View source for Red Army invasion of Georgia

{{Short description|1921 invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Red Army invasion of Georgia
| partof            = the [[Southern Front of the Russian Civil War|Southern Front]] of the [[Russian Civil War]], [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union]] and [[Turkish War of Independence]]
| image             = Red Army in Tiflis Feb 25 1921.jpg
| image_size        = 300
| caption           = The Red Army in Tbilisi, 25 February 1921
| date              = 12 February – 17 March 1921<br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days |1921|02|12|1921|03|18}})
| place             = [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]
| result            = Soviet and Turkish victory
| combatant1        = {{flag|Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|name=Russian SFSR|1918}}<br/>{{flag|Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|name=Azerbaijan SSR|1920}}<br/>{{flagicon image|Armenian SSR Flag (1921 - 1922).png}} [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Armenian SSR]]
| combatant2        = {{flagicon|Democratic Republic of Georgia}} [[Democratic Republic of Georgia|Georgia]]<br>'''Supported by:'''<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg}} [[French Third Republic|France]] <small>(limited)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=28 თებერვალი, 1921: ფრანგული ფლოტის დახმარებით ქართულმა ჯარმა გაგრა წითლებისგან გაათავისუფლა|url=https://civil.ge/ka/archives/401804|access-date=1 June 2025|website=Civil Georgia}}</ref>
| combatant3        = {{flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823}} [[Government of the Grand National Assembly|Ankara Government]]
| commander1        = {{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Joseph Stalin]]<br/>{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Mikhail Velikanov]]<br/>{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Anatoly Gekker]]<br/>{{nowrap|{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Sergo Ordzhonikidze]]}}<br/>{{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Filipp Makharadze]]
| commander2        = {{nowrap|{{flagicon|Democratic Republic of Georgia}} [[Parmen Chichinadze]]}}<br/>{{flagicon|Democratic Republic of Georgia}} [[Giorgi Kvinitadze]]<br/>{{flagicon|Democratic Republic of Georgia}} [[Giorgi Mazniashvili]]<br/>{{flagicon|Democratic Republic of Georgia}} [[Valiko Jugheli]]
| commander3        = {{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Ottoman Empire|1823}} [[Kâzım Karabekir]]}}
| units1            = [[Red Army]]
* [[11th Army (RSFSR)|11th Army]]
* [[9th Army (RSFSR)|9th Army]]
* 98th Independent Rifle Brigade
* Soviet Armenian Mounted Brigade
* Red Baku Brigade
* [[Ossetians|Ossetian]] rebel forces
| units2            = [[Regular Army of the Georgian Democratic Republic|Regular Army]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=რეგულარული არმია საქართველოს დემოკრატიულ რესპუბლიკაში|url=https://www.nplg.gov.ge/wikidict/index.php/რეგულარული_არმია_საქართველოს_დემოკრატიულ_რესპუბლიკაში|access-date=12 May 2025 |website=The National Library of Georgia}}</ref> 
* 1st Rifle Division
* 2nd Rifle Division
* Independent Mountain Artillery Division
* 1st [[Sukhumi]] Border Regiment
* 2nd Border Regiment<br>
[[People's Guard of Georgia]]
| units3            = [[Turkish Land Forces|Army of the Grand National Assembly]]
* [[XV Corps (Ottoman Empire)|XV. Corps]]
| strength1         = 40,000 infantry<br/>4,300 cavalry<br/>900 Ossetian irregulars<br/>196 artillery pieces<br/>1,065 machine guns<br/>50 fighter aircraft<br/>7 armoured trains<br/>4 tanks<br/>24+ armoured cars<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.conflicts.rem33.com/images/Georgia/Soviet_Georgian_War21_E1.html|title=iveria|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>
| strength2         = 11,000 infantry<br/>400 mounted infantry<br/>hundreds from the [[People's Guard of Georgia]]<br/>46 artillery pieces<br/>several hundred machine guns<br/>56 fighter aircraft<br/><small>(including 25 [[Ansaldo SVA|Ansaldo SVA-10s]] and one [[Sopwith Camel]].)</small><br/>4 armoured trains<br/>several armoured cars<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.conflicts.rem33.com/images/Georgia/Soviet_Georgian_War21_E1.html#_ftnref5|title=iveria|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>
| strength3         = 20,000
| casualties1       = Unknown 
| casualties2       = Unknown killed, ~11,000 captured<ref>{{cite book |last=Mukhanov |first=Vadim M. |date=2019 |lang=ru |script-title=ru:Кавказ в переломную эпоху (1917-1921 гг.) |trans-title=The Caucasus in a critical era (1917-1921) |editor-last=Kolerov |editor-first=Modest |place=[[Moscow]] |publisher=Selecta |series=Humanitarian studies |isbn=978-5-905040-47-4 }} pp. 180-181</ref>
| casualties3       = 30 killed<br/>26 wounded<br/>46 missing<ref>Ayfer Özçelik: ''Ali Fuat Cebesoy: 1882-10 Ocak 1968'', publisher Akçağ, 1993, [https://books.google.com/books?ei=eMTMUJfDIoPatAa7wYHADw&sqi=2&hl=de&id=ylRpAAAAMAAJ&dq=Ali+Fuat+Cebesoy%3A+1882-10+Ocak+1968&q=%22Bu+arada+Batum%27da+T%C3%BCrk+Ordusu+4+subay%2C+22+er+%C5%9Fehit%2C+26+yaral%C4%B1+ve+46+kay%C4%B1p+vermi%C5%9Ftir.%22 page 206]. {{in lang|tr}}</ref>
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Russian Civil War}}
| territory         = Establishment of the [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]], [[Artvin Province|Artvin]] and [[Ardahan Province|Ardahan]] ceded to [[Turkey]], [[Lori Province|Lori]] ceded to the [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
}}
{{Southern Front of the Russian Civil War}}

