History of Georgia (country)

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Image:Bolnisicross.jpg This article is part of the series on: History of Georgia
Early History
Kura-Araxes
Diauehi
Colchis
Egrisi
Caucasian Iberia
Medieval History
Tao-Klarjeti
Kingdom of Abkhazeti-Egrisi
Russian Rule
Georgia Under Imperial Russia
Early Independence
Democratic Republic of Georgia
Soviet Georgia
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
March 9 Tragedy
April 9 Tragedy
Modern Georgia
Republic of Georgia
Georgian Civil War
Rose Revolution
Post-Shevardnadze
History By Autonomous Republics
History of Abkhazia
History of Adjara

The recorded history of Georgia dates back for more than 4,000 years.

1 Ancient Georgia
2 Medieval Georgia
3 Mongol invasion and decline of the Georgian Kingdom
4 Ottoman invasion of Georgia
5 Annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire
6 The Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918 - 1921
7 Georgia under the Soviet Union, 1921 - 1990
8 Post-communist Georgia, 1990 - 2003
9 Georgia after Shevardnadze
10 See also
11 External links
12 References
13 Sources

[edit] Ancient Georgia

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The region was settled early by a neolithic culture. In the 1970s, archaeological excavations revealed a number of ancient settlements that included houses with galleries, carbon-dated to the 5th millennium BC in the Imiris-gora region of Eastern Georgia. These dwellings were circular or oval in plan, a characteristic feature being the central pier and chimney. These features were used and further developed in building Georgian dwellings and houses of the 'Darbazi' type.

In the chalcolithic era of the fourth and third millennia B.C., Georgia and Asia Minor were home to the Kura-Araxes culture, giving way in the second millennium B.C. to the Trialeti culture. Archaeological excavations have brought to light the remains of settlements at Beshtasheni and Ozni (4th - 3rd millennium BC), and barrow burials (carbon dated to the 2nd millennium BC) in the province of Trialeti, at Tsalka (Eastern Georgia). Together, they testify to an advanced and well-developed culture of building and architecture. Image:AABR003757.jpg The ancient Greeks knew western Georgia as Colchis, and it featured in the Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts, who travelled there in search of the Golden Fleece. The Georgian regions became known as Egrisi or Lazica in the western coastal plain, and Iberia in the mountainous east, prior to their becoming unified as a client state of the Roman Empire in 66 BC after the campaigns of Pompey. It became one of the first states in the world to convert to Christianity in 337 AD, when King of Iberia Mirian II established it as the official state religion. In the middle of the 4th century, both Lazica and Iberia adopted Christianity as their official religion. During the 4th and most of the 5th centuries, Iberia (Kartlia) was under Persian control. The Kingdom was abolished and the country was ruled by the governors appointed by the Shah's. At the end of the 5th century, Prince Vakhtang I Gorgasali orchestrated an anti-Persian uprising and restored Iberian statehood proclaiming himself the King. The armies of Vakhtang launched several campaigns against both Persia and Byzantine Empire. However his strife for independence and unity of the Georgian state ended up in fiasco. After Vakhtang’s death in 502 and short reign of his son Dachi (502-514), Iberia was re-incorporated into Persia as its province. However this time Iberian nobility was granted the privilege to elect the governors who in Georgian were called Erismtavari. In the early 7th century, the Byzantine-Persian rivalry for the dominant role in the Middle East was over due to the beginning of the Arab conquest of the region.

[edit] Medieval Georgia

[edit] Unification of Georgia

Image:Geokingsdesign.jpg The first decades of the 9th century saw the birth rise of a new Georgian state in Tao-Klarjeti. Ashot Courapalate of the royal family of Bagrationi liberated from the Arabs the territories of former southern Iberia including the Principalities of Tao and Klarjeti as well as the Earldoms of Shavsheti, Khikhata, Samtskhe, Trialeti, Javakheti and Ashotsi, which was formally a part of Byzantine Empire under the name of “Curopalatinate of Iberia”. In fact Ashot Bagrationi was running a fully independent country with its capital in Artanuji. The hereditary title of Curopalate was kept by Bagrationi family whose representatives ruled Tao-Klarjeti for almost a century. Curopalate David Bagrationi expanded his domain by annexing the city of Theodossiopolis (Karin, Karnukalaki), Armenian province of Basiani and imposing protectorate over Armenian provinces of Kharqi, Apakhuni, Mantsikert and Khlat formerly controlled by the Kaysithe Arab Emirs.

