Ancient History
Middle Paleolithic cave sites along the Black Sea Coast of Georgia prove the presence of an indigenous people sometime between 100,000 - 50,000 B.C. A great deal of archaeological evidence attests to a flourishing Neolithic culture in Georgia in the fifth and fourth millennia B.C. Pottery and metallurgy of the Early Bronze Age was renown. This period is marked by a highly developed culture. At the end of the second and the beginning of the first millennium B.C., two major tribal unions arose: those of the Diakhi (Taokhi, Tao) and the Colchis. The wealth and power of Colchis were reflected in the ancient Greek myth of the Argonauts. Their union disintegrated in the mid-8th century B.C. In the 8th-7th centuries B.C., the Karts, Mengrels, Chans and Svans came to the fore among the Georgian tribes, and as a result of their consolidation, a two-state confederation took shape in the 6th-4th centuries. In the west, the Kingdom of Colchis was formed (now referred to as the Kingdom of Egrisi). This kingdom minted its own silver coins as "white Colchians coins".
The advanced economy and favorable geographic and natural conditions of Colchis attracted the Greeks; they colonized the Black Sea coast, setting up several settlements including; Gyenos (Ochamchire), Dioscuras (Sukhumi), Anakopia (Akhali Atoni) and Pityus (Bichvinta), Phasis (present-day Poti). During the same historical period an intensive consolidation of the Kartlian tribes largerly inhabiting eastern and southern Georgia occurred. Mtskhetian tribes came to the fore, gradually moving north-easterly and forming their settlements in the very heart of Kartli. The kingdom of Kartli is linked to the name of King Parnavaz (the founder of the Parnavazi dynasty), who expelled invaders from Georgia and began to reign over a liberated country. During his reign Armazistsiche, the citadel of the capital, and an idol representing the god Armazi, were erected. According to Kartlis Tskhovreba (History of Georgia), Parnavaz I created the Georgian script. The kingdoms of Kartli and of Colchis waged incessant wars against foreign conquerors that strove to subjugate them, especially in the 1st century B.C.
Mtskheta, one of the early state creations, grew up at the junction of the Caspian and Black Sea. The strategic location between Eastern Europe and Asia lead to the fast development of the town. At the end of the IV century, B.C. Parnavaz unified the territory from the Caucasus till the Euphrates River. This region was known as Kartli to the Iberians and Iberia to all others. Iberia was a rich, densely populated area. The lands high in the mountains were used for the breeding of cattle and warriors, while the lowlands and valley were used for agricultural purposes. The warriors from the Highlands played a large role in the militaristic activities of Iberia. In the Second century B.C., international relations became aggravated. Iberian lost territory in the south to the newly created Armenian kingdoms. The King of the Ponto Kingdom in the west annexed parts of Iberia including Kolkhida. After a long struggle with the Romanian General Pompeus, Iberia entered into a Pax agreement and became an ally of Rome, without equal rights. Immediately after that Romanians entered Kolkhida and conquered the country. Developments in agriculture, trading and handicraft lead to an increase in the economic situation. During the d of economic growth in the I-II century B.C., the Iberian Kingdom again strengthened. Iberia was strategically located along the Silk Road that transversed from India and the Far East to Greece. As Iberia's economic situation strengthened, further she began to become more independent in foreign policy matters. The territory of Iberia widened and reclaimed its southern provinces lost during previous occupations. During this same period, a dichotomy was developing in the western Iberia and Abkhazian principalities. These tribal principalities recognized the supremacy of the Roman Emperors. In the third century, the foreign political situation was again aggravated, this time by the new Persian dynasty. This forced Iberia to ally itself with Rome in opposition of the Iranians. Around 337 Christianity became the state religion and further unified the Iberian with the Romanians. The development of Christianity spurred the beginnings of a written language, and in the fourth and fifth centuries caused feudal development to begin taking root. During this period Iberia went through serious difficulties. The allegiance with the Romanians could not protect Iberia form the ever strengthening Sasanides of Iran. Direct wars between Iberia and Iran began after Iran conquered the neighboring countries of Armenia and Albania. King Vakhtang, who was regarded as a strong clever warrior, united the Trans- Caucasus against the Iranians. He developed an infrastructure, constructed many necessary developments in Iberia, and turned the fortress at Tbilisi into a city. Despite his best efforts, Persians killed him in the sixth century. Feudalism was already well established in the Georgian highlands during the sixth century. The old tribal and aristocratic society gradually formulated to a feudal class of noblemen. The large feudal components of Kartli opposed the government and began to seek allegiances with the Shah of Iran to strengthen their political and civil rights. The Shah of iran capitalized on this situation and abolished the King's govern after a rebellion of Georgians in 523. The new ruler was Vie-Girent of Shah and he maintained his residence in Tbilisi. Iran saw Georgian land, as a strong foothold in their attempt to conquer the Eastern Roman Empire Empire, the heart of which was Byzantium. In retaliation, the Byzantine military entered Lazika where the military tortured the population. The King of Lazika was forced to ask the Shah for assistance in 541. The Shah and Gubaz Ii were successful in expelling the Byzantinnes, but at that point, the Shah's true motives became clear. He began establishing colonies and set out to eradicate Gubaz. Therefore, in 562 the Georgian appealed to Byzantium for assistance in expelling the Iranians. These territories remained under the influence of Byzantium. The tug of war between Iran and Byzantium did not end there. For the first half of the seventh century Georgia suffered frequent invasions by both the iranians and Byzantinnes who sought to dominate the strategic placemtn of Georgia between the East and the West. Georgia was invaded by Arabs and forced to pay tribute in the 830's. They fought hard to retain some level of independence by rebelling against the Arabs and by the beginning of the ninth century had successfully expelled all those near Tblisi. Due to the presence of necessary political and economic factors Feudal Georgia was able to successfully unify many of the feudal regions. Another crucial factor was the reign of King Bagrat III who inherited Tao-Klarjet from his father and Abkhazia from his mother. King Bagrat made the capital city Kutasi to further unify the people, as it was a neutral territory for the Kingdoms.