The '''Red Army invasion of Georgia''' (12 February{{spnd}}17 March 1921), also known as the '''Georgian–Soviet War''' or the '''Soviet invasion of Georgia''',<ref name="Debo">Debo, R. (1992). ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921'', pp. 182, 361–364. McGill-Queen's Press. {{ISBN|0-7735-0828-7}}</ref> was a military campaign by the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian Soviet]] [[Red Army]] aimed at overthrowing the [[Social Democratic Party of Georgia|Social Democratic]] ([[Mensheviks|Menshevik]]) government of the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] (DRG) and installing a [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] regime ([[Communist Party of Georgia (Soviet Union)|Communist Party of Georgia]]) in the country. The conflict was a result of [[expansionist]] policy by the Russians, who aimed to control as much as possible of the lands which had been part of the former [[Russian Empire]] until the turbulent events of the [[World War I|First World War]], as well as the revolutionary efforts of mostly Russian-based Georgian Bolsheviks, who did not have sufficient support in their native country to seize power without external intervention.<ref>{{harvnb|Suny|1994|p=207}}</ref><ref>Sicker, M. (2001), ''The Middle East in the Twentieth Century'', p. 124. Praeger/Greenwood, {{ISBN|0-275-96893-6}}</ref><ref name="Hrono">{{cite web |title=Советско-грузинская война 1921 г. (Soviet-Georgian war of 1921) |work=Хронос ("Hronos")|url=http://www.hrono.ru/sobyt/1921gruz.html |access-date=2006-11-02|language=ru}}</ref><ref name="Kort">Kort, M (2001), ''The Soviet Colossus'', p. 154. M.E. Sharpe, {{ISBN|0-7656-0396-9}}</ref><ref>"Russia". (2006). In [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Retrieved 27 October 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: {{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-38559 |title=War Communism (From Russia) -- Encyclopędia Britannica |access-date=2006-11-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060107035533/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-38559 |archive-date=2006-01-07 }}</ref>

The independence of Georgia had been recognized by Russia in the [[Treaty of Moscow (1920)|Treaty of Moscow]], signed on 7 May 1920, and the subsequent invasion of the country was not universally agreed upon in [[Moscow]]. It was largely engineered by two influential Georgian-born Soviet officials, [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Sergo Ordzhonikidze]], who on 14 February 1921 received the consent of Russian leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] to advance into Georgia, on the pretext of supporting the alleged "peasants' and workers' rebellion" in the country. Russian forces took the Georgian capital [[Tbilisi]] (then known as ''Tiflis'' to most non-Georgian speakers) after heavy fighting and declared the [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]] on 25 February 1921. The rest of the country was overrun within three weeks, but it was not until September 1924 that Soviet rule was firmly established. Almost simultaneous occupation of a large portion of southwest Georgia by [[Government of the Grand National Assembly|Turkey]] (February–March 1921) threatened to develop into a crisis between Moscow and [[Ankara]], and led to significant territorial concessions by the Soviets to the Turkish National Government in the [[Treaty of Kars]].

== Background ==
After the [[February Revolution]] that began in Russia in 1917, Georgia effectively became independent.<ref>{{harvnb|Suny|1994|pp=185–190}}</ref> In April 1918 it joined with Armenia and Azerbaijan to form the [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic]], but left after one month and declared independence as the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] on 26 May, followed the next day by both [[First Republic of Armenia|Armenia]] and [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Azerbaijan]].<ref>{{harvnb|Suny|1994|pp=191–192}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carr|1950|pp=342–343}}</ref> Georgia engaged in small conflicts with its neighbouring states as it attempted to establish its borders, though it was able to maintain independence and de facto international recognition throughout the [[Russian Civil War]], including being recognized by [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] in the [[Treaty of Moscow (1920)|Treaty of Moscow]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gachechiladze|2012|pp=22–23}}</ref>

Despite relatively wide public support and some successful reforms, the Social Democratic leadership of Georgia failed to create a stable economy or build a strong, disciplined army capable of opposing an invasion.<ref>{{harvnb|Suny|1994|pp=207–209}}</ref> Although there were a significant number of highly qualified officers who had served in the [[Military history of the Russian Empire|Imperial Russian military]], the army as a whole was underfed and poorly equipped. A parallel military structure recruited from members of the Menshevik Party, the [[People's Guard of Georgia]], was better motivated and disciplined, but being a lightly armed, highly politicized organization dominated by party functionaries, had little usefulness as a combat force.

== Prelude to the war ==
{{History of Georgia (country)}}
[[File:Headquarter of Caucasus Army.jpg|thumb|left|Red Army Caucasus Front Headquarters, c. 1921. From left to right: [[Sergei Ivanovich Gusev]], [[Sergo Ordzhonikidze]], [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]], [[Valentin Trifonov]], uncertain. Two of the four named officers would be killed during [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]].<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://gvardiya.ru/mediacontent/temp/zhurnal_rodina_o_biografii_yurii__trifonov.pdf|title=ЮРИЙ ТРИФОНОВ:ВЕЛИКАЯ СИЛА НЕДОСКАЗАННОГО|last=Ėkshtut|first=Simon|date=September 2014|journal=Rodina|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118050738/http://gvardiya.ru/mediacontent/temp/zhurnal_rodina_o_biografii_yurii__trifonov.pdf |archive-date=2016-01-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>
]]
Since early 1920, local Bolsheviks had been actively fomenting political unrest in Georgia, capitalizing on agrarian disturbances in rural areas and also on inter-ethnic tensions within the country. The operational centre of the Soviet military-political forces in the [[Caucasus]] was the ''[[Kavbiuro]]'' (or Caucasian Office) attached to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party]]. Set up in February 1920, this body was chaired by the Georgian Bolshevik [[Sergo Ordzhonikidze]], with [[Sergey Kirov]] as his vice-chairman. The [[Sovietization]] of the Caucasus appeared to Bolshevik leaders to be a task which would be easier to achieve while the [[Allies of World War I|Allied powers]] were preoccupied with the [[Turkish War of Independence]];<ref name="Kedourie">Kedourie, S., editor (1998), ''Turkey: Identity, Democracy, Politics'', p. 65. [[Routledge]] (UK), {{ISBN|0-7146-4718-7}}</ref> furthermore, the [[Ankara]]-based Turkish national government of [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] had expressed its full commitment to close co-operation with Moscow, promising to compel "Georgia … and Azerbaijan … to enter into union with Soviet Russia … and … to undertake military operations against the expansionist Armenia."<ref name="Kedourie" /> The Soviet leadership successfully exploited this situation and sent in its army to occupy [[Baku]], the capital of the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]].

