Georgia dentro del Imperio Ruso

1801–1918 period of Georgian history

Historia de Georgia
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El país de Georgia se convirtió en parte del Imperio Ruso en el siglo XIX. A lo largo del período moderno temprano , los imperios musulmanes otomanos y persas habían luchado por varios reinos y principados georgianos fragmentados; en el siglo XVIII, Rusia emergió como la nueva potencia imperial en la región. Dado que Rusia era un estado cristiano ortodoxo como Georgia, los georgianos buscaban cada vez más la ayuda rusa. En 1783, Heraclio II del reino de Kartli-Kakheti, en el este de Georgia, forjó una alianza con el Imperio Ruso , por lo que el reino se convirtió en un ruso.protectorado y abjuró de cualquier dependencia de su soberano Persia. La alianza ruso-georgiana, sin embargo, fracasó ya que Rusia no estaba dispuesta a cumplir los términos del tratado, procediendo a anexar el reino atribulado en 1801 y reduciéndolo al estado de una región rusa ( gobernación de Georgia ). En 1810, también se anexó el reino de Imereti , en el oeste de Georgia . El dominio ruso sobre Georgia fue finalmente reconocido en varios tratados de paz con Persia y los otomanos, y los territorios georgianos restantes fueron absorbidos por el Imperio ruso de manera gradual en el transcurso del siglo XIX.

Hasta 1918, Georgia sería parte del Imperio Ruso. El dominio ruso ofrecía a los georgianos seguridad frente a amenazas externas, pero también era a menudo torpe e insensible con los lugareños. A finales del siglo XIX, el descontento con las autoridades rusas condujo a un creciente movimiento nacional. El período imperial ruso, sin embargo, trajo cambios sociales y económicos sin precedentes a Georgia, con el surgimiento de nuevas clases sociales: la emancipación de los siervos liberó a muchos campesinos pero hizo poco para aliviar su pobreza; el crecimiento del capitalismo creó una clase trabajadora urbana en Georgia. Tanto los campesinos como los trabajadores encontraron expresión de su descontento a través de revueltas y huelgas, que culminaron con la Revolución de 1905 . Su causa fue defendida por el mencheviques socialistas , que se convirtieron en la fuerza política dominante en Georgia en los últimos años del gobierno ruso. Georgia finalmente ganó su independencia en 1918, menos como resultado de los esfuerzos de los nacionalistas y socialistas, que del colapso del Imperio Ruso en la Primera Guerra Mundial .

Antecedentes: relaciones ruso-georgianas antes de 1801

Mapa general de Georgia por el coronel VP Piadyshev, 1823

En el siglo XV, el Reino cristiano de Georgia se había dividido en una serie de estados más pequeños por los que lucharon los dos grandes imperios musulmanes de la región, la Turquía otomana y la Persia safávida . La Paz de Amasya de 1555 dividió formalmente las tierras del sur del Cáucaso en esferas de influencia otomanas y persas separadas. ^[1] El Reino georgiano de Imereti y el Principado de Samtskhe , así como las tierras a lo largo de la costa del Mar Negro al oeste, fueron otorgadas a los otomanos. ^[2] Al este, los reinos georgianos de Kartli y Kakhetiy varios potentados musulmanes a lo largo de la costa del mar Caspio fueron subsumidos bajo el control persa. ^[2]

Pero durante la segunda mitad del siglo surgió una tercera potencia imperial en el norte, a saber, el estado ruso de Moscovia , que compartía la religión ortodoxa de Georgia. Los contactos diplomáticos entre el reino georgiano de Kakheti y Moscú comenzaron en 1558 y en 1589, el zar Fyodor I se ofreció a poner el reino bajo su protección. ^[3] Sin embargo, se recibió poca ayuda y los rusos todavía estaban demasiado lejos de la región del sur del Cáucaso para desafiar con éxito el control y la hegemonía otomanos o persas. Solo a principios del siglo XVIII Rusia comenzó a hacer incursiones militares serias al sur del Cáucaso. En 1722, Pedro el Grande explotó el caos y la agitación en el Imperio Persa Safavid.para liderar una expedición contra él , mientras se aliaba con Vakhtang VI , el gobernante georgiano de Kartli y el gobernador de la región designado por Safavid. Sin embargo, los dos ejércitos no lograron unirse y los rusos se retiraron nuevamente hacia el norte, dejando a los georgianos a merced de los persas. Vakhtang terminó sus días de exilio en Rusia. ^[4]

