Georgia is dominated by the myth of the "Russian occupation" of Georgia. However, the historical truth is that the Georgian lands at the time of their annexation to Russia were under the threat of complete destruction by Turkey and Persia. The Georgian people were under constant threat of physical destruction (genocide), assimilation and Islamization of its remnants. Russia saved historical Georgia and its peoples from complete disappearance from the face of the planet.
The myth of the "Russian occupation" of Georgia
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, most of the former Soviet republics began to carry out large-scale programs of de-Sovietization and de-Russification, accompanied by cave nationalism and Russophobia. This process did not escape Georgia either.
The myth of the "Russian and Soviet occupation" of Georgia won out in Georgia. If earlier it was carried by a handful of pro-Western figures, the liberal national intelligentsia, then by now this black myth is already dominant in the Georgian population. Appropriate information processing (education system, leading media, politicians and public figures, etc.) has led to the fact that the younger generations of Georgians consider Russians to be invaders and aggressors. The 2008 war, which led to the complete separation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia, only reinforced these sentiments.
but the historical truth is that the Georgian lands at the time of their annexation to Russia were under the threat of complete destruction by Turkey and Persia. The Georgian people were under constant threat of physical destruction (genocide), assimilation and Islamization of its remnants. Russia saved historical Georgia and its peoples from complete disappearance from the face of the planet. At the same time, in fact, then there was no single Georgian people, but there were several nationalities and tribes, they became "Georgians" already in a favorable period of life within the USSR.
Creating a new historical myth about Georgia, Tbilisi chose to forget that the Georgian rulers had repeatedly asked Russia to intervene, take under their protection and save the Georgian people. Forget about the fact that various historical regions of Georgia at different times became part of Russia, were conquered from the Turks at a great price, with the blood of Russian soldiers. And it was within the Russia-USSR that these separate regions were united into a single Georgian SSR. That the large-scale economic, socio-cultural development of Georgia as part of Russia led to the formation of the Georgian people.
In Georgia, they forgot that many generations of Georgians enjoyed a peaceful life within the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Forgot about the threat of genocide. What caused the population growth is a basic sign of prosperity and favorable living conditions for the people. They do not even remember that many of the best representatives of the Georgian people became part of the Russian elite in the Russian Empire and the USSR. Suffice it to recall the famous Russian commander of Georgian origin Bagration, the greatest leader of the Russian people Stalin-Dzhugashvili, the best manager of the 20th century Beria, etc. That the Georgians, together with the Russians, did the same thing, built an empire, a great Union, fought against the Nazis. That only constructive work in a common project, as in the times of Soviet civilization, can bring prosperity to Georgia and Georgians.
Also in Georgia it is worth remembering the differences between Western and Russian development projects. Western occupiers and colonialists always bring death and devastation, violence and plunder. The Western world is a parasitic project, a world of slave owners and slaves. Relative prosperity is only in the metropolis, the core of the capitalist system (although there, too, the domination of social parasites sooner or later leads to degradation and destruction). The colonial periphery has no bright future. Only representatives of the colonial administration and the comprador bourgeoisie, who are getting rich at the sale of their homeland, can find a good job in the neo-slavery world.
Under Russian and Soviet rule, Georgia was part of a common project, a power, not a colony. Therefore, the economy, transport, social, cultural and educational infrastructure, and health care were developing in Georgia. There were no phenomena usual for Western colonialists - mass terror, genocide, parasitism on the resources and energy of the conquered people, the conversion of local residents into slaves or second-class people. Georgians were full members of the common empire. At the same time, local peculiarities and differences were not suppressed, on the contrary.
The question of Georgia's survival
It is enough to recall the story of how Georgia became part of Russia in order to discard the lie about the "Russian occupation". In the 15th century, the Georgian kingdom became an isolated Christian country in a hostile environment. Georgia fell into decay and disintegrated into several state formations, which were under the strong influence of Persia (Iran) and the Ottoman Empire, were under constant military threat from these regional powers. Part of the Georgian territory was occupied by Turkey and Persia. In 1555, Porta and Persia signed a peace treaty delimiting their spheres of influence in the Transcaucasus. Imereti went to Turkey, and the Kartlian and Kakhetian kingdoms - to Persia.
At the same time, bloody, devastating wars between Turkey and Iran over the region were constantly going on during this period. Georgia has become a battlefield. Waves of invaders devastated the Georgian lands. The Persians and Ottomans took people away in droves to settle elsewhere or to be sold into slavery. Those who survived and escaped from slavery fled deep into the mountains, into remote places. Part of the population was forced to convert to Islam. There were also internal wars, strife between local rulers, feudal lords. The North Caucasian highlanders raided Georgia. The slave trade flourished. Once prosperous cities and lands were deserted, the population declined sharply. The Georgian people found themselves on the verge of complete extinction.