Following the establishment of Soviet rule in Baku in April 1920, Ordzhonikidze, probably acting on his own initiative, advanced on Georgia in support of a [[1920 Georgian coup attempt|planned Bolshevik coup]] in Tbilisi. When the coup failed, the Georgian government was able to concentrate all its forces on successfully blocking the Soviet advance over the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. Facing a [[Polish–Soviet War|difficult war]] with [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], Soviet leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] ordered a start to negotiations with Georgia. In the [[Treaty of Moscow (1920)|Treaty of Moscow]] signed on 7 May 1920, Soviet Russia recognized Georgia's independence and concluded a non-aggression pact. The treaty established the existing borders between the two nations ''[[de jure]]'' and also obliged Georgia to surrender all third-party elements considered hostile by [[Moscow]]. In a secret supplement, Georgia promised to legalize the local Bolshevik party.<ref name="Beichman">Beichman, A. (1991). ''The Long Pretense: Soviet Treaty Diplomacy from Lenin to Gorbachev'', p. 165. Transaction Publishers. {{ISBN|0-88738-360-2}}.</ref>

[[File:Headquarter of Civil Guard 1549.jpg|thumb|left|Georgian officers at the headquarters of the People's Guard in Tbilisi]]
Despite the peace treaty, an eventual overthrow of the Menshevik-dominated government of Georgia was both intended and planned.<ref>Erickson, J., ed. ''The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918–1941'' ( Routledge (UK), 2001, {{ISBN|0-7146-5178-8}}), p. 123</ref><ref>"Russian Civil War" in [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] (2006) Retrieved 27 October 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: {{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9064482 |title=Russian Civil War -- Encyclopędia Britannica |access-date=2006-11-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526225630/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9064482 |archive-date=2006-05-26 }}</ref> With its well-established diplomatic ties to several [[Europe]]an nations, and its control of strategic transit routes from the Black Sea to the Caspian, Georgia was viewed by the Soviet leadership as "an advance post of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]]". Stalin called his homeland "the kept woman of the Western Powers".<ref>Mawdsley, Evan (2007), ''The Russian Civil War'', p. 228. Pegasus Books, {{ISBN|1-933648-15-5}}</ref> Georgian independence was seen as a propaganda victory for exiled Russian Mensheviks in Europe; the Bolsheviks couldn't long tolerate a viable Menshevik state on their own doorstep.<ref name="Kort"/><ref>Pethybridge, RW (1990), ''One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward: Soviet Society and Politics in the New Economic Policy'', p. 254. [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|0-19-821927-X}}</ref>

The cessation of Red Army operations against Poland, the defeat of the [[White movement|White Russian]] leader [[Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel|Wrangel]], and the fall of the [[First Republic of Armenia]] provided a favorable situation to suppress the last independent nation in the [[Caucasus]] to resist Soviet control.<ref>Dench, G (2002), ''Minorities in the Open Society'', p. 87. Transaction Publishers, {{ISBN|0-7658-0979-6}}</ref> By that time, the [[United Kingdom|British]] expeditionary corps had completely evacuated the Caucasus, and the [[Western world|West]] was reluctant to intervene in support of Georgia.

[[File:Democratic Republic of Georgia (en).svg|300px|thumb|right|Map of the borders of the territory, which was proposed by the Georgian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 for inclusion in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, as well as the territories that after 1921 are part of neighboring states.]]

Soviet military intervention was not universally agreed upon in Moscow, and there was considerable disagreement among the Bolshevik leaders on how to deal with their southern neighbor. The [[Council of People's Commissars|People's Commissar]] of Nationalities Affairs, [[Joseph Stalin]], who by the end of the Civil War had gained a remarkable amount of bureaucratic power, took a particularly hard line with his native Georgia.<ref>{{Cite book|last =Wood|first =Alan|date =1990|title =Stalin and Stalinism|page = 22|publisher = Routledge |location = London|isbn = 0-415-03721-2|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=I9LX_SISEpkC&pg=PA22}}</ref> He strongly supported a military overthrow of the Georgian government and continuously urged Lenin to give his consent for an advance into Georgia. Soviet leadership had established a right to succession, but the precedence of the cause of socialism above national self-determination meant it was a flexible policy, and subject to debate.<ref>{{Cite book|last =Connor|first = Walker|date =1984|title =The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy|page = 46|publisher = Princeton University Press |location = Princeton, New Jersey|isbn = 0-691-07655-3}}</ref> The People's Commissar of War, [[Leon Trotsky]], strongly disagreed with what he described as a "premature intervention", explaining that the population should be able to carry out the revolution. Pursuant to his national policy on the right of nations to [[self-determination]], Lenin had initially rejected use of force, calling for extreme caution in order to ensure that Russian support would help but not dominate the Georgian revolution;<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Glossary of Events: Georgian Affair-1921 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Marxism]] |url=http://www.marxists.org/glossary/events/g/e.htm |access-date=2006-11-02}}</ref> however, as victory in the Civil War drew ever closer, Moscow's actions became less restrained. For many Bolsheviks, self-determination was increasingly seen as "a diplomatic game which has to be played in certain cases".<ref name="Kowalski">Kowalski, RI (1997), ''The Russian Revolution'', p. 175. Routledge (UK), {{ISBN|0-415-12437-9}}</ref>

According to Moscow, relations with Georgia deteriorated over alleged violations of the peace treaty, the re-arrest by Georgia of Georgian Bolsheviks, obstruction of the passage of convoys to Armenia, and a suspicion that Georgia was aiding armed rebels in the [[North Caucasus]].<ref name="Smith 1998">{{harvnb|Smith|1998|pp=519–544}}</ref>

==Red Army invasion==
The tactics used by the Soviets to gain control of Georgia were similar to those applied in Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1920, i.e., to send in the Red Army while encouraging local Bolsheviks to stage unrest; however, this policy was difficult to implement in Georgia,<ref>Phillips, S (2000), ''Lenin and the Russian Revolution'', p. 49. ca-print-harcourt_heinemann, {{ISBN|0-435-32719-4}}</ref> where the Bolsheviks did not enjoy popular support and remained an isolated political force.

