Omar Pasha, the Turkish commander at Crimea, had long wanted to land in Georgia, but the western powers vetoed it.

When they relented in August 1855, most of the campaigning season had been lost.

In September, eight thousand Turks land at Batum, but the main concentration is at Sukhum Kale.

This requires a one hundred-mile march south through a country with poor roads.

The Russians plan to hold the line of the Ingur River, which separates Abkhazia from Georgia proper.

Omar had crossed the Ingur on November 7, then wasted a great deal of time, the Russians doing little.

By December 2 he has reached the Tskhenis-dzqali, the rainy season has started, his camps are submerged in mud and there is no bread.

Learning of the fall of Kars, he withdraws to the Ingur.

The Russians do nothing and he will evacuate to Batum in February of the following year.