View source for South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast

{{short description|Autonomous region of the Soviet Union within the Georgian SSR from 1922 to 1990}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| conventional_long_name = South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast
| native_name = {{native name|os|Хуссар Ирыстоны автономон бӕстӕ}} <br>{{native name|ka|სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი}}<br>{{native name|ru|Юго-Осетинская автономная область}}
| common_name = South Ossetia
| subdivision = [[Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union|Autonomous oblast]]
| nation = the [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgian SSR]]
| p1