On the night of 11–12 February 1921, at Ordzhonikidze's instigation, Bolsheviks attacked local Georgian military posts in the predominantly ethnic [[Armenians|Armenian]] district of [[Lori Province|Lori]] and the nearby village of [[Shaumiani|Shulaveri]], near the Armenian and Azerbaijani borders. Georgia had taken over the Lori "neutral zone" in a disputed Armeno–Georgian borderland on the pretext of defending the district and approaches to Tiflis in October 1920, in the course of the Armenian genocide, which was perpetrated by Turkey. The Armenian government protested, but was not able to resist.<ref>{{harvnb|Hovannisian|1996|pp=287–289}}</ref>

Shortly after the Bolshevik revolt, the Armenian-based Red Army units quickly came to the aid of the insurrection, though without Moscow's formal approval.<ref>Арутюнов, Аким Александрович ([[Akim Arutyonov|Arutyunov, Akim Aleksandrovich]]) (1999), Досье Ленина без ретуши. Документы. Факты. Свидетельства. (Lenin’s Dossier without Retouching. Documents, Facts, and Evidences). Moscow: Вече (Veche). {{ISBN|5-7838-0530-0}} (in Russian). See also an [http://www.rus-sky.org/history/library/arutnv1.htm abridged online version of the book].</ref> When the Georgian government protested to the Soviet envoy in Tbilisi, [[Aron Sheinman]], over the incidents, he denied any involvement and declared that the disturbances must be a spontaneous revolt by the Armenian communists.<ref name="Lang">{{harvnb|Lang|1962|pp=234–236}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks had already set up a Georgian Revolutionary Committee (Georgian ''[[Revolutionary committee (Soviet Union)|Revkom]]'') in Shulaveri, a body that would soon acquire the functions of a rival government. Chaired by the Georgian Bolshevik [[Filipp Makharadze]], the Revkom formally applied to Moscow for help.

Disturbances also erupted in the town of [[Dusheti]] and among Ossetians in northeast Georgia who [[Georgian–Ossetian conflict (1918–20)|resented]] the Georgian government's refusal to grant them autonomy. Georgian forces managed to contain the disorders in some areas, but the preparations for a Soviet intervention were already being set in train. When the Georgian army moved to Lori to crush the revolt, Lenin finally gave in to the repeated requests of Stalin and Ordzhonikidze to allow the Red Army to invade Georgia, on the pretext of aiding an uprising. The ultimate decision was made at the 14 February meeting of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of the Communist Party]]:

{{blockquote|The Central Committee is inclined to allow the [[11th Army (RSFSR)|11th Army]] to give active support to the uprising in Georgia and to occupy Tiflis provided that international norms are observed, and on condition that all members of the Military Revolutionary Council of the Eleventh Army, after a thorough review of all information, guarantee success. We give warning that we are having to go without bread for want of transport and that we shall therefore not let you have a single locomotive or railway track. We are compelled to transport nothing from the Caucasus but grain and oil. We require an immediate answer by direct line signed by all members of the Military Revolutionary Council of the Eleventh Army.<ref name="Kowalski" />}}

The decision to support the invasion was not unanimous. It was opposed by [[Karl Radek]] and was held secret from Trotsky who was in the [[Ural (region)|Ural]] area at that time.<ref>Brackman, R (2000), ''The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life'', p. 163. Routledge (UK), {{ISBN|0-7146-5050-1}}</ref> The latter was so upset by the news of the Central Committee decision and Ordzhonikidze's role in engineering it that on his return to Moscow he demanded, though fruitlessly, that a special party commission be set up to investigate the affair.<ref name="Smith 1998"/> Later Trotsky would reconcile himself to the accomplished fact and even defend the invasion in a special pamphlet.<ref>Deutscher, I. (2003), ''The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky: 1921-1929'', p. 41. Verso, {{ISBN|1-85984-446-4}}</ref>  This pamphlet by Trotsky is perhaps the best known book justifying the invasion. It was a rebuttal to [[Karl Kautsky]]'s work which declared Georgia to be a democratic socialist workers and peasants republic.<ref>[[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky, Leon]] (1922), [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1922-rw/index.htm Between Red and White: a study of some fundamental questions of revolution, with particular reference to Georgia (Social democracy and the wars of intervention)] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050204103454/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1922-rw/index.htm |date=2005-02-04 }}. ''[[Encyclopedia of Marxism]]''. Retrieved on 17 April 2007.</ref><ref>[[Karl Kautsky|Kautsky, Karl]] (translated by [[H. J. Stenning]]; 1921), [http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1921/georgia/index.htm Georgia: A Social-Democratic Peasant Republic – Impressions And Observations]. ''[[Encyclopedia of Marxism]]''. Retrieved on 17 April 2007.</ref>

===Battle for Tbilisi===

[[File:Orjonikidze telegram 1921. National Archives of Georgia.jpg|thumb|Orjonikidze's telegram to Lenin and Stalin: "The Red Flag of Soviet power flies over Tiflis..." (National Archives of Georgia)]]
At dawn on 16 February the main body of 11th Red Army troops under [[Anatoliy Gekker]] crossed into Georgia and started the ''Tiflis Operation''<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Большая советская энциклопедия (БСЭ) ([[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]) |edition=3 |year=1969–1978 |title=Тифлисская операция 1921 (Tiflis Operation of 1921) |url=http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/110/828.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070929135311/http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/110/828.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-09-29 |language=ru}}</ref> aimed at capturing the capital. Georgian border forces under General [[Stepane Akhmeteli|Stephen Akhmeteli]] were overwhelmed on the [[Khrami]] river. Retreating westward, the Georgian commander General Tsulukidze blew up railway bridges and demolished roads in an effort to delay the enemy's advance. Simultaneously, Red Army units marched into Georgia from the north through the [[Darial Gorge|Daryal]] and [[Mamison Pass|Mamisoni]] passes, and along the [[Black Sea]] coast towards [[Sukhumi]]. While these events were proceeding, the [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia)#Foreign Ministers of the Russian SFSR: 1917–23, 44–46, 59–91|Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs]] issued a series of statements disclaiming involvement by the Red Army and professing willingness to mediate any disputes which had arisen within Georgia.<ref name="Lang"/>

By 17 February, Soviet infantry and cavalry divisions supported by aircraft were less than 15 kilometers northeast of Tbilisi. The Georgian army put up a stubborn fight in defense of the approaches to the capital, which they held for a week in the face of overwhelming Red Army superiority. From 18 to 20 February, the strategic heights of [[Kojori]] and [[Tabakhmela]] passed from hand to hand in heavy fighting. Georgian forces under General [[Giorgi Mazniashvili]] managed to push the Soviets back inflicting heavy losses; they quickly regrouped and tightened the circle around Tbilisi. By 23 February, the railway bridges had been restored, and Soviet [[tank]]s and [[armoured train]]s joined in a renewed assault on the capital. While the armoured trains laid down suppressing fire, tanks and infantry penetrated the Georgian positions on the Kojori heights.<ref>For further details on the involvement of the Red Army armored trains in the Tiflis Operation, see Дроговоз И. Г. (Drogovoz, IG) (2002), [http://militera.lib.ru/tw/drogovoz1/02.html Крепости на колесах: История бронепоездов (Fortresses on wheels: History of armored trains)]. Минск ([[Minsk]]): Харвест (Harvest), {{ISBN|985-13-0744-0}} (in Russian)</ref> On 24 February, the Georgian commander-in-chief, [[Giorgi Kvinitadze]], bowed to the inevitable and ordered a withdrawal to save his army from complete encirclement and the city from destruction. The Georgian government and the Constituent Assembly evacuated to Kutaisi in western Georgia, which dealt the Georgian army a significant morale blow.

