Thenation ofGeorgia (Georgian:საქართველოsakartvelo) wasfirst unified as a kingdom under theBagrationi dynasty by the KingBagrat III of Georgia in the early 11th century, arising from several successor states of the ancient kingdoms ofColchis andIberia. TheKingdom of Georgia flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries under rulers such as KingDavid IV the Builder and QueenTamar the Great. The kingdom fell to theMongol invasion by 1243, and after a restoration underGeorge V the Brilliant it fell again to theTimurid Empire in 1403. By 1490,Georgia was fragmented into severalpetty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout theEarly Modern period struggled to maintain their autonomy againstOttoman andIranian domination until Georgia was finallyannexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. After a brief period of independence asDemocratic Republic of Georgia, the country soon ended up being aSoviet Republic until thedissolution of the Soviet Union. The current republic ofGeorgia has been independent since 1991.
Thehistory of Georgia is inextricably linked with the history of theGeorgian people.[1][2]
Evidence for the earliest occupation of the territory of present-day Georgia goes back to c. 1.8 million years ago, as evident from the excavations ofDmanisi in the southeastern part of the country. This is the oldest evidence of humans anywhere in the world outside Africa. Later prehistoric remains (Acheulian,Mousterian, and theUpper Palaeolithic) are known from numerous cave and open-air sites in Georgia. The earliest agriculturalNeolithic occupation dates between 6000 and 5000 BC.[3][4][5] known as theShulaveri-Shomu culture, where people used localobsidian for tools, raised animals such as cattle and pigs, and grew crops, including grapes.[6]
Numerous excavations in tell settlements of the Shulaveri-Shomu type have been conducted since the 1960s.[3]
Earlymetallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, associated with theShulaveri-Shomu culture. From the beginning of the 4th millennium, metals became used to a larger extent in East Georgia and the whole Transcaucasian region.[7]
Diauehi, a tribal union of early-Georgians, first appear in written history in the 12th century BC.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Archaeological finds and references in ancient sources reveal elements of early political and state formations characterized by advanced metallurgy and goldsmith techniques that date back to the 7th century BC and beyond.[15] Between 2100 and 750 BC, the area survived the invasions by theHittites,Urartians,Medes, Proto-Persians andCimmerians. During the same period, the ethnic unity of Proto-Kartvelians broke up into several branches, among them Svans,Zans/Chans, and East-Kartvelians. That finally led to the formation of modernKartvelian languages: Georgian (originating from East Kartvelian vernaculars), Svan,Megrelian andLaz (the latter two originating from Zan dialects). By that time Svans were dominant in modernSvaneti andAbkhazia, Zans inhabited the modern Georgian province of Samegrelo, while East-Kartvelians formed the majority in modern eastern Georgia. As a result of cultural and geographic delimitation, two core areas of future Georgian culture and statehood formed in western and eastern Georgia by the end of the 8th century BC. The first two Georgian states emerged in the west known as the Kingdom ofColchis and in the east the Kingdom ofIberia.
-en.svg)
A second Georgian tribal union emerged on the Black Sea coast in the 13th century BC under the Kingdom ofColchis in western Georgia.[16][17] The kingdom of Colchis, which existed from the 6th to the 1st centuries BC is regarded as the first early Georgian state formation and the termColchians was used as the collective term for early Georgian-Kartvelian tribes such as Mingrelians, Lazs, and Chans who populated the eastern coast of theBlack Sea.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
According to the scholar of the Caucasian studiesCyril Toumanoff:
Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer, Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom....It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation.[25]
Theancient Greeks knew of Colchis, and it featured in the Greek legend ofJason and theArgonauts, who travelled there in search of theGolden Fleece. Starting around 2000 BC, northwestern Colchis was inhabited by theSvan andZan peoples of the Kartvelian tribes. Another important ethnic element of ancient Colchis were Greeks who between 1000 and 550 BC established many trading colonies in the coastal area, among them Naessus,Pityus,Dioscurias (modernSukhumi),Guenos,Phasis (modern Poti),Apsaros, andRhizos (modern Rize in Turkey). In the eastern part of Georgia, there was a struggle for the leadership among the various Georgian confederations during the 6th–4th centuries BC, which was finally won by the Kartlian tribes from the region of Mtskheta. According to the Georgian tradition, the Kingdom of Kartli (known asIberia in the Greek-Roman literature) was founded around 300 BC byParnavaz I, the first ruler of theParnavazid dynasty.[26]
_3.jpg)
Between 653 and 333 BC, both Colchis and Iberia survived successive invasions by the IranianMedian Empire. The case is different for theAchaemenid Persians however.[27] According to Herodotus (3.97),Achaemenid power extended as far as the Caucasus mountains, but theColchians are not included in his list of the twenty Persian satrapies. Nor are they referred to in the lists of Achaemenid lands (dahyāva) given in the Old Persian inscriptions ofDarius and his successors.[27] In Xenophon's Anabasis (7.8.25; probably an interpolation) the tribes of Colchis and East Pontus are referred to as independent (autónomoi). On the other hand, Herodotus mentioned both the Colchians and various Pontic tribes in his catalogue (7.78–79) of approximately fifty-seven peoples who participated inXerxes' expedition against Greece in 481–80 BC.[27] As theEncyclopaedia Iranica states, it is thus probable that the Achaemenids never succeeded in asserting effective rule over Colchis, though local tribal leaders seem to have acknowledged some kind of Persian suzerainty.[27] TheEncyclopædia Iranica further states, whereas the adjoining Pontic tribes of the nineteenth satrapy and the Armenians of the thirteenth are mentioned as having paid tribute to Persia, the Colchians and their Caucasian neighbors are not; they had, however, undertaken to send gifts (100 boys and 100 girls) every five years (Herodotus 3.97).[27]
At the end of the 4th century BC, southernIberia witnessed the invading armies ofAlexander the Great, who established a vast Greco-Macedonian empire to the south of the Caucasus. Neither Iberia nor Colchis was incorporated into the empire of Alexander or any of the successor Hellenistic states of the Middle East.[27] However, the culture of ancient Greece still had a considerable influence on the region, and Greek was widely spoken in the cities of Colchis. In Iberia Greek influence was less noticeable andAramaic was widely spoken.[27]
Between the early 2nd century BC and the late 2nd century AD both Colchis and Iberia, together with the neighboring countries, became an arena of long and devastating conflicts between major and local powers such asRome,Armenia and the short-livedKingdom of Pontus. Pompey's campaign in 66–65 BC annexed Armenia and then he headed north along the Kura river and then west down the Rioni river to the Black Sea.[28] In 189 BC, the rapidly growingKingdom of Armenia took over more than half of Iberia, conquering the southern and southeastern provinces ofGogarene,Taokhia andHeniochia, as well as some other territories. Between 120 and 63 BC, Armenia's allyMithridate VI Eupator of Pontus conquered all of Colchis and incorporated it into his kingdom, embracing almost all of Asia Minor as well as the eastern and northern Black Sea coastal areas.
This close association with Armenia brought upon the countryan invasion (65 BC) by the Roman generalPompey, who was then at war withMithradates VI of Pontus, and Armenia. Still, Rome did not establish permanent power over Iberia. Twenty-nine years later (36 BC), the Romans again marched on Iberia forcing KingPharnavaz II to join their campaign againstCaucasian Albania.[29]
The former Kingdom of Colchis became the Roman province ofLazicum ruled by Romanlegati. Struggles between Rome and neighboring Persia marked the following 600 years of Georgian history. While the Georgian kingdom of Colchis was administered as a Roman province,Caucasian Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection. A stone inscription discovered atMtskheta speaks of the 1st-century ruler Mihdrat I (AD 58–106) as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians." EmperorVespasian fortified the ancient Mtskheta site of Armazi for the Iberian kings in 75 AD.
