How Russia Saved Georgia From Total Destruction

Major General Lazarev introduces the Jaeger Regiment to Tiflis on November 26, 1799. Artist Franz Roubaud
The myth of the Russian occupation
In modern Georgia, liberals and nationalists have created a myth about the “Russian (Soviet) occupation” of Georgia. The information war of the West, which is waged against Russian civilization with the help of local pro-Western politicians, liberal and nationalist intelligentsia, has led to the fact that the younger generations of Georgians consider Russian invaders and occupiers. This myth is approved in the education system, in the public field. The 2008 war, when the Russian army saved Abkhazia and South Ossetia from invading Georgian troops, only strengthened these sentiments.
But historical the truth is that the Georgian lands at the time of their accession to the Russian Empire were under the threat of complete destruction by Ports and Persia. Georgian peoples were under constant threat of physical destruction (genocide), assimilation and Islamization of the remnants. Only the Russians, with their bayonets, protected and saved historical Georgia and its peoples from complete disappearance from the face of the planet.
At the same time, at that time there was no single Georgian people, but there were several nationalities and tribes that differed greatly in ethnographic and linguistic terms, were at enmity and did not consider themselves a single people. They became the Georgian people already in a favorable period of life as part of the USSR.
In modern Tbilisi, they prefer not to remember that the Georgian kings and princes have repeatedly asked Russia to help, provide patronage and take their lands and tribes under its own hand. That various historical regions of modern Georgia were recaptured from Turkey in a series of difficult wars, Russia paid for them with the lives of thousands of its soldiers.
In addition, one of the reasons for the long and bloody Caucasian war was the highlanders' raids on Georgia. And here the Russian soldiers had to pay with their blood so that there would be peace and order in the Caucasus.
Under the rule of the Russians, separate regions of historical Georgia were united into a single Georgian SSR. And it was under the Russians that the large-scale economic, socio-cultural development of Georgia began. Which eventually led to the formation of the Georgian people.
Modern Georgians have forgotten or do not even know that many generations of their people enjoyed a peaceful life within the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. That they escaped genocide and complete assimilation, which would have turned them into a kind of Turkic Turks. That the Georgian nationalities within Russia quickly began to grow in number, and this is a basic sign of prosperity, favorable living conditions for the people.
The fact that the Russians were not occupiers also confirms the fact that many of the best representatives of the Georgian nationalities 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 XNUMXth century Beria, etc. The Georgians, together with the Russians, did one thing, built the Russian Empire, the great Soviet Union, fought against the Nazis. Creative work in the common project brought peace and prosperity to Georgia and Georgians.
Unlike the Western world, which was clearly divided into a metropolitan core and colonies, Russia did not make Georgia its colony by sucking resources out of it. On the contrary, under the tsarist and Soviet rule, Georgia was part of a common creative project, an empire, and not a colony. Therefore, they spent energy, the resources of the empire on Georgia. The economy, transport, social, cultural and educational infrastructure, and healthcare were developing.
There were no phenomena common to Western colonizers - mass terror, genocide, parasitism on the resources and energy of the conquered people, the conversion of local residents into slaves or people of the second or third grade. Georgians were full members of the common empire. At the same time, local features and differences were not suppressed, but, on the contrary, preserved and even developed.
Saving Georgia
In the 1555th century, the Georgian kingdom became an isolated Christian country in a hostile environment. Georgia was in decline and broke up into several state entities, which were under the strong military and political influence of Persia (Iran) and the Ottoman Empire. Part of the historical Georgian territory was occupied by Turkey and Persia. In XNUMX, Porta and Persia signed a peace treaty delimiting their spheres of influence in the Transcaucasus. Imereti went to Turkey, and the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti - to Persia.
During this period, there were constantly bloody, devastating wars between the Ottoman Empire and Persia for the region. Georgia was a battlefield. Invading armies devastated Georgian lands. The Persians and Ottomans took people away en masse to settle elsewhere or to be sold into slavery. Those who survived and escaped slavery fled far into the mountains, to hard-to-reach places. Part of the population was forced to convert to Islam.
This did not prevent local rulers and feudal lords from waging wars among themselves. Also, North Caucasian highlanders raided Georgian lands. The slave trade expanded. The once prosperous cities and lands were deserted, the population decreased sharply. Georgian nationalities were on the verge of complete extinction.
Only the appearance of Russia in the Caucasus saved the Georgian peoples from complete extinction, assimilation and Islamization. Georgian rulers in the XNUMXth–XNUMXth centuries. repeatedly appealed to the Russian kingdom with requests to accept their citizenship and provide military assistance against Turkey and Persia.
In 1638, the king of Mingrelia (Mingrelia or Mengrelia - a historical region in Western Georgia) Leon sent a request to the Russian Tsar Michael to transfer to Russian citizenship. In 1641, a letter of commendation was handed over to the Kakhetian king Teimuraz on the acceptance of the Iberian land (Iberia, Iberia - the historical name of Kakhetia) under the protection of the Russian kingdom. In 1657, the Georgian tribes - Tushins, Khevsurs and Pshavs, asked the sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich to accept them into Russian citizenship.
Similar requests were repeatedly repeated in the XNUMXth century. However, Russia during this period could not yet solve the strategic task of including the Caucasus in its sphere of influence. Russia in the XNUMXth and in the first half of the XNUMXth century waged heavy wars to restore 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 successfully began to cut through a “window” to the East, but the great 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.
During the time of Empress Catherine II, a radical change occurred in the eastern policy of Russia. Russia waged wars with the Porte for dominance in the Northern Black Sea region. The Caucasus also fell into the sphere of interests of St. Petersburg. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. The kingdoms of Kartli-Kakheti and Imereti took the side of 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 the Turkish fortresses in Imereti and occupy Kutaisi.
Russia defeated Turkey. The Treaty of Kyuchuk-Kainarji of 1774 eased the situation of the Georgian subjects of the Porte, canceled the payment of tribute by Imereti. The fortresses taken by the Russian army were not returned to the Turks.

