CHAPTER FIVE
STATE BUILDING IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS BEFORE 1917
Introduction
In the 18th and 19th century the power of Russia in the South Cau- casus was established. Th is was done through the use of extensive and disproportionate violence. Since the South Caucasus was divided in small kingdoms, princedoms, and khanates, some areas decided to join the Russian Empire voluntarily, enabling them to fi nd an ally against neighboring rulers. Since 1878, the division in the South Caucasus as part of the Russian Empire was a fact.
Th e 18th and 19th Century
In the Transcaucasus in the mid-eighteenth century a number of enti- ties existed, which were either under Turkish or Iranian suzerainty, and which enjoyed various degrees of autonomy or independence.1
Georgian Kingdoms Incorporated In 1769 king Erekle II, who ruled over Kartli-Kakheti, asked the Rus- sian Empress Catherine the Great for help.2 Erekle wanted the Russian Empress to stop the Ottoman Empire from gaining more territory in Georgia. He also wanted the return of the city of Akhaltsikhe from the Ottoman Empire.3 Th e kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was placed under Russian protection, whereby Erekle’s throne was guaranteed. Th is was confi rmed in the Treaty of Georgievsk, signed on 24 July 1783.4 Th e last king of Kartli-Kakheti, Giorgi XII (1798–1800), was forced to ask the Russian Czar for his country to be incorporated into the
1 R.G. Suny, Th e Making of the Georgian Nation, (London: I.B. Tauris, 1989), p. 55. 2 Kartli-Kakheti was the historical nucleus of present-day Georgia, comprising the central and eastern parts of the country. 3 Suny, 58. 4 www.westminster.edu/staff /martinre/Treaty.html. 64 chapter five
Russian Empire. On December 18, 1800, Czar Paul (1796–1801) declared Kartli-Kakheti’s annexation to Russia. Th is was validated by a Russian Proclamation dated 28th January. Paul’s son, Czar Alexander I (1801–1825) abolished the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1801.5 Aft er the incorporation of Kartli-Kakheti in 1801, the Russians annexed the West-Georgian principality of Mingrelia in December 1803 and forced King Solomon II of Imereti to accept Russian sover- eignty in 1804. In 1812 Guria became part of the Russian Empire.6 Th e mountainous region of Svanetia was the last major part of present-day Georgia to be incorporated into Russia, in 1858. In 1846 Georgia was divided into two gubernii (provinces): Tifl is and Kutaisi. In 1878 Aja- ria and Artvin became okrugs (districts). Abkhazia had become under nominal Ottoman dependency during the 18th century. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1806–1812, the cities of Poti, Sukhum-Kale, and Akhalkalaki were captured by Rus- sian troops. In 1810 Safar Bey Shervashidze (Chachba) of Abkhazia placed his principality under Russian protection. Especially during the Crimean war (1853–1856) the position of Russia in Abkhazia weak- ened. Only in 1864 the area was under fi rm Russian control, and the Abkhazian principality was abolished. Abkhazia became fi rst part of the military district of Sukhum-Kale, and in 1883 became an okrug in the Kutais guberniya.
Armenia In 1801, the Pambak, Shansahdil, Borchalo, and Kazakh districts and the Lori district—which were then part of Georgia, also went to Rus- sia.7 Th e Karabakh, Zangezur, and Shuragel’ district (eastern Shirak) became part of Russia in 1805. Th e remaining areas of Eastern Arme- nia, the Yerevan and Nakhichevan khanates, became part of the Rus- sian Empire by the Treaty of Turkmanchai in 1828. In March 1828 an Armenian Province was created, of which Yerevan and Nakhichevan khanates were part. A year later, during the Russo-Turkish war of 1828–1829, the Russian army occupied part of Western Armenia, including Kars,
5 Suny, 59 and Burdett, Caucasian Boundaries, 9. 6 For the text of this declaration see S.Z. Lakoba, Istoriia Abkhazii, (Sukhum: Alashara, 1994), page at the inside of the cover. 7 Th ese were the northern areas of present Eastern Armenia.