In the 2nd century AD, Iberia strengthened her position in the area, especially during the reign of KingPharsman II who achieved full independence from Rome and reconquered some of the previously lost territories from declining Armenia. In the early 3rd century, Rome had to give up Albania and most of Armenia toSassanid Persia. The province of Lazicum was given a degree of autonomy that by the end of the century developed into full independence with the formation of a new Kingdom of Lazica-Egrisi on the territories of smaller principalities of the Zans, Svans, Apsyls, and Sanyghs. This new Western Georgian state survived more than 250 years until 562 when it was absorbed by theByzantine Empire.
In the 3rd centuryAD, theLazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom ofLazica, locally known as Egrisi. Colchis was a scene of the protracted rivalry between theEastern Roman/Byzantine andSassanid empires, culminating in theLazic War from 542 to 562.[30]
BeforeChristianization, the cult ofMithras andZoroastrianism were commonly practiced in Iberia from the 1st century. The cult of Mithras, distinguished by its syncretic character and thus complementary to local cults, especially the cult of the Sun, gradually came to merge with ancient Georgian beliefs.[31]The eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia became one of the first states in the world to convert toChristianity in 327,[32][33][34] when the King of IberiaMirian III established it as the officialstate religion. However, the date varies based on numerous accounts and historical documents, which indicate Iberia adopting Christianity as a state religion in 317,[35] 319,[36][37][38][39] 324,[40] 330[41][42] etc. According toThe Georgian Chronicles,St. Nino ofCappadocia converted Georgia to Christianity in 330 during the time ofConstantine the Great. By the middle of the 4th century though, both Lazica (formerly the Kingdom of Colchis) and Iberia adopted Christianity as their official religion. This adoption of Christianity tied the kingdom to theByzantine Empire, which exerted strong cultural influence over it.[43]
However, after theemperor Julian was slain during his failed campaign in Persia in 363, Rome ceded control of Iberia to Persia, and King Varaz-Bakur I (Asphagur) (363–365) became a Persian vassal, an outcome confirmed by the Peace ofAcilisene in 387.[44] However, a later ruler of Kartli, Pharsman IV (406-409), preserved his country's autonomy and ceased to pay tribute to Persia. Persia prevailed, and Sassanian kings began to appoint a viceroy (pitiaxae/bidaxae) to keep watch on their vassal. They eventually made the office hereditary in the ruling house ofLower Kartli, thus inaugurating the Kartlipitiaxate, which brought an extensive territory under its control[citation needed]. Although it remained a part of the kingdom of Kartli, its viceroys turned their domain into a center of Persian influence. Sasanian rulers put the Christianity of the Georgians to a severe test. They promoted the teachings ofZoroaster, and by the middle of the 5th centuryZoroastrianism had become a second official religion in eastern Georgia alongsideChristianity.[45]
During the 4th and most of the 5th centuries, Iberia (known also as the Kingdom of Kartli) was underPersian control. At the end of the 5th century though, PrinceVakhtang I Gorgasali orchestrated an anti-Persian uprising and restored Iberian statehood, proclaiming himself the King. After this, the armies of Vakhtang launched several campaigns against both Persia and the Byzantine Empire, but his struggle for the independence and unity of the Georgian state did not have lasting success. After Vakhtang's death in 502, and the short reign of his sonDachi (502–514), Iberia wasreincorporated into Persia and ruled by amarzpan (governor), who in Georgian were callederismtavari. The Iberian nobility were granted the privilege of electing the governors. Georgian nobles urged the Byzantine emperorMaurice to revive the kingdom of Iberia in 582, but in 591 Byzantium and Persia decisively agreed to divide Iberia between them, withTbilisi to be in Persian hands andMtskheta to be under Byzantine control. However, by the late 7th century, theByzantine-Persian rivalry had given way toArab conquest of the region.
In the struggle against theArab occupation, theBagrationi dynasty came to rule overTao-Klarjeti and establishedKouropalatate of Iberia as a nominal dependency under theByzantine Empire. The restoration of the Georgian kingship begins in AD 888, whenAdarnase IV took the title of "King of Iberians". However, theBagrationi dynasty failed to maintain the integrity of their kingdom which was actually divided between the three branches of the family with the main branch retainingTao and another controllingKlarjeti. At the end of the 10th centuryCuropalateDavid of Tao invaded theEarldom of Iberia (Kartli) and gave it to his foster-sonBagrat III and installedGurgen as hisregent, who was later crowned as "King of Kings of the Iberians" on the death ofBagrat the Simple (994). Through his fortunate bloodlines Bagrat was destined to sit upon two thrones. Furthermore, through his mother Gurandukht, sister of the childless Abkhazian kingTheodosius III, Bagrat was a potential heir to the realm of Abkhazia. Three years later, after the death of Theodosius III, Bagrat III inherited theAbkhazian throne. In 1008, Gurgen died, and Bagrat succeeded him as "King of the Iberians", becoming thus the firstKing of a unified realm ofAbkhazia andIberia. After he had secured his patrimony, Bagrat proceeded to press a claim to the easternmost Georgian kingdom ofKakheti-Hereti and annexed it in or around 1010, after two years of fighting and aggressive diplomacy. Bagrat's reign, a period of uttermost importance in the history of Georgia, brought about the final victory of the Georgian Bagratids in the centuries-long power struggles. Anxious to create more stable and centralized monarchy, Bagrat eliminated or at least diminished the autonomy of the dynastic princes. In his eyes, the most possible internal danger came from theKlarjeti line of the Bagrationi. Although seem to have acknowledged Bagrat's authority, they continued to be styled as Kings, and Sovereigns of Klarjeti. To secure the succession to his son,George I, Bagrat lured his cousins, on pretext of a reconciliatory meeting, to the Panaskerti Castle, and threw them in prison in 1010. Bagrat's foreign policy was generally peaceful and the king successfully maneuvered to avoid the conflicts with both the Byzantine and Muslim neighbors even though David's domains ofTao remained in the Byzantine andTbilisi in the Arab hands.
The major political and military event duringGeorge I’s reign, a war against theByzantine Empire, had its roots back to the 990s, when the Georgian princeCuropalateDavid of Tao, following his abortive rebellion against EmperorBasil II, had to agree to cede his extensive possessions inTao and the neighbouring lands to the emperor on his death. All the efforts by David's stepson and George's father,Bagrat III, to prevent these territories from being annexed to the empire went in vain. Young and ambitious, George launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates’ succession to Georgia and occupiedTao in 1015–1016. Byzantines were at that time involved in a relentless war with theBulgarian Empire, limiting their actions to the west. But as soon asBulgaria was conquered,Basil II led his army against Georgia (1021). An exhausting war lasted for two years, and ended in adecisive Byzantine victory, forcing George to agree to a peace treaty, in which he had not only to abandon his claims to Tao, but to surrender several of his southwestern possessions to Basil, and to give his three-year-old son,Bagrat IV, as hostage.
.jpg)
The young childBagrat IV spent the next three years in the imperial capital ofConstantinople and was released in 1025. After George I's death in 1027, Bagrat, aged eight, succeeded to the throne. By the time Bagrat IV became king, theBagratids’ drive to complete the unification of all Georgian lands had gained irreversible momentum. The kings of Georgia sat atKutaisi in western Georgia from which they ran all of what had been theKingdom of Abkhazia and a greater portion ofIberia;Tao had been lost to the Byzantines while aMuslimemir remained inTbilisi and thekings ofKakheti-Hereti obstinately defended their autonomy in easternmost Georgia. Furthermore, the loyalty of great nobles to the Georgian crown was far from stable. During Bagrat's minority, the regency had advanced the positions of the high nobility whose influence he subsequently tried to limit when he assumed full ruling powers. Simultaneously, the Georgian crown was confronted with two formidable external foes: the Byzantine Empire and the resurgentSeljuq Turks.