The first united Georgian monarchy was formed at the end of the 10th century when Curopalate David invaded the Earldom of Kartli-Iberia. Three years later, after the death of his uncle Theodosius the Blind, King of Egrisi-Abkhazia, Bagrat III inherited the Abkhazian throne. In 1001 Bagrat also included Tao-Klarjeti (Curopalatinate of Iberia) into his domain as a result of David’s death. In 1008-1010 Bagrat King of the Abkhazs and Tao-Klarjeti annexed Kakheti and Ereti thus becoming the first King of the united Georgia both eastern and western.

The second half of the 11th century was marked by the disastrous invasion of the Seljuk Turks who by the end of 1040s succeeded in building a vast nomadic empire including most of the Central Asia and Persia. In 1071 Seljuk army destroyed the united Byzantine-Armenian and Georgian forces in the battle of Mantsikert, and by 1081, all of Armenia, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Syria and most of Georgia were conquered and devastated by the Seljuks. In Georgia, only the mountainous areas of Abkhazia, Svanetia, Racha and Khevi-Khevsureti remained out of Seljuk control and served as relatively safe haven for numerous refugees. The rest of the country was dominated by the conquerors who were engaged in destroying the cities, fortresses, looting the villages, massacring both aristocracy and farming population. In fact, by the end of the 80s of the 11th century, Georgians were at the edge of being irreversibly outnumbered by the newcomers on their own land.

Although they were subsequently beset by various invaders, principally Arabs, Mongols, Persians and Turks, the Georgians retained a greater or lesser degree of independence for over 1,000 years. In 1008 all Georgian principalities were united into the unified Kingdom of Georgia (1008-1466) under the Bagrationi dynasty. This dynasty was established by Ashot I (Ashot the Great) in the end of the 8th century.

[edit] King David IV the Builder and Georgian Reconquista

Image:Kingdaviddesign.jpg The struggle against the Seljuk invaders in Georgia was led by the young King 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 Seljuk colonization of his country. The First Crusade (1096-1099) and Crusaders’ offensive against Seljuk Turks in Anatolia and Syria favored David’s successful campaigns in Georgia. By the end of 1099 David stopped paying tribute to the Seljuks and liberated most of Georgian lands except Tbilisi and Ereti. In 1103 he reorganized Georgian Orthodox Church and closely linked it with the state by appointing the Catholicos (Arch-Bishop) a Crown Chancellor (Mtsihnobart Ukhutsesi) of Georgia. In 1103–1105 Georgian army took over Ereti and made successful raids into still Seljuk-controlled Shirvan. Between 1110 and 1118 David took Lori, Samshvilde, Rustavi and other fortresses of lower Kartli and Tashiri turning Tbilisi into an isolated Seljuk 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 40 000 Kypchak warriors from North Caucasus to settle in Georgia with their families. In 1120 the ruler of Alania recognized himself as King David’s vassal and after sent thousands of Alans (allegedly modern day Ossetians) to cross the main Caucasus range into Georgia to settled in Kartli. Georgian Royal army was also welcoming mercenaries from Germany, Italy, Scandinavia (all those westerners were defined in Georgia as “the Franks”) as well as from Kievan Rus.

In 1121, Seljuk Sultan Mahmud declared Jihad on Georgia and sent a strong army under one of his famous generals Al-Ghazee to fight the Georgians. Although significantly outnumbered by the Turks, Georgians managed to defeat the invaders at Didgori battle and in 1122 took over Tbilisi to make it Georgia’s capital. Three years later, Georgians conquered Shirvan. As a result, mostly Christian-populated Ghishi-Kabala area in western Shirvan (relic of once prosperous Albanian Kingdom) was annexed by Georgia while the rest of already Islamized Shirvan became Georgia’s client-state. Same year a big 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 Georgian Crown lands. In King David died leaving Georgia with the status of a strong regional power. In Georgia, King David is called Agmashenebeli (English: the builder). Image:Europe1328ujabb.jpg 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 definitely Queen Tamar (David’s great-granddaughter).