On 25 February, the triumphant Red Army entered Tbilisi. Bolshevik soldiers engaged in widespread looting.<ref name="Lang"/><ref>[[Sergei Melgunov|Melgunov, SP]] (1925), ''The Red Terror in Russia.'' JM Dent and Sons, London and Toronto. Russian translation: С. П. Мельгунов (2005). Красный террор в России. 1918-1923. Айрис-пресс, {{ISBN|5-8112-1715-3}}. Online version: {{cite web |url=http://zhurnal.lib.ru/l/lewashow_e_w/terrtxt.shtml |title=Доступ ограничен |access-date=2006-11-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522174749/http://zhurnal.lib.ru/l/lewashow_e_w/terrtxt.shtml |archive-date=2013-05-22 }}</ref> The [[Revolutionary committee (Soviet Union)|Revkom]] headed by [[Mamia Orakhelashvili]] and [[Shalva Eliava]] ventured into the capital and proclaimed the overthrow of the Menshevik government, the dissolution of the Georgian National Army and People's Guard, and the formation of a [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. On the same day, in Moscow, Lenin received the congratulations of his commissars – "The Soviet red flag is flying over Tbilisi. Long live Soviet Georgia!"

===Kutaisi Operation===
[[File:British Mark V-star Tank.jpg|thumb|The British [[Mark V tank]]s seized by the Red Army in the course of the Civil War and Foreign Intervention contributed to the Soviet victory in the battle for Tbilisi.<ref>Aksenov, A., Bullok, D (2006), ''Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: Red Army'', p. Osprey Publishing, {{ISBN|1-84176-545-7}}</ref>]]
Georgian commanders planned to concentrate their forces at the town of [[Mtskheta]], northwest of Tbilisi, and continue fighting on new lines of defense; the fall of the capital, however, had heavily demoralized the Georgian troops, and Mtskheta was abandoned. The army was gradually disintegrating as it continued its retreat westward, offering sometimes fierce but largely unorganized resistance to the advancing Red Army troops. Sporadic fighting continued for several months as the Soviets secured the major cities and towns of eastern Georgia.

The Mensheviks entertained hopes of aid from a [[French Navy|French naval squadron]] cruising in the Black Sea off the Georgian coast.<ref name="Lang"/> On 28 February, the French opened fire on the 31st Rifle Division of the 9th Red Army under V. Chernishev, but did not land troops. The Georgians managed to regain  control of the coastal town of [[Gagra]], but their success was temporary. Soviet forces joined by [[Abkhazians|Abkhaz]] peasant militias, the ''Kyaraz'', succeeded in taking Gagra on 1 March, [[New Athos]] on 3 March, and Sukhumi on 4 March; they then advanced eastward to occupy [[Zugdidi]] on 9 March and [[Poti]] on 14 March.<ref>{{Cite web |title=აფხაზეთის ფრონტი რუსეთ-საქართველოს 1921 წლის ომის დროს |url=https://www.nplg.gov.ge/wikidict/index.php/%E1%83%90%E1%83%A4%E1%83%AE%E1%83%90%E1%83%96%E1%83%94%E1%83%97%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1_%E1%83%A4%E1%83%A0%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9C%E1%83%A2%E1%83%98_%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A1%E1%83%94%E1%83%97-%E1%83%A1%E1%83%90%E1%83%A5%E1%83%90%E1%83%A0%E1%83%97%E1%83%95%E1%83%94%E1%83%9A%E1%83%9D%E1%83%A1_1921_%E1%83%AC%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1_%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9B%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1_%E1%83%93%E1%83%A0%E1%83%9D%E1%83%A1|access-date=1 June 2025|website=The National Library of Georgia}}</ref> 

The Georgians’ attempt to hold out near [[Kutaisi]] was spoiled by the surprise advance of a Red Army detachment from North Caucasia, which traversed the virtually impenetrable Mamisoni Pass through deep snow drifts, and advanced down the [[Rioni River|Rioni Valley]]. After a bloody clash at [[Surami]] on 5 March 1921, the 11th Red Army also crossed the [[Likhi Range]] into the western part of the country. On 10 March Soviet forces entered Kutaisi, which had been abandoned, the Georgian leadership, army and People's Guard having evacuated to the key Black Sea port city of [[Batumi]] in southwest Georgia. Some Georgian forces withdrew into the mountains and continued to fight.

=== Crisis with Turkey ===
{{main|Battle of Batumi}}
[[File:1921 Turkish-Georgian War.png|thumb|Map of Turkish invasion of Georgian-held territories February–March 1921]]
On 23 February, ten days after the Red Army began its march on Tbilisi, [[Kâzım Karabekir]], the commander of the [[Eastern Front (Turkey)|Eastern Front]] of the Turkish [[Turkish Land Forces#History|Army of the Grand National Assembly]], issued an ultimatum demanding the evacuation of [[Ardahan]] and [[Artvin]] by Georgia. The Mensheviks, under fire from both sides, had to accede, and the Turkish force advanced into Georgia, occupying the frontier areas. No armed engagements took place between the Turkish and Georgian forces. This brought the Turkish army within a short distance of still Georgian-held Batumi, creating the circumstances for a possible armed clash as the Red Army's 18th Cavalry Division under [[Dmitry Zhloba]] approached the city. Hoping to use these circumstances to their advantage, the Mensheviks reached a verbal agreement with Karabekir on 7 March, permitting the Turkish army to enter the city while leaving the government of Georgia in control of its civil administration.<ref name="Debo" /> On 8 March Turkish troops under Colonel Kizim-Bey took up defensive positions surrounding the city, leading to a crisis with Soviet Russia. [[Georgy Chicherin]], Soviet [[Council of People's Commissars|People's Commissar]] for Foreign Affairs, submitted a protest note to [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy]], the Turkish representative in Moscow. In response, Ali Fuat handed two notes to the Soviet government. The Turkish notes claimed that the Turkish armies were only providing security to  local [[Muslim]] elements put under threat by Soviet military operations in the region.<ref name="Kedourie" />
[[File:CRUSH GEORGIA, JOIN WITH TURKS; Red Army Effects Junction With Kemal's Troops After Overrunning the Republic.png|thumb|"Red Army Effects Junction With [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Kemal]]'s Troops After Overrunning the Republic" (''[[The New York Times]]'', 20 February 1921)]]

