1832 Georgian plot ( ka, 1832 წლის შეთქმულება, tr) was a

political conspiracy This is a list of political conspiracies. In a political context, a conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of damaging, usurping, or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power throug ...

involving

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

and

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

to restore

statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "sta ...

and its Bagrationi

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

through an

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

of the Russian imperial administration.

History

Eastern Georgian monarchy of the

Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti ( ka, ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო, tr) (1762–1801 ) was created in 1762 by the unification of two eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti. From the early 16th century, accor ...

was

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

in 1801, breaking the terms of the

Treaty of Georgievsk The Treaty of Georgievsk (russian: Георгиевский трактат, Georgievskiy traktat; ka, გეორგიევსკის ტრაქტატი, tr) was a bilateral treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the east Ge ...

. Members of the royal Bagrationi dynasty were deported to the Russian provinces, and Russian control was acknowledged in 1813 by the

Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (russian: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy Distri ...

. The Georgians, unsatisfied with the Russian rule, yearned for the removal of Russian dominance and the return of their royal dynasty. The goal of independence was kept alive principally by

Prince Okropir of Georgia Okropir ( ka, ოქროპირი) known in Russia as Tsarevich Okropir Georgievich Gruzinsky (russian: Окропир Георгиевич Грузинский), (June 24, 1795 – October 30, 1857) was a Georgian prince royal (batonishvili) ...

, a son of the last eastern Georgian monarch,

George XII George XII ( ka, გიორგი XII, ''Giorgi XII''), sometimes known as George XIII (November 10, 1746 – December 28, 1800), of the House of Bagrationi, was the second and last King of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti in eastern Georgia from ...

. Okropir and other Georgians held gatherings of Georgian students in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, trying to inspire them with patriotic feeling towards their country under Russian rule. It resulted in creation of a secret society in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

whose main goal was the re-establishment of an independent kingdom under the dethroned Bagrationi. Okropir himself visited Georgia in 1830, and held talks with the principal conspirators, who included members of Georgian aristocrats from the Orbeliani and

Eristavi ''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine ''strategos'' and normally translated into English as "prince" or less commonly as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, i ...

princely houses, as well as the philosopher

Solomon Dodashvili Solomon Dodashvili ( ka, სოლომონ დოდაშვილი), also known as Solomon Ivanovich Dodaev-Mogarsky (russian: Соломон Иванович Додаев-Могарский) (May 17, 1805 – August 20, 1836), was a Ge ...

. The plot was also supported by the Georgians from western Georgia, i.e. from the Russian-abolished

Kingdom of Imereti The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, Im ...

as well as the members of the

House of Shervashidze The House of Sharvashidze or Chachba or Shervashidze ( ka, შარვაშიძე-შერვაშიძე-ჩაჩბა) was a Georgian- Abkhazian ruling family of Principality of Abkhazia. The family was later recognized as one of the ...

that ruled

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

. Most of the Georgian conspirators were not liberal republicans, but rather monarchists and nationalists. It was proposed to invite the Russian commander-in-chief in Georgia together with other members of their administration to a grand ball in Tbilisi and at a given signal they would all be assassinated. The Georgians would then seize the Daryal Pass to prevent Russian reinforcements, and

Prince Aleksandre of Georgia Prince Alexander of Georgia ( ka, ალექსანდრე ბატონიშვილი, ''aleksandre batonishvili'') (1770–1844) was a Georgian royal prince (''batonishvili'') of the Bagrationi family, who headed several insurrecti ...

, son of the Georgian king

Erekle II Heraclius II ( ka, ერეკლე II), also known as Erekle II and The Little Kakhetian ( ka, პატარა კახი ) (7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 C. ToumanoffHitchins, KeithHeraclius II. ''Encyclopædia Iranica Online edit ...

would return from

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to be proclaimed king of Georgia. The ball at which the Russian officers and administration members were to be killed was scheduled for 20 November 1832, but it was unexpectedly postponed, first to 9 December, then to 20 December. Early in December the whole affair was revealed to the authorities by one of the conspirators, Prince Iese

Palavandishvili Palavandishvili ( ka, ფალავანდიშვილი) is a Georgian aristocratic family, known from the 12th/13th century and received among the princely nobility of Imperial Russia as Princes Palavandov (russian: Палавандов� ...

, and all of them were arrested. Ten of the accused conspirators were sentenced to death but later reprieved and deported to distant Russian provinces instead, largely because of their aristocratic status. The 1832 plot, though unsuccessful, would play an important role in the future national liberation movement that Georgians would seek to organize more fruitfully.

David Marshall Lang David Marshall Lang (6 May 1924 – 20 March 1991), was a Professor of Caucasian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was one of the most productive British scholars who specialized in Georgian, Armenian and an ...

(1962) A Modern History of Georgia: ''Georgia under the Tsars: Resistance, Revolt, Pacification: 1801–32'' NY

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

Ronald Grigor Suny Ronald Grigor Suny (born September 25, 1940) is an American historian and political scientist. Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan and served as director of the Eisenberg In ...

(1994) The Making of the Georgian Nation,

Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...

History

References

Bibliography

Further reading