Christianity started to spread in Georgia from the 1st century, and became established as a state religion of Kartli in the 330s and about the same time in West Georgia as well. It meant an orientation toward Rome and Byzantium that would prove a decisive factor in the evolution of the national consciousness and culture. By the mid 400s, 30 bishops were in Kartli. The leader of an anti-Iranian struggle, King of Kartli Vakhtang Gorgasali further strengthened the Kartlian church by making it autocephalic, having secured permission from Constantinopole to elevate the status of the bishop of Mtskheta to that of Catholicos. Christianity destroyed the old Georgian literature and began to create a literature of its own, mostly translations.
Georgian writing was first seen in the 5th century. The first examples include inscriptions in the Georgian monastery of the Holy Cross in Palestine, in the Bethlehem desert (Bir-ell-Katt), as well as those in the Sioni Church of Bolnisi, south of Tbilisi. The source of the Georgian script is a controversial problem. Some scholars believe that it appeared long before the Christian epoch, while others relate its appearance to the establishment of the Christian religion. They do not deny the possible existence of a certain original writing in the pre-Christian era. The oldest books translated then were the Gospels and the Old Testament. The Passion of St. Shushanik was written in the 5th century. Another such work by an anonymous author, The Martyrdom of Evstate Mtskheteli is from the 6th century.
The basilica-type churches of Bolnisi and Urbnisi, dating from the 5th century, and the unique cruciform-domed Jvari church of the end of 6th and the beginning of the 7th century near Mtskheta are the most significant monuments of architecture. In the mid-5th century, Vakhtang Gorgasali I became King of Kartli, leading the struggle against the Persians. He is known also as a founder of Tbilisi and he prepared the way for transferring the capital of Georgia from Mtskheta to Tbilisi. Gorgasali recaptured the Georgian lands to the south-west as well as east (Hereti). The initial success achieved in the struggle against Persia came to naught by the resistance of the Eristavs, the highest feudal nobility and their alliance with the Iranians. The struggle against both enemies ended in King Vakhtang's defeat and his death on the battlefield in 502. In 523, having subdued Kartli, the Persians moved into the Kingdom of Egrisi (also known as Lazica) in western Georgia. Lazica was still dependent on Byzantium, but this dependence was growing weaker and the kings of Lazica gained more independence. The rulers of Lazica tried to use the hostility between Byzantium and Iran to their own advantage, but the war ended with a fifty year long peace treaty (562 A.D.), and West Georgia finally found herself subjugated by Byzantium.
In 572, the Kartlians rose in arms and expelled the Persians. A local administrative state government or saerismtavr was instituted in Kartli. This early feudal state actually served as the basis for the creation of the future united Georgian monarchy. In the 7th-8th centuries, important sociopolitical changes took place in Georgia. The principalities (samtavros) of Kakheti, Hereti and Tao-Klarjeti, as well as the western Georgian Kingdom of Abkhazia, took shape in this period. A new force, the Arabs, appeared on the international scene in the 730s and 740s. They defeated the Persians and reached the Caucasus as well. In 645 they captured Tbilisi and installed an Arab Emir there, but they could not conquer West Georgia. Their presence there was only sporadic, and their power did not spread to the outlying mountainous provinces of Georgia, but embraced only the central area of Kartli. At the same time, thanks to Arab trade activity, Tbilisi flourished. It actually became an international center at the crossroads of several important trade routes. Soon, however, an anti-Arab liberation struggle started all over Georgia. At the end of the 8th century, the archon of Abuzgia--the Eristavi of Abkhazia (Abuzgia was the designation of the territory to the north of the Kodori River populated by the Abkhaz-Adyghe tribes, the ancestors of the present-day Abkhazians, as well as the Georgian-Megrel and Svan tribes; the Georgian term "Abkhazeti" had a similar meaning, while the ethnonym "Abkhaz" began from this time on, to be applied to the whole population of West Georgia)--Leon rose in rebellion against Byzantium and declared himself "King of the Abkhazians." He also liberated Lazica (Egrisi) and founded an independent Egrisi-Abkhazian Kingdom with the capital Kutaisi, in the centre of West Georgia.
