Datasets:

Dhruvil47

/

sentence_followup

like 0

The Kingdom of Georgia reached its zenith in the 12th to early 13th centuries.

This period during the reigns of David IV (r. 1089–1125) and his great-granddaughter Tamar (r. 1184–1213) has been widely termed as Georgia's Golden Age or the Georgian Renaissance.

This early Georgian renaissance, which preceded its Western European analogue, was characterized by impressive military victories, territorial expansion, and a cultural renaissance in architecture, literature, philosophy and the sciences.

The Golden age of Georgia left a legacy of great cathedrals, romantic poetry and literature, and the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin, the latter which is considered a national epic.

David suppressed dissent of feudal lords and centralized the power in his hands to effectively deal with foreign threats.

In 1121, he decisively defeated much larger Turkish armies during the Battle of Didgori and liberated Tbilisi.

The 29-year reign of Tamar, the first female ruler of Georgia, is considered the most successful in Georgian history.

Tamar was given the title "king of kings" (mepe mepeta).

The revival of the Kingdom of Georgia was set back after Tbilisi was captured and destroyed by the Khwarezmian leader Jalal ad-Din in 1226.

The Mongols were expelled by George V of Georgia (r. 1299–1302), son of Demetrius II of Georgia (r. 1270–1289), who was named "Brilliant" for his role in restoring the country's previous strength and Christian culture.

George V was the last great king of the unified Georgian state.

After his death, local rulers fought for their independence from central Georgian rule, until the total disintegration of the Kingdom in the 15th century.

Georgia was further weakened by several disastrous invasions by Tamerlane.

Invasions continued, giving the kingdom no time for restoration, with both Black and White sheep Turkomans constantly raiding its southern provinces.

The rulers of regions that remained partly autonomous organized rebellions on various occasions.

However, subsequent Iranian and Ottoman invasions further weakened local kingdoms and regions.

As a result of incessant Ottoman–Persian Wars and deportations, the population of Georgia dwindled to 784,700 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century.

Eastern Georgia (Safavid Georgia), composed of the regions of Kartli and Kakheti, had been under Iranian suzerainty since 1555 following the Peace of Amasya signed with neighbouring rivalling Ottoman Turkey.

With the death of Nader Shah in 1747, both kingdoms broke free of Iranian control and were reunified through a personal union under the energetic king Heraclius II in 1762.

Heraclius, who had risen to prominence through the Iranian ranks, was awarded the crown of Kakheti by Nader himself in 1744 for his loyal service to him.

The Bagrationi royal family was deported from the kingdom.

The Georgian envoy in Saint Petersburg reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellor Prince Kurakin.

In May 1801, under the oversight of General Carl Heinrich von Knorring, Imperial Russia transferred power in eastern Georgia to the government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lazarev.

The Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until 12 April 1802, when Knorring assembled the nobility at the Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the Imperial Crown of Russia.

In the summer of 1805, Russian troops on the Askerani River near Zagam defeated the Iranian army during the 1804–13 Russo-Persian War and saved Tbilisi from reconquest now that it was officially part of the Imperial territories.

Russian suzerainty over eastern Georgia was officially finalized with Iran in 1813 following the Treaty of Gulistan.

Following the annexation of eastern Georgia, the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti was annexed by Tsar Alexander I.

The last Imeretian king and the last Georgian Bagrationi ruler, Solomon II, died in exile in 1815, after attempts to rally people against Russia and to enlist foreign support against the latter, had been in vain.

From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars now against Ottoman Turkey, several of Georgia's previously lost territories – such as Adjara – were recovered, and also incorporated into the empire.

The principality of Guria was abolished and incorporated into the Empire in 1829, while Svaneti was gradually annexed in 1858.

Mingrelia, although a Russian protectorate since 1803, was not absorbed until 1867.

Russian rule offered the Georgians security from external threats, but it was also often heavy-handed and insensitive.

By the late 19th century, discontent with the Russian authorities grew into a national revival movement led by Ilia Chavchavadze.

This period also brought social and economic change to Georgia, with new social classes emerging: the emancipation of the serfs freed many peasants but did little to alleviate their poverty; the growth of capitalism created an urban working class in Georgia.

Both peasants and workers found expression for their discontent through revolts and strikes, culminating in the Revolution of 1905.

