Dictionary of Georgian National Biography

Leo (right) and George Kereselidze

Kereselidze (center) and his fellow members of the Georgian student organization "Iveria."

KERESELIDZE (KERESSELIDZE), LEO (1885-1944). Georgian commander and one of the leaders of the Georgian émigré community. Opposing the Russian authorities in Georgia, Kereselidze helped create the Georgian Legion and distinguished himself during World War I. He was born in Gori and at the age of sixteen he became involved in political circles, establishing a youth organizaion "Union for Georgian Independence" and published a newspaper "Young Georgia." In 1904 Kereselidze traveled to Switzerland where he studied at an engineering school in Geneva. During this time, he became involved in socialist federalist circles and supervised smuggling of weapons into Georgia. Returning to Georgia in 1905, he participated in the events of the 1905 Revolution, serving in the Social-Federalist party's armed wing and conducting several publicized raids on government installations, oncluding robbing of the treasury at Dusheti (1906). However, after the Russian imperial authorities subdued the revolt, Kereselidze was forced to emigrate to Geneva, where he enrolled at a university and studied law and political science until 1912. He continued to be active in Georgia emigrant circles and, in 1912, joined the newly established "Union of Georgian Separatsist" which published newspapers "Free Georgia." In 1913, Kereselidze became a privatdocent (lecturer) at the University of Geneva, where he taught courses on law and wrote several books, including Manuel élémentaire du droit civil suisse : code (revisé) des obligations (1914), La Géorgie et la domination russe (1917), and Fantaisies orientales : Contes (1918). Passionately interested in the art of war, he attended courses at the Swiss Military School as well as Swiss military maneuvers. His plans to travel to Brazil where he was offered a professorship at the University of San Paolo where interrupted by World War I. On behalf of the Union of Georgian Separatsist, he traveled to Istanbul to negotiate with the Ottoman authorities, which he successfully accomplished. With the Ottoman and German support, he organized a volunteer unit of some 500 men (among them four hundred Lazs) and raided the Russian Imperial forces in southwestern Georgia, occupying Murghuli, Borchkha and Maradidi and capturing some 600 men, 8 guns and 14 machine guns. For his success, he was awarded the Ottoman Order of Crescent and the German Iron Cross.

In 1915, Kereselidze established the Georgian Legion under the aegis of the German government. A part of the German expeditionary forces in the Ottoman Empire, the Legion was initially commanded by both German and Georgian officers—initially by Lieutenant Horst Schliephack, and later, Count F. W. von der Schulenburg represented the German side, while Leo Kereselidze served as a Georgian commander; on the Ottoman side, the Legion's actions were supervised by Avni Pasha Lortkipanidze, the governor of Trapizond. The Georgian Legion was deployed in the mountains east of Tirebolu on the Black Sea coast, with its headquarters in Samsun and Kerasunt. However, the Turkish government, planning to annex southwestern Georgian provinces, was not keen on having the Georgian Legion operating on its territory and in late 1916 demanded its redeployment. Sent to the Iranian front, Kereselidze distinguished himself in the battles at Rowanduz and Saraibulak, for which he promoted to lieutenant colonel and colonel. Stationed in Mosul, he established clandestine communication with the nationalist organizations in Georgia, seeking to incite anti-Russian revolt. In 1918, exhausted and seriously ill, Kereselidze returned to Switzerland and later travelled to Berlin, where he represented Georgian interests and conducted negotiations with the German government.

In May 1918, Georgia proclaimed its independence and, in November, Kereselidze returned home, becoming actively involved in the creation of the national army and receiving the rank of a major general. He initially re-established the Georgian Legion and participated the Georgian-Armenian War in 1918-1919, during which he distinguished himself at Shulaveri. After the war, he operated in the Samtskhe-Javakheti regione where he suppressed a local uprising, served as the commandant of Akhaltsikhe but was seriously wounded in a combat at Kopameshi (near Atskuri) (February 1919). After recovering, Kereselidze participated in the suppression of an Ossetian uprising in the Samachablo region in the spring of 1919. In the summer of 1919, he commanded an expedition to Chechnya and Daghestan, where he successfully engaged the White forces of General A. Denikin for the next nine months. In 1920, the Georgian government sent him on a military mission to Poland, assiting the newly independent Polish government in establishing its military forces. He then briefly studied mountain warfare in Switzerland and published L'organisation et l'instruction de l'armée (1920). In 1921, he took part in the fighting against the Red Army before emigrating to Europe. Living in Germany, he co-founded the Tetri Giorgi organization of Georgian émigrés that sought to liberate Georgia. He later helped found the Union of Georgian Traditionalists in 1942. Leo Kereselidze died during the Allied bombing of Berlin in 1944. Harold Armstrong wrote a biography of Kereselidze entitled Unending Battle: The Life of One Georgian Patriot (1934).

Images courtesy of Rusudan Glurjidze