Though this political unity had the official name of the Abkhazian Kingdom, the overhelming majority of its population, its political orientation and its culture were essentially Georgian. Later on, in the 9th century the Abkhazian Kingdom also was severed of its last link with Byzantium by leaving the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinopole. Soon the West Georgian Church came under the Catholicos of Mtskheta. Thus the ecclessiastic unity of East and West Georgia was effected and created the final establishment of the Georgian language in the Abkhazian Kingdom in church service, public administration and cultural life. Another independent feudal state, the Tao-Klarjeti Principality appeared in southwest Georgia in the early 9th century, founded by the Erismtavari of Kartli, Ashot Bagrationi. Rising against the Arabs, Ashot withdrew into his hereditary province of Klarjeti, liberated the neighbouring provinces of Tao, Kola, Artvani, Shavsheti, and others from the Arabs, and firmly established himself there with the help of the Byzantine emperor, receiving from the latter the title of "Kuropalate."
The most important events in Tao-Klarjeti are connected with name of David III who ruled in the second part of the 10th century. He freed more Georgian provinces from the Arabs. David III rendered effective assistance to the Byzantine emperors Basil and Constantine in quelling the rebellion of the grand feudal Bardas Sclerus in 979, receiving in recognition of his service a number of provinces up to Lake Van. Using his power and authority and supported by the Kartlian Eristavi Ioanne Marushidze, David III began the unification of the Georgian lands. David III raised his adopted son Bagrat Bagrationi to the throne of Kartli (975) and Abkhazia (978). After the death of David III, Bagrat added Tao-Klarjeti to Kartli, inherited the title of King of the Kartvels, and in 1110 added Kakheti and Hereti to his Kingdom, completing the unification of the Georgian territories into one state, with the exeption of the Tbilisi Emirate. The first king of unified Georgia bore the title of "King of the Abkhazians, Kartvels, Hers and Kakhs". Kutaisi was the capital of the kingdom. Under his successor, Bagrat IV (1027-1072), Georgia found itself to be one of the major powers in Caucasia.
But the relative stability established in the region came to an end with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks, who captured most of Persia, and drove westward in the 1060s. They captured Armenia, raided the Georgian province of Javakheti, destroying the town of Akhalkalaki, and devastated Kartli in 1068. The so-called "Great Turkish Conquests" of Georgia started in 1080. Being nomads, the Seljuks turned the lands they captured into pastures, thus depriving the feudal economy of its basis and jeopardizing the very existence of Georgia. Only a small part of West Georgia escaped the constant invasions and devastions.
King Giorgi II (1072- 1089) had to pay annual tribute to the Sultan. The Georgian people suffered severe losses but managed to preserve their state organization. Unable to deal effectively with the constant onslaught of the Turks, the throne was passed to Giorgi II's 16-year-old son David, known as David the Builder (1089-1125), possibly the greatest monarch in Georgian history. Personally leading his loyal forces, he attacked the Seljuks and, routing them, allowed the peasants who had fled to the mountains to return to their land. He gradually expelled the Turks from Kartli. David's war against the Turks fortunately corresponded with the arrival of the Crusaders in Asia Minor and Syria, considerably weakening the Turks and distracting their attention from the Caucasus. After winning several victories in 1099, he stopped paying tributes. However, the final liberation of all Georgian lands required an efficient army and further centralized power. The first item on the agenda was the Church reform.
In 1033 by the decision of the all-Georgian Church Council, held in two neighboring dioceses of Ruisi and Urbnisi, the unfit Church officials were deposed and supporters of the King's policy were elected. David IV actually subordinated the Church to the state. It was a heavy blow to the unloyal nobility and provided his rule with a powerful ideological support. At the same time David IV created a regular army by drafting the aznaurs (the gentry) and the peasantry. By the early 12th century, regular troops grew to 40,000 strong. In 1004 he drove the Turks from Kartli and Kakheti. In 1005, he defeated a large Turkish army in the Ertsukhi battle. During 1110-1118, he liberated the towns of Samshvilde, Rustavi, Gishi, Kubala, and Lore. Tbilisi, the capital, was still occupied by the invaders and part of the Georgian army still depended upon big feudal lords, who not always were loyal to the king. At the same time, incessant wars kept the most productive part of the population away from home and farming. To solve this problem David IV added to his army 40,000 Kipchak mercenaries from the north Caucasian steppes, whom he settled in Georgia with their families. Feeling uneasy at the prospect of losing the Caucusus, the Seljuk Sultan Mahmud sent to Georgia, at the head of the Turkish coalition forces, one of his best generals: Radjin Al-Din Ilguzi, famous for his battles against the Crusaders. On August 12, 1121, near Didgori, King David IV won a decisive victory over the enemy's numerous army. After this victory, he took Tbilisi in 1122 and moved the capital from Kutaisi to Tbilisi. Humane treatment of the Muslim population, as well as the representatives of other religions and cultures in the capital, set a standard for tolerance in his multiethnic kingdom. It was a hallmark not only for his enlightened reign, but for all of Georgian history and culture. In 1123, King David IV liberated the city of Dmanisi ,the last stronghold of the invaders in Georgia. In 1124, David the Builder, at the request of the citizens of the Armenian city of Ani, also liberated Ani, expanding the southern borders of the Georgian Kingdom up to the Araks basin. King David IV, died on January 24, 1125.