The Seljuk threat prompted the Georgian and Byzantine governments to seek a closer cooperation. To secure the alliance, Bagrat's daughterMarta (Maria) married, at some point between 1066 and 1071, the Byzantine co-emperorMichael VII Ducas.
The second half of the 11th century was marked by the strategically significant invasion of theSeljuq Turks, who by the end of the 1040s had succeeded in building a vast empire including most ofCentral Asia andPersia. The Seljuqs made their first appearances in Georgia in the 1060s, when the sultanAlp Arslan laid waste to the south-western provinces of the Georgian kingdom and reducedKakheti. These intruders were part of the same wave of the Turkish movement which inflicted a crushing defeat on theByzantine army atManzikert in 1071. Although the Georgians were able to recover from Alp Arslan's invasion by securing theTao (Theme of Iberia), a frontier region which had been a bone of contention between Georgia and theByzantine Empire, the Byzantine withdrawal fromAnatolia brought them in more direct contact with the Seljuqs. Following the 1073 devastation ofKartli by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan,George IIsuccessfully repelled an invasion. In 1076, the Seljuk sultanMalik Shah I surged into Georgia and reduced many settlements to ruins. Harassed by the massive Turkic influx, known in Georgian history as theGreat Turkish Invasion, from 1079/80 onward, George was pressured into submitting to Malik-Shah to ensure a precious degree of peace at the price of an annualtribute.
The struggle against theSeljuq invaders in Georgia was led by the youngKing David IV of the Bagrationi royal family, who inherited the throne in 1089 at the age of 16 after the abdication of his father George II Bagrationi. Soon after coming to power, David created the regular army and peasant militia in order to be able to resist Seljuq colonization of his country. The First Crusade (1096–1099) and the Crusaders' offensive against the Seljuq Turks in Anatolia and Syria favored David's successful campaigns in Georgia. By the end of 1099 David had stopped paying tribute to the Seljuqs and had liberated most of the Georgian lands, with the exception ofTbilisi andHereti. In 1103 he reorganized theGeorgian Orthodox Church and closely linked it with the state by appointing asCatholicos (Archbishop) a Crown Chancellor (Mtsihnobart Ukhutsesi) of Georgia. In 1103–1105 the Georgian army took over Hereti and made successful raids into still Seljuq-controlledShirvan. Between 1110 and 1118 David took Lori, Samshvilde, Rustavi and other fortresses of lower Kartli and Tashiri, thus turning Tbilisi into an isolated Seljuq enclave.
In 1118–1119, having considerable amounts of free, unsettled land as a result of the withdrawal of Turkish nomads, and desperately needing qualified manpower for the army, King David invited some 40,000Kipchak warriors fromNorth Caucasus to settle in Georgia with their families. In 1120 the ruler of Alania recognized himself as King David's vassal and afterwards sent thousands of Alans to cross the main Caucasus range into Georgia, where they settled in Kartli. The Georgian Royal army also welcomed mercenaries from Germany, Italy, and Scandinavia (all those westerners were defined in Georgia as "the Franks") as well as from Kievan Rus.
In 1121, the Seljuq Sultan Mahmud declaredJihad on Georgia and sent a strong army under one of his famous generalsIlghazi to fight the Georgians. Although significantly outnumbered by the Turks, the Georgians managed to defeat the invaders at theBattle of Didgori, and in 1122 they took over Tbilisi, making it Georgia's capital. Three years later the Georgians conquered Shirvan. As a result, the mostly Christian-populatedGishi-Kabala area in western Shirvan (a relic of the once prosperous Albanian Kingdom) was annexed by Georgia while the rest of already Islamicized Shirvan became Georgia's client-state. In the same year a large portion of Armenia was liberated by David's troops and fell into Georgian hands as well. Thus in 1124 David also became the King of Armenians, incorporating Northern Armenia into the lands of the Georgian Crown. In 1125 King David died, leaving Georgia with the status of a strong regional power. In Georgia, King David is called Agmashenebeli (English: the builder).
David Agmashenebeli's successors (Kings Demeter I, David V and George III) continued the policy of Georgia's expansion by subordinating most of the mountain clans and tribes of North Caucasia and further securing Georgian positions in Shirvan. However, the most glorious sovereign of Georgia of that period was Queen Tamar (David's great-granddaughter).
The kingdom continued to flourish underDemetrius I, the son of David. As soon as he ascended to the throne, the neighboring Muslim rulers began attacking Georgia from all sides. The Seljuqid sultans fought to restore the rule of theShirvanshahs. Shirvan's large Muslim population rose against Georgia. This probably happened in 1129 or 1130, when Demetrius restored the Shirvanshahs to power inShirvan, installing on the throneManuchihr II, the husband of his daughterRusudan. TheShirvanshahs had to provide the Georgian king with troops whenever the latter demanded it. In 1130, Georgia was attacked by theSultan of Ahlat,Shah-ArmenSökmen II (c. 1128–1183). This war was started by the passage of Ani into the hands of the Georgians; Demetrius I had to compromise and give upAni to theShaddadid emirFadl ibn Mahmud on terms ofvassalage and inviolability of the Christian churches. In 1139, Demetrius raided the city ofGanja inArran. He brought theiron gate of the defeated city to Georgia and donated it toGelati Monastery atKutaisi. Despite this brilliant victory, Demetrius could hold Ganja only for a few years.[46][47] In reply to this, the sultan of theEldiguzids attacked Ganja several times, and in 1143 the town again fell to the sultan. According toMkhitar Gosh, Demetrius ultimately gained possession of Ganja, but, when he gave his daughter in marriage to the sultan, he presented the latter with the town as dowry, and the sultan appointed his own emir to rule it. Thus, Ganja once again fell into the hands of theEldiguzids.
In 1130, Demetrius revealed a plot of nobles, probably involving the king's half-brotherVakhtang. The King arrested the conspirators and executed one of their leaders, IoanneAbuletisdze, in 1138 (or 1145).
Fadl's successor,Fakr al-Din Shaddad, aShaddadid emir of Ani asked forSaltuk's daughter's hand, however Saltuk refused him. This caused a deep hatred in Shaddad towards Saltuk. In 1154 he planned a plot and formed a secret alliance with the Demetrius I. While a Georgian army waited in ambush, he offered tribute toSaltukids, ruler ofErzerum and asked the latter to accept him as a vassal. In 1153–1154, EmirSaltuk II marched on Ani, but Shaddad informed his suzerain, the King of Georgia, of this. Demetrius marched to Ani, defeated and captured the emir. At the request of neighboring Muslim rulers and released him for a ransom of 100,000dinars, paid by Saltuk's sons in law and Saltuk swore not to fight against the Georgians he returned home.[48]
Although his reign saw a disruptive family conflict related to royal succession, Georgia remained a centralized power with a strong military.[49][50] A talented poet, Demetrius also continued his father's contributions to Georgia's religiouspolyphony. The most famous of his hymns isThou Art a Vineyard.
