Georgian–Ossetian conflict (1918–1920)
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The Georgian–Ossetian conflict of 1918–1920 were a series of uprisings, which took place in the Ossetian-inhabited areas of what is now
South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...
, a breakaway republic in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, against the
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR; (), (). 22 April – 28 May 1918) was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as pa ...
and then the Menshevik-dominated
Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to F ...
which claimed several thousand lives and left painful memories among the
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 ...
and Ossetian communities of the region. During its brief tenure, the Menshevik government of Georgia came across significant problems with ethnic Ossetians who largely sympathized with the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
and
Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
. The reasons behind the conflict were complicated. An overdue land reform and agrarian disturbances in the poor Ossetian-populated areas intermingled with an ethnic discord and the struggle for power in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...
.


1917–1918

After the 1917 February Revolution that resulted in the abdication of
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
, the Ossetians set up a National Council of Ossetians which convened in
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
in June 1917 and advocated the creation of organs of self-rule in Ossetian-inhabited areas on both sides of the Caucasus. The Council was internally divided along the ideological lines and soon became dominated by the Bolsheviks who called for the unification of North and South Ossetias and the incorporation of South Ossetia into Soviet Russia. Already in February 1918, there were numerous outbreaks of disobedience among the Ossetian peasants who refused to pay taxes to the
Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
-based Transcaucasian government. On 15 March 1918, the Ossetian peasants rose in rebellion and managed to hold off an offensive by a Georgian People's Guard punitive detachment commanded by an ethnic Ossetian officer, Kosta Kaziev. The fighting culminated in the town of
Tskhinvali Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval ( os, Цхинвал, Чъреба, Tskhinval, Chreba, ; rus, Цхинва́л(и), r=Tskhinvál(i), ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, in ...
which was occupied by the rebels on 19 March 1918. The Georgian People's Guard regained the control of Tskhinvali on 22 March. The uprising was finally suppressed and harsh repressive measures established in the region, generating resentment against the Mensheviks, being now equated, in the eyes of the Ossetians, with Georgians. This also opened the way for strong pro-Bolshevik sentiments among the Ossetians. Valiko Jugheli spoke about the Ossetians saying, "Our worst and most relentless enemies" and, "These traitors should be cruelly punished. There is no other way."


1919

In October 1919, revolts against the Mensheviks broke out again in several areas. On 23 October, rebels in the Roki area proclaimed the establishment of
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
power and began advancing toward Tskhinvali, but suffered defeat and retreated to the Soviet-controlled Terek district. The year 1919 also saw a series of fruitless discussions concerning the status and governance of the region. Ossetians demanded a degree of autonomy comparable with the one granted to the Abkhazians and Muslim Georgians in Adjara. However, no final decision was made, and the Georgian government outlawed the National Council of South Ossetia, a Bolshevik-dominated body, and refused any grant of autonomy. Bolsheviks fully exploited the tensions and the Menshevik mistakes to further strengthen their influence among the Ossetians.


1920

In 1920, a much larger Ossetian uprising took place, which was supported by the regional committee of the Bolshevik Russian Communist Party, which had gathered a military force in
Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz (russian: Владикавка́з, , os, Дзæуджыхъæу, translit=Dzæwdžyqæw, ;), formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () and Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia. It is located i ...
, the capital of modern-day
North Ossetia-Alania North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. Despite assurance of respecting Georgia's territorial integrity in the Treaty of Moscow of 7 May 1920,
Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
demanded Georgia recall its troops from Ossetia. Many villages were burned down large areas were depopulated, around 5,000 people perished and 20,000 Ossetians were forced to seek refuge in Soviet Russia. Ossetian sources give the following breakdown of casualties: 387 men, 172 women, and 110 children were killed in action or massacred; 1,206 men, 1,203 women, and 1,732 children died during flight. The total fatalities amounted to 4,812–5,279 according to another source, i.e., 6–8 percent of the region's total Ossetian population. In the spring and summer of 1920, Georgia crushed the revolt.


Aftermath

In February 1921, many Ossetians joined the advancing Red Army which brought Georgia's independence to an end. In April 1922, newly established Soviet Georgian government rewarded the Ossetian service with the establishment of the
South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область, ka, სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, os, Хуссар Ирыстоны ав ...
which included not only Ossetian and mixed Georgian-Ossetian, but also purely Georgian villages and had Tskhinvali, where the Ossetians were in minority at that time, as its capital.


Assessment

Despite the bloody conflict and painful memories left by it, the relations between Georgians and Ossetians remained peaceful throughout the
Soviet period The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...
in contrast to Georgia's other ethnic troublespot, Abkhazia, where ethnic discord was much more profound and potentially inflammable. With the rising of ethnic tensions in South Ossetia in the late 1980s, the 1918–1920 thematic surfaced again, with conflicting narratives and interpretations of the conflict. The South Ossetians consider those events as part of their struggle for self-determination and claim that the Georgian reaction to the uprisings was
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
. The depopulated Ossetian villages were allegedly occupied by their Georgian neighbors from the
Dusheti Dusheti () is a town in Georgia, the administrative center of Dusheti Municipality, in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, 54 km northeast of the nation's capital of Tbilisi. History Dusheti is on both banks of the small, mountainous Dushetis-K ...
and K'azbegi districts. On 2 November 2006, the
People's Assembly of Abkhazia The People's Assembly — Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia ( ab, Аҧсны Жәлар Реизара – Апарламент, ka, აფხაზეთის რესპუბლიკის სახალხო კრება, russi ...
unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the Georgian actions of 1918–1920 and 1989–1992 as a genocide under the 1948 convention. Georgia deny the accusations and consider the figures exaggerated. While not denying the brutality of the fighting, they view the conflict as the first attempt by Russia to destabilise Georgia by encouraging South Ossetia to secede and explain the severity of Georgian reaction by the Ossetian pillage of Tskhinvali and the Bolsheviks’ role in the events.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * History of South Ossetia Wars involving Georgia (country) Wars involving Russia Georgian–Ossetian conflict Russian Civil War Conflicts in 1918 Conflicts in 1919 Conflicts in 1920 {{DEFAULTSORT:Georgian-Ossetian conflict (1918-1920)