During the reigns of his succesors, the borders of the Georgian Kingdom expanded still wider from Nicopsia (a city between modern Sokhi and Tuapse) to Derbent (on the Caspian Sea) and from Ossetia (North Caucasus) to Mt. Ararat in Armenia. During the reign of Queen Tamar (1184-1213) , the great grandaughter of King David IV, the Georgian Kingdom reached the apex of its political might. The official title of Queen Tamar reflects her power: Tamar Bagrationi, by the will of our Lord, Queen of the Abkhazians, Kartvels, Rans, Kakhs and the Armenians, Shirvan-Shah and Shah-in-Shah and ruler of all East and West. A unique Georgian Christian Culture flourished in this multinational state. This was the era of great building projects such as Gelati and Vardzia and the flourishing of a literary tradition revered to this day. It was to Queen Tamar that Shota Rustaveli dedicated his great epic poem, "the Knight in the Tiger's Skin," a poem exemplifing all the virtues of chivalry and honor that were celebrated throughout the expanded Georgian Kingdom during her reign. Queen Tamar left to her heir, Giorgi IV Lasha (1212-1223), a kingdom surrounded by tribute-paying states that filled the royal coffers to overflowing. King Giorgi was planning to join the Crusaders to Palestine when the Mongols invaded Georgia. The Mongols were unstoppable and even King Giorgi's 90,000 horsemen were no match for them. Giorgi Lasha himself was killed in battle against the Mongols in 1223.
It was the beginning of the end of the Golden Age. The more than a century long Mongol domination of Georgia caused both the fragmentation of the kingdom and its gradual decline by the heavy burden of taxation levied upon it. Only in the 14th century was there any relief from Mongol rule. Giorgi V (1314-1346), called the Brilliant, stopped paying tribute and drove the Mongols out. He united Georgia once again, centralized royal power, revived the economy, and established close international commercial ties, mainly with Byzantium, but also with Venice and Genoa.
The first of Tamerlane's eight invasions of Georgia occurred in 1386, which, following the horror of the Black Death (decimating Georgia in 1366), destroyed any hopes for a second Golden Age that Giorgi V might have initiated. In 1453 the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinopole. This, and a change of trade routes from Europe to the Far East, seriously weakened Georgia politically and economically. At the end of the 15th century, the rise of the Safarids in Iran, further threatened Georgia, which now found itself caught once again between two expanding empires. As a consequence of constant invasions, economic decline and feudal strife, Georgia began to disintegrate, and by the end of the 15th century three independent kingdoms of Kakheti, Kartli, and Imereti, and the principality of Samtskhe emerged on its territory. The Peace of Amasia in 1555, between Ottoman Turks and the Safarid Persians, divided Georgia into spheres of influence, giving the west to Turkey and the east to Iran. Turkish and Iranian invasions became almost permanent. The kingdom of Kartli, situated in the center of the Caucasus, was of special strategic significance. For that reason, it became the main target of foreign aggression. We should make special mention of two kings of Kartli: King Luarsab I (1527-1556) and his son King Simon I (1556-1600). Neither the enormous numerical superiority of the enemy, nor their betrayals by the nobility and even by their own brothers, nor the losses of their soldiers and the devastation of the country, could force these heroes to submit to the invaders. Terrible ordeals befell the kingdom of Kakheti, as its king began secretly but actively to seek ties with the Russian state. From 1614-1617, Kakheti was overrun several times by Iranian troops under Shah Abass I. About 100,000 Kakhetians were killed and about 200,000 were resettled in Iran. Soon Kartli shared the fate of Kakheti. But in 1625 an insurrection, headed by eminent Georgian general Giorgi Saakadze, broke out in Kartli and Kakheti. In the Battle of Martqopi the great Iranian army was routed. Later the same year the Georgians suffered defeat in the battle of Marabda. This selfless resistance frustrated the Shah's plans to annihilate the Georgian people, eliminate their statehood and set up Iranian Khanates on Georgian territory. Iran was forced to compromise. From 1632 to 1744 the shahs of Iran set Islamized Bagrationis on the throne of Kartli. In 1659, the Kakhetians rose against the invaders and defeated their garrisons in Kakheti. The Shah had to abandon his plan of exterminating the kingdom. An uneasy peace settled in East Georgia in the early 18th century. Owing to King Vakhtang VI (1703-1724) and his wise policy, the country was back on the road to economic, political and cultural progress. But his attempts to cooperate with Russia failed, and retribution followed at once.