Demetrius was succeeded by his sonGeorge III in 1156, beginning a stage of more offensive foreign policy. In the same year of his ascension to the throne, Giorgi launched a successful campaign against theShah-Armens, raided their lands and turned back with prisoners and booty. In 1161, George III took overAni and appointed his general Ivane Orbeli as its ruler. A coalition consisting of the ruler of Ahlat,Shah-ArmenSökmen II, the ruler ofDiyarbekir,Kotb ad-Din il-Ghazi, Al-Malik of Erzerum, and others was formed as soon as the Georgians seized the town, but the latter defeated the allies. 1162 In the summer, the Georgian army, whose number reached 30,000, tookDvin.[51] In response to this,Eldiguz Soon he proceeded northward to recover the city ofDvin. A coalition ofMuslim rulers –Shah-Armen Seyfettin Beytemür,Ahmadili Arslan-Aba,Arzen emir Fakhr ul-Din andSaltuk II, led by Eldiguz took thefortress of Gagi, laid waste as far as the region of Gagi andGegharkunik, seized prisoners and booty, and then moved toAni capturing and granting it toShaddadid emirShahanshah ibn Mahmud. The Muslim rulers were jubilant, and they prepared for a new campaign. However, this time they were forestalled byGeorge III, who marched intoArran at the beginning of 1166, occupied a region extending toGanja, devastated the land and turn back with prisoners and booty. The Shaddadids ruled Ani for about 10 years as vassals of Eldgiz, but in 1174 George III took the Shahanshah as a prisoner and occupied Ani once again, appointingIvane Orbeli as governor. After that, Eldiguz together with other Muslim rulers invaded Georgia twice, the first invasion was successfully repelled by the Georgians, but during the second invasion Georgians lost Ani and in 1175 it was recaptured byShaddadids.[52]
The reign ofQueen Tamar represented the peak of Georgia's might in the whole history of the nation. In 1194–1204, Tamar's armies crushed new Turkish invasions from the south-east and south and launched several successful campaigns into Turkish-controlled Southern Armenia. As a result, most of Southern Armenia, including the cities ofKarin,Erzinjan,Khelat,Muş andVan, came under Georgian control. Although it was not included in the lands of the Georgian Crown, and was left under the nominal rule of local Turkish Emirs and Sultans, Southern Armenia became a protectorate of the Kingdom of Georgia.
The temporary fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204 to the Crusaders left Georgia andBulgarian Empire as the strongest Christian states in the whole East Mediterranean area. The same year Queen Tamar sent her troops to take over the former Byzantine Lazona and Paryadria with the cities of Atina,Riza,Trebizond,Kerasunt,Amysos,Cotyora,Heraclea andSinopa. In 1205, the occupied territory was transformed into theEmpire of Trebizond, which was dependent on Georgia. Tamar's relative PrinceAlexios Komnenos was crowned as its Emperor. In the immediate years after, Georgian armies invaded northern Persia (modern dayIranian Azerbaijan) and took the cities ofMarand,Tabriz (1208),Ardabil (1208),Zanjan,Khoy (1210), andQazvin (1210), placing part of the conquered territory under a Georgian protectorate.[53][54][55][56] This was the maximum territorial extent of Georgia throughout her history.[57] Queen Tamar was addressed as "The Queen of Abkhazians, Kartvels, Rans, Kakhs and Armenians, Shirvan-Shakhine and Shakh-in-Shakhine, The Sovereign of the East and West". Georgian historians often refer to her as "Queen Tamar the Great".
The period between the early 12th and the early 13th centuries, and especially the era of Tamar the Great, can truly be considered as the golden age of Georgia. Besides the political and military achievements, it was marked by the development of Georgian culture, including architecture, literature, philosophy and sciences.
Jacques de Vitry, thePatriarch of Jerusalem at that time wrote:[58]
There is also in the East another Christian people, who are very warlike and valiant in battle, being strong in body and powerful in the countless numbers of their warriors...Being entirely surrounded by infidel nations...these men are called Georgians, because they especially revere and worship St. George...Whenever they come on pilgrimage to theLord's Sepulchre, they march into the Holy City...without paying tribute to anyone, for theSaracens dare in no wise molest them...
In 1225Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, the ruler ofKhwarezmian Empire, attacked Georgia, defeating its forces in thebattle of Garni, and conqueredTbilisi.,[59] after which allegedlya hundred thousand citizens were put to death for not renouncing Christianity.
In the 1220s, the South Caucasus andAsia Minor faced the invasion of theMongols. In spite of fierce resistance by Georgian-Armenian forces and their allies, the whole area including most of Georgia, all Armenian lands and Central Anatolia eventually fell to the Mongols in 1236.
In 1243, QueenRusudan of Georgia signed a peace treaty with the Mongols in accordance with which Georgia lost her client-states, ceded western Shirvan,Nakhichevan and some other territories and agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols as well as to let them occupy and de facto rule more than half of the remaining territory. Although Mongol-occupied Tbilisi remained the official capital of the kingdom, the Queen refused to return there and stayed inKutaisi until her death in 1245. In addition to all the above hardships, even theKingdom of Western Georgia, the part of the kingdom that remained free of the Mongols, started disintegrating: the Crown started losing control over the warlords ofSamtskhe (southern provinces of Georgia) who established their own relations with the Mongols and by the year 1266 practically seceded from Georgia.
The period between 1259 and 1330 was marked by the struggle of the Georgians against the MongolIlkhanate for full independence. The first anti-Mongol uprising started in 1259 under the leadership ofKing David Narin who in fact waged his war for almost thirty years. The Anti-Mongol strife went on under the Kings Demeter II (1270–1289) and David VIII (1293–1311). Finally, it wasKing George the Brilliant (1314–1346) who managed to play on the decline of the Ilkhanate, stopped paying tribute to the Mongols, restored the pre-1220 state borders of Georgia, and returned theEmpire of Trebizond into Georgia's sphere of influence.
In 1386–1403, the Kingdom of Georgia faced eight Turco-Mongolic invasions under the leadership ofTamerlane. Except inAbkhazia andSvaneti, the invasions devastated Georgia's economy, population, and urban centers.
By the middle of the 15th century, most of Georgia's old neighbor-states disappeared from the map within less than a hundred years. Thefall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 sealed the Black Sea and cut the remnants of Christian states of the area from Europe and the rest of the Christian world. Georgia remained connected to the West through contact with theGenoese colonies of theCrimea.
