History of Georgia (500-1999)

   History of Georgia (500-1999) 

500-600

  The monastic complex of David Gareja was founded in the 6th century by David (St. David Garejeli), one of the thirteen Assyrian monks who arrived in Georgia at the same time. His disciples Dodo and Luciane expanded the original lavra and founded two other monasteries known as Dodo's Rka (literally, "the horn of Dodo") and Natlismtsemeli ("the Baptist"). Part of the complex is also located in the Agstafa rayon of Azerbaijan and thus became subject to a border dispute between Georgian and Azerbaijani authorities.

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632-661
   The Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the Rightly Guided Caliphate, comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. It was the one of the largest empires in history up until that time

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683-685 
   Khazars invaded Transcaucasia and inflicted much damage and stole much booty. The Khazar invaders killed the rulers of Armenia and Georgia
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7-5-1014 
 Bagrat III (b~960) of the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty, died. He was King of the Abkhazians from 978 on (as Bagrat II) and King of Kings of the Georgians from 1008 on. He is known to have constructed a magnificent cathedral, the Bagrati Cathedral, at Kutaisi, western Georgia. Its ruins named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994

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1089-1125  

David the Builder, a king who increased Georgia's wealth and prestige after, at age 16, taking the reins of a country beset by attackers
  
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1172-1216 
  Shota Rustaveli, a Georgian poet, lived about this time. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest representatives of the literature of the medieval world. His literary work included “The Knight in the Panther's Skin” ("Vepkhistkaosani" in Georgian), the Georgian national epic poem

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1178       
The wise King Giorgi III of Georgia had his daughter, Tamara (19), crowned as his co-ruler to provide an orderly succession

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1204-1205   
Georgia’s Queen Tamara marched with her men to the rousing victory over the Turks at the Battle of Basiani where she is hailed with the cry, "Our King Tamara."

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18-1-1212      
 Queen Tamara of Georgia in Transcaucasia died after a 24-year reign during which her soldiers proclaim her "our King"

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1236    
   Queen Rusudani (41), the daughter of Queen Tamara, fled Georgia as the unstoppable Mongol hordes ravished the area. She had been proclaimed "King" at the death of her brother

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10-2-1258
 Huegu (Hulega Khan), a Mongol leader and grandson of Genghis Khan, seized Baghdad following a 4-day assault. Mongol invaders from Central Asia took over Baghdad and ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire. They included Uzbeks, Kazaks, Georgians and other groups. Some 200 to 800 thousand people were killed and looting lasted 17 days

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1265      
 Mongols sacked the monastic complex of David Gareja in Georgia

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1395      
 Tamerlane, a Turkic conqueror, swept into Southern Russia and Georgia driving locals into the hills

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1615      
 The Persians sacked the monastic complex of David Gareja in Georgia

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1722      
 Peter the Great exploited the chaos in the Persian Empire to lead an expedition into Transcaucasia, he struck an alliance with Vakhtang VI, the Georgian ruler of Kartli

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1769-1772  
 A handful of Russian troops of General Totleben battled against Turkish invaders in Imereti and Kartl-Kakheti

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24-7-1783 
 Georgia became a protectorate of tsarist Russia

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11-1-1798   
 Erekle II (b.~1720), Georgian monarch of the Bagrationi Dynasty, died. He had reigned as the king of Kakheti from 1744 to 1762, and of Kartli and Kakheti from 1762 until 1798. His name is frequently transliterated from the Latinized form Heraclius

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1801     
  South Ossetia was absorbed into the Russian Empire along with Georgia

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May 1876       
 Residents in Tbilisi, Georgia, found a collection of ancient gold jewels in the muddy streets following a downpour. The objects were dated from the 5th to the 1st century BC when the region was known as Colchis

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1890   
    The Marxist Armenian Revolutionary Federation, called the Dashnaks, was founded in the Russian Empire, in Tiflis (Georgia)

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8-3-1905    
The peasant revolt in Russia was reported to be spreading to Georgia

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10-4-1906    
 A report from Russia said 7 soldiers were killed during a rebellion at the garrison in Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia). On April 17 it was reported that 315 soldiers were killed in a fight between mutineers and loyal troops