Kartli was ravaged once again. In 1723, Turkish troops invaded Kartli. Vakhtang left for Russsia to get military aid, but did not receive it, and died on his way back. Not until the 18th century were rulers King Teimuraz II and his son Erekle II able to rebuld Georgia in its own, and not Iran's, image. Surmounting numerous obstacles created in the North Caucasus, and by Muslim khans in East Caucasia, father and son ruled from 1744 to 1762 over Kartli and Kakheti. After the death of Teimuraz II in 1762, Erekle II declared himself King of Kartli and Kakheti. The unification of East Georgia favored its further strengthening and progress. All this time the struggle against the Turks never stopped in West Georgia: Achara, Abkhazia, Odishi, Guria and Imereti repeatedly rose against the conquerors. Beginning in 1752 the energetic and prudent King Solomon I reigned in the Imereti Kingdom. Having strengthened royal power and defeated the Turks in a number of battles, he banned slave trade and raised the standard of living of his subjects. The attempts of Irakli II and Solomon I to use Russian forces during the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-1774 in order to free themselves completely from Turkish and Iranian control failed, largely owing to the treacherous actions of the Russian General Totleben. Nevertheless, following the Kacak-Kainadji Peace between Russia and Turkey, the international legal situation of the Georgian kingdoms improved to some extent. Convinced that his isolated Christian kingdom could not hold out indefinitely against its assorted Muslim enemies, Irakli II decided to attempt an alliance with Catherine the Great of Russia. On July 24, 1783, Russia and Georgia signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, which made Kartli-Kakheti a protectorate of Russia. Russia did not live up to the conditions of that treaty when Catherine withdrew her troops from Georgia at the outbreak of the second Russo-Turkish war in 1787. King Irakli was forced to face a vastly superior force led by Shah Agha Mohamed Khan, who demanded the denunciation of the Georgievsk Treaty, when the Persians invaded Kartli-Kakheti in 1795. On the battlefields at Krtsanisi, 5,000 Georgians were defeated by 35,000 Iranians. Tbilisi was destroyed and the population ruthlessly massacred. The situation grew critical after King Irakli's death in 1798. His son and heir Giorgi XII (1798-1800) proved unable to rule the country. Various feudal and political groups supported King Giorgi XII's brothers and sons in their claims to the throne, launched a see-saw war. The country was constantly devastated by the raids of the Dagestanis. Looming ahead was threat of another Iranian invasion. Giorgi XII desperately called on St. Petersburg to stand by its commitments of the Georgievsk treaty. But the terms of the treaty no longer satisfied the Russian goverment.
In January of 1801, Paul I signed a manifesto which annexed East Georgia to Russia, in violation of the 1783 treaty. The Crown Prince was taken away to St. Petersburg. On September 12, 1801, the abolition of the Kartli-Kakhetian Kingdom was confirmed by the Manifesto of Emperor Alexander I. In 1810 the King of Imereti was forced by the Russians to flee to Turkey, and Imereti came under Russian rule. Although Mengrelia, Guria, Abkhazia and Svaneti initially preserved certain autonomy, the Russian goverment later abolished these principalities and their territories were included into the system of Russian gubernias. The annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire put an end to the independent existence of the Georgian Kingdoms and principalities and Georgia lost her age-old statehood. Under Russian rule the Georgian church lost its autocephaly and was turned into a exarchate of the Russian synod. This event accounts for numerous uprisings which took place in the first half of the 19th century in various parts of Georgia. On the other hand, in spite of the colonial policy of Russia, Georgia found herself protected against constant invasions. Conditions became favorable for population growth and economic progress. Ranks of nobility were redefined. New systems of taxation were instituted. Russian education and culture were introduced. The second half of the 19th century shows the abolition of serfdom in Georgia (1864) and an ever-increasing Russification policy that touched every aspect of Georgian society.
As a reaction, one group of Georgians including the poets Alexander Chavchavadze (1786-1846) and Grigol Orbeliani (1800-1883), plotted to break free. The conspiracy of 1832 ended in their arrest. They led a romantic school of literature concerning itself largely with the loss of Georgians former glory. Ilia Chavchavadze (1837-1907) and Akaki Tsereteli (1840-1915), known as the "Men of the 60s," came back from Russian universities with a new spirit of social activism and democratic idealism reflected in their writings. Ilia Chavchavadze became the recognized leader and spiritual father of the nation. One can hardly recall any project or event in the social and cultural life of Georgia of this period, that was not either initiated and led by him or in which he did not participate. In the 1890s a group of Georgian intellectuals returned to their homeland, having imbibed the new doctrine of Marxism while studying abroad. Georgians actively participated in the revolutionary events of 1905-1907.