Their cause was championed by the socialist Mensheviks, who became the dominant political force in Georgia in the final years of Russian rule.

The federation consisted of three nations: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

As the Ottomans advanced into the Caucasian territories of the crumbling Russian Empire, Georgia declared independence on 26 May 1918.

The Menshevik Social Democratic Party of Georgia won the parliamentary election and its leader, Noe Zhordania, became prime minister.

Despite the Soviet takeover, Zhordania was recognized as the legitimate head of the Georgian Government by France, UK, Belgium, and Poland through the 1930s.

The 1918 Georgian–Armenian War, which erupted over parts of disputed provinces between Armenia and Georgia populated mostly by Armenians, ended because of British intervention.

In 1918–1919, Georgian general Giorgi Mazniashvili led an attack against the White Army led by Moiseev and Denikin in order to claim the Black Sea coastline from Tuapse to Sochi and Adler for the independent Georgia.

The Georgian army was defeated and the Social Democratic government fled the country.

On 25 February 1921, the Red Army entered Tbilisi and established a government of workers' and peasants' soviets with Filipp Makharadze as acting head of state.

Georgia was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, alongside Armenia and Azerbaijan, in 1921 which in 1922 would become a founding member of the Soviet Union.

Soviet rule was firmly established only after the insurrection was swiftly defeated.

Georgia would remain an unindustrialized periphery of the USSR until the first five-year plan when it became a major centre for textile goods.

Later, in 1936, the TSFSR was dissolved and Georgia emerged as a union republic: the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Joseph Stalin, an ethnic Georgian born Iosif Vissarionovich Jugashvili (იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი) in Gori, was prominent among the Bolsheviks.

Stalin was to rise to the highest position, leading the Soviet Union from the mid–1920s until his death on 5 March 1953.

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union on an immediate course towards Caucasian oil fields and munitions factories.

They never reached Georgia, however, and almost 700,000 Georgians fought in the Red Army to repel the invaders and advance towards Berlin.

The Georgian uprising on Texel against the Germans was the last battle of the Second World War in Europe.

After Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev became the leader of the Soviet Union and implemented a policy of de-Stalinization.

This was nowhere else more publicly and violently opposed than in Georgia, where in 1956 riots broke out upon the release of Khruschev's public denunciation of Stalin and led to the deaths of nearly 100 students.

Throughout the remainder of the Soviet period, Georgia's economy continued to grow and experience significant improvement, though it increasingly exhibited blatant corruption and alienation of the government from the people.

On 26 May 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected as the first President of independent Georgia.

Gamsakhurdia stoked Georgian nationalism and vowed to assert Tbilisi's authority over regions such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia that had been classified as autonomous oblasts under the Soviet Union.

He was soon deposed in a bloody coup d'état, from 22 December 1991 to 6 January 1992.

The coup was instigated by part of the National Guards and a paramilitary organization called "Mkhedrioni" ("horsemen").

The country then became embroiled in a bitter civil war, which lasted until nearly 1994.

Simmering disputes within two regions of Georgia; Abkhazia and South Ossetia, between local separatists and the majority Georgian populations, erupted into widespread inter-ethnic violence and wars.

Supported by Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia achieved de facto independence from Georgia, with Georgia retaining control only in small areas of the disputed territories.

Eduard Shevardnadze (Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1991) returned to Georgia in 1992.

During the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), roughly 230,000 to 250,000 Georgians were expelled from Abkhazia by Abkhaz separatists and North Caucasian volunteers (including Chechens).

Around 23,000 Georgians fled South Ossetia as well.

In 2003, Shevardnadze (who won re-election in 2000) was deposed by the Rose Revolution, after Georgian opposition and international monitors asserted that 2 November parliamentary elections were marred by fraud.

The revolution was led by Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze, former members and leaders of Shevardnadze's ruling party.

Mikheil Saakashvili was elected as President of Georgia in 2004.

Following the Rose Revolution, a series of reforms were launched to strengthen the country's military and economic capabilities, as well as to reorient its foreign policy westwards.

The new government's efforts to reassert Georgian authority in the southwestern autonomous republic of Ajaria led to a major crisis in 2004.

These events, along with accusations of Georgian involvement in the Second Chechen War, resulted in a severe deterioration of relations with Russia, fuelled also by Russia's open assistance and support to the two secessionist areas.