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1907   
    Stalin (1879-1953) organized an armed robbery on 2 coaches carrying treasure to the state bank in central Tbilisi, Georgia. He delivered his gains to Lenin. In 2007 Simon Sebag Montefiore authored “Young Stalin"

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1918   
    South Ossetians made a bid to break away from Georgia and thousands fled in the ensuing violence. Menshevik Georgia waged a brutal war to absorb Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In 1921 the Red Army regained control and absorbed all three into the Soviet Union

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12-2-1921   
      Soviet troops invaded neighboring Georgia
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1922  
     South Ossetia became an autonomous region within the Soviet Republic of Georgia

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25-1-1928
 Eduard Shevardnadze, foreign minister of USSR, was born in Soviet Georgia

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1931     
  USSR leader Joseph Stalin turned Abkhazia into an autonomous region of Georgia. Beria, his secret police chief, later resettled Georgians from the western part of the country in Abkhazia

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5-12-1936
 Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR & Kirghiz SSR became constituent republics of Soviet Union

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1986      
 The film “Repentance” was directed by Tengiz Abuladze. It was an allegory about a small town mayor who gradually becomes a despot

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13-9-1987 
 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze arrived in Washington for talks aimed at a possible superpower summit; Shevardnadze carried with him a letter from Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to President Reagan

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6-1-1988 
 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze was quoted by the Afghan news agency as saying the Kremlin wanted to pull an estimated 115,000 soldiers from Afghanistan in the coming year

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Apr 1989       
 Troops of Russian General Igor Rodionov killed 29 demonstrators in Tbilisi. Troops under Russian Gen’l Lebed killed 18 protestors, including 16 women and children, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Colonel Gen’l. Igor Rodionov ordered the troops to break up anti-Kremlin protests in Tbilisi

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1989-1982    South Ossetia defended itself from Georgia with aid from Russia and about 1,000 people died in the fighting. Some 25-40,000 people fled the area

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 Aug 1990  
 South Ossetia, a region of north central Georgia with a population of about 100,000, declared itself sovereign. Ethnic Ossetians speak a language similar to Persian. Georgia abolished South Ossetia’s autonomous status following the attempted break. Georgian leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia declared South Ossetia part of Georgia and marched on Tskhinvali, the declared capital

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20-121990 
 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze shocked Soviet lawmakers by announcing his resignation, warning that "dictatorship is coming."

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9-4-1991
 Georgia SSR declared independence from the USSR

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29-4-1991
 More than 100 people were killed and some 100,000 were left homeless when a strong earthquake struck Soviet Georgia.

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 Jun 1991      
 Georgian leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia, a noted author and scholar of the iconic Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli, was elected president of Georgia

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1991      
 Sex selective abortions began increasing in the Caucasus region as ultrasound equipment became available from the West. By 2013 over 115 boys were born in Armenia and Azerbaijan for every 100 girls. In Georgia the ration was 120 to 100

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6-1-1992
 After two weeks of fighting, ousted Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia fled the capital, Tbilisi

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July 1992      

 Russia brokered a cease fire between South Ossetia and Georgia

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1992       

In Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, former Soviet foreign minister, was elected speaker of Parliament and the became the country's leader.

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1992     

In Tbilisi, Georgia, the central-heating system went out of service. Carbon-monoxide poisonings began as residents turned to wood and gas stoves.

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1992-1993
 Separatists in the northwestern province of Abkhazia took over control by war. War between Abkhaz forces and Georgians killed 10,000 and left the Black Sea region as a de facto independent but unrecognized state. In the siege of Sukhumi Abkhaz rebels encircled the capital of the region

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19-5-1993
 Georgia shot down a Russian warplane over the separatist Abkhazia region, killing its pilot and heightening tensions

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1993        Aug 8,
 Freddie Woodruff (b.1947), CIA agent chief in Tbilisi, Georgia, was shot and killed during an outing with friends. Georgian authorities charged Anzor Sharmaidze (20), a volunteer soldier, with the murder. Sharmaidze confessed under torture and later said he was framed for the murder. In 2008 Sharmaidze was granted parole from prison