On October 25 (November 7), 1917, the Bolshevik party staged a coup in Russia and established Soviet power. The leading political parties of the Transcaucasus refused to recognize the new power and on November 17, set up a local administration--the Transcaucasian Commissariat. Soon the Transcaucasian Federation was established, but it was short-lived. On May 26, 1918, the National Council of Georgia declared Georgia's independence. Georgian statehood, lost 117 years ago, was restored. The leading political force at that time was the Social Democratic (Menshevik) party, which had a majority in the government. After the first year of economic and political obstacles, the situation in Georgia became more and more stabilized, uprisinges ceased, and the international conflicts were more or less mended. The Bolsheviks failed to provoke the population to rebel. Soviet Russia and Georgia signed a treaty on May 7, 1920, according to which Russia recognised the independence and sovereignity of the Georgian Democratic Republic. Free Georgia grew stronger and stronger, and it seemed that hopes of Georgian people were at last to be realized, but the Bolsheviks were already at the borders. After the so-called Sovietization of Azerbaijan and Armenia in February of 1921, the Bolshevik armies invaded Georgia. The forces were unequal and on February 25, 1921, units of the Red Army entered Tbilisi. In Moscow, Lenin received the congratulations of his commissars--"The red banner blows over Tbilisi."
Under Communist hegemony, the beleagured nation once again became the realm of foreign power. In 1924, after an attempted uprising led by Georgian Mensheviks, more then 5,000 patriots were executed. Despite the fact that Stalin and his chief of secret police, Beria, were both Georgians, the Georgian people were given no reprieve under their oppressive regime. Georgia had to pass through the ordeal of industrialization and collectivization, suffering severely during the depressions of the 1930s. Three-hundred thousand Georgian soldiers fell in the Second World War. But covertly, latently, the struggle for independence never stopped. This struggle assumed the form of a widespread national-liberation movement and brought victory to the freedom-loving, patriotic forces. In 1990, multi-party elections were held and, on the 9th of April, Parliament declared the independence of Georgia. On the wave of anti-Communist sentiments, the well-know dissident of the Breshnev era, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was elected president. But he was unable to rule the country at that crucial juncture. Although earlier a victim of totalitarianism, as president he tried to build a chauvanist, totalitarian regime. His unpredictable international policy almost completely isolated Georgia. He showed no desire or ability to Chauvanism, instead of patriotism and the traditional tolerance of other nationalities; totalitarianism, instead of the much-expected democracy; corruption and incompetence of the majority of his ministers, instead of creative work to build a new independent state all combined to cause an overwhelming growth of opposition in every strata of Georgian society.
In the winter of 1991-1992, a military rebellion by the opposition forced Gamsakhurdia to leave Georgia. Unable to cope with many international, economic and other domestic problems the rebel Military Council formed a State Council inviting for his political acumen, personal courage and international publicity, to Georgia. In July 1992, Georgia became the 179th member of the United Nations. Eduard Shevardnadze obtained an overhelming majority of votes in the elections that followed in October of 1992, and was confirmed as chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Georgia. On August 24, 1995, a new Constitution was adopted. On November 5, 1995, presidential elections were held in Georgia. On November 26, Eduard Shevardnadze was installed as President of Georgia.
Developments in Georgia in 1993 were dominated by the war in Abkhazia and its repercussions on domestic politics. A large-scale offensive by Abkhazian and Russian forces in March failed to capture Sukhumi. In May, Georgian head of state Eduard Shevardnadze and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin concluded an agreement, to which Abkhazian Parliament chairman Vladislav Ardzinba later acceded, on a cease-fire, which, however, never took hold. A second Abkhazian attack on Sukhumi in July was paralleled by strong Russian diplomatic pressure on Georgia to agree to a settlement. Under the terms of a cease-fire agreement signed on July 27, Georgian government forces and heavy artillery withdrew from Sukhumi, leaving the town defenseless when the Abkhazians launched an offensive. After 11 days of fierce fighting, Georgian government troops abandoned Sukhumi in late September. Abkhazian forces then consolidated control over the entire region, precipitating the exodus of up to 200,000 ethnic Georgian refugees. In November, Ardzinba called for the deployment of UN observers along the frontier to preclude any attempt by Georgian forces to regain military control of Abkhazia. UN-sponsored talks on a political settlement that would guarantee Abkhazia's autonomy within Georgia resulted in a peace accord, signed on December 1, to include deployment of UN peacekeeping forces. On December 19 the two sides effected the first prisoner exchange.
In early May, Shevardnadze forced the resignation of maverick Defense Minister Tengiz Kitovani, who had reportedly twice planned to oust him. Preoccupied by the fighting in Abkhazia, the Georgian Parliament failed either to draft and debate the legislative foundations of a sovereign law-based state or to form a working majority. Shevardnadze took advantage of these failings to demand ever greater executive powers, alienating radical deputies, who demanded his resignation. In August the government had to resign after Parliament rejected three consecutive draft budgets. One month later Shevardnadze himself resigned after deputies rejected as "dictatorial" his proposal to restructure the Cabinet of Ministers and impose a state of emergency. He retracted this decision only on condition that Parliament declare a two-month state of emergency and recess for three months.