[edit] Queen Tamar the Great and the Golden Age 1184 -1213

The reign of Queen Tamar was 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 with the cities of Karin, Erzinjan, Khelat, Mush and Van, came under the Georgian control. Although not included into Georgian Crown lands and left under nominal rule of local Turkish Emirs and Sultans, Southern Armenia became a protectorate of the Kingdom of Georgia. Image:Geor tamro.gif The temporary fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204 to the Crusaders left Georgia as the strongest Christian State 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, Querasunt, Amysos, Kotyora, Heraclea and Sinopa. In 1205, the occupied territory was transformed into the Empire of Trebizond with Tamar’s’ relative Prince Alexios Komnenos crowned as Emperor. Trebizond Empire was heavily dependent of Georgia for more than two hundred years. In 1210 Georgian armies invaded northern Persia (modern day Iranian Azerbaijan) and took the cities of Marand, Tebriz, Ardebil, Zenjan and Kazvin putting part of the conquered territory under Georgian protectorate. That was the maximal extent of Georgia throughout her history. 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 the architecture, literature, philosophy and sciences.

[edit] Mongol invasion and decline of the Georgian Kingdom

Main article: Mongol invasions of Georgia

Image:Mapmongolinvasionaa.jpg In the 13th century, the South Caucasus and Asia Minor faced the invasion of the Mongols. 20 years later, in spite of the fierce resistance on behalf of the united Georgian-Armenian forces and their allies, the whole area including most of Georgia, all Armenian lands and Central Anatolia fell to the Mongols. The Mongol rule was accompanied by devastation of the land, destruction, mass murder and extremely high tribute imposed on the population. Armed resistance and uprisings were put down with extreme cruelty.

In 1243, Queen Rusudan of Georgia signed a peace treaty with the Mongols in accordance with which Georgia was losing all 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 an official capital of the kingdom, the Queen refused to return there and stayed in Kutaisi until her death in 1245. In addition to all the above hardships, even the part of the kingdom that remained free of the Mongols started disintegrating: The Crown started losing control over the warlords of Samtskhe (southern provinces of Georgia) who established their own relations with the Mongols and by the year 1266 practically seceded from Georgia. Image:Rusudandesign.jpg The period between 1259 and 1330 was marked by the struggle of the Georgians against the Mongol Ilkhan Empire for the full independence. The first anti-Mongol uprising started in 1259 under the leadership of King David Narine 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 was King George V the Magnificent (1314 - 1346) who managed to play on the decline of the Ilkhan Empire, stopped paying tribute to the Mongols, restored the pre-1220 state borders of Georgia and even returned the Empire of Trebizond into Georgia’s sphere of influence.

In 1386-1403 the Kingdom of Georgia faced eight Turco-Mongolic invasions under the leadership of Tamerlane that probably happened to be the most destructive cataclysm in the whole history of the nation. All over Georgia except Abkhazia and Svanetia, the cities and towns fell in ruins, tens of thousands were brutally slaughtered and even more enslaved and deported. The country was devastated and sliding into anarchy.

[edit] Ottoman invasion of Georgia

In 15th century the whole area changed dramatically in all possible aspects: linguistic, cultural, political, etc. During that period the Kingdom of Georgia turned into an isolated, fractured Christian enclave, a relic of the faded East Roman epoch surrounded by Muslim, predominantly Turco-Iranian-Arabic world. Image:Geor 1450 1515.jpg By the middle of the 15th century, most of Georgia’s old neighbor-states disappeared from the map within less than a hundred years. All of Armenia for example, fell under the Turkic tribes of Aq-Qoyunloo, Kara-Qoyunloo and Ertena and diminished Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia fell to the Mamluks. East Roman (Byzantine) Empire lost all her possessions and compressed itself to several isolated feeble enclaves. The most important of them being Constantinople and Philadelphia. The Empire of Trebizond was also rapidly diminishing losing territories and any political will for survival. West European Crusaders completely lost the 350 years-long battle for Palestine and Syria and were forced to evacuate all their possessions except Cyprus and other Mediterranean islands. New Muslim state formations were quite aggressive and kept expanding and bothering Georgian Kingdom by testing its forces in border skirmishes and raids deep into its territory. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, signaled the death of the Byzantine Empire and the end of East Roman Era that lasted more than one thousand years. This event was more than just moral shock for Georgia. The capture of Constantinople sealed the Black Sea and cut the remnants of Christian states of the area from Europe and the rest of Christian world. The only connection with the West could only go through semi-isolated Genoese colonies of the Crimea.