Despite these increasingly difficult relations, in May 2005 Georgia and Russia reached a bilateral agreement by which Russian military bases (dating back to the Soviet era) in Batumi and Akhalkalaki were withdrawn.

Russia withdrew all personnel and equipment from these sites by December 2007 while failing to withdraw from the Gudauta base in Abkhazia, which it was required to vacate after the adoption of the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty during the 1999 Istanbul summit.

A bomb explosion on 1 August 2008 targeted a car transporting Georgian peacekeepers.

South Ossetians were responsible for instigating this incident, which marked the opening of hostilities and injured five Georgian servicemen.

In response, several South Ossetian militiamen were killed by snipers.

South Ossetian separatists began shelling Georgian villages on 1 August.

These artillery attacks immediately caused Georgian servicemen to return fire periodically.

On 7 August 2008, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili announced a unilateral ceasefire and called for peace talks.

According to Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer, the Ossetian provocation was aimed at triggering the Georgian response, which was needed as a pretext for premeditated Russian military invasion.

According to Georgian intelligence, and several Russian media reports, parts of the regular (non-peacekeeping) Russian Army had already moved to South Ossetian territory through the Roki Tunnel before the Georgian military action.

Russia accused Georgia of "aggression against South Ossetia", and launched a large-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia with the pretext of "peace enforcement" operation on 8 August 2008.

Abkhaz forces opened a second front on 9 August by attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia.

Tskhinvali was seized by the Russian military by 10 August.

Russian forces occupied the Georgian cities beyond disputed territories.

During the conflict, there was a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Georgians in South Ossetia, including destruction of Georgian settlements after the war had ended.

The war displaced 192,000 people, and while many were able to return to their homes after the war, a year later around 30,000 ethnic Georgians remained displaced.

In an interview published in Kommersant, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said he would not allow Georgians to return.

President of France Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August 2008.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate republics on 26 August.

In response to Russia's recognition, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia.

Russian forces left the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October, and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia was dispatched to the buffer areas.

Since the war, Georgia has maintained that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are occupied Georgian territories.

The executive branch of power is made up of the Cabinet of Georgia.

The Cabinet is composed of ministers, headed by the Prime Minister, and appointed by the Parliament.

Salome Zurabishvili is the current President of Georgia after winning 59.52% of the vote in the 2018 Georgian presidential election.

Since February 2021, Irakli Gharibashvili has been the Prime Minister of Georgia.

Legislative authority is vested in the Parliament of Georgia.

It is unicameral and has 150 members, known as deputies, of whom 30 are elected by plurality to represent single-member districts, and 120 are chosen to represent parties by proportional representation.

Members of parliament are elected for four-year terms.

On 26 May 2012, Saakashvili inaugurated a new Parliament building in the western city of Kutaisi, in an effort to decentralize power and shift some political control closer to Abkhazia.

Saakashvili's rivals, who came to power later in 2012, never truly accepted the move to Kutaisi and six years later Parliament returned to its old location in Tbilisi after adapting the constitutional clause.

Different opinions exist regarding the degree of political freedom in Georgia.

President Saakashvili acknowledged the defeat of his party on the following day.

Georgian Dream was founded, led and financed by tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man who was subsequently elected by parliament as new Prime Minister.

Due to the incomplete transition to parliamentary democracy, a year of uneasy cohabitation between rivals Ivanishvili and Saakashvili followed until the October 2013 presidential elections.

In October 2013, Giorgi Margvelashvili, a candidate of the Georgian Dream party, won the presidential election.

Margvelashvili succeeded president Mikheil Saakashvili, who had served the maximum of two terms since coming to power after the bloodless 2003 "Rose Revolution".

However, the new constitution made the role of president largely ceremonial.

With the completed transfer of power, Prime Minister Ivanishvili stepped aside and named one of his close business associates as next Prime Minister.

Ivanishvili has since been called the informal leader of Georgia, arranging political reappointments from behind the scenes.

In October 2016, the ruling party Georgian Dream won the parliamentary elections with 48.61 percent of the vote while the opposition United National Movement (UNM) gained 27.04 percent of the vote.

Most of Georgian Dream's coalition parties had left the coalition and landed outside of parliament.

