The reemergence of the Kingdom of Kakheti was the first step towards the partition of Georgia which had been embroiled in fratricidal wars since the mid-15th century.
Threatened by the emerging great empires of the East - those of the Ottomans and the Safavids- the kings of Kakheti persuaded a carefully staged politics of balance, and tried to establish an alliance with the co-religionist rulers of Muscovy against the shamkhals of Tarki in the North Caucasus.