Georgievsky treatise 1783. Archive of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Entry into Russia
At the end of 1782, King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti 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 Pavel Potemkin (a relative of the famous favorite of the Empress). The representatives from the Georgian side were princes Ivane Bagration-Mukhransky and Garsevan Chavchavadze.
On July 24 (August 4), 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 refused an independent foreign policy, which he had to coordinate with the Russian government. Heraclius refused vassalage from other states and undertook to recognize only the power of Russian sovereigns.
Russia promised to protect Georgia from external enemies. Two battalions were allocated to defend the country, they could be reinforced 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 Russian and Georgian nobles, clergy and merchants.
Russia began laying communications that connected it with Georgia - the construction of the Georgian Military Highway. Several fortifications were erected along it, including Vladikavkaz.
The agreement was in effect for several years, already in 1787 Russia withdrew its troops from Georgia due to the “flexible” policy of Heraclius, who began secret negotiations with the Turks. Russian victory over Turkey in the war of 1787–1791 improved the position of Georgia. According to the Treaty of Jassy, the Porte 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 many years of civil strife, Agha Mohammad Shah from the Turkic Qajar tribe seized power. He became the founder of a new dynasty - the Qajars and began to actively restore the empire. In 1795, a huge Persian army marched through Georgia with fire and sword. The small Georgian army fell to the ground in a three-day battle on the outskirts of Tbilisi. The Persians defeated Tbilisi, slaughtered most of the population, drove thousands of women and children into slavery.
Russia responded by organizing the Persian campaign in 1796 (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, went to the northern regions of Persia. The entire western coast of the Caspian was under Russian control. The Derbent, Baku, Cuban, Karabagh, Shamakhi and Ganja khanates passed into Russian citizenship. It only remained to consolidate this success with a political agreement with the defeated Persian Shah.
The unexpected death of Catherine the Great mixed up all the cards. Tsar Paul I decided to start foreign policy from scratch and ordered the withdrawal of troops from the Transcaspian region and Georgia.
But soon negotiations between Russia and Georgia resumed. The king of Kartli-Kakheti, George XII, understood that Georgia could survive only under the auspices of the Russian Empire. He asked to renew the 1783 agreement. In April 1799, the Russian sovereign Paul I renewed the treaty of patronage, the 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. The feudal lords crowded around the numerous princes who claimed the throne. George XII was seriously ill, and a squabble for the throne began. Local princes were ready to betray national interests, to agree with the Persians and Turks for personal gain. The pro-Russian party, led by Tsar George, decided that it was necessary to revise the Treaty of Georgievsk, strengthening Russian power in Georgia.
In the summer of 1800, Emperor Paul accepted the proposal of the Georgian tsar to strengthen the powers of the Russian government: now it was not only about control over Georgia's foreign policy, but also about domestic policy issues. In the autumn of 1800, the Georgian delegation proposed a project for even closer unification of Georgia with Russia. Paul accepted it. The Russian emperor announced that he was accepting Tsar George XII and all the Georgian people into eternal citizenship. Russian troops in Georgia were reinforced, which made it possible to successfully repel the raid of the Avar Khan.
The Georgian dynasty could not ensure the stability and existence of the Georgian statehood. Russia needed order and stability in Georgia, the empire's strategic foothold in the Caucasus. Therefore, it was decided to introduce direct Russian control, eliminating the possibility of an uprising, collapse and interference by 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 accession of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti to Russia was published in St. Petersburg. In mid-February of the same year, this manifesto was also announced in Tbilisi. After the assassination of Paul, this act was confirmed by the government of Alexander.
The Russian "occupation" saved historical Georgia from complete destruction, and the people from extermination, assimilation and Islamization. Under Russian rule, most of historical Georgia was reunited. The shameful slavery was abolished, when their own Georgian feudal lords sold children and girls into slavery.
Georgia received a long period of peacetime - several generations during the tsarist, and then during the Soviet era. 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 people. The extinction and flight abroad of the population of Georgia began in the 1990s, when the Russian Empire was collapsed.
Russia did not plunder the already impoverished Georgia, on the contrary, it took upon itself a great responsibility and burden for its development. A lot of money has been invested in the Georgian outskirts, Ukraine, and a lot of work has been done. The Georgian land prospered under the rule of Russian tsars and general secretaries. The empire developed its outskirts.

Commemorative medal of 1790. Made by Timofey Ivanov at the St. Petersburg Mint
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