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22-9-1993
 An aircraft operated by Transair Georgia was shot down by Abkhazian separatist forces. It crashed onto the runway and caught fire, killing 108

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31-12-1993    
 Former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia (b.1939) died on New Year’s Eve. He had returned to lead an uprising in western Georgia, but the fighting was quickly put down and Gamsakhurdia was surrounded. His body was then taken to Chechnya. In 2007 His body was returned for burial in Georgia

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1993     
  Georgia became a member of Russia's Commonwealth of Independent States; Russia, in return, backed Shevardnadze against Abkhaz rebels

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  Nov 1994      

 Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia and set up its own government. No other country gave recognition. Residents of the area numbered about 200,000 and spoke their own language. Vladislav Ardzinba became president.

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1994       
Georgia reached a cease-fire with Abkhazia

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29-8-1995 
 In Tbilisi, Georgia, the motorcade of Eduard Shevardnadze was attacked as he left for the ceremonial signing of the new constitution

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1995      
 Eduard Shevardnadze was elected president of Georgia for a 5-year term after the country adopted a new constitution

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   Apr 1996    
 Shevardnadze signed a cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan and Armenia

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19-7-1996
 Peacekeeping mandate of Russia in the Abkhaz conflict was due to expire

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Jul 1996       
 After having secured a new resolution of support from the United Nations Security Council, Shevardnadze started talks to Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba

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9-1-1997
 The government informed the US that diplomat Georgui Makharadze would be recalled following his involvement in a car crash that left a 16-year-old Washington girl dead. Police evidence strongly suggested that he had been drinking

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8-10-1997   
 Gueorgui Makharadze, a diplomat from the Republic of Georgia, pleaded guilty in Washington to charges stemming from a car crash that killed Maryland teen-ager Jovianne Waltrick. Makharadze was sentenced to seven years in prison; he initially served his term in a US prison, but was later transferred to Georgia, where he was paroled in 2002

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1997       
Former Soviet republics (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova) formed Guuam to seek cooperation outside Russian influence

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1997      
 Rocket-propelled grenades slammed the armor-plated Mercedes of Pres. Shevardnadze and 2 bodyguards were killed

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9-2-1998 
 In Tbilisi armed attackers ambushed Pres. Shevardnadze (70). One attacker and one bodyguard were killed

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19-2-1998
 Gunmen kidnapped 4 UN observers and 6 civilians and demanded the release of 7 suspects held for last week’s assassination attempt on Pres. Shevardnadze

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25-2-1998
 The UN prisoners were freed and the leader of the kidnapping group escaped.

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21-4-1998
 It was reported that the US and Britain have begun a secretive removal of nuclear materials near Tbilisi. Britain volunteered to accept the material

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25-5-1998 
 Fighting between Abkhaz forces and Georgian irregulars raged inside a Russian patrolled buffer zone despite an agreed 1993 cease-fire. Georgia later claimed that 100 people died and that 38,000 Georgians were driven from their homes

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19-10-1998
 In Georgia an army mutiny failed after 200 troops opposed to Pres. Shevardnadze surrendered. 4 rebels and one government soldier were killed

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29-10-1998
 Five nations endorsed the oil pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan committed to the 1,080 mile conduit with a push from the US

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24-12-1998 
 In Tbilisi, Georgia, gunmen killed Greek diplomat Anastasius Mizitrasos

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13-10-1999
 In Georgia gunmen seized 6 UN observers and a translator as they delivered aid to Abkhazia. 4 of the observers were released the next day and the ransom was raised to $350,000. The last of the hostages were released 2 days later

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8-11-1999
 Pope John Paul II stopped to "build new bridges" with the Orthodox Church and Patriarch Ilia II. Separately Prime Minister Shevardnadze's party won the recent parliamentary elections

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17-11-1999
 Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey agreed to a US-backed plan for a Caspian oil pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan to be completed in 2004. The 1st shipment was made in 2006

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23-11-1999 
 An agreement between Georgia and Russia was announced to cut the number of Russian forces over the next few years