Giorgi Saakadze

Giorgi Saakadze was a Georgian politician and military commander who played an important role in the politics of the early 17th-century Georgia. He is credited with playing off the rival Ottoman and Persian empires against each other to help the fractured Georgian nation survive. Saakadze was a controversial figure and his risky schemes ultimately caught up with him with tragic personal consequences - his son was executed by the Persians and later he himself was put to death by the Turks.