Despite Moscow's military successes, the situation on the Caucasus front had become precarious. Armenians, aided by the Red Army involvement in Georgia, [[February Uprising|had revolted]], retaking [[Yerevan]] on 18 February 1921. In the [[North Caucasus]], [[Dagestan]]i rebels continued to fight the Soviets. The Turkish occupation of Georgia's territories implied the near certainty of a Soviet–Turkish confrontation, and the Georgians repeatedly refused to capitulate. On 2 March Lenin, who feared an unfavorable outcome to the Georgian campaign, sent his "warm greetings to Soviet Georgia", clearly revealing his desire to bring hostilities to an end as quickly as possible. He emphasized the "tremendous importance of devising an acceptable compromise for a bloc" with the Mensheviks. On 8 March, the Georgian Revkom reluctantly proposed a coalition government, which the Mensheviks refused.<ref name="Debo" />
[[File:Red Army commander in Batum, 1921.jpg|thumb|Red Army commanders in Batum in March 1921]]
When the Turkish authorities proclaimed the annexation of Batumi on 16 March the Georgian government was forced to make a choice. Their hopes for French or British intervention had already vanished. France had never considered sending an expeditionary force, and the United Kingdom had ordered the [[Royal Navy]] not to intervene; furthermore, on 16 March the British and Soviet governments signed a trade agreement, in which [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[David Lloyd George|Lloyd George]] effectively promised to refrain from anti-Soviet activities in all territories of the former Russian Empire. Simultaneously, a [[Treaty of Moscow (1921)|treaty of friendship]] was signed in Moscow between Soviet Russia and the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey]], whereby Ardahan and Artvin were awarded to Turkey, which renounced its claims to Batumi.

The Turks, despite the terms of the treaty, were reluctant to evacuate Batumi and continued its occupation. Fearing permanent loss of the city to Turkey, Georgian leaders agreed to talks with the Revkom. In Kutaisi, Georgian Defense Minister [[Grigol Lordkipanidze]] and the Soviet plenipotentiary [[Avel Enukidze]] arranged an armistice on 17 March, and then, on 18 March, an agreement which allowed the Red Army to advance in force to Batumi.

Amid the ongoing Turkish-Soviet consultations in Moscow, the armistice with the Mensheviks allowed the Bolsheviks to act indirectly from behind the scenes, through several thousand soldiers of the Georgian National Army mobilized at the outskirts of Batumi and inclined to fight for the city. On 18 March, the remaining Georgian army under General Mazniashvili attacked Batumi and was engaged in heavy street fighting with the Turkish army. While the battle raged, the Menshevik government boarded an [[Regia Marina|Italian vessel]] and sailed into exile escorted by French warships. The battle ended on 19 March with the port and most of the city in Georgian hands. On the same day, Mazniashvili surrendered the city to the Revkom and Zhloba's cavalry entered Batumi to reinforce Bolshevik authority there.

The sanguinary events in Batumi halted the Russian-Turkish negotiations, and it was not until 26 September when the talks between Turkey and the Soviets, nominally including also the representatives of the [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Armenian]], [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijani]] and [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgian SSRs]], finally reopened in [[Kars]]. The [[Treaty of Kars]], signed on 13 October contained the provisions agreed upon in March and some other new territorial settlements just reached. In exchange for Artvin, Ardahan, and Kars, Turkey abandoned its claims to Batumi, whose largely [[Adjarians|Muslim Georgian]] population was to be [[Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|granted autonomy]] within the Georgian SSR.<ref name="Debo" />

== Aftermath ==
{{see also|August Uprising}}
{{see also|Georgian emigration in Poland}}
[[Image:Jason Kereselidze, Georgian anti-Soviet fighter.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jason Kereselidze]] was executed for resisting Soviet occupation, but his brother [[Leo Kereselidze]] continued Georgian nationalist activities in exile.]]
Despite the [[Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile|Georgian government's emigration]] and the demobilization of the National Army, pockets of guerrilla resistance still remained in the mountains and some rural areas. The invasion of Georgia brought about serious controversies among the Bolsheviks themselves. The newly established Communist government initially offered unexpectedly mild terms to their former opponents who still remained in the country. Lenin also favored a policy of conciliation in Georgia, where a pro-Bolshevik revolt did not enjoy the popular backing claimed for it,<ref name="Prophet Armed">Deutscher, I. (2003), ''The Prophet Armed: Trotsky: 1879-1921'', p. 393. [[Verso Books|Verso]], {{ISBN|1-85984-441-3}}</ref> and the population was solidly anti-Bolshevik.<ref>[[Robert Conquest|Conquest, R]] (1991), ''[[The Great Terror|The Great Terror: Reassessment]]'', p. 4. [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|0-19-507132-8}}</ref> In 1922, a strong public resentment over the forcible Sovietization indirectly reflected in the opposition of Soviet Georgian authorities to Moscow's centralizing policies promoted by [[Felix Dzerzhinsky|Dzerzhinsky]], Stalin and Ordzhonikidze. The problem, known in modern history writing as the "[[Georgian Affair]]", was to become one of the major points at issue between Stalin and Trotsky in the last years of Lenin's leadership<ref name="Prophet Armed"/> and found its reflection in [[Lenin's Testament|"Lenin's Political Testament"]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=V.I. Lenin. The Question of Nationalities or "Autonomisation" |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Marxism]] |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/testamnt/autonomy.htm |access-date=2006-11-02}}</ref>

