Giorgi Kvinitadze ( ka, გიორგი კვინიტაძე; russian: Георгий Иванович Квинитадзе, ''Georgy Ivanovich Kvinitadze''; his real surname was Chikovani, ჩიქოვანი) (August 21, 1874 – August 7, 1970) was a Georgian military commander who rose from an officer in the

Imperial Russia 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. The ...

n army to commander-in-chief of the

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 ...

. After the

Red Army invasion of Georgia The Red Army invasion of Georgia (15 February17 March 1921), also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia,Debo, R. (1992). ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921'', pp. 182, 361� ...

, Kvinitadze went into exile to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where he wrote his memoirs of the 1917–1921 events in Georgia.

Biography

Born into the family of a colonel of the Russian army in

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 ...

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...

, Kvinitadze entered the Tiflis Cadet Corps in 1884, and then continued his military education at St Constantine Infantry School,

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 ...

, which he graduated from in 1894, being commissioned as a podpuruchik in the 153rd

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 ...

Infantry Regiment. He then served in

Russian Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It wa ...

. During the

Russo-Japanese war The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

(1904–1905) Kvinitadze was promoted to captain. In 1910, he graduated from the General Staff Academy and was dispatched to the Caucasian Military District headquarters. General_Giorgi_Kvinitadze

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, in 1916, Kvinitadze was promoted to colonel and appointed a

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

of the 4th Caucasian Rifle Division. After the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, Kvinitadze, now

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

, served as a Deputy Minister of War for the Transcaucasus federal government before becoming the Commander in Chief of the army of a newly independent Georgia in 1918. He resigned shortly thereafter due to his disagreement with the

Menshevik The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions em ...

leadership of the country. Later that year, however, he returned to military service in the capacity of Chief of Staff during the war with Armenia. In 1919, he commanded the Georgian troops that defeated Muslim revolutionaries in the

Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe ( ka, ახალციხე ), formerly known as Lomsia ( ka, ლომსია), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region ('' mkhare'') of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is situated on both banks of a small river Potskhovi (a l ...

province, and occupied, on April 20, 1919, the hitherto Turkish-held city of

Artvin Artvin ( Laz and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam. It is a former bishopric and (vacant) Armeni ...

. He helped establish a military school in Tiflis and served as its Commandant before being made Commander-in-Chief of Georgian army again early in May 1920, when 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 ...

attempted a coup d'état. He happened still to be on the spot when the Bolsheviks assaulted the military school as a preliminary to a coup. Kvinitadze, with his cadets, put up a stout resistance and successfully defended the building. Days later, he, in the head of the Georgian army, rolled back an attempt by the Soviet Russian troops to penetrate from

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. During the

of 1921, he was reappointed the Commander-in-Chief. After Georgia's defeat in the war in March 1921, Kvinitadze left for

, where he first worked as a clerk for

Pathé Records Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s. Early years The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé ...

and then run a small business producing

matsoni Matzoon ( hy, մածուն, ''matsun'') or matsoni ( ka, მაწონი, ''mats'oni'') is a fermented milk product of Armenian origin, distributed in Armenia and Georgia. The so-called ''Caspian Sea yogurt'' circulated and commercialized in ...

. He died in

Chatou Chatou () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Chatou is a part of the affluent suburbs of western Paris and is on the northwest side of the Seine river about from the city's center. ...

suburb of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1970 and was buried at the Georgian cemetery of Leuville-sur-Orge. Kvinitadze's remains were reburied with full military honors to the

Mtatsminda Pantheon The Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures ( ka, მთაწმინდის მწერალთა და საზოგადო მოღვაწეთა პანთეონი, ''mtats'mindis mts'eralta da sazogado mo ...

in Tbilisi on 26 May 2021. A street in Tbilisi, where Georgia's Ministry of Defense is located, was named after Kvinitadze in 2006.

Family

In 1911, Kvinitadze married Princess Mariam Makashvili (August 28, 1889 – April 27, 1960). They had three daughters: Ida, Tamar and Nino. Ida (b. 1912) married (1943) Georgian émigré general Giorgi Chkheidze (1907–1970). Tamar (b. 1913) married (1938) the Georgian émigré Georges Odichelidze (1899–1970), French officer of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Nino (b. 1920) married (1955) a Dutchman Peter Claude Holland d'Abo (b. 7 October 1917); they are the parents of the British-French actress and former ''

Bond Girl A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, o ...

'', Maryam d'Abo.

Memoirs

Kvinitadze's Russian-language book ''My Memoirs from the Years of Independence of Georgia, 1917–1921'' (Мои воспоминания в годы независимости Грузии, 1917–1921) first appeared in

in 1985 and was published in a Georgian translation in 1998. Writing most of the memoir in 1922, a year after Georgia's

sovietization Sovietization (russian: Советизация) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modelled after the Soviet Union. This often included ...

, Kvinitadze provides new details and personal observations about the troubled years of 1917–1921. In addition to being a military chronicle written by a participant of those events, Kvinitadze's memoirs are a political commentary, directing harsh criticism at the Mensheviks, accusing them of undermining the state and alienating the Georgian people with their socialist and internationalist rhetoric, incompetence and failure to defend the country against the anticipated foreign intervention. Hovannisian, Richard G. ''Moi vospominaniia v gody nezavisimosti Gruzii, 1917-1921'' by G. I. Kvinitadze. ''

Russian Review ''The Russian Review'' is an independent peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary academic journal devoted to the history, literature, culture, fine arts, cinema, society, and politics of the Russian Federation, former Soviet Union and former Russian Empir ...

'', Vol. 46, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), p. 99. Along with

Zurab Avalishvili Zurab Avalishvili ( ka, ზურაბ ავალიშვილი; 1876 – May 21, 1944) was a Georgian historian, jurist and diplomat in the service of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918–1921). He was also known as Zurab Davidovich ...

’s historical works, Kvinitadze’s memoirs are considered one of the best firsthand accounts of Georgia’s short-lived independence written abroad.

Rayfield, Donald Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Jose ...

(2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', p. 314.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

, .

References

External links

Interview with General Giorgi Kvinitadze
May 1968,

RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

Biography

Family

Memoirs

References

External links

Further reading