Pyotr Bagration , general ruso de origen georgiano

El sucesor de Vakhtang, Heraclius II , rey de Kartli-Kakheti de 1762 a 1798, se volvió hacia Rusia en busca de protección contra los ataques otomanos y persas. ^[5] Los reyes del otro estado importante de Georgia, Imereti (en el oeste de Georgia), también se pusieron en contacto con Rusia en busca de protección contra los otomanos. ^[6] La emperatriz rusa Catalina la Grande emprendió una serie de iniciativas para mejorar la influencia rusa en el Cáucaso y fortalecer la presencia rusa sobre el terreno. ^{[7] [8]} Estos implicaron reforzar las líneas defensivas que habían sido establecidas a principios de siglo por Pedro el Grande , ^[8] moviéndose másLos cosacos en la región para servir como guardias fronterizos, ^[7] y la construcción de nuevos fuertes. ^[9]

La guerra estalló entre rusos y otomanos en 1768 , ya que ambos imperios buscaban asegurar su poder en el Cáucaso. ^[10] En 1769-1772, un puñado de tropas rusas al mando del general Totleben luchó contra los invasores turcos en Imereti y Kartli-Kakheti . ^[11] El curso cortado por Totleben y sus tropas mientras se movían de norte a sur sobre el centro de las montañas del Cáucaso sentó las bases para lo que se formalizaría a través de la inversión rusa durante el próximo siglo como la Carretera Militar de Georgia , la principal ruta terrestre por las montañas. ^[12] La guerraentre rusos y otomanos se concluyó en 1774 con el Tratado de Küçük Kaynarca . ^[7]

En 1783, Heraclio II firmó el Tratado de Georgievsk con Catalina, según el cual Kartli-Kakheti acordó renunciar a su lealtad a cualquier estado excepto Rusia, a cambio de la protección rusa. ^[13] Pero cuando estalló otra guerra ruso-turca en 1787, los rusos retiraron sus tropas de la región para usarlas en otros lugares, dejando al reino de Heraclio desprotegido. En 1795, el nuevo sha persa, Agha Mohammed Khan, emitió un ultimátum a Heraclio, ordenándole romper relaciones con Rusia o enfrentarse a una invasión. ^[14] Heraclio lo ignoró, contando con la ayuda rusa, que no llegó. Agha Mohammad Khan llevó a cabo su amenaza y capturó e incendió la capital, Tbilisi., al suelo, mientras buscaba restablecer la soberanía tradicional de Persia sobre la región. ^{[15] [16]}

Las anexiones rusas

Este de Georgia

A pesar de que Rusia no cumplió con los términos del Tratado de Georgievsk, los gobernantes georgianos sintieron que no tenían a dónde acudir. Los persas saquearon y quemaron Tbilisi, dejando 20.000 muertos. ^[17] Agha Mohammad Khan , sin embargo, fue asesinado en 1797 en Shusha , después de lo cual el control iraní sobre Georgia se suavizó. Heraclio murió al año siguiente, dejando el trono a su enfermizo e ineficaz hijo Giorgi XII . ^[18]

Entrada de las tropas rusas en Tiflis, 26 de noviembre de 1799 , por Franz Roubaud , 1886

Después de la muerte de Giorgi el 28 de diciembre de 1800, el reino se dividió entre los reclamos de dos herederos rivales, Davit e Iulon . Sin embargo, el zar Pablo I de Rusia ya había decidido que ninguno de los candidatos sería coronado rey. En cambio, la monarquía sería abolida y el país administrado por Rusia. ^[19] Firmó un decreto sobre la incorporación de Kartli-Kakheti al Imperio Ruso ^{[20] [21]} que fue confirmado por el zar Alejandro I el 12 de septiembre de 1801. ^{[22] [23]} El enviado georgiano en San Petersburgo, Garsevan Chavchavadze , reaccionó con una nota de protesta que fue presentada al rector de Rusia.Alexander Kurakin . ^[24] En mayo de 1801, el general ruso Carl Heinrich von Knorring destituyó al heredero georgiano al trono, David Batonishvili , del poder y desplegó un gobierno provisional encabezado por el general Ivan Petrovich Lazarev . ^[25] Knorring tenía órdenes secretas de trasladar a Rusia a todos los hombres y algunas mujeres miembros de la familia real. ^[26] Parte de la nobleza georgiana no aceptó el decreto hasta abril de 1802, cuando el general Knorring ocupó la nobleza en la catedral de Sioni de Tbilisi y los obligó a prestar juramento sobre la corona imperial de Rusia. Los que no estaban de acuerdo fueron arrestados. ^[27]

