The Shalikashvili ( ka, შალიკაშვილი, ) is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

noble family, originally from

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

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 (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(Gen.

John Shalikashvili John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

) and Georgia. 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 House of Jaqeli ( ka, ჯაყელი) was a Georgian princely (''mtavari'') family and a ruling dynasty of the Principality of Samtskhe, an offshoot of the House of Chorchaneli. History "Jaqeli", literally meaning "of/from Jaqi", was ori ...

, 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 Triarchy and collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia, diss ...

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 role ...

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 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 is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

whence they removed to the United States in the wake of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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

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 List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, following the Georgian king

Vakhtang VI of Kartli Vakhtang VI ( ka, ვახტანგ VI), also known as Vakhtang the Scholar, Vakhtang the Lawgiver and Ḥosaynqolī Khan ( fa, حسین‌قلی خان, translit=Hoseyn-Qoli Xān) (September 15, 1675 – March 26, 1737), was a Georgian m ...

into his exile in 1724. They came to be known as

Princes A prince is a 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 Euro ...

Shalikov (russian: Шаликов) and had estates in the

Moscow Governorate Moscow Governorate (russian: Московская губерния; pre-reform Russian: ), or the Government of Moscow, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR, which ...

. 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 (russian: Михаи́л Ники́форович Катко́в; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Rus ...

(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