Only the appearance of Christian Russia in the Caucasus saved the Georgian peoples from complete extinction, assimilation and Islamization. Georgian rulers in the 17th - 17th centuries Repeatedly appealed to Russia with requests to accept their citizenship and provide military assistance against Turkey and Persia. In 1638, the king of Mingrelia (Mengrelia is a historical region in Western Georgia) Leon sent the Russian Tsar Mikhail a request to transfer to Russian citizenship. In 1641, the letter of gratitude was transferred to the Kakhetian king Teimuraz on the acceptance of the Iberian land (Iberia, Iberia - the historical name of Kakheti) under the patronage of the Russian kingdom. In 1657, the Georgian tribes - Tushins, Khevsurs and Pshavs, asked Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to accept them into Russian citizenship.
Similar requests were repeated many times in the 18th century. However, Russia during this period still could not solve the strategic task of including the Caucasus in its sphere of influence. Russia in the XVII and in the first half of the XVIII century waged heavy wars for the restoration of the unity of the Russian lands, with the aim of reaching the shores of the Baltic and the Black Sea. A lot of effort, resources and time was spent on solving internal problems. Tsar Peter began to cut through the "window" to the East (How Peter I cut through the "door" to the East; How Peter I cut through the "door" to the East. Part 2), however, the work he had begun was not continued by his successors. The era of the so-called."Palace coups", internal intrigues and strife slowed down Russia's movement to the South, including the Caucasus.
Only during the reign of Empress Catherine II in the eastern policy of Russia, including the Caucasus, there was a radical change. Russia waged wars with Turkey for domination in the Northern Black Sea region and the Caucasus also fell into the sphere of interests of St. Petersburg. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768 - 1774. The Kartli-Kakhetian and Imeretian kingdoms sided with the Russians against the Ottomans. For the war in the Caucasian direction, a detachment of General Totleben was sent. Totleben's troops managed to take Turkish fortresses in Imereti and occupy Kutaisi. Russia defeated Turkey. The Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy peace of 1774 eased the position of the Georgian subjects of the Port, canceled the payment of tribute by Imereti. The fortresses taken by Russian soldiers were not returned to the Turks.
Joining Russia
At the end of 1782, the Kartli-Kakhetian king Irakli II appealed to the Russian Empress Catherine to accept his kingdom under the protection of the Russian Empire. Petersburg agreed. The corresponding negotiations were held by General P. Potemkin (a relative of the famous favorite of the Empress). On July 24, 1783, in the Caucasian fortress of Georgievsk, an agreement was signed on the patronage and supreme power of the Russian Empire with the united Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (Eastern Georgia). The Georgian tsar recognized the patronage of St. Petersburg and renounced an independent foreign policy; he had to coordinate it with the Russian government. Heraclius renounced vassal dependence on the part of other states and undertook to recognize only the power of the Russian sovereigns. Russia promised to protect Georgia from external enemies. To protect the country, two battalions were allocated, they could be strengthened if necessary. Georgians received common rights with Russians in the field of trade, freedom of movement and settlement in Russia. The agreement equalized the rights of the Russian and Georgian nobles, clergy and merchants.
Russia began the construction of a communication line that linked it with Georgia - the Georgian Military Highway. Several fortifications were erected along it, including Vladikavkaz. The treaty was in force for several years, already in 1787 Russia withdrew its troops from Georgia due to the "flexible" policy of Irakli, who began secret negotiations with the Turks. Russia's victory over Turkey in the war of 1787-1791 improved the position of Georgia. According to the Yassy Peace Treaty, the Porta renounced claims to Georgia and pledged not to take hostile actions against the Georgians.
Meanwhile, Persia decided to restore its sphere of influence in the Caucasus. There, after years of civil strife, Aga Mohammad Shah from the Turkic tribe of the Qajars seized power. He became the founder of a new dynasty - the Qajars and began to actively restore the empire. He decided to return Georgia to Persia. In 1795, a huge Persian army marched across Georgia with fire and sword. A small Georgian army fell to the bone in a three-day battle on the outskirts of Tbilisi. The Persians defeated Tbilisi, most of the population was massacred, thousands of women and children were taken into slavery.
In response, Russia organized a Persian campaign in 1796 to punish "non-peaceful" Persia (How Russia saved Georgia from Persia; Punishment of "non-peaceful" Persia - campaign of 1796). Also, Russian troops were brought into Georgia to protect it. The campaign was victorious, Russian troops occupied Derbent, Cuba and Baku, and reached the northern regions of Persia. The entire western coast of the Caspian was under Russian control. Derbent, Baku, Kuba, Karabagh, Shemakha and Ganja khanates passed into Russian citizenship. It remains only to consolidate this success by a political agreement with the defeated Persian Shah. The unexpected death of Catherine confused all the cards. Pavel the First decided to start foreign policy from scratch and ordered the withdrawal of troops from the Trans-Caspian region and Georgia.
However, negotiations between Russia and Georgia were soon resumed. The king of Kartli-Kakheti, Georgy XII, understood that Georgia could survive only under the auspices of Russia. He asked to renew the 1783 agreement. In April 1799, the Russian Tsar Paul I renewed the patronage treaty, and Russian troops returned to Tbilisi.