As a result of these changes, the Georgian Kingdom suffered economic and political decline and in the 1460s the kingdom fractured into several kingdoms and principalities:[60]
Neighboring large empires subsequently exploited the internal division of the weakened country, and beginning in the 16th century Turkish and Iranian forces subjugated western and eastern regions of Georgia, respectively.[61] In 1555, the Ottomans and the Safavids signed thePeace of Amasya following theOttoman–Safavid War (1532–55), defining spheres of influence in Georgia, assigning Imereti in the west to the Turks and Kartli-Kakheti in the east to the Persians. The treaty, however, was not in force for long as the Ottomans gained the upper hand andlaunched campaigns during the next Ottoman-Safavid war threatening to end the Persian domination in the region. The Safavid Persians reestablished their hegemony over all lost regions some two decades later including full hegemony over most of Georgia in theOttoman–Safavid War (1603–18).[62]
After the Turks failed to gain permanent foothold in the eastern Caucasus,[62] the Persians sought to strengthen their position in the region.[63][64][65] During the next 150 years, various eastern Georgian kings and nobles rose into rebellion, while others accepted Persian overlordship for various benefits.[66] In 1616,Abbas I dispatched his troops to Georgia, aiming to suppress the Georgian revolt inTbilisi. However, his soldiers met heavy resistance from the citizens of Tbilisi. Enraged, the Shah ordered a punitive massacre, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 130,000[67] to 200,000 people.[68] Thousands of Georgians from the easternmost province ofKakheti were deported to Persia.[69][70] During this conflict,Queen Ketevan was sent to negotiate with Abbas, but in an act of revenge for Georgia's stubbornness, the Persian Shah ordered the queen to renounce Christianity, and upon her refusal, had her tortured to death.[71] By the 17th century, both eastern and western Georgia had sunk into poverty as the result of the constant warfare. The French travellerJean Chardin, who visited the region ofMingrelia in 1671, noted the wretchedness of the peasants, the arrogance of the nobles and the ignorance of the clergy.[72]
These grave regional threats pushed local Georgian rulers to seek closer ties withTsardom of Russia. In 1649, at the recommendation of its eastern Georgian counterparts, theKingdom of Imereti sent ambassadors to the Russian royal court, with Russia returning the favor and sending its own ambassadors to Imereti in 1651. In the presence of these ambassadors,Alexander III of Imereti swore an oath of allegiance to TsarAlexis of Russia on behalf of Imereti.[73] However, internal conflicts among Georgian royalty continued and, although Alexander III briefly managed to control all of Western Georgia, this consolidation was short lived. By the time of his death in 1660, Western Georgia was still in a state of flux.[74] In this chaotic period,Archil of Imereti was enthroned and deposed several times. His efforts to secure assistance from Russia and, later, PopeInnocent XII proved unsuccessful and he was finally exiled to Russia.[75] Having given up on reclaiming the Imeretian throne, Archil's sonAlexander, a friend ofPeter the Great, dedicated himself to theRussian Imperial Army, where he rose to the second highest rank.[76]
_wearing_an_ermine_royal_coat.jpg)
In the early 18th century, Kartli, the most politically dominant region of all Georgian areas, saw a partial recovery underVakhtang VI, who instituted a new law code and tried to improve the economy. His reign saw the establishment of the first Georgian-language printing press in 1709.[77]
Following a civil war and the resulting chaos that happened in the wholeSafavid Empire after its disintegration and overthrow, the Ottomans and Russians decided to divide large parts of Persia in theTreaty of Constantinople (1724).[78] Georgia got divided by the two. Following Persia's quick resurgence underNader Shah ofIran, the Ottomans were ousted fromKakheti and the rest of Georgia in 1735 by Nader after two years of rule, which resulted in the quick reestablishment ofPersian rule over this time almost all of Georgia.[79]Teimuraz sided with the Persians and was installed as a Persianwali (governor) in neighboringKartli. However, many Georgian nobles refused to accept the new regime and rose in rebellion in response to heavy tribute levied by Nader Shah upon the Georgian provinces. Nonetheless, Teimuraz andHeraclius remained loyal to the shah, partly in order to prevent the comeback of the rivalMukhrani branch, whose fall early in the 1720s had opened the way to Teimuraz's accession in Kartli. He then served as a lieutenant to his father and assumed the regency whenTeimuraz was briefly summoned for consultations in the Persian capital ofIsfahan in 1744. In the meantime, Heraclius defeated a coup attempt by the rival Georgian princeAbdullah Beg of the Mukhrani dynasty, and helped Teimuraz suppress the aristocratic opposition to the Persian hegemony led byGivi Amilakhvari. As a reward, Nader Shah granted the kingship of Kartli to Teimuraz and of Kakheti to Heraclius, and also arranged the marriage of his nephew Ali-Qoli Khan, who eventually would succeed him asAdil Shah, to Teimuraz's daughterKethevan.[65]
Yet, both Georgian kingdoms remained under heavy Persian tribute until Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747. Teimuraz and Heraclius took advantage of the ensuing political instability inPersia to assert their independence and expelled Persian garrisons from all key positions in Georgia, includingTbilisi. In close cooperation with each other, they managed to prevent a new revolt by the Mukhranian supporters fomented by Ebrahim Khan, brother of Adel Shah, in 1748. They concluded an anti-Persian alliance with the khans of Azerbaijan who were particularly vulnerable to the aggression from Persian warlords and agreed to recognize Heraclius's supremacy in eastern Transcaucasia. In 1752, the Georgian kings sent a mission to Russia to request 3,000 Russian troops or a subsidy to enable them to hireCircassian mercenaries in order to invade Persia and install a pro-Russian government there. The embassy failed to yield any results, however, for the Russian court was preoccupied with European affairs.[65]
In 1762, Teimuraz II died while on a diplomatic mission to the court ofSt. Petersburg, and Heraclius succeeded him as King of Kartli, thus uniting eastern Georgia politically for the first time in three centuries. He turned towards Russia for protection against Ottoman and most notably Persian attacks. The Russian empressCatherine the Great was keen to have the Georgians as allies in her wars against the Turks, but sent only meagre forces to help them.[80] In 1769–1772, a handful of Russian troops under GeneralGottlieb Heinrich Totleben fought against Turks in Imereti. The Russian troops retreated before a clash against the Turks.
In 1783, Erekle signed theTreaty of Georgievsk with Russia, according to which Kartli-Kakheti got established as aprotectorate of Russia, which guaranteed Georgia's territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigningBagrationi dynasty in return for prerogatives in the conduct of Georgian foreign affairs.[81] The treaty therefore confirmed that Georgia abjured any form of dependence on Persia (who had been the suzerains of most of Georgia for centuries) or another power, and every new Georgian monarch would require the confirmation and investiture of the Russiantsar, and have no diplomatic communications with other nations without Russia's prior consent. But when another Russo-Turkish War broke out in 1787, Erekle maintained diplomatic contacts with Ottoman liege Suleiman pasha from Akhaltsikhe and signed a separate treaty with him. This treaty was ratified by the sultan in the summer of 1787. Therefore, the Russians withdrew their troops from the region for use elsewhere, leaving Erekle's kingdom unprotected. In 1795, the new Persian shah,Agha Mohammed Khan, infuriated with the Treaty of Georgievsk which he saw as an act of treason, invaded the country andcaptured and burnt the capital, Tbilisi, to the ground,[82] reestablishing Persian rule over Georgia.[83]
In spite of failure to honor the terms of the Treaty of Georgievsk, Georgian rulers felt they had nobody else to turn to. After Erekle's death, a civil war broke out over the succession to the throne of Kartli-Kakheti and one of the rival candidates called on Russia to intervene and decide matters. On January 8, 1801, TsarPaul I of Russia signed a decree on the incorporation of Georgia (Kingdom ofKartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire,[84][85] which was confirmed by TsarAlexander I on September 12, 1801.[86][87] The Georgian envoy in Saint Petersburg,Garsevan Chavchavadze, reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellorAlexander Kurakin.[88] In May 1801 Russian General Carl Heinrich Knorring dethroned the Georgian heir to the throne DavidBatonishvili and deployed a government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lasarev.[89] By this,Persia officially lost control over the city and the wider Georgian lands it had been ruling for centuries.[90]
A part of the Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until April 1802 when General Knorring compassed the nobility in Tbilisi's Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the imperial crown of Russia. Those who disagreed were arrested temporarily.[91]
In the summer of 1805 Russian troops on the river Askerani and near Zagam defeated the Qajar Persian army during theRusso-Persian War (1804-1813) led byFath-Ali Shah Qajar who sought to regain full control over Georgia andDagestan, saving Tbilisi from its attack. Russian suzerainty over Persia's traditionally eastern and southern Georgian ruled territories were nominally finalized in 1813 in theTreaty of Gulistan. In 1810, the kingdom ofImereti (Western Georgia) was annexed by theRussian Empire after the suppression of KingSolomon II's resistance.[92] From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars against Turkey and Persia, several formerly Georgian territories were annexed to the Russian Empire. These areas (Batumi,Artvin,Akhaltsikhe,Poti, andAbkhazia) now represent the majority of the territory of the present state of Georgia. Georgia was reunified for the first time in centuries but had lost its independence.
