Georgia (country)

Georgia (Georgian: ?????????? Sakartvelo), known from 1990 to 1995 as the Republic of Georgia, is a country to the east of the Black Sea in the southern Caucasus. A former republic of the Soviet Union, it shares borders with Russia in the north and Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the south.

History

Main article: History of Georgia

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Two Georgian Kingdoms of late antiquity, Iberia in the east of the country and Egrisi in the west, were among the first nations in the region to adopt Christianity (In 317 AD and 523 AD, respectively). Egrisi often saw battles between rivals Persia and the Byzantine Empire, both of which managed to conquer Western Georgia from time to time. As a result, those Kingdoms were disintegrated into various feudal regions in the early Middle Ages. This made it easy for Arabs to conquer Georgia in the 7th century. The rebellious regions were liberated and united into the Georgian Kingdom at the beginning of the 11th century. Starting in the 12th century the rule of Georgia extended over the significant part of Southern Caucasus, including northeastern parts and almost entire northern coast of what is now Turkey.

Related Topics:
Antiquity - Iberia - Egrisi - Christianity - 317 - 523 - Battles - Persia - Byzantine Empire - Middle Ages - Arabs - 7th century - 11th century - 12th century - Caucasus - Turkey

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This Georgian Kingdom, which was tolerant towards its Muslim and Jewish subjects despite the Kingdom's deeply Christian character, was subordinated by the Mongols in the 13th century. Thereafter, different local rulers fought for their independence from the central Georgian rule, until the total disintegration of the Kingdom in the 15th century. Neighbouring kingdoms exploited the situation and from the 16th century the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Empire subordinated the eastern and western regions of Georgia, respectively.

Related Topics:
Muslim - Jew - Mongols - 13th century - 15th century - 16th century - Persian Empire - Ottoman Empire

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The rulers of regions, which remained partly autonomous, organised rebellions on various occasions. Subsequent Persian and Turkish invasions further weakened local kingdoms and regions. This time, Georgian weakness was exploited by the neighbouring Russian Empire. First to fall into Russian hands was the Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti, which was almost totally devastated by Persian invasions in the last two decades of the 18th century. The annexation of eastern Georgia by the Russian Tsarist Empire took place on September 12, 1801. This conquest was officially legitimised by the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan.

Related Topics:
Autonomous - Russian Empire - Kartl-Kakheti - 18th century - Russian Tsarist Empire - September 12 - 1801 - 1813 - Treaty of Gulistan

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All the regions in the west of the country remained fully independent until the next decade. In 1810 the Russian Empire managed to conquer and abolish the Western Georgian Kingdom of Imereti, which had a key role in the diplomatic efforts to maintain Georgian sovereignty in the west of the country and to unite Western Georgian regions. Even after this, it took the Russian Empire another 54 years to take full control of all of Western Georgia. The region of Guria was abolished in 1828, and the region of Samegrelo in 1857. The region of Svaneti was gradually annexed in 1857-1859 and the Principality of Abkhazia in 1864.

Related Topics:
1810 - Imereti - Guria - 1828 - Samegrelo - 1857 - Svaneti - 1859 - Abkhazia - 1864

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After the Russian Revolution Georgia declared independence on May 26, 1918 in the midst of the Russian Civil War. The parliamentary election was won by the Georgian Social-Democratic Party and its leader, Noe Zhordania, became the prime minister. The country's independence did not last long, however. In February 1921 Georgia was attacked by the Red Army. Georgian troops lost the battle and the Social-Democrat government fled the country. On February 25 1921 the Red Army entered the capital Tbilisi and installed a puppet communist government led by Georgian Bolshevik Philippe Makharadze. Georgia was incorporated into a Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic uniting Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The TFSSR was disaggregated into its component elements in 1936 and Georgia became the Georgian SSR.

Related Topics:
Russian Revolution - May 26 - 1918 - Russian Civil War - Noe Zhordania - 1921 - Red Army - February 25 - Tbilisi - Philippe Makharadze - Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic - Armenia - Azerbaijan - 1936 - Georgian SSR

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The Georgian born radical Ioseb Jughashvili was prominent among the Russian Bolsheviks, who came to power in the Russian Empire after the October Revolution in 1917. Jughashvili was better known by his nom de guerre Stalin (from the Russian word for steel: ?????). Stalin was to rise to the highest position of the Soviet state and to rule ruthlessly.

Related Topics:
Bolshevik - October Revolution - 1917 - Nom de guerre - Russian - Stalin - Soviet

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From 1941 to 1945, during the Second World War, almost 700,000 Georgians fought as Red Army soldiers against Nazi Germany. About 350,000 of them died in the battlefields of the eastern front. Also during this period the Chechen, Ingush, Karachay and the Balkarian peoples from the Northern Caucasus, were deported to Siberia for alleged collaboration with the Nazis. With their respective autonomous republics abolished, the Georgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory, until 1957.

Related Topics:
1941 - 1945 - Second World War - Nazi Germany - Eastern front - Chechen - Ingush - Karachay - Balkarian - Caucasus - Siberia - Nazis - Georgian SSR - 1957

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During the Perestroika reforms of the late 1980s, of which one of the main architects was the USSR's Georgian minister for foreign affairs, Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia developed a vigorous multiparty system that strongly favoured independence. The country staged the first democratic, multiparty parliamentary elections in the Soviet Union on October 28, 1990. From November 1990 to March 1991, one of the leaders of the National Liberation movement, Dr. Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1939-1993), was the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia (the Georgian parliament).

Related Topics:
Perestroika - 1980s - USSR - Eduard Shevardnadze - Soviet Union - October 28 - 1990 - November - March - 1991 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia - Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia

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On April 9, 1991, shortly before the collapse of the USSR, Georgia declared independence. On May 26, 1991 Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected as a first President of independent Georgia. However, Gamsakhurdia was deposed in a bloody coup d'etat, from December 22, 1991 to January 6, 1992. The coup was instigated by part of the National Guards and a paramilitary organization called "Mkhedrioni" which allegedly was supported by Russian military units stationed in Tbilisi. The country became embroiled in a bitter civil war which lasted almost until 1995. Shevardnadze returned to Georgia in 1992 and joined the leaders of the coup — Kitovani and Ioseliani — to head a triumvirate called the ?State Council?.

Related Topics:
April 9 - 1991 - May 26 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia - Coup d'etat - December 22 - January 6 - 1992 - Mkhedrioni

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In 1995 Shevardnadze was officially elected as a president of Georgia. At the same time, two regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, quickly became embroiled in disputes with local separatists that led to widespread inter-ethnic violence and wars. Supported by Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia have achieved and maitained de facto independence from Georgia. More than 250,000 Georgians have been ethnically cleansed out of Abkhazia by Abkhaz separatists and Russian volunteers. More than 25,000 Georgians were expelled from Tskhinvali as well, and many Ossetian families were forced to abandon their homes in the Borjomi region and move to Russia. Abkhazian authorities have accused Georgian troops of conducting ethnic cleansing in the territory and in the Republic at large.

Related Topics:
Abkhazia - South Ossetia - Russia - Tskhinvali - Borjomi

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In 2003 Shevardnadze himself was deposed in a bloodless coup, known as ?Rose Revolution?, led by Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze, the former members and leaders of his ruling party. Saakashvili was elected as a president of Georgia in 2004. Restoring Georgia's territorial integrity, reversing the effects of ethnic cleansing and returning refugees to their home places were the main pre-election promises of Saakashvili's government.

Related Topics:
Rose Revolution - Mikheil Saakashvili - Zurab Zhvania - Nino Burjanadze

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