major invasion, the allies were victorious at Karagak in 1543, but decisively defeated, in 1545, at Sokhoista. Samtskhe became vassal of the Ottoman Empire, and Kaykhosro appointed Governor of the subject territories. Two years later, in 1547, assisted by the Safavids, Kaykhosro revolted against the Ottomans and gained independence. In 1549 a large Ottoman army suppressed the rebellion after a struggle lasting one and a half months.
In 1555 The Ottomans and Safavids signed a Peace according to which Javakhk passed to the Safavids, and Samtskhe was partitioned. In 1578 the Ottoman-Safavid war was resumed, and the Turks again invaded Samtskhe and Javakhk.