Ahora que Rusia pudo utilizar a Georgia como cabeza de puente para una mayor expansión al sur del Cáucaso, Persia y el Imperio Otomano se sentían amenazados. En 1804, Pavel Tsitsianov , el comandante de las fuerzas rusas en el Cáucaso, atacó Ganja , provocando la Guerra Ruso-Persa de 1804-1813. A esto le siguió la guerra ruso-turca de 1806-12 con los otomanos, que estaban descontentos con la expansión rusa en Georgia occidental. Las actitudes georgianas fueron mixtas: algunos lucharon como voluntarios ayudando al ejército ruso, otros se rebelaron contra el dominio ruso (hubo un gran levantamiento en las tierras altas de Kartli-Kakheti en 1804). Ambas guerras terminaron con la victoria rusa, con los otomanos y persas reconociendo las pretensiones del zar sobre Georgia (por elTratado de Bucarest con Turquía y Tratado de Gulistán con Persia). ^{[28] [29]}

Georgia occidental

Salomón II de Imereti estaba enojado por la anexión rusa de Kartli-Kakheti. Ofreció un compromiso: convertiría a Imereti en un protectorado ruso si se restauraba la monarquía y la autonomía de su vecino. Rusia no respondió. En 1803, el gobernante de Mingrelia , una región perteneciente a Imereti, se rebeló contra Salomón y reconoció a Rusia como su protectora. Cuando Salomón se negó a hacer de Imereti un protectorado ruso también, el general ruso Tsitsianov invadió y el 25 de abril de 1804, Salomón firmó un tratado que lo convertía en vasallo ruso. ^[30]

Cáucaso ruso, 1882

Sin embargo, Salomón estaba lejos de ser sumiso. Cuando estalló la guerra entre los otomanos y Rusia, Salomón inició negociaciones secretas con el primero. En febrero de 1810, un decreto ruso proclamó que Salomón fue destronado y ordenó a los imerianos que juraran lealtad al zar. Un gran ejército ruso invadió el país, pero muchos imerianos huyeron a los bosques para iniciar un movimiento de resistencia. Salomón esperaba que Rusia, distraída por sus guerras con los otomanos y Persia, permitiera que Imereti se volviera autónoma. Los rusos finalmente aplastaron el levantamiento guerrillero, pero no pudieron atrapar a Salomón. Sin embargo, los tratados de paz de Rusia con la Turquía otomana (1812) y Persia (1813) pusieron fin a las esperanzas del rey de recibir apoyo extranjero (también había intentado interesar a Napoleón ). Salomón murió exiliado en Trabzon in 1815.^[31]

In 1828–29, another Russo-Turkish War ended with Russia adding the major port of Poti and the fortress towns of Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki to its possessions in Georgia.^[32] From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars now against Ottoman Turkey, several of Georgia's previously lost territories – such as Adjara – were also incorporated into the empire. The Principality of Guria was abolished and incorporated into the Empire in 1829, while Svaneti was gradually annexed in 1858. Mingrelia, although a Russian protectorate since 1803, was not absorbed until 1867.^[33]

Early years of Russian rule

Ethnic Georgians in the Russian Imperial service, such as Sergey Lashkarev and Pavel Tsitsianov, were actively involved in the diplomatic and military aspects of bringing Georgia under Russian rule