[edit] Annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire

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In 1769-1772, a handful of Russian troops of General Totleben battled against Turkish invaders in the Georgian kingdoms of Imereti and Kartl-Kakheti.

In 1783 Russia and the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti (which was devastated by Turkish and Persian invasions ) signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, according to which Kartl-Kakheti was to protection by Russia.

On January 8, 1801 Tsar Paul I of Russia signed a decree on the incorporation of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire <ref> Gvosdev (2000), p. 85 </ref> <ref> Avalov (1906), p. 186 </ref> which was confirmed by Tsar Alexander I on September 12 1801. <ref> Gvosdev (2000), p. 86 </ref> <ref> Lang (1957), p. 249 </ref> The Georgian envoy in Sankt Petersburg Garsevan Chavchavadze reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellor Alexander Kurakin. <ref> Lang (1957), p. 251 </ref> In May 1801 Russian General Carl Heinrich Knorring dethroned the Georgian heir to the throne David Batonishvili and deployed a government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lasarev. <ref> Lang (1957), p. 247 </ref>

A part of the Georgian nobility didn't 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. <ref> Lang (1957), p. 252 </ref>

The country was fully absorbed into the Russian Empire by 1804. In the summer 1805 Russian troops on the river Askerani and near Zagam defeated the Persian army, saving Tbilisi from its attack. In 1810, the kingdom of Imereti (Western Georgia) was annexed by the Russian Empire after the suppression of King Solomon II's resistance.<ref> Anchabadze(2005), p. 29 </ref> From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars against Turkey and Iran, several formerly Georgian territories were annexed to the Russian Empire. These areas (Batumi, Artvin, Akhaltsikhe, Poti, and Abkhazia) now represent the majority of the territory of the present state of Georgia.

Image:Solomon-I.gif Georgian dissatisfaction with Tsarist autocracy and Armenian economic domination 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 Marxist Social Democratic Party became the dominant political movement in Georgia, occupying all the Georgian seats in the Russian State Duma established after 1905. Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili (also known as Joseph Stalin), a Georgian Bolshevik, became a leader of the revolutionary (and anti-Menshevik) movement in Georgia.

[edit] The Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918 - 1921

Main article: Democratic Republic of Georgia

Image:Red Army in Tiflis; Feb 25 1921.jpg The Russian Revolution of October 1917 plunged Russia into a bloody civil war during which several outlying Russian territories declared independence. Georgia was one of them, proclaiming the establishment of the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) on May 26, 1918. The new country was ruled by the Menshevik faction of the Social Democratic Party, which established a multi-party system in sharp contrast with the "dictatorship of the proletariat" established by the Bolsheviks in Russia. It was recognised by Soviet Russia (Treaty of Moscow (1920)) and the major Western powers in 1921

In February, 1921 the Red Army invaded Georgia and after a short war occupied the country. The Georgian government was forced to flee. Guerilla resistance in 1921-1924 was followed by a large-scale patriotic uprising in August, 1924. Colonel Kakutsa Cholokashvili was one of the most prominent guerilla leaders in this phase.