The world largely neglected the violent Soviet takeover of Georgia. On 27 March 1921, the exiled Georgian leadership issued an appeal from their temporary offices in [[Istanbul]] to "all socialist parties and workers' organizations" of the world, protesting against the invasion of Georgia. The appeal went unheeded, though. Beyond passionate editorials in some Western newspapers and calls for action from such Georgian sympathizers as Sir [[Oliver Wardrop]], the international response to the events in Georgia was silence.<ref>[[Charles King (professor of international affairs)|King, Charles]] (2008), ''The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus'', p. 173. [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|0-19-517775-4}}.</ref>

In Georgia, an intellectual resistance to the Bolshevik regime and occasional outbreaks of guerrilla warfare evolved into a major [[August Uprising|rebellion in August]] 1924. Its failure and the ensuing wave of large-scale repressions orchestrated by the emerging Soviet security officer, [[Lavrentiy Beria]], heavily demoralized the Georgian society and exterminated its most active pro-independence part. Within a week, from 29 August to 5 September 1924, 12,578 people, chiefly [[Georgian nobility|nobles]] and intellectuals, were executed<ref>{{cite web |script-title=ru:ШЕСТАЯ ГЛАВА ИЗ "ЧЕРНОЙ КНИГИ КОММУНИЗМА" |url=http://referendym.narod.ru/blackbook.htm |access-date=2006-05-21|language=ru}}. A Russian translation of the Chapter 6 from Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panne, Jean-Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, [[Stéphane Courtois]], ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]: Crimes, Terror, Repression'', [[Harvard University Press]], 1999, hardcover, 858 pages, {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}}</ref> and over 20,000 exiled to [[Siberia]].<ref name="Lang" /> From that time, no major overt attempt was made to challenge Soviet authority in the country until a new generation of anti-Soviet movements emerged in [[1956 Georgian demonstrations|1956]].

== Assessment ==
[[Historiography in the Soviet Union|Soviet historians]] considered the Red Army invasion of Georgia a part of the larger conflict which they referred to as "the [[Russian Civil War|Civil War]] and [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Foreign Intervention]]". In early Soviet history writing, the Georgian episode was considered as a "revolutionary war" and is described in just this term in the first edition of the ''[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]''. Later, the term "revolutionary war" went out of fashion among Soviet writers, partly because it was not easy to distinguish from "aggression", in the Soviets' own definition of that word. Hence, the later Soviet histories put things differently. The Red Army intervention, according to the official Soviet version, was in response to a plea for help that followed an armed rebellion by Georgia's peasants and workers. This version exculpated Soviet Russia from any charge of aggression against Georgia by pointing out that the Georgians themselves asked Moscow to send the Red Army into their country, so as to remove their existing government and replace it with a communist one.<ref>Vigor, Peter Hast (1975), ''The Soviet View of War, Peace, and Neutrality'', pp. 77–78. Routledge, {{ISBN|0-7100-8143-X}}</ref>

Using its control over education and the media, the Soviet Union successfully created an image of a popular socialist revolution in Georgia. Most Georgian historians were not allowed to consult ''[[Spetskhran]]'', special restricted access library collections and archival reserves that also covered the "unacceptable" events in Soviet history, particularly those that could be interpreted imperialist or contradicted a concept of a popular uprising against the Menshevik government.<ref name="Beichman" />

The 1980s wave of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s ''[[glasnost]]'' ("openness") policy refuted an old Soviet version of the 1921–1924 events. The first Soviet historian, who attempted, in 1988, to revise the hitherto commonly accepted interpretation of the Soviet-Georgian war, was a notable Georgian scholar, [[Akaki Surguladze]], ironically the same historian whose 1982 monograph described the alleged Georgian worker revolt as a truly historical event.<ref name="Beichman" />

Under strong public pressure, the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] of the Georgian SSR set up, on 2 June 1989, a special commission for investigation of legal aspects of the 1921 events. The commission came to the conclusion<ref>largely based upon extensive studies conducted in the "Georgian Archive" of Houghton Library, [[Harvard University]], which has been opened for researchers since September 1988. [http://www.georgianweb.com/history/rus/avtandil/about2.htm]</ref> that "the [Soviet Russian] deployment of troops in Georgia and seizure of its territory was, from a legal point of view, a military interference, intervention, and occupation with the aim of overthrowing the existing political order."<ref>Ментешашвили, А (Menteshashvili, A) (2002), [http://www.georgianweb.com/history/rus/avtandil/chapter2.html Из истории взаимоотношений Грузинской Демократической республики с советской Россией и Антантой. 1918-1921 гг. (History of the Relations of the Democratic Republic of Georgia with Soviet Russia and the Entente of 1918-21)]</ref> At an extraordinary session of the [[Supreme Soviet]] of the Georgian SSR convened on 9 March 1990, the Soviet invasion of Georgia was officially denounced as "an occupation and effective annexation of Georgia by Soviet Russia."<ref>http://www.parliament.ge/files/426_5647_876510_5.pdf DECREE ISSUED AT THE 13TH EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF THE SUPREME
COUNCIL OF THE 11TH CONVOCATION OF THE GEORGIAN SSR on Guarantees for
Protection of State Sovereignty of Georgia</ref>

Modern Georgian politicians and some observers have repeatedly drawn parallels between the 1921 events and Russia's policy towards Georgia and Western Europe's reluctance to confront Russia over Georgia in the 2000s, especially during the [[Russo-Georgian War|August 2008 war]].<ref>[http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=17812 Saakashvili Urges for EU's Help]. ''[[Civil Georgia]]''. 2008-05-12.</ref><ref>[http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19304&search=1921 Saakashvili Address on Russia’s Abkhazia, S. Ossetia Recognition].'' Civil Georgia''. 2008-08-26.</ref><ref>[http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19015&search=1921 Georgia’s Statehood Under Danger, Resist Enemy Everywhere – Government Tells the Nation]. ''Civil Georgia''. 2008-08-10.</ref><ref>[[Eric Lee (labour organizer)|Lee, Eric]] (Autumn 2008), [http://www.democratiya.com/review.asp?reviews_id=189 Global Labor Notes / Russia invades – and the labour movement is silent] {{webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090725155459/http://www.democratiya.com/review.asp?reviews_id%3D189 |date=2009-07-25}}. ''[[Democratiya]]''.</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Tbilisi Defenders Memorial March 2021.jpg|thumb|Tbilisi Defenders Memorial March in 2021 – the annual march along the frontline.]]
On July 21, 2010, Georgia declared February 25 as [[Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)|Soviet Occupation Day]] to recall the Red Army invasion in 1921.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stratfor.com/sitrep/20100721_georgia_feb_25_declared_soviet_occupation_day|title=Georgia: 25 February Declared 'Soviet Occupation Day'|work=Stratfor|access-date=1 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307204303/http://www.stratfor.com/sitrep/20100721_georgia_feb_25_declared_soviet_occupation_day|archive-date=7 March 2012}}</ref> The Georgian parliament voted in favor of the government's initiative. The decision, endorsed unanimously by the [[Parliament of Georgia]] instructs the government to organize various memorial events every February 25 and to fly the national flag half-mast to commemorate, as the decision puts it, the hundreds of thousands of victims of political repressions of the Communist occupational regime.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=22536 |title=25 February Declared Day of Soviet Occupation |author=Civil Georgia |access-date=1 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803102741/http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=22536 |archive-date=3 August 2012 }}</ref>
{{Clear}}