Integration into the empire

During the first decades of Russian rule, Georgia was placed under military governorship. The land was at the frontline of Russia's war against Turkey and Persia and the commander-in-chief of the Russian army of the region was also the governor. Russia gradually expanded its territory in Transcaucasia at the expense of its rivals, taking large areas of land in the rest of the region, comprising all of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan from Qajar Persia through the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay.^[34] At the same time the Russian authorities aimed to integrate Georgia into the rest of their empire. 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. Initially, Russian rule proved high-handed, arbitrary and insensitive to local law and customs. In 1811, the autocephaly (i.e. independent status) of the Georgian Orthodox Church was abolished, the Catholicos Anton II was deported to Russia and Georgia became an exarchate of the Russian Church.^[35]

The Russian government also managed to alienate many Georgian nobles, prompting a group of young aristocrats to plot to overthrow Russian rule. They were inspired by events elsewhere in the Russian Empire: the Decembrist revolt in St. Petersburg in 1825 and the Polish uprising against the Russians in 1830. The Georgian nobles' plan was simple: they would invite all the Russian officials in the region to a ball then murder them. However, the conspiracy was discovered by the authorities on December 10, 1832 and its members were arrested and internally exiled elsewhere in the Russian Empire.^[36] There was a revolt by peasants and nobles in Guria in 1841.^[37] Things changed with the appointment of Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov as Viceroy of the Caucasus in 1845. Count Vorontsov's new policies won over the Georgian nobility, who increasingly adopted Western European customs and attire, as the Russian nobility had done in the previous century. ^[38]

A painting of Tbilisi by Nikanor Chernetsov, 1832

Old Tbilisi by Oskar Shmerling, 1900

Georgian society

When Russian rule began in the early 19th century Georgia was still ruled by royal families of the various Georgian states, but these were then deposed by the Russians and sent into internal exile elsewhere in the empire. Beneath them were the nobles, who constituted about 5 percent of the population and protected their power and privileges. They owned most of the land, which was worked by their serfs. Peasants made up the bulk of Georgian society. The rural economy had become seriously depressed during the period of Ottoman and Persian domination and most Georgian serfs lived in dire poverty, subject to the frequent threat of starvation. Famine would often prompt them to rebellion, such as the major revolt in Kakheti in 1812.^[39]

Emancipation of the serfs

Serfdom was a problem not just in Georgia but throughout most of the Russian Empire. By the mid-19th century the issue of freeing the serfs had become impossible to ignore any longer if Russia was to be reformed and modernised. In 1861, Tsar Alexander II abolished serfdom in Russia proper. The tsar also wanted to emancipate the serfs of Georgia, but without losing the recently earned loyalty of the nobility whose power and income depended on serf labour. This called for delicate negotiations and the task of finding a solution that would be acceptable to the land-owners was entrusted to the liberal noble Dimitri Kipiani. On 13 October 1865, the tsar decreed the emancipation of the first serfs in Georgia. The process of abolition throughout all the traditional Georgian lands would last into the 1870s. The serfs became free peasants who could move where they liked, marry whom they chose and take part in political activity without asking their lords' permission. The nobles retained the title to all their land but it was to be divided into two parts. The nobles owned one of these parts (at least half of the land) outright, but the other was to be rented by the peasants who had lived and worked on it for centuries.

The emancipation manifesto promulgated in Sighnaghi, 1864

Over the years, after they had made sufficient payments to compensate the landlords, this land would become their own private property. In the event, the reforms pleased neither nobles nor the ex-serfs. Though they were now free peasants, the ex-serfs were still subject to the heavy financial burden of paying rent and it usually took decades before they were able to buy the land for themselves. In other words, they were still dependent on the nobles, not legally, but economically. The nobles had accepted the emancipation only with extreme reluctance and, though they had been more favourably treated than landowners in much of the rest of the empire, they had still lost some of their power and income. In the following years, both peasant and noble discontent would come to be expressed in new political movements in Georgia.^[40]

Immigration

During the reign of Nicholas II, Russian authorities encouraged the migration of various religious minorities, such as Molokans and Doukhobors, from Russia's heartland provinces into Transcaucasia, including Georgia. The intent was both to isolate the troublesome dissenters away from the Orthodox Russians (who could be "corrupted" by their ideas), and to strengthen Russian presence in the region.^[41] Because Georgia served as more-or-less a Russian march principality as a base for further expansion against the Ottoman Empire, other Christian communities from the Transcaucasus region were settled there in the 19th century, particularly Armenians and Caucasus Greeks. These subsequently often fought alongside Russians and Georgians in the Russian Caucasus Army in its wars against the Ottomans, helping capture territories in the South Caucasus bordering Georgia that became the Russian militarily administered provinces of Batumi Oblast and Kars Oblast, where tens of thousands of Armenians, Caucasus Greeks, Russians, and other ethnic minority communities living in Georgia were re-settled.^[42]