[edit] Georgia under the Soviet Union, 1921 - 1990

Image:DRGmap1920.jpg Georgia was forcibly incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The Soviet Government forced Georgia to cede several historical Georgian provinces to Turkey (the province of Tao-Klarjeti), Azerbaijan (the province of Hereti/Saingilo), Armenia (the Lore region) and Russia (part of the Black Sea seacost). Soviet rule was harsh: about 50,000 people were executed and killed in 1921-1924, more than 150,000 were purged under Stalin and his secret police chief, the Georgian Lavrenty Beria in 1935-1938, 1942 and 1945-1951. In 1936, the TFSSR was dissolved and Georgia became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Reaching the Caucasus oilfields was one of the main objectives of Hitler's invasion of the USSR in August 1941, but the armies of the Axis powers did not get as far as Georgia. The country contributed almost 700,000 fighters (350,000 were killed) to the Red Army, and was a vital source of textiles and munitions. However, a number of Georgians fought on the side of the German armed forces, forming the Georgian Legion.

Stalin's successful appeal for patriotic unity eclipsed Georgian nationalism during the war and diffused it in the years following. Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization was followed by a general criticism of the whole Georgian people and culture. On March 9, 1956, hundreds of Georgian students were killed when they demonstrated against Khrushchev.

The decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in the mid-1950s was soon exploited by Georgian Communist Party officials to build their own regional power base. A thriving capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy, making Georgia one of the most economically successful Soviet republics but unfortunately also greatly increasing corruption.

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. The country's interior minister between 1964 and 1972, Eduard Shevardnadze, gained a reputation as a fighter of corruption and engineered the removal of Vasil 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 from massive 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 as Soviet Foreign Minister in 1985 caused him to be replaced as Georgian leader by Jumber Patiashvili, a conservative and generally ineffective Communist who coped poorly with the challenges of Perestroika. Towards the end of the late 1980s there were increasingly violent clashes between the Communist authorities, the resurgent Georgian nationalist movement and nationalist movements in Georgia's minority-populated regions (notably South 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 - even some Georgian communists - to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet rule.

[edit] Post-communist Georgia, 1990 - 2003

Image:TL026642.jpg Opposition pressure on the communist government was manifested in popular demonstrations and strikes, which ultimately resulted in an open, multiparty and democratic parliamentary election being held on October 28, 1990. They were won by the "Round Table" coalition headed by the leading dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who became the head of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia. On March 31, 1991 Gamsakhurdia wasted no time in organising a referendum 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 the collapse of the Soviet Union) his government declined to join the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Gamsakhurdia was elected president on May 26, 1991 with 86% of the vote. He was subsequently widely criticised for what was perceived to be 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 military coup d'etat, besieging Gamsakhurdia and his supporters in government buildings in central Tbilisi. Gamsakhurdia managed to evade his enemies and fled to the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya in January 1992.

The new government invited Eduard Shevardnadze to become the head of a State Council - in effect, president - in March 1992, putting a moderate face on the somewhat unsavoury regime that had been established following Gamsakhurdia's ouster. In August 1992, a separatist dispute in the Georgian autonomous republic of Abkhazia 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 Russian military stationed in a base in Gudauta, 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. Image:0000359910-021.jpg Ethnic violence also flared in South Ossetia but was eventually quelled, although at the cost of several hundred casualties and 100,000 refugees fleeing into Russian-controlled North Ossetia. In south-western Georgia, the autonomous republic of Ajaria came under the control of Aslan 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 the CIS 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 leader Jaba Ioseliani and ban his Mkhedrioni 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 of U.S. foreign and military aid, signed a strategic partnership with NATO and declared an ambition to join both NATO and the EU. In 2002, the United States sent hundreds of Special Operations Forces to assist the local military fight guerrilla fighters. See War on Terrorism/Pankisi Gorge. Perhaps most significantly, the country secured a $3 billion project to build a pipeline carrying oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia (the so-called "Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan" or BTC pipeline).

[edit] Georgia after Shevardnadze

A powerful coalition of reformists headed by Mikhail Saakashvili, Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania united to oppose Shevardnadze's government in the November 2, 2003 parliamentary elections. The elections were widely regarded as being blatantly rigged; 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 by Burjanadze.