The situation in Eastern Georgia was complicated by internecine strife, personal and narrow-group interests of the Georgian feudal lords. Feudal lords were grouped around numerous princes who claimed the throne. George XII was seriously ill and a squabble for the throne began. The feudal lords were ready to betray national interests, go for personal gain to an agreement with the Persians and Turks. The pro-Russian party led by Tsar George decided that it was necessary to revise the Georgievsky treatise, strengthening the Russian power in Georgia. In the summer of 1800, Pavel accepted the proposal of the Georgian tsar to strengthen the powers of the Russian government: it was now not only about control over Georgia's foreign policy, but also about issues of domestic policy. In the fall of 1800, the Georgian delegation proposed a project for an even closer union of Georgia with Russia. Paul accepted him. The Russian emperor announced that he was accepting Tsar George XII as eternal citizenship and the entire Georgian people. Russian troops in Georgia were reinforced, which made it possible to successfully repel the raid of the Avar Khan.
As a result, St. Petersburg decided to liquidate the Kartli-Kakhetian kingdom. The Georgian dynasty could not ensure the stability and existence of the Georgian statehood. Russia needed order and stability in Georgia, the strategic bridgehead of the empire in the Caucasus. It was necessary to introduce direct Russian control, eliminating the possibility of an uprising, collapse and intervention of external forces. At the end of 1800, the Georgian king George XII fell seriously ill. During his illness, the supreme power passed into the hands of the plenipotentiary minister of the Russian government under the Georgian tsar, Kovalensky, and the commander of the Russian troops in Georgia, General Lazarev. On January 18, 1801, the manifesto of Paul I on the annexation of the Kartli-Kakhetian kingdom to Russia was promulgated in St. Petersburg. In mid-February of the same year, this manifesto was announced in Tbilisi. After the assassination of Paul, this act was confirmed by the government of Alexander.
What the Russian government gave to Georgia
Thus, the Russians were not "occupiers." The most reasonable representatives of the Georgian elite summoned the Russians to save Georgia from total destruction. There was no other way out. In a different scenario of development, without Russia, the Georgian people would disappear from world history. Russia saved Georgia from destruction, and the Georgian people from destruction, assimilation among the Muslim peoples. Most of historical Georgia was reunited under Russian rule. The shameful slavery was abolished, when their own Georgian feudal lords sold slavery to children and girls of peasants. Georgia received a large period of peacetime - several generations during tsarist and then Soviet times. This led to a significant increase in the Georgian population. In 1801 there were about 800 thousand Georgians, in 1900 - 2 million, in 1959 - 4 million, in 1990 - 5.4 million. The extinction and flight abroad of the Georgian population began in the 1990s.
At the same time, Russia did not plunder the already impoverished Georgia; on the contrary, it took upon itself a great responsibility and burden. The empire developed its outskirts. During the Soviet years, Georgia became a prosperous republic. In addition, the Russians paid for peace in Georgia with a lot of blood - thousands of soldiers died in the wars with the Turks. One of the reasons for the long and bloody Caucasian War was the raids of the mountaineers in Georgia. And here the Russians had to pay with their own blood so that there was peace and order in the Caucasus.
About the future of Georgia
The once rich republic of the USSR, which was developed by the efforts of the entire empire, is now an impoverished "independent" republic (Tbilisi is now under the control of the masters of the West, the United States). The power of nationalists and Western liberals in Georgia led to poverty, the extinction of the people (in 1990 - 5.4 million people, in 2018 - 3.7 million people). Modern Georgia has no future. The owners of the West need Tbilisi only to continue the operation to resolve the "Russian question" in the Caucasus.
No riots against the government will save Georgia. How did the “Rose Revolution” fail in 2003, when Shevardnadze’s regime was overthrown. Georgia, following the "prompts" of the West, managed to lose Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And the "successful" liberal reforms and the "Georgian miracle" show that the people of the provincial republic will still be poor. This is proved by the flight of people to other countries and depopulation.
The global systemic crisis (global unrest) does not leave Georgia any chance of survival. Turkey and the Middle East have already become a "front". If the Islamic and Turkic Azerbaijan Republic, rich in hydrocarbons, has the opportunity to integrate into a united union with Turkey, then Georgia has only further degradation and death ahead. Christian Georgia cannot survive without Russia, without a common development project (empire) with the Russians. The only way to prosperity is a common creative project with Russia, close integration in a new alliance-empire. It is clear that for this Russia itself must abandon the domination of liberalism and Westernism, the world of slave owners and slaves. To offer the world an alternative to the Western development project based not on the enslavement of man, but on the disclosure of his constructive, creative principle. Russia needs to become the civilization of the future again - on the basis of social justice, ethics of conscience, to create a society of knowledge, service and creativity. The transformation of Russia into the Kingdom of Truth will inevitably lead to the restoration of the empire-alliance with the reunification of most of the previously lost lands. Russians and Georgians, like other peoples of Russian civilization, will return to the path of creation.