Cultural and political movements

Incorporation into the Russian Empire changed Georgia's orientation away from the Middle East and towards Europe as members of the intelligentsia began to read about new ideas from the West. At the same time, Georgia shared many social problems with the rest of Russia, and the Russian political movements that emerged in the 19th century looked to also extend their following in Georgia.^[43]

Romanticism

A painting of Tbilisi by Mikhail Lermontov

In the 1830s, Romanticism began to influence Georgian literature, which enjoyed a revival thanks to famous poets such as Alexander Chavchavadze, Grigol Orbeliani and, above all, Nikoloz Baratashvili. They began to explore Georgia's past, seeking a lost golden age which they used as an inspiration for their works. One of Baratashvili's best-known poems, Bedi Kartlisa ("Georgia's Fate"), expresses his deep ambivalence about the union with Russia in the phrase "what pleasure does the nightingale receive from honour if it is in a cage?"^[44]

Georgia became a theme in Russian literature as well. In 1829, Russia's greatest poet Alexander Pushkin visited the country and his experience is reflected in several of his lyrics. His younger contemporary, Mikhail Lermontov, was exiled to the Caucasus in 1840. The region appears as a land of exotic adventure in Lermontov's famous novel A Hero of Our Time and he also celebrated Georgia's wild, mountainous landscape in the long poem Mtsyri, about a novice monk who escapes from the strictness of religious discipline to find freedom in nature.^[45]

Nationalism

In the mid-19th century, Romantic patriotism gave way to a more overtly political national movement in Georgia. This began with a young generation of Georgian students educated at Saint Petersburg University, who were nicknamed the tergdaleulnis (after the Terek River which flows through Georgia and Russia). The most outstanding figure by far was the writer Ilia Chavchavadze, who was the most influential Georgian nationalist before 1905. He sought to improve the position of Georgians within a system that favoured Russian-speakers and turned his attention to cultural matters, especially linguistic reform and the study of folklore. Chavchavadze became more and more conservative, seeing it as his task to preserve Georgian traditions and ensure Georgia remained a rural society. The so-called second generation (meore dasi) of Georgian nationalists was less conservative than Chavchavadze. They focused more on the growing cities in Georgia, trying to ensure that urban Georgians could compete with the economically dominant Armenians and Russians. The leading figure in this movement was Niko Nikoladze, who was attracted to Western liberal ideas. Nikoladze saw Georgia's future as belonging to a Caucasian federation that would also include Armenia and Azerbaijan.^[46]

Socialism

By the 1870s, alongside these conservative and liberal nationalist trends, a third, more radical political force had emerged in Georgia. Its members focused on social problems and tended to ally themselves with movements in the rest of Russia. The first stirrings were seen in the attempt to spread Russian populism to the region, though the populists had little practical effect. Socialism, particularly Marxism, proved far more influential in the long run.^[47]

Industrialisation had come to Georgia in the late 19th century, particularly to the towns of Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi. With it had come factories, railways and a new, urban working class. In the 1890s, they became the focus of a "third generation" (Mesame Dasi) of Georgian intellectuals who called themselves Social Democrats, and they included Noe Zhordania and Filipp Makharadze, who had learned about Marxism elsewhere in the Russian Empire. They would become the leading force in Georgian politics from 1905 onwards. They believed that the tsarist autocracy should be overthrown and replaced by democracy, which would eventually create a socialist society.^[48]

Later Russian rule

Increasing tensions

Tsar's entrance at the Assembly of Gentry in Tiflis (29 September 1888)

In 1881, the reforming Tsar Alexander II was assassinated by Russian populists in Saint Petersburg. His successor Alexander III was much more autocratic and frowned on any expression of national independence as a threat to his empire. In an effort to introduce more central control, he abolished the Caucasus Viceroyalty, reducing Georgia's status to that of any other Russian province. Study of the Georgian language was discouraged and the very name "Georgia" (Russian: Грузия, Georgian: საქართველო) was banned from newspapers. In 1886, a Georgian student killed the rector of the Tbilisi seminary in protest. When the ageing Dimitri Kipiani criticised the head of the Church in Georgia for attacking the seminary students, he was exiled to Stavropol, where he was mysteriously murdered. Many Georgians believed his death was the work of tsarist agents and mounted a huge anti-Russian demonstration at his funeral.^[49]

The revolution of 1905

Street protests in Tiflis in 1905

"Pacification" of western Georgia. Soldiers burning peasant houses.