On January 4, 2004 Mikhail Saakashvili won the Presidential Elections with a huge 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 faces many problems on coming to office. More than 230,000 internally displaced persons put an enormous strain on the economy. Peace in the separatist areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, overseen by Russian and United Nations peacekeepers and international organizations, remains fragile and will require years of economic development and negotiation to overcome local enmities. Considerable progress has been made in negotiations on the Ossetian-Georgian conflict, and negotiations are continuing in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict. Image:4215325442.jpg After the Rose Revolution relations between the Georgian government and semi-separatist Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze deteriorated rapidly thereafter, with Abashidze rejecting Saakashvili's demands for the writ of the Tbilisi government to run in Ajaria. 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.

Relations with Russia remain problematic due to Russia's continuing political, economic and military support to separatist governments in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian troops still remain garrisoned at two military bases and as peacekeepers in these regions. The separatist question is still unresolved but Saakashvili's public pledge to resolve the matter has already provoked criticism from the separatist regions and Russia.

Georgia remains a very poor country by European standards, not least because of its widespread corruption. The Georgian Government is committed to economic reform in cooperation with the IMF and World Bank, and stakes much of its future on the revival of the ancient Silk Road as the Eurasian corridor, using Georgia's geography as a bridge for transit of goods between Europe and Asia. Saakashvili has pledged to improve the economy in general and specifically to raise pay and pensions, as well as to crack down on corruption and retrieve the ill-gotten gains of figures in the previous government. In August 2004, several clashes occurred in South Ossetia.

Integration into the NATO and the EU remains the main goal of Georgia's foreign policy. On October 29, 2004, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) of the NATO approved the Individual Partnership Action Plan of Georgia (IPAP). Georgia is the first among the NATO’s partner countries to manage this task successfully. Image:42-15325358.jpg Georgia continues to support the coalition forces in Iraq. 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 the U.N. Mission. Along with increasing Georgian troops in Iraq, the US will train additional 4 thousand Georgian soldiers within frames of the Georgia Train-and-Equip Program (GTEP).

In February, 2005 Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania died, and Zurab Nogaideli was appointed as the new Prime Minister.

On 9-10 May 2005 Georgia was visited by the US President George W. Bush, who met Mikheil Saakashvili and a group of Georgian parliamentarians, and addressed tens of thousands of the Georgian people at Tbilisi Freedom Square [1].

Saakashvili is still (2006) under significant pressure to deliver on his promised reforms. Organisations such as Amnesty International have serious concerns over human rights [2], and discontent over unemployment, pensions and corruption, and the continuing dispute over Abkhazia, have greatly diminished Saakashvili's popularity in the country.

Georgia's relationships with Russia are at it lowest point in modern history due to Georgian-Russian espionage controversy and related events.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

Avalov, Zurab: Prisoedinenie Gruzii k Rossii, Montvid, S.-Peterburg 1906
Anchabadze, George: History of Georgia: A Short Sketch, Tbilisi, 2005, ISBN 99928-71-59-8
Allen, W.E.D.: A History of the Georgian People, 1932
Braund, David: Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC-AD 562. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994, ISBN 0-19-814473-3.
Bremmer, Jan, & Taras, Ray, "New States, New Politics: Building the Post-Soviet Nations",Cambridge University Press, 1997
Gvosdev, Nikolas K.: Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia: 1760-1819, Macmillan, Basingstoke 2000, ISBN 0-312-22990-9
Iosseliani, P.: The Concise History of Georgian Church, 1883
Lang, David M.: The last years of the Georgian Monarchy: 1658-1832, Columbia University Press, New York 1957
Lang, David M.: The Georgians, 1966
Lang, David M.: A Modern History of Georgia, 1962
Manvelichvili, A: Histoire de la Georgie, Paris, 1955
Salia, K.: A History of the Georgian Nation, Paris, 1983
Suny, R.G.: The Making of the Georgian Nation, 2nd Edition, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1994, ISBN 0-253-35579-6

Image:Flag of Georgia.svg	Historical regions of Georgia	Image:Geor tamro.gif
Abkhazia \| Adjara \| Guria \| Hereti \| Imereti \| Javakheti \| Kartli \| Kakheti \| Khevsureti \| Lechkhumi \| Mtiuleti \| Meskheti \| Pshavi \| Racha \| Samegrelo \| Tao-Klarjeti \| Tusheti