For many years in a row, Georgia looks like a dissolute woman of not the best kind. She rushes between the powerful of this world, trying to gain who pays more, and throwing mud at yesterday's friends. But is that really her true face?
People who are unfamiliar with the history of Georgia are each time surprised by the behavior of the leaders of this country towards Russia and, most importantly, by the attitude of a significant part of Georgians towards the Russians, accusing Russia of "occupation" and of some mythical "siphoning of resources." However, let's take a close look at the history of Russian-Georgian relations.
Forever offended
Lies in relation to the Russians are discordant with the idea that was about Georgia in the USSR. Then they talked about the republic with breath and admiration. Everyone knew Georgian cuisine, Georgian wines, Georgian hospitality and even Georgian wealth - the inhabitants of this republic lived in the USSR much richer than other regions.
But why are the Georgians throwing mud at the Russian Empire, the USSR, and Russia? Did the Russians really "occupy" this country? Or are we talking about some of the properties of the Georgian character, which, alas, have not changed over the centuries?
Let us trace the history of Georgia's relations with stronger countries.
In the 15th century, after the fall of Byzantium, Georgia was on the verge of extinction - a small Christian state next to strong, rival Muslim peoples - the Persians and Arabs. The only connection with the world was through the colonies of Italian merchants on the Black Sea coast.
Gradually, the country fell into decay and fell apart into several principalities. Kartli and Kakheti were ceded to Persia in 1555, and Megrelia and Imereti were included in the Turkish sphere of influence.
But if the Georgian lands entered Turkey as colonies that paid tax to the metropolis and supplied it with slaves, then the fate of the “Persian lands” was even enviable. The principalities became part of Persia as its equal regions, in which Persian laws operated, and the Georgian nobility, having converted to Islam, went to serve the new master and became part of the court of the Persian shahs in Isfahan, the old capital of Persia.
Georgian princesses married Persians, Persians became wives and concubines of Georgian princes. The sons of the Georgian princes grew up at the court of the shah, from there they were appointed governors in the provinces, while in Isfahan it was decided which of them would rule the Georgian kingdoms. It got to the point that it was the Georgians who became major military leaders and led the troops of the Persians on campaigns to India and Afghanistan, and the Georgian Undiladze, aka Khan Alaverdi, even carried out a military reform among the Persians at the beginning of the 17th century.
Fidelity on occasion
It would seem that Kakheti and Kartli should have forever remained within the boundaries of the Persian land, but there it was!
The fact is that both Persia and the Ottoman Empire began to gradually weaken. It was then that it turned out that the Georgians agree to be vassals and serve powerful masters, but their loyalty depends on the strength of the overlord. As soon as that weakened, and yesterday's friend becomes an enemy.
It happened this time too: as soon as Persia and the Turks weakened, Georgia immediately began to look for another defender and turned its gaze to the north, where the Russian Empire grew and strengthened. It was at least a Christian state.
At the end of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine the Great, the Russian Empire became one of the strongest states in Europe and was interested in Transcaucasia as a springboard for pressure on Turkey. Therefore, on July 24, 1783, in Georgievsk, Prince Grigory Potemkin and the Georgian princes Ivan Bagration and Garsevan Chavchavadze signed a treaty, according to which Russia pledged to defend Georgia from external aggression, not to interfere in internal affairs, and in return obliged Georgia to abandon its independent foreign policy.
However, everything turned out to be difficult. The king of Kakheti and Kartli, Irakli II, who had just sent embassies and peppered the Russians with pleas for help, began to play his game.
First, he broke with Persia, then made aggressive military campaigns in the Erivan and Ganja khanates, and three years later he concluded a non-aggression pact with Turkey. So much for your ally!
The treaty with Turkey impressed Catherine II so much that she ordered the Russian units to be withdrawn from Georgia, leaving Irakli alone with what he had done.
