Throughout the centuries Georgia has been a victim of the aggression of powerful neighbors. The nation’s history has been a constant struggle for survival, interspersed with brief interludes of peace. Georgia’s conversion to Christianity in the fourth century AD brought it into conflict with the major regional powers. For the next four centuries, despite brief periods of independence, Georgia’s various provinces were vassal states of, successively, Persia, Byzantium and the Arab Caliphs. Towards the end of the ninth century, a gradual process of uniting the provinces began. This
was finally completed in 1122 when the regional capital of the Caliphs, Tblisi, fell to King David II. Georgia’s power and influence reached an apex during the late 12th and early 13th centuries under Queen Tamar. The Mongol invasions from 1220 onwards brought this ‘golden age’ to an end. Despite occasional resurgences, Georgia was never able to reassert itself and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 left it isolated from the rest of the Christian world. The Ottomans occupied Transcaucasia in the late 16th century but were driven out by the Iranian Shah Abbas who installed a dynasty of viceroys at Tblisi. Over the next 200 years, the Turks occasionally recovered control of the territory. But at the end of the 18th century, King Erekle II, a descendant of the Bagratids who ruled Georgia in the 12th century, forged a vital alliance with Catherine the Great of Russia, who was then presiding over the southward expansion of her empire. The Bagratid line was deposed by the Russians in 1801 after which the whole region was steadily absorbed into the Russian Empire.
A strong Georgian nationalist movement grew up from around this time, the precursor of the irrepressible Georgian nationalism which has shaped the republic’s history during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Briefly independent from 1918 until the invasion of the Red Army in 1921, Georgia distinguished itself by voting in the first Socialist government in the world ever to be elected in free, multi-party elections. Although Stalin was himself a Georgian – his real name was Djugashvili – the republic suffered terribly during the purges of the 1930s and 40s. The national intelligentsia was almost wiped out and it is estimated that 10 per cent of the population perished between 1940 and 1945. Nonetheless, many Georgians continue to this day to idolize their most notorious son.
Stalin’s repressive policies failed to stamp out Georgian nationalism, and in 1956 more than 100 people died in a demonstration which purported to be a popular repudiation of Khrushchev’s anti-Stalin speech, but turned into an expression of nationalist discontent. Agitation mounted steadily from the late 1970s until 1989 when, in an episode that was to trigger the final disillusionment with Soviet power, 20 people (most of them women) were killed and hundreds more injured when Soviet troops attacked a nationalist demonstration in Tblisi.
In a referendum held in April 1991, an overwhelming majority voted in favor of independence from the Soviet Union. Forces loyal to Moscow were by now in no mood or condition to resist the popular will. In May, following a formal declaration of independence, presidential elections brought to power (in a landslide victory with 87 per cent of the poll) Zviad Gamsakhurdia, a nationalist intellectual, who had been imprisoned as a dissident during the Soviet era. Incapable of wielding power effectively, Gamsakhurdia’s chaotic government ended within months with his flight into exile to the Black Sea port of Sukhumi, where he died in mysterious circumstances in 1994. (He retains a bedrock of support in Georgia as a martyr figure.)
In March 1992, former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Schevardnadze was appointed Chairman of the National Parliament. Schevardnadze had been First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party from 1972-85, and despite widespread distrust of his historic connections with Moscow, his persuasive nature and substantial international profile – a considerable asset at a time when the country’s very existence was barely recognized by the outside world – allowed him to assume the presidency in 1992. He was twice reelected (most recently in 2000) before being replaced by Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004. Constitutional amendments followed and it is now the Prime Minister (rather than the Minister of State as had previously been the case) who leads the government and is answerable to the President. Zurab Zhvania is the current Prime Minister.
Apart from the dire state of the Georgian economy, the country's main problems have been the secessionist revolts in the outlying Georgian provinces of Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast (where Gamsakhurdia was located) and South Ossetia in the north. In 1994, after two years of sporadic fighting, South Ossetia was brought back into the fold, but the Abkhazia problem has proved quite intractable. The only existing mediation effort, on the part of the UN, is at a standstill. Abkhazia is now effectively isolated from the rest of Georgia; although it has links to the outside world through Russia (which provided discreet support) and across the Black Sea. The government also faces problems in the Pankisi Gorge region, which is reputed to be a haven for Islamic militants. The combination of these factors, plus the prospect of a major oil pipeline linking central Asia with Turkey, and passing through Georgia, has led to an intriguing rivalry between Russia and America in the country. The Saakashvili government has followed a consistent pro-Western line during recent years. It has invited US troops into Georgia to assist the Pankisi Gorge campaign, and the two countries have held a number of joint military exercises under the NATO ‘partnership for peace’ program.
GovernmentUnder the Constitution of August 1995, the President of Georgia (who is Head of State, Head of the Executive and Commander of the Armed Forces) is directly elected for a five-year term. The Government (headed by the Prime Minister) is accountable to the President. The supreme legislative body is the 235-member Sakartvelos Parlamenti (Georgia Parliament) which is elected every four years, partly by proportional representation and partly in single-seat constituencies.
EconomyGeorgia has experienced considerable economic difficulties during the last decade and is one of the poorest of the former Soviet republics. Disruption of the centrally organized Soviet trade and supply networks, plus civil war and political instability produced hyper-inflation and a slump in production.
Major structural reforms, centering on the transfer of almost all small-scale enterprises to private ownership and a parallel reduction in the economic role of the state, were instituted. The measures have since contributed to strong annual growth for most of the post-Soviet period (9.3% in 2005) and a manageable rate of inflation. Unemployment, however, remains high, as does widespread poverty.
The agricultural sector, which accounts for about one-third of total output, produces fruit, tobacco, grain and sugar beet; sheep and goats are widely farmed. There is some heavy industry, notably shipbuilding, but most of Georgia’s industry is light and engaged in food processing and production of fertilizer. Coal and manganese are mined in commercial quantities.
The government aims to establish the main ports of Poti and Batumi as regional transport and re-export hubs, which will also be able to handle oil refining and transhipment. (Part of this plan involves the laying of a set of pipelines running east-west across the entire country, linking the oil and gas fields of central Asia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan).
Further reforms, including the privatization of major industries such as energy, are planned but the government has so far moved cautiously.
In 1992, Georgia joined the IMF, which has been centrally involved in the economic reform program, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as a ‘Country of Operation’. It has also acquired membership of the World Trade Organization.
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