_nobility.png)
The Russian and Georgian societies had much in common: the main religion was Orthodox Christianity and in both countries a land-owning aristocracy ruled over a population of serfs. The Russian authorities aimed to integrate Georgia into the rest of their empire, but at first Russian rule proved high-handed, arbitrary and insensitive to local law and customs, leading to aconspiracy by Georgian nobles in 1832 and a revolt bypeasants and nobles in Guria in 1841.[93] Things changed with the appointment ofMikhail Vorontsov asViceroy of the Caucasus in 1845. Count Vorontsov's new policies, alleged by himself, won over the Georgian nobility, who became increasingly eager to abandon Islamic influences that had been forced upon Georgia in the preceding centuries and pursued, after the example of Russian nobility, a long-sought process of Europeanization. Life for Georgian serfs was very different, however, since the rural economy remained seriously depressed. Georgian serfs lived in dire poverty, subject to the frequent threat of starvation. Few of them lived in the towns, where what little trade and industry there was, was in the hands of Armenians, whose ancestors had migrated to Georgia in the Middle Ages.
Serfdom was abolished in Russian lands in 1861. The tsar also wanted to emancipate the serfs of Georgia, but without losing the loyalty of the nobility whose revenues depended on peasant labour. This called for delicate negotiations before serfdom was gradually phased out in the Georgian provinces from 1864 onwards.
The emancipation of the serfs pleased neither the serfs nor the nobles. The poverty of the serfs had not been alleviated while the nobles had lost some of their privileges. The nobles in particular also felt threatened by the growing power of the urban, Armenian middle class in Georgia, who prospered ascapitalism came to the region. Georgian dissatisfaction withTsarist autocracy and Armenian economic domination[94] led to the development of a national liberation movement in the second half of the 19th century.
A large-scale peasant revolt occurred in 1905, which led to political reforms that eased the tensions for a period. During this time, the MarxistSocial Democratic Party became the dominant political movement in Georgia, being elected to all the Georgian seats in the RussianState Duma established after 1905. Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili (more famously known asJoseph Stalin), a GeorgianBolshevik, became a leader of the revolutionary (and anti-Menshevik) movement in Georgia. He went on to control the Soviet Union.
Many Georgians were upset by the loss of independence of theGeorgian Orthodox Church. The Russian clergy took control of Georgian churches and monasteries, prohibiting use of the Georgian liturgy and desecrating medieval Georgian frescos on various churches all across Georgia.[95]
Between the years of 1855 to 1907, the Georgian patriotic movement was launched under the leadership of PrinceIlia Chavchavadze, world-renowned poet, novelist and orator. Chavchavadze financed new Georgian schools and supported the Georgian national theatre. In 1866 he launched the newspaperIveria, which played an important part in reviving Georgian national consciousness. His struggle for national awakening was welcomed by the leading Georgian intellectuals of that time such asGiorgi Tsereteli,Ivane Machabeli,Akaki Tsereteli,Niko Nikoladze,Alexander Kazbegi andIakob Gogebashvili.
The Georgian intelligentsia's support for Prince Chavchavadze and Georgian independence is shown in this declaration:
Our patriotism is of course of an entire different kind: it consists solely in a sacred feeling towards our mother land: ... in it there is no hate for other nations, no desire to enslave anybody, no urge to impoverish anybody. Out patriots' desire to restore Georgia's right to self-government and their own civic rights, to preserve their national characteristics and culture, without which no people can exist as a society of human beings.[96]
The last decades of the 19th century witnessed a Georgian literary revival in which writers emerged of a stature unequalled since the Golden Age ofRustaveli seven hundred years before. Ilia Chavchavadze himself excelled alike in lyric and ballad poetry, in the novel, the short story and the essay. Apart from Chavchavadze, the most universal literary genius of the age wasAkaki Tsereteli, known as "the immortal nightingale of the Georgian people." Along with Niko Nikoladze and Iakob Gogebashvili, these literary figures contributed significantly to the national cultural revival and were therefore known as the founding fathers of modern Georgia.
TheRussian Revolution of October 1917 plunged Russia into a bloodycivil war during which several outlying Russian territories declared independence. Georgia was one of them, proclaiming the establishment of the independentDemocratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) on May 26, 1918. The new country was ruled by theMenshevik faction of theSocial Democratic Party, which established amulti-party system in sharp contrast with the "dictatorship of the proletariat" established by theBolsheviks in Russia. It was recognized bySoviet Russia (Treaty of Moscow (1920)) and the major Western powers in 1921.
During the final stages of World War I, the Armenians and Georgians had been defending against the advance of theOttoman Empire. In June 1918, in order to forestall an Ottoman advance onTiflis, the Georgian troops controlled theLori Province, which had an overwhelming Armenian population. After theArmistice of Mudros and the withdrawal of the Ottomans, the Georgian forces remained. GeorgianMenshevik parliamentarianIrakli Tsereteli offered that the Armenians would be safer from the Turks as Georgian citizens. The Georgians offered a quadripartite conference including Georgia, Armenia,Azerbaijan, and theMountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus in order to resolve the issue, which the Armenians rejected. In December 1918, the Georgians were confronting a rebellion chiefly in the village ofUzunlar in the Lori region. Within days, hostilities commenced between the two republics.[97]
TheGeorgian–Armenian War was a border war fought in 1918 between theDemocratic Republic of Georgia and theDemocratic Republic of Armenia over the parts of then disputed provinces ofLori,Javakheti but were largely populated by Armenians.
In February 1921, theRed Army invaded Georgia and after ashort war occupied the country. The Georgian government was forced to flee.Guerrilla resistance in 1921–1924 was followed bya large-scale patriotic uprising in August 1924. ColonelKakutsa Cholokashvili was one of the most prominent guerrilla leaders in this phase.
During theGeorgian Affair of 1922, Georgia was forcibly incorporated into theTranscaucasian SFSR comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (includingAbkhazia andSouth Ossetia). The Soviet Government forced Georgia to cede several areas to Turkey (the province ofTao-Klarjeti and part ofBatumi province),Azerbaijan (the province ofHereti/Saingilo),Armenia (theLore region) and Russia (northeastern corner ofKhevi, eastern Georgia).
Georgia was spared the worst excesses of thecollectivization which started in 1930. The rate of collectivization was also slow reaching 75% only in 1937.[98]
Soviet rule was harsh: about 40,000 people were lost to the collectivization and purges under Stalin and his secret police chief, the GeorgianLavrenty Beria.[99] In 1936, the TFSSR was dissolved and Georgia became theGeorgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Reaching theCaucasus oilfields was one of the main objectives ofAdolf Hitler'sinvasion of the USSR in June 1941, but the armies of theAxis powers did not get as far as Georgia. The country contributed almost 550,000 fighters (300,000 were killed) to the Red Army,[100] and was a vital source of textiles and munitions. However, a number of Georgians fought on the side of the German armed forces, forming theGeorgian Legion.
During this period Stalin ordered the deportation of theChechen,Ingush,Karachay and theBalkarian peoples from the NorthernCaucasus; they weretransported toSiberia andCentral Asia for alleged collaboration with theNazis. He abolished their respective autonomous republics. TheGeorgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory until 1957.[101]
Stalin's successful appeal for patriotic unity eclipsed Georgian nationalism during the war and diffused it in the years following. On March 9, 1956,about a hundred Georgians were killed when they demonstrated againstNikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization.
The decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in the mid-1950s was soon exploited by GeorgianCommunist Party officials to build their own regional power base. A thriving pseudo-capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy. While the official growth rate of the economy of the Georgia was among the lowest in the USSR, such indicators as savings level, rates of car and house ownership were the highest in the Union,[102] making Georgia one of the most economically successful Soviet republics. Corruption was at a high level. Among all the union republics, Georgia had the highest number of residents with high or special secondary education.[103]
Although corruption was hardly unknown in the Soviet Union, it became so widespread and blatant in Georgia that it came to be an embarrassment to the authorities in Moscow.Eduard Shevardnadze, the country's interior minister between 1964 and 1972, gained a reputation as a fighter of corruption and engineered the removal ofVasil Mzhavanadze, the corrupt First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party. Shevardnadze ascended to the post of First Secretary with the blessings of Moscow. He was an effective and able ruler of Georgia from 1972 to 1985, improving the official economy and dismissing hundreds of corrupt officials.