As result of the mixed proportional-majoritarian system, with a threshold of 5% for the proportional vote and redefined majoritarian districts, only four parties entered parliament, with the Georgian Dream party gaining a constitutional majority of 77% (+36 seats).

This electoral imbalance became a key issue of political and civil society strife in the following years.

After international mediation to overcome the deep political crisis in the runup to the 2020 parliamentary elections an amended electoral system was adopted, specifically for the 2020 elections.

Meanwhile, Salome Zurabishvili won the 2018 presidential election in two rounds, becoming the first woman in Georgia to hold the office in full capacity after Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze held the office as female interim President twice, in 2003 and 2007.

Zurabishvili was backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party.

It was the last direct election of a Georgian president, as additional constitutional reforms removed the popular vote.

The threshold for the proportional vote was lowered to 1%, which resulted in 9 parties being represented in parliament.

As largest faction, having secured 90 out of 150 seats, Georgian Dream formed the country's next government and continued to govern alone.

The opposition made accusations of fraud, which the Georgian Dream denied.

Thousands of people gathered outside the Central Election Commission to demand a new vote.

This led to a new political crisis that was (temporarily) resolved with an EU brokered agreement, from which the Georgian Dream later withdrew.

In February 2021, Irakli Garibashvili became Prime Minister of Georgia, following the resignation of Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia.

Garibashvili, who had an earlier term as prime minister in 2013-15, is known as a political hardliner.

On 1 October 2021, former President Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested on his return from exile.

Georgia's decision to boost its presence in the coalition forces in Iraq was an important initiative.

Georgia is currently working to become a full member of NATO.

In August 2004, the Individual Partnership Action Plan of Georgia was submitted officially to NATO.

On 29 October 2004, the North Atlantic Council of NATO approved the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) of Georgia, and Georgia moved on to the second stage of Euro–Atlantic Integration.

In 2005, the agreement on the appointment of Partnership for Peace (PfP) liaison officer between Georgia and NATO came into force, whereby a liaison officer for the South Caucasus was assigned to Georgia.

On 2 March 2005, the agreement was signed on the provision of the host nation support to and transit of NATO forces and NATO personnel.

On 6–9 March 2006, the IPAP implementation interim assessment team arrived in Tbilisi.

On 13 April 2006, the discussion of the assessment report on implementation of the Individual Partnership Action Plan was held at NATO Headquarters, within 26+1 format.

The majority of Georgians and politicians in Georgia support the push for NATO membership.

In 2011, the North Atlantic Council designated Georgia as an "aspirant country".

George W. Bush became the first sitting US president to visit the country.

The street leading to Tbilisi International Airport has since been dubbed George W. Bush Avenue.

On 2 October 2006, Georgia and the European Union signed a joint statement on the agreed text of the Georgia–European Union Action Plan within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).

The Action Plan was formally approved at the EU–Georgia Cooperation Council session on 14 November 2006, in Brussels.

In June 2014, the EU and Georgia signed an Association Agreement, which entered into force on 1 July 2016.

On 13 December 2016, EU and Georgia reached the agreement on visa liberalization for Georgian citizens.

They are collectively known as the Georgian Defense Forces (GDF).

The mission and functions of the GDF are based on the Constitution of Georgia, Georgia's Law on Defense and National Military Strategy, and international agreements to which Georgia is signatory.

The military budget of Georgia for 2021 is 900₾ ($) million.

The biggest part, 72% of the military budget is allocated for maintaining defence forces readiness and potency development.

After its independence from the Soviet Union, Georgia began to develop its own military industry.

The first exhibition of products made by STC Delta was in 1999.

STC Delta now produces a variety of military equipment, including armoured vehicles, artillery systems, aviation systems, personal protection equipment, and small arms.

During later periods of the Iraq War Georgia had up to 2,000 soldiers serving in the Multi-National Force.

Georgia also participated in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; with 1,560 troops in 2013, it was at that time the largest contributor among non-NATO countries and in per capita terms.

Over 11,000 Georgian soldiers have been rotated through Afghanistan.

In recent years, the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has undergone a radical transformation, with the police having now absorbed a great many duties previously performed by dedicated independent government agencies.

New duties performed by the police include border security and customs functions and contracted security provision; the latter function is performed by the dedicated 'security police'.

In 2005, President Mikheil Saakashvili fired the entire traffic police force (numbering around 30,000 police officers) of the Georgian National Police due to corruption.