The domestic instability encouraged former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who since his ouster in January 1992 had lived in exile in Chechnia, to attempt a comeback. His private army occupied and then retreated from towns in western Georgia throughout August and September. In October they launched a major offensive and came close to taking Kutaisi, Georgia's second city, before being beaten back by Georgian government troops with Russian support. It was later reported that Gamsakhurdia had shot himself on December 31.
The debacle in Abkhazia had a major impact on Russian-Georgian relations. Negotiations on a series of bilateral treaties collapsed in February after Russia pegged them to a peaceful solution of the Abkhazian conflict. Unofficial Russian military participation in the attack on Sukhumi in September elicited from Shevardnadze accusations that Russia had betrayed Georgia, but it did not deter him from subsequently committing Georgia to membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States. This concession won him logistic support and the deployment of Russian troops to guard roads and railroads against attack by Gamsakhurdia's forces, but it also outraged radicals in Parliament, who vowed to vote against ratification.
The war in Abkhazia exacerbated economic and social collapse. In October industry was functioning at less than 25% of capacity, and unemployment stood at 50%. The introduction in April of coupons intended as a parallel currency with the ruble failed to curb inflation. Originally traded at parity with the ruble, the coupon fell in value to 7:1 in August, 27:1 in October, and 66:1 in mid-December.
Georgia remained chronically unstable in 1994, as evidenced by the assassinations of a deputy defense minister, Col. Nikolas Kekelidze, in early February and of opposition leader Giorgi Chanturia in November. Politics was dominated by the repercussions of the loss of jurisdiction in October 1993 over the breakaway region of Abkhazia, for which the radical opposition held Parliament Chairman Eduard A. Shevardnadze responsible, calling repeatedly for a no-confidence vote and convening public demonstrations to demand his resignation, but without success. Warning of the danger of an imminent coup, Shevardnadze initiated a Cabinet reshuffle in March that prompted Tbilisi police briefly to occupy the Parliament building to protest the appointment of a new interior minister. A former Soviet army general, Vardiko Nadibaidze, was named defense minister.
Economic collapse intensified. Over the first 10 months of 1994, Georgia registered a 42% drop in industrial output, the worst of any Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member; the October monthly inflation rate of 36% was similarly the highest in the CIS. The Georgian government's inability to pay its $500 million debt to Turkmenistan led to a drastic reduction in supplies of natural gas, Georgia's primary source of energy; by late November much of Tbilisi was without heating, electricity, or running water. Up to one million Georgians were estimated to have emigrated to escape impoverishment. Parliament failed to pass urgently needed legislation that would provide the foundation for radical economic reform. In November the International Monetary Fund criticized the Georgian government's failure to implement its minimum recommendations on price liberalization and reducing the state apparatus, on which credits were contingent.
The rapprochement with Russia that followed Georgia's entry into CIS membership in autumn 1993 continued with the signing during a visit to Tbilisi by Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin in February of a major bilateral Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation (not yet ratified by the Russian parliament) plus two dozen related agreements, including one on the establishment in Georgia of three Russian military bases. In March Georgia joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program.
In early April Abkhazian, Georgian, UN, and Russian representatives signed an agreement stipulating conditions for the repatriation of Abkhazia's Georgian population, but UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali ruled out the dispatch of UN peacekeepers to oversee this operation. Five weeks later a formal cease-fire agreement was signed in Moscow, to the displeasure of the Georgian opposition. In mid-June the Russian parliament approved the dispatch to Abkhazia of a Russian peacekeeping force that was subsequently formally approved by the UN Security Council. A Russian attempt in September to expedite the return of the Georgian refugees, which had been repeatedly delayed by the Abkhazian authorities, failed after the latter warned of violent reprisals. Visiting Georgia in November, Boutros-Ghali pledged support for Georgia's territorial integrity but again refrained from pledging a UN peacekeeping presence.
The adoption by the Abkhazian Parliament in November of a new constitution designating Abkhazia an independent sovereign republic was denounced by both the Russian and Georgian governments. In November, former prime minister Tengiz Sigua and former defense minister Tengiz Kitovani announced they were recruiting volunteers for the military reconquest of Abkhazia. In South Ossetia the former Communist Party, restored to power in parliamentary elections in March, ceded to pressure from the radical parliamentary minority not to abandon the campaign begun by the latter for secession from Georgia. They sought unification with North Ossetia within the Russian Federation.
After three years of civil war, rampant crime, and economic collapse, in 1995 the situation in Georgia began to stabilize. Parliament Chairman Eduard Shevardnadze escaped an assassination attempt and finally succeeded in neutralizing those political figures who helped his return to Georgia in 1992 but had since become rivals. Two of these, former prime minister Tengiz Sigua and former defense minister Tengiz Kitovani, were arrested in January after making a symbolic march on the breakaway western region of Abkhazia with the aim of forcing the region back under central government control.
