How the Russian Empire saved Georgia from total destruction

2023 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 22:42

The appearance of Russian troops in Transcaucasia was preceded by a number of important events. In 1586, Georgia made an attempt to acquire Russian citizenship.

By that time, as a result of the endless massacres carried out by the Turks and Persians, there were no more than 40 thousand Georgians left. Now there are about 100 times more of them. Temples and shrines were desecrated, lands were ruined, children were left orphans, and women were widows.

In the early 1780s, the Persian shah Ali Murad (Iran) began to threaten the ruler of the Kartli-Kakhetian kingdom, Heraclius II, with an invasion.

In 1782, Irakli officially turned to the Russian Empire with a request to take Kartli-Kakheti under his patronage.

It should be noted that this was the only opportunity to save the people in the face of constant pressure from Persia, the Ottoman Empire and the predatory mountain tribes.

The fact is that after the death of Byzantium, Georgia was cut off from the entire Christian world.

In the 16th - 18th centuries, the Georgian territory became the arena of the struggle between Muslim Persia and the Ottoman Empire for domination in the Transcaucasus.

On July 24, 1783, a document was signed in the city of Georgievsk (south of modern Stavropol), which went down in history under the name of the Georgievsky Treatise.

According to him, the Kartli-Kakhetian kingdom (Eastern Georgia) voluntarily entered under the patronage of Russia.

On November 15, 1783, two Russian battalions entered Tiflis from batteries of field guns. The detachment was commanded by P. Potemkin (a relative of the famous Grigory Potemkin). Pavel Sergeevich Potemkin is honored to have discovered the “great way” through the Greater Caucasus Range. Under his command, Russian soldiers modernized the ancient caravan trail that ran through the Darial Gorge. In the future, the road will be widened and improved.

The arrival of the Russian detachment played a role - Persia abandoned its aggressive plans.

In 1784 the detachment was withdrawn and the Russian troops withdrew again beyond the Caucasian border line.

To understand what threatened Georgia, I will try to tell a little in my own words, and cite excerpts from the book of the Russian writer General Fadeev R. A. "60 years of the Caucasian War".

Georgia itself found itself between a rock and a hard place, namely between Persia (Iran) and Turkey, who, although they hated each other, were unanimous in their hatred of Georgia.

Actually, both the Turks and the Persians simply did not consider the Georgians to be people, they massacred them without pity or regret, sometimes simply reveling in their own cruelty, they drove women into slavery and their harems.

Fadeev R. A "60 years of the Caucasian War" (page 5): 1859

Fadeev R. A "60 years of the Caucasian War" (pp. 6-7): 1859

Actually, this is one of the small deeds of the Persians and the Turks in principle, which they periodically arranged in Georgia (although Georgia as such did not yet exist, it was divided into three kingdoms - Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti). In general, a little more and Georgia would be threatened with complete physical destruction in the literal sense.

Actually, this is one of the small deeds of the Persians and the Turks in principle, which they periodically arranged in Georgia (although Georgia as such did not yet exist, it was divided into three kingdoms - Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti). In general, a little more and Georgia would be threatened with complete physical destruction in the literal sense.

Georgia did well under the Soviet Union as well.

It created a favorable economic regime. The republic annually received substantial subsidies from the union budget. The per capita consumption level in Georgia was 4 times higher than the same production indicator. In the RSFSR, the consumption rate was only 75% of the production level.

The export of flowers, citrus fruits and other products was such a lucrative business that traders could afford to buy a brand new Zhiguli every year.