== See also ==
*[[Svaneti uprising of 1921]]
*[[Military occupations by the Soviet Union]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite journal |last=Allen|first=WED |author-link=WED Allen |title=New Political Boundaries in the Caucasus |journal=Geographical Journal |date=May 1927 |volume=69 |pages=430–441 |issue=5 |doi=10.2307/1782090 |jstor=1782090|bibcode=1927GeogJ..69..430A }}
* {{in lang|fr}} Andrew Andersen et George Partskhaladze (1/2009), [http://rha.revues.org/index6463.html#abstract La guerre soviéto-géorgienne et la soviétisation de la Géorgie (février-mars 1921)]. ''Revue historique des Armées'', 254: 67–75
* {{Citation|last=Blank|first=Stephen|date=1993|title=The Soviet conquest of Georgia|journal=Central Asian Survey|volume=12|issue=1|pages=33–46|doi=10.1080/02634939308400798}}
* {{cite journal |editor=Anita L. Burdett |title=Caucasian Boundaries. Documents and Maps. 1802–1946 |journal=Central Asian Survey |date=1 June 2001 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=229–249 |url=http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&eissn=1465-3354&volume=20&issue=2&spage=229 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103193557/http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&eissn=1465-3354&volume=20&issue=2&spage=229 |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 January 2013 |doi=10.1080/02634930120073523 |s2cid=153281877 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{in lang|ru}} Борисова, И.Д. Российско-грузинские межреспубликанские связи 1917–1922 гг. / И.Д. Борисова // PANDECTAE: сб. ст. преподавателей, аспирантов и соискателей каф. гос.-правовых дисциплин юрид. фак. ВГПУ. – Владимир: Изд-во ВГПУ, 2004.
* {{Citation|last=Carr|first=E.H.|author-link=E. H. Carr|title=The Bolshevik Revolution 1917–1923|volume=I|publisher=MacMillan & Co.|location=London|year=1950}}
* {{Citation|last=Gachechiladze|first=Revaz|year=2012|editor-last=Jones|editor-first=Stephen F.|title=The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918–2012: The first Georgian Republic and its successors|publisher=Routledge|location=New York City|chapter=Geopolitics and foreign powers in the modern history of Georgia: Comparing 1918–21 and 1991–2010|pages=17–34|isbn=978-0-41-559238-3}}
* {{Citation|last=Hovannisian|first=Richard G.|author-link=Richard G. Hovannisian|year=1996|title=The Republic of Armenia, Vol. IV: Between Crescent and Sickle|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=0-520-08804-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/republicofarmeni0000hova}}
* {{Citation|author=Stephen F. Jones|author-link=Stephen F. Jones|title=The Establishment of Soviet Power in Transcaucasia: The Case of Georgia 1921–1928 |journal=[[Soviet Studies]] |date=October 1988 |volume=40 |pages=616–639 |issue=4 |doi=10.1080/09668138808411783 |jstor=151812}}
* {{Citation|last=Kazemzadeh|first=Firuz|author-link=Firuz Kazemzadeh|year=1951|title=The Struggle for Transcaucasia (1917–1921)|publisher=Philosophical Library|location=New York City}}
* Kautsky, Karl: ''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1921/georgia/ch08.htm Georgia: A Social-Democratic Peasant Republic - Impressions And Observations]''. International Bookshops Ltd., London [etc.] 1921.
* Keun, Odette (1924). ''In the Land of the Golden Fleece: Through Independent Menchevist Georgia''. London: John Lane.
* {{Citation|last=Lang|first=David Marshall|author-link=David Marshall Lang|year=1962|title=A Modern History of Soviet Georgia|publisher=Grove Press|location=New York City}}
* {{Citation|last=Smith|first=Jeremy|date=May 1998|title=The Georgian Affair of 1922. Policy Failure, Personality Clash or Power Struggle?|journal=Europe-Asia Studies|volume=50|issue=3|pages=519–544|doi=10.1080/09668139808412550}}
* {{Citation|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny|year=1994|title=The Making of the Georgian Nation |edition=Second |publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=978-0-253-20915-3}}
* Trotsky, Leon: [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1922/red-white/index.htm Between Red and White: A Study of Some Fundamental Questions of Revolution, with Particular Reference to Georgia]. Hyperion Press, Westport, Conn. 1975, {{ISBN|0-88355-189-6}}
* ''Communist Takeover and Occupation of Georgia''. "Special Report No. 6 of the Select Committee on Communist Aggression", [[United States House of Representatives]], 83rd Congress, 2nd session. 31 December 1954. [[Washington, D.C.]]: [[U.S. Government Printing Office]]. 1955.
* {{in lang|ru}} "Оккупация и фактическая аннексия Грузии". Документы и материалы. Сост. А. Ментешашвили, ред. А. Сургуладзе, Тбилиси, 1990.
{{Refend}}

{{Invasions of Georgia (country)}}
{{Georgia (country) topics}}
{{Russian Conflicts}}

[[Category:1921 in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1921]]
[[Category:Democratic Republic of Georgia]]
[[Category:February 1921]]
[[Category:Georgia (country)–Russia military relations]]
[[Category:Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
[[Category:Invasions by Soviet Russia (1917–1922)]]
[[Category:Invasions of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:March 1921 in Europe]]
[[Category:Georgia (country) in the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:Turkish involvement in the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:Armenia in the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:Azerbaijan in the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:France–Georgia (country) relations]]
[[Category:Soviet military occupations]]
[[Category:French involvement in the Russian Civil War]]