The series of political assassinations that began in 1993 continued during the first half of the year. Shevardnadze himself suffered only minor injuries in late August when a car bomb exploded as his motorcade was leaving the Parliament building in T'bilisi. The Georgian security service chief, Igor Giorgadze, was held responsible for this and several previous terrorist incidents and fled to Russia.
In August Parliament finally endorsed a new constitution that defined Georgia as a presidential republic. Presidential and parliamentary elections were scheduled for November 5. Shevardnadze was elected president with about 73% of the vote, defeating five rival candidates, including his successor as Georgian Communist Party first secretary, Dzhumber Patiashvili, and hard-line communist Panteleimon Giorgadze (Igor's father). Similarly, Shevardnadze's Union of Citizens of Georgia gained a 124-seat majority in the new 235-seat Parliament. Paramilitary leader Dzhaba Ioseliani, who failed in his bid for reelection, was arrested in mid-November on charges of involvement in the August car bomb attack on Shevardnadze.
In late November Shevardnadze implemented changes in the structure of executive power, replacing the post of prime minister with that of secretary of state. He then formed a new government, retaining the former ministers for economics and defense but appointing as foreign minister former deputy prime minister Irakli Menagharishvili.
The stringent fiscal and monetary policy adopted in December 1994 brought hyperinflation under control, and by late February the interim currency, the coupon, had gained in value against the dollar. A new currency, the lari, was introduced in September and maintained its value, thanks in part to a second International Monetary Fund loan. Greater political stability stimulated an increase in industrial output of 20% during the first 11 months of the year. The decision in October to export some oil from Azerbaijan via Georgia engendered hopes of an economic upswing.
The standoff between the central government in T'bilisi and the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia continued. The apparent inability of the Russian peacekeeping force stationed in Abkhazia to prevent reprisals against the Georgian population there in the early part of the year induced Georgian politicians to demand their withdrawal. Angered by the Abkhazian leadership's expressions of support for Chechnya and their repeated refusal to discuss a Russian draft settlement giving Abkhazia federal status within Georgia, Moscow imposed a naval blockade on the Abkhazian port of Sukhumi in October. Peacekeepers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe prevented violence in South Ossetia, but only minimal progress was made toward a political settlement there.
In March an agreement was signed giving Russia the right to maintain three military bases in Georgia; a further bilateral agreement on economic cooperation was signed in September. At the same time, Georgia sought to expand economic ties with neighbouring Turkey and Iran.
The parliamentary and presidential elections in November 1995, which consolidated the position of Pres. Eduard Shevardnadze, and the ensuing arrest of Dzhaba Ioseliani and members of his Mkhedrioni criminal/paramilitary force ushered in a new phase of political and economic stability in Georgia. The new Parliament functioned cohesively and productively to enact crucial legislation to underpin the foundations of economic reform. During the year there were no violent terrorist incidents or political assassinations such as were regular occurrences in 1993 to mid-1995, and crime abated. In October former defense minister Tengiz Kitovani was sentenced to eight years in prison for having attempted in January 1995 to organize a march on the rebellious region of Abkhazia. In November Loti Kobalia, commander of the military units that were loyal to former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was sentenced to death and three of his subordinates to terms of up to 15 years on charges of treason and murder.
The economic upswing that began in 1995 continued in 1996. During the first half of the year, gross domestic product grew by 8% and industrial output by 10%; inflation fell to an annual rate of about 30%, and the lari maintained its value against the dollar. Up to 20% of the workforce remained unemployed, however.
In early spring Parliament amended the annual budget and enacted laws on land ownership and taxation to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for a $246 million loan to support economic reform in 1996-98. The World Bank allocated $34 million to reform the transport sector and health service. In March Shevardnadze and Azerbaijan's Pres. Heydar Aliyev signed an agreement on construction of a major pipeline to export Azerbaijani oil via Georgia.
Relations with Russia, in particular Moscow's perceived failure to comply with the 1995 bilateral agreement permitting Russia to maintain four military bases in Georgia in return for assistance in reestablishing Georgia's control over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, continued to dominate foreign policy. The Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Moscow in January imposed an economic blockade on Abkhazia. The mandate of the CIS peacekeepers deployed in Abkhazia was extended several times, but Shevardnadze's request that they be given police powers to protect ethnic Georgians wishing to return to their homes in Abkhazia--while agreed to by Abkhazia--was rejected by the commander of the forces. Relations with Russia cooled markedly in October after the Georgian Parliament voted to reassess Georgia's policy toward Russia, including the issue of Russian military bases.
Shevardnadze and South Ossetia's parliament chairman Lyudvig Chibirov signed an agreement in May rejecting the use of force and in August reaffirmed their commitment to resolving peacefully the issue of South Ossetia's future status within Georgia. In November Chibirov was elected president of South Ossetia in elections not recognized as valid by either Georgia or the international community.