First
Democratic Republic
The revolutionary upheaval of 1917 in Russia and the collapse of the imperial
government created unexpected conditions for the outlying regions. In February
1917, leading Georgian political parties gathered in Tbilisi where the
necessity to declare independence became clear. The Russian Provisional
Government established the Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom) to govern
the region. In November 1917, the first government of the independent
Transcaucasia was created in Tbilisi as the Transcaucasian Commissariat
replaced Ozakom following the Bolshevik seizure of power in St. Petersburg.
Headed by the Georgian Social Democrat Evgeni Gegechkori, the Transcaucasian
Commissariat was anti-Bolshevik in its political goals and sought the
separation of Transcaucasia from Bolshevik Russia.
In late 1917 and early 1918, the Commissariat took measures to suppress the
Bolshevik influence in Georgia and ordered the seizure of the Tbilisi arsenal,
the disarming of pro-Bolshevik troops, the closure of Bolshevik newspapers,
etc. Among other reforms were the Commissariat’s decree on land, the
abolition of social distinction, changes in labor conditions and the
circulation of currency (bonds). In February 1918, the Transcaucasian
Commissariat surrendered its authority to the Transcaucasian Seim that was to
oversee the secession of Transcaucasia from Soviet Russia. Following the
Trebizond Peace Talks with the Ottoman Empire, the Transcaucasian Seim
proclaimed the establishment of the Transcaucasian Federation that united
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, facing the renewed Ottoman attacks
and hoping for German help, Georgia soon ceded from the Federation and the
Declaration of Independence was adopted by the National Council of Georgia on
26 May 1918.
As the best organized and most numerous political party, the Social Democrats
(Menshevik faction) organized the first government of independent Georgia.
Based on a multiparty system, the newly established government also included
the National-Democratic Party, Social-Federalists, Social-Revolutioneers and
other political organizations. Although supporting internationalist ideology,
the Social Democrats soon parted with their co-revolutioneers, both Mensheviks
and Bolsheviks, in Russia. Thus, the actual ideological basis of the
Democratic Republic of Georgia became European-style democratic socialism in
contrast to the Russian model of socialism and it was oriented towards the
middle classes of the Georgian society.
The newly-born Menshevik government faced challenges from every direction.
Bolshevik uprisings were instigated in various regions, particularly in
Abkhazia and Ossetia, where separatist calls were made. In May-July 1918, the
Georgian forces under Giorgi Mazniashvili and Valiko Jugheli defeated the
insurgents and restored the central authority in Abkhazia. In 1919-1920,
similar oubursts of separatism were suppressed in Ossetia. In the south,
Armenian forces contested the Georgian control of the Lori region in December
1918 but were routed the following year. In Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki
regions, the Ottomans instigated another series of separatist movements but
the insurgents were crushed by General Giorgi Kvinitadze in 1919.
The independence of Georgia was recognized by Soviet Russia on 7 May 1920 and
a special treaty was signed between Tbilisi and Moscow with the consent of the
Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. This act was followed by de jure recognition
by Germany, Turkey, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, etc. The three years of
independence proved to be of great political and cultural significance. Major
economic and educational reforms were implemented, more than a thousand
schools were established, the national theater revived, Tbilisi State
University, Tbilisi Opera and Conservatoire, Shota Rustaveli Theater were
established. However, despite its initial success, the fledgling Georgian
republic had no chance of succeeding because, as the Bolshevik government in
Russia emerged victorious out of the Civil War in 1919, it turned its
attention to the Transcaucasia.