The 1890s and early 1900s were marked by frequent strikes throughout Georgia. The peasants, too, were still discontented, and the Social Democrats won peasants and urban workers over to their cause. At this stage, the Georgian Social Democrats still saw themselves as part of an all-Russian political movement. However, at the Second Congress of the all-Russian Social Democratic Party held in Belgium in 1903, the party split into two irreconcilable groups: the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. By 1905, the Social Democratic movement in Georgia had overwhelmingly decided in favour of the Mensheviks and their leader Noe Zhordania. One of the few Georgians to opt for the Bolshevik faction was the young Ioseb Jughashvili, better known as Joseph Stalin.^[50]

In January 1905, the troubles within the Russian Empire came to a head when the army fired on a crowd of demonstrators in Saint Petersburg, killing at least 96 people. The news provoked a wave of protests and strikes throughout the country in what became known as the 1905 Revolution. The unrest quickly spread to Georgia, where the Mensheviks had recently co-ordinated a large peasant revolt in the Guria region. The Mensheviks were again at the forefront during a year which saw a series of uprisings and strikes, met by the tsarist authorities with a combination of violent repression (carried out by Cossacks) and concessions. In December, the Mensheviks ordered a general strike and encouraged their supporters to bomb the Cossacks, who responded with more bloodshed. The Mensheviks' resort to violence alienated many people, including their Armenian political allies, and the general strike collapsed. All resistance to the tsarist authorities was finally quelled by force in January 1906 with the arrival of an army led by General Alikhanov.^[51]

The years between 1906 and the outbreak of World War I were more peaceful in Georgia, which was now under the rule of a relatively liberal Governor of the Caucasus, Count Vorontsov-Dashkov. The Mensheviks, too, realised they had gone too far with the violence of late 1905. Unlike the Bolsheviks, they now rejected the idea of armed insurrection. In 1906, the first elections for a national parliament (the Duma) were held in the Russian Empire and the Mensheviks won the seats representing Georgia by a landslide. The Bolsheviks had little support except in the Manganese mine of Chiatura, though they gained publicity with an armed robbery to gain funds in Tbilisi in 1907. After this incident, Stalin and his colleagues moved to Baku, the only real Bolshevik stronghold in Transcaucasia.^[52]

World War I and independence

Declaration of independence by the Georgian parliament, 1918

Russia entered World War I against Germany in August 1914. The war aroused little enthusiasm from the people in Georgia, who did not see much to be gained from the conflict, although 200,000 Georgians were mobilised to fight in the army. When Turkey joined the war on Germany's side in November, Georgia found itself on the frontline. Most Georgian politicians remained neutral, though pro-German feeling and the sense that independence was within reach began to grow among the population.^[53]

In 1917, as the Russian war effort collapsed, the February Revolution broke out in Saint Petersburg. The new Provisional Government established a branch to rule Transcaucasia called Ozakom (Extraordinary Committee for Transcaucasia). There was tension in Tbilisi since the mainly Russian soldiers in the city favoured the Bolsheviks, but as 1917 went on, the soldiers began to desert and head northwards, leaving Georgia virtually free from the Russian army and in the hands of the Mensheviks, who rejected the October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power in the Russian capital. Transcaucasia was left to fend for itself and, as the Turkish army began to encroach across the border in February 1918, the question of separation from Russia was brought to the fore.