In 1795, the 35,000-strong troops of the Persian Khan Aga-Muhammad came to Georgia, who decided to put his protege on the throne - the son of Heraclius, Alexander. In the Krtsanisi battle, the troops of Aga-Muhammad easily defeated the five thousand army of Heraclius, who was left to fend for themselves by both the Georgian princes and the people.
After the death of Heraclius, power passed to another son - George XII. He again turned his gaze towards the northern neighbor, and Russia, deciding to forget the offense, provided Georgia with military assistance: in 1796 the army of Count Valerian Zubov entered the country, who expelled the Persians from Georgia.
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Good Germans?
Plundered Georgia, from which the Persians drove 20 thousand people into slavery, was again on the verge of collapse. And then Tsar George asked Emperor Paul to accept Kakheti and Kartli into Russia. Gradually, the rest of the Georgian principalities also entered Russia.
For more than 100 years, Russia fulfilled its obligations to Georgia: in 1800, the Russians defeated the army of the Persians who invaded Georgia; during the "gathering" of Georgian lands, 20 thousand Russian soldiers died, the Georgian nobility was treated kindly in St. Petersburg and everyone heard the names of Orbeliani, Chavchavadze, Bagration, Machabeli, Abashidze, Tsereteli. Georgian princes took Russian surnames - Mazniev, Tsitsianov, Andronikov, Baratov.
Until the revolution, Russia invested in Georgia more than it could get from it, which was extremely unhappy with the chairman of the Council of Ministers Sergei Witte.
But then a new turn of history took place: this time after the war and revolution Russia weakened!
Georgia immediately rushed to look for a new master - it turned out to be Germany, which then seemed great and formidable.
The Germans quickly took the situation into their own hands: in 1918, Count Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg, the head of the Kaiser's delegation, wrote with his own hand a document on Georgia's secession from Russia and the text of a cooperation agreement with Germany.
On May 13, 1918, Georgia withdrew from the Transcaucasian Republic, on May 15, the Kaiser landed troops in Georgia, and on May 28, he recognized the country's "independence".
At the same time, the German units took control of all the industrial facilities of the country, the railway, mines, the port of Poti and began to export food and wool to themselves.
What, then, did the country freed from the "oppression" of Russia do in the next moment?
Right. Capturing new lands.
Already in June 1918, Georgia seized Abkhazia, in early July - Adler, Sochi, Tuapse and Kuban Khadyzhensk. The aggression continued until Denikin sent a detachment of White Guards to Sochi, who easily recaptured the coast from the Georgians.
It was at this time that the Georgians for the first time had the idea to demand compensation from Russia for the "occupation" of Georgia by Russia.
As part of the USSR
The Bolsheviks brought Georgia back. Realizing that they were betting on the wrong ones, the Georgian politicians turned 180 degrees, and the country, as if nothing had happened, returned back, driving out the Germans and the British. In 1921, a red banner was raised over Tbilisi.
In Soviet times, everything repeated again: Georgia became a favorite, millions of Soviet rubles were pumped into it, and the Georgian Joseph Stalin generously endowed it with new territories - Abkhazia, South Ossetia and even the lands of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Stalin's death did not change the state of affairs. Until the collapse of the USSR, Georgia consumed four times more than it produced.
Then everything happened according to the old scheme: the USSR collapsed, the slogan "Georgia is for Georgians" sounded in Georgia, Russians again began to throw mud at the Russians and look for a new master - this time it was the USA. The wars of conquest began again: the introduction of militia into South Ossetia, the war in Abkhazia and, as a final chord, the capture of Tskhinval in 2008.
As political scientist Andrei Epifantsev correctly analyzes the situation, Georgia always acts according to the same scenario - leaving the weakened overlord, throwing mud at him, looking for a new strong master and, on the sly, seizing new territories.
It is possible that if the United States becomes weakened, Georgia will again gladly throw itself on Russia's chest. But will Russia accept it? The million dollar question. So far - American.
Magazine: Mysteries of History №45. Author: Mikhail Troitsky