Soviet power and Georgian nationalism clashed in 1978 when Moscow ordered revision of the constitutional status of the Georgian language as Georgia's official state language. Bowing to pressure frommass street demonstrations on April 14, 1978, Moscow approved Shevardnadze's reinstatement of the constitutional guarantee the same year. April 14 was established as a Day of the Georgian Language.
Shevardnadze's appointment asSoviet Foreign Minister in 1985 brought his replacement in Georgia byJumber Patiashvili, a conservative and generally ineffective Communist who coped poorly with the challenges ofperestroika. Towards the end of the late 1980s, increasingly violent clashes occurred between the Communist authorities, the resurgent Georgian nationalist movement and nationalist movements in Georgia's minority-populated regions (notablySouth Ossetia). On April 9, 1989, Soviet troops were used to break up a peaceful demonstration at the government building in Tbilisi. Twenty Georgians were killed and hundreds wounded and poisoned. The event radicalised Georgian politics, prompting many[who?]—even some Georgian communists—to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet rule.
Post-Soviet countries have signed aseries of treaties and agreements to settle the legacy of the former Soviet Union multilaterally and bilaterally in the absence of Georgia's representatives. However, in 1993 Georgia joined theCommonwealth of Independent States, signing theBelovezha Accords, theCIS Charter and other agreements. Georgia withdrew from the CIS in 2009.
Opposition pressure on the communist government was manifested in popular demonstrations and strikes, which ultimately resulted in an open, multiparty and democraticparliamentary election being held on 28 October 1990 in which theRound Table—Free Georgia bloc captured 54 percent of the proportional vote to gain 155 seats out of the 250 up for election, while the communists gained 64 seats and 30 percent of the proportional vote. This election was the first open multiparty election in the Soviet Union.[104] The leading dissidentZviad Gamsakhurdia became the head of theSupreme Council of the Republic of Georgia. On March 31, 1991, Gamsakhurdia wasted no time in organising areferendum on independence, which was approved by 98.9% of the votes. Formal independence from the Soviet Union was declared on April 9, 1991, although it took some time before it was widely recognised by outside powers such as the United States and European countries. Gamsakhurdia's government strongly opposed any vestiges of Russian dominance, such as the remaining Soviet military bases in the republic, and (after thedissolution of the Soviet Union) his government declined to join theCommonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Gamsakhurdia waselected president on May 26, 1991, with 86% of the vote. He was subsequently accused by his opponents of "an erratic and authoritarian style of government", with nationalists and reformists joining forces in an uneasy anti-Gamsakhurdia coalition. A tense situation was worsened by the large amount of ex-Soviet weaponry available to the quarreling parties and by the growing power of paramilitary groups. The situation came to a head on December 22, 1991, when armed opposition groups launched a violent militarycoup d'état, besieging Gamsakhurdia and his supporters in government buildings in central Tbilisi. Gamsakhurdia managed to evade his enemies and fled to the breakaway Russian republic ofChechnya in January 1992.
.jpg)
The new government invitedEduard Shevardnadze to become the head of a State Council—in effect, president—in March 1992, following Gamsakhurdia's ouster. In August 1992, a separatist dispute in the Georgian autonomous republic ofAbkhazia escalated when government forces and paramilitaries were sent into the area to quell separatist activities. The Abkhaz fought back with help from paramilitaries from Russia's North Caucasus regions and alleged covert support from the Russian military stationed in a base inGudauta, Abkhazia and in September 1993 the government forces suffered a catastrophic defeat, which led to them being driven out and the entire Georgian population of the region being expelled. Around 14,000 people died and another 300,000 were forced to flee.
Ethnic violence also flared inSouth Ossetia but was eventually quelled, although at the cost of several hundred casualties and 100,000 refugees fleeing into Russian North Ossetia. In south-western Georgia, the autonomous republic ofAdjara came under the control ofAslan Abashidze, who managed to rule his republic from 1991 to 2004 as a personal fiefdom in which the Tbilisi government had little influence.
On September 24, 1993, in the wake of the Abkhaz disaster,Zviad Gamsakhurdia returned from exile to organise an uprising against the government. His supporters were able to capitalise on the disarray of the government forces and quickly overran much of western Georgia. This alarmed Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and units of the Russian Army were sent into Georgia to assist the government. Gamsakhurdia's rebellion quickly collapsed and he died on December 31, 1993, apparently after being cornered by his enemies. In a highly controversial agreement, Shevardnadze's government agreed that it would join theCIS as part of the price for military and political support.
Shevardnadze narrowly survived a bomb attack in August 1995 that he blamed on his erstwhile paramilitary allies. He took the opportunity to imprison the paramilitary leaderJaba Ioseliani and ban hisMkhedrioni militia in what was proclaimed as a strike against "mafia forces". However, his government—and his own family—became increasingly associated with pervasive corruption that hampered Georgia's economic growth. He won presidential elections in November 1995 and April 2000 with large majorities, but there were persistent allegations of vote-rigging.
The war in Chechnya caused considerable friction with Russia, which accused Georgia of harbouring Chechen guerrillas. Further friction was caused by Shevardnadze's close relationship with the United States, which saw him as a counterbalance to Russian influence in the strategic Transcaucasus region. Georgia became a major recipient ofUS foreign and military aid, signed a strategic partnership withNATO and declared an ambition to join both NATO and theEU. In 2002, the United States sent hundreds ofSpecial Operations Forces to train theMilitary of Georgia—a program known as theGeorgia Train and Equip Program. Perhaps most significantly, the country secured a $3 billion project for a Caspian-Mediterranean pipeline (Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline)
A powerful coalition of reformists headed byMikheil Saakashvili andZurab Zhvania united to oppose Shevardnadze's government in theNovember 2, 2003 parliamentary elections. The elections were widely regarded as blatantly rigged, including by OSCE observers;[105] in response, the opposition organised massive demonstrations in the streets of Tbilisi. After two tense weeks, Shevardnadze resigned on November 23, 2003, and was replaced as president on an interim basis byBurjanadze.
These results were annulled by the Georgia Supreme Court after theRose Revolution on November 25, 2003, following allegations of widespreadelectoral fraud and large public protests, which led to the resignation of Shevardnadze.
A new election was held on March 28, 2004. TheNational Movement – Democrats (NMD), the party supportingMikheil Saakashvili, won 67% of the vote; only theRightist Opposition (7.6%) also gained parliamentary representation passing the 7% threshold.
On January 4, Mikheil Saakashvili won theGeorgian presidential election, 2004 with an overwhelming majority of 96% of the votes cast. Constitutional amendments were rushed through Parliament in February strengthening the powers of the President to dismiss Parliament and creating the post of prime minister.Zurab Zhvania was appointed prime minister.Nino Burjanadze, the interim president, became Speaker of Parliament.
The new president faced many problems on coming to office. More than 230,000internally displaced persons put an enormous strain on the economy. Peace in the separatist areas ofAbkhazia andSouth Ossetia, overseen by Russian andUnited Nations peacekeepers in the framework ofOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, remained fragile.