On 22 April 1918, the parliament of Transcaucasia voted for independence, declaring itself to be the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. It was to last for only a month. The new republic was made up of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, each with their different histories, cultures and aspirations. The Armenians were well aware of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey, so for them defence against the invading army was paramount, while the Muslim Azeris were sympathetic to the Turks. The Georgians felt that their interests could best be guaranteed by coming to a deal with the Germans rather than the Turks. On 26 May 1918, Georgia declared its independence and a new state was born, the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which would enjoy a brief period of freedom before the Bolsheviks invaded in 1921.^[54]

See also

• History of Georgia (country)

References

1. King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-19-539239-5.
2. King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-19-539239-5.
3. Suny, page 49
4. Suny pp.47-54
5. Suny pp.57-58
6. Assatiani and Bendianachvili, pages 220 and 222. Alexander V sent a special embassy to Russia in 1738 and Solomon I sent one in 1768.
7. King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-0-19-539239-5.
8. Gammer, Moshe (September 2013). "Empire and Mountains: The Case of Russia and the Caucasus". Social Evolution & History. 12: 121.
9. King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-19-539239-5.
10. King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-19-539239-5.
11. Rayfield, page 242
12. King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-19-539239-5.
13. Rayfield, page 250
14. Rayfield, page 255
15. Kazemzadeh 1991, pp. 328-330.
16. Suny pp.58-59
17. Rayfield (2012), page 256: "That day Tbilisi burned; those who had not fled were slaughtered or enslaved (the merchants had three days earlier loaded their wares onto ox-carts and left). Fifty years' work building schools, libraries, a printing press, military and civic institutions was undone in three days; churches and palaces were desecrated and demolished; 20,000 bodies littered the streets; survivors died of epidemics and hunger."
18. Rayfield, page 256
19. Rayfield, page 258
20. Gvosdev (2000), p. 85
21. Avalov (1906), p. 186
22. Gvosdev (2000), p. 86
23. Lang (1957), p. 249
24. Lang (1957), p. 251
25. Lang (1957), p. 247
26. Rayfield, page 259
27. Lang (1957), p. 252
28. Assatiani and Bendianachvili, pages 253-4
29. Suny, page 64
30. Assatiani and Bendianachvili, pages 247-248
31. Assatiani and Bendianachvili, pages 250-252
32. Suny, page 64
33. Allen F. Chew. "An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders", Yale University Press, 1970, p. 74
34. Timothy C. Dowling Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond pp 728 ABC-CLIO, 2 dec. 2014 ISBN 1598849484
35. Suny pp.84-85
36. Suny pp.70-73
37. Suny pp. 70-73
38. Suny p.73 ff.
39. This section: Suny, Chapter 4
40. This whole section: Suny, Chapter 5: "Emancipation and the End of Seigneurial Georgia"
41. Daniel H. Shubin, "A History of Russian Christianity". Volume III, pages 141-148. Algora Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-87586-425-2 On Google Books
42. Coene, Frederik, 'The Caucasus - An Introduction', (2011).
43. Sunny p.122
44. Suny p.124 ff.
45. Suny p.125 ff.
46. Suny pp.125-31
47. Suny p.131 ff.
48. Entire section on cultural and political movements: Suny Chapters 6 and 7
49. Suny pp.140-41
50. Suny pp.155-64
51. Suny pp.167-170
52. Suny pp.171-78
53. Suny pp.178-80
54. Entire "Later Russian rule" section: Suny Chapters 7 and 8

Sources

• Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994). The Making of the Georgian Nation (2nd ed.). Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20915-3.
• D.M. Lang: A Modern History of Georgia (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962)
• Anchabadze, George: History of Georgia: A Short Sketch, Tbilisi, 2005, ISBN 99928-71-59-8
• Avalov, Zurab: Prisoedinenie Gruzii k Rossii, Montvid, S.-Peterburg 1906
• Gvosdev, Nikolas K.: Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia: 1760-1819, Macmillan, Basingstoke 2000, ISBN 0-312-22990-9
• Fisher, William Bayne; Avery, P.; Hambly, G. R. G; Melville, C. (1991). The Cambridge History of Iran. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521200954.
• Kazemzadeh, Firuz (1991). "Iranian relations with Russia and the Soviet Union, to 1921". In Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 7). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521200950.
• Donald Rayfield, Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia (Reaktion Books, 2012)
• Nodar Assatiani and Alexandre Bendianachvili, Histoire de la Géorgie (Harmattan, 1997)

Coordinates: 41°43′00″N 44°47′00″E / 41.7167°N 44.7833°E / 41.7167; 44.7833