The House of Shalikashvili ( ka, შალიკაშვილი, ) is a Georgian noble family, originally from

Samtskhe Meskheti ( ka, მესხეთი ) or Samtskhe ( ka, სამცხე ), also known as Moschia in ancient sources, is a mountainous area in southwestern Georgia. History Ancient tribes known as the Mushki (or Moschi) and Mosiniks (or Mo ...

in southwest Georgia. With several notable members from the 16th century to the 20th, their descendants have survived in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(Gen.

John Shalikashvili John Malchase David Shalikashvili ( ka, ჯონ მალხაზ დავით შალიკაშვილი, tr, ; 27 June 1936 – 23 July 2011) was a United States Army general who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1992 ...

) and Georgia.

History

The family, earlier known as Roch’ikashvili (როჭიკაშვილი), originated in the province of Samtskhe and had a fiefdom centered at the castle of T’mogvi. Remotely related to the local princely dynasty of Jaqeli, the Shalikashvili were both their most faithful allies and most dangerous rivals at different times. Bagrationi, Ioane (1768-1830)
Shalikashvili
''The Brief Description of the Georgian Noble Houses''. Retrieved on January 27, 2008. In the 16th century, the family, in the person of Ot'ar Shalikashvili, was instrumental in restoring the Jaqeli dynasty to the principate of Samtskhe of which they had been dispossessed by the western Georgian

kings of Imereti The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, I ...

from 1535 to 1547. Subsequently, the Jaqeli went on to curb the influence of the Shalikashvili, who responded with a revolt. By 1578, the family had been coerced to flee Samtskhe to

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

in central Georgia, where they were recognized as princes (

tavadi ''Tavadi'' ( ka, თავადი, "prince", lit. "head/chief" an from ka, თავი ''tavi'', "head", with the prefix of agent ''-di'') was a feudal title in Georgia (country), Georgia first applied in the Late Middle Ages usually trans ...

; confirmed under Russian rule, 1826) and maintained themselves into the 20th century. The 1921

Sovietization of Georgia The Red Army invasion of Georgia (12 February17 March 1921), also known as the Georgian–Soviet War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia,Debo, R. (1992). ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921'', pp. 182, 361� ...

and the ensuing crackdown on nobility forced the principal members of the family to relocate to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

whence they removed to the United States in the wake of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. John Malchase Shalikashvili (1936–2011), who served as

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

1993–1997, was a descendant of this line. Another branch of the Shalikashvili, now extinct in a male line, removed to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, following the Georgian king Vakhtang VI of Kartli into his exile in 1724. They came to be known as

Princes A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in some ...

Shalikov () and had estates in the

Moscow Governorate The Moscow Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, and the Russian Empire. It was bordered by Tver Governorate to the north, Vladimir Governorate to the northeast, Ryazan Governorate to the southeast, Tula Gove ...

. A notable member of this family was the writer Pyotr Shalikov (1768–1852) whose daughter Sofia carried the Shalikov titles into the family of her husband, an influential journalist

Mikhail Katkov Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Russian nationalism, an important figure in the creation of a fee ...

(1818–1887). Шаликовы
Russian Biographic Lexicon. Retrieved on January 27, 2008.

References

Inline General * Javakhishvili, Niko (1997). შალიკაშვილები (Shalikashvili). Georgian State Border Defense Department Press, Tbilisi. {{Surname Noble families of Georgia (country) Russian noble families Georgian-language surnames