TheRose Revolution raised many expectations, both domestically and abroad. The new government was expected to bring democracy, ending a period of widespread corruption and government inefficiency; and to completestate-building by re-asserting sovereignty over the whole Georgian territory. Both aims were very ambitious; the new ruling elite initiated a process of concentration of power in the hands of the executive, in order to use the revolutionary mandate to change the country. In fact, the Saakashvili government initially achieved impressive results in strengthening the capacity of the state and toppling corruption.[106] Georgia's ranking in theCorruption Perceptions Index byTransparency International improved dramatically from rank 133[107] in 2004 to 67 in 2008[108] and to 51 in 2012, surpassing several EU countries.[109][110] But such achievements could only result from the use of unilateral executive powers, failing to achieve consent and initiating a trade-off between democracy-building and state-building.[106]
After the Rose Revolution, relations between the Georgian government and semi-separatist Ajarian leaderAslan Abashidze deteriorated rapidly, with Abashidze rejecting Saakashvili's demands for the writ of the Tbilisi government to run inAdjara. Both sides mobilised forces in apparent preparations for a military confrontation. Saakashvili's ultimatums and massive street demonstrations forced Abashidze to resign and flee Georgia (2004 Adjara crisis).
Relations with Russia remained problematic due to Russia's continuing political, economic and military support to separatist governments in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian troops still remained garrisoned at two military bases and as peacekeepers in these regions. Saakashvili's public pledge to resolve the matter provoked criticism from the separatist regions and Russia. In August 2004, several clashes occurred in South Ossetia.
On October 29, 2004, theNorth Atlantic Council (NAC) of NATO approved theIndividual Partnership Action Plan of Georgia (IPAP), making Georgia the first among NATO's partner countries to manage this task successfully.
Georgia supported the coalition forces inIraq War. On November 8, 2004, 300 extra Georgian troops were sent to Iraq. The Georgian government committed to send a total of 850 troops to Iraq to serve in the protection forces of theUN Mission. Along with increasing Georgian troops in Iraq, the US will train additional 4 thousand Georgian soldiers within frames of the GeorgiaTrain-and-Equip Program (GTEP).
In February 2005 Prime MinisterZurab Zhvania died, andZurab Nogaideli was appointed as the new prime minister. Saakashvili remained under significant pressure to deliver on his promised reforms. Organizations such asAmnesty International have pushed serious concerns over human rights.[111] Discontent over unemployment, pensions and corruption, and the continuing dispute over Abkhazia, have greatly diminished Saakashvili's popularity in the country.
In 2006 Georgia's relationship with Russia was at nadir due to theGeorgian–Russian espionage controversy and related events. In 2007, a political crisis led to seriousanti-government protests, and Russia allegedly led a series of airspace violations against Georgia.
Since the weakening of the democratic credentials of the Saakashvili cabinet after the police crackdown of the2007 protests, the government has put the stress on his successful economic reforms.Kakha Bendukidze was pivotal in thelibertarian reforms launched under Saakashvili, including one of the least restrictive labor codes, the lowest flat income tax rates (12%) and some of the lowest customs rates worldwide, along with the drastic reduction of necessary licenses and permits for business.[106] The objective of the Georgian elite switched to the aim of "a functioning democracy with the highest possible level of economic liberties", as expressed by the prime ministerLado Gurgenidze.[106]
Saakashvili called new parliamentary andpresidential elections for January 2008. In order to contest the presidential election, Saakashvili announced his resignation effective 25 November 2007, withNino Burjanadze becoming acting president for a second time (until the election returned Saakashvili to office on 20 January 2008).
In August 2008 Russia and Georgia engaged in the2008 South Ossetia war.[citation needed] Its aftermath, leading to the2008–2010 Georgia–Russia crisis, is still tense.
In October 2011 famous Georgian tycoonBidzina Ivanishvili admitted his entrance to politics of Georgia. In December he established opposition political movementGeorgian Dream and announced his desire to take part inthe 2012 parliamentary elections. In February 2012 they formed coalition withRepublican Party of Georgia,Free Democrats,National Forum andIndustry Will Save Georgia. Tensions rose during pre-election campaign, whereas many leaders of opposition were arrested. 54% of electorate voted in favor of the newly formed coalition, thus Georgia Dream obtained 65 seats inparliament.
In October 2012, Saakashvili admitted defeat for his party in parliamentary elections. In his speech he said that "the opposition has the lead and it should form the government – and I as president should help them with this". This represented the first democratic transition of power in Georgia's post-Soviet history.
On 17 November 2013,Giorgi Margvelashvili won theGeorgian presidential election, 2013 with 62.12% of the votes cast. With this, a newconstitution came into effect which devolved significant power from the president to theprime minister.[112] Margvelashvili's inauguration was not attended by his predecessor Mikheil Saakashvili, who cited disrespect by the new government towards its predecessors and opponents.[113]
Margvelashvili initially refused to move to the luxurious presidential palace built under Saakashvili in Tbilisi, opting for more modest quarters in the building of the State Chancellery until a 19th-century building once occupied by the U.S. embassy in Georgia is refurbished for him.[114] However, he later started to occasionally use the palace for official ceremonies.[115] This was one of the reasons for which Margvelashvili was publicly criticized, in a March 2014 interview withImedi TV, by the ex-Prime Minister Ivanishvili, who said he was "disappointed" in Margvelashvili.[115]
In October 2016, the ruling party,Georgian Dream, won the parliamentaryelection with 48.61 percent of the vote and the oppositionUnited National Movement (UNM) 27.04 percent. Georgian Dream came to power in 2012, ending UNM's nine-year rule. It was funded by tycoonBidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man and party chief, while the opposition UNM was founded by former presidentMikheil Saakashvili.[116]
In November 2018,Salome Zourabichvili won Georgia's presidentialelection, becoming the first woman to hold the office. She was backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party. However, the new constitution made the role of president largely ceremonial. It was the last direct election of a Georgian president, as the country switched to a parliamentary system.[117]
On 31 October 2020, the ruling Georgian Dream, led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, secured over 48% of votes in the parliamentaryelection. It gave the party the right to form the country's next government and continue governing alone. The opposition made accusations of fraud, which the Georgian Dream denied. Thousands of people gathered outside the Central Election Commission to demand a new vote.[118]
In February 2021,Irakli Garibashvili became the prime minister of Georgia, following the resignation of Prime MinisterGiorgi Gakharia. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashviliis, who had an earlier term as prime minister in 2013–15, is a close ally of the powerful founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili.[119]
On 1 October 2021, former president Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested on his return from exile. Saakashvili led the country from 2004 to 2013 but was later convicted in absentia on corruption charges, which he denied.[120]
Since theRussia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, about 1.5 million Russian citizens have crossed the Russia-Georgia border. Many of them fled the2022 Russian mobilization. It is not exactly known how many of those Russians have stayed in Georgia. However, their presence is evident, causing worrying for many Georgians.[121]
On December 14, 2023, theEuropean Union granted Georgiacandidate status, acknowledging the nation's ongoing efforts toward EU integration. The decision, announced by theEuropean Council, came alongside the initiation of accession negotiations withEastern Partnership membersUkraine andMoldova. Georgia's application for EU membership in March 2022, prompted byRussia's invasion of Ukraine, was initially met with a denial of candidate status in June 2022. The council outlined 12 priorities for Georgia to address before reconsidering its candidacy. Despite limited progress on these recommendations, the EU's decision reflected an ongoing commitment to fostering diplomatic relations with Georgia and advancing the nation's EU integration aspirations.[122]
In February 2024, former ruling party leaderIrakli Kobakhidze became Georgia’s new prime minister. His predecessor resigned in order to lead the ruling party to next elections.[123]
In April 2024, tens of thousands of peopledemonstrated in Georgia to protest against a "foreign influence" bill requiring any civil society group and media organisation receiving more than 20 percent of its funding from abroad to register as an "organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power".[124]
.jpg)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Historical regions ofGeorgia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Abkhazia |  | |
| Adjara | ||
| Guria | ||
| Imereti | ||
| Kakheti | ||
| Kvemo Kartli | ||
| Mtskheta-Mtianeti | ||
| Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti | ||
| Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti | ||
| Shida Kartli | ||
| Tao-Klarjeti | ||