A new force was then subsequently built around new recruits.

The US State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law-Enforcement Affairs has provided assistance to the training efforts and continues to act in an advisory capacity.

The new Patruli force was first introduced in the summer of 2005 to replace the traffic police, a force which was accused of widespread corruption.

Since 2012 stagnation in corruption fighting efforts can be observed, according to Transparency International.

Since 2016 the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index hovers around 56 out of 100 points.

There is an independent human rights public defender elected by the Parliament of Georgia to ensure such rights are enforced.

Georgia has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2005.

While human rights activists maintained that the protests were peaceful, the government pointed out that many protesters were masked and armed with heavy sticks and molotov cocktails.

Georgian opposition leader Nino Burjanadze said the accusations of planning a coup were baseless, and that the protesters' actions were legitimate.

Since independence, Georgia maintained harsh policies against drugs, handing out lengthy sentences even for marijuana use.

This came under criticism from human rights activists and led to protests.

These in turn are subdivided into 67 districts and 12 self-governing cities.

Georgia contains two official autonomous regions, of which one has declared independence.

Officially autonomous within Georgia, the de facto independent region of Abkhazia declared independence in 1999.

In addition, another territory not officially autonomous has also declared independence.

South Ossetia is officially known by Georgia as the Tskinvali region, as it views "South Ossetia" as implying political bonds with Russian North Ossetia.

It was called South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast when Georgia was part of Soviet Union.

De facto separate since Georgian independence, offers were made to give South Ossetia autonomy again, but in 2006 an unrecognized referendum in the area resulted in a vote for independence.

In both Abkhazia and South Ossetia large numbers of people had been given Russian passports, some through a process of forced passportization by Russian authorities.

This was used as a justification for Russian invasion of Georgia during the 2008 South Ossetia war after which Russia recognized the region's independence.

Georgia considers the regions as occupied by Russia.

The two self-declared republics gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.

Most countries consider the regions to be Georgian territory under Russian occupation.

Adjara under local strongman Aslan Abashidze maintained close ties with Russia and allowed a Russian military base to be maintained in Batumi.

Upon the election of Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004 tensions rose between Abashidze and the Georgian government, leading to demonstrations in Adjara and the resignation and flight of Abashidze.

The country lies between latitudes 41° and 44° N, and longitudes 40° and 47° E, with an area of .

The Likhi Range divides the country into eastern and western halves.

Historically, the western portion of Georgia was known as Colchis while the eastern plateau was called Iberia.

The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range forms the northern border of Georgia.

The main roads through the mountain range into Russian territory lead through the Roki Tunnel between Shida Kartli and North Ossetia and the Darial Gorge (in the Georgian region of Khevi).

The southern portion of the country is bounded by the Lesser Caucasus Mountains.

The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range is much higher in elevation than the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, with the highest peaks rising more than above sea level.

The highest mountain in Georgia is Mount Shkhara at , and the second highest is Mount Janga (Dzhangi–Tau) at above sea level.

Other prominent peaks include Mount Kazbek at , Shota Rustaveli , Tetnuldi , Ushba , and Ailama .

Out of the abovementioned peaks, only Kazbek is of volcanic origin.

The region between Kazbek and Shkhara (a distance of about along the Main Caucasus Range) is dominated by numerous glaciers.

The term Lesser Caucasus Mountains is often used to describe the mountainous (highland) areas of southern Georgia that are connected to the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range by the Likhi Range.

The area can be split into two separate sub-regions; the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, which run parallel to the Greater Caucasus Range, and the Southern Georgia Volcanic Highland.

The overall region can be characterized as being made up of various, interconnected mountain ranges (largely of volcanic origin) and plateaus that do not exceed in elevation.

Prominent features of the area include the Javakheti Volcanic Plateau, lakes, including Tabatskuri and Paravani, as well as mineral water and hot springs.

Two major rivers in Georgia are the Rioni and the Mtkvari.

Western Georgia's landscape ranges from low-land marsh-forests, swamps, and temperate rainforests to eternal snows and glaciers, while the eastern part of the country even contains a small segment of semi-arid plains.

Much of the natural habitat in the low-lying areas of western Georgia has disappeared during the past 100 years because of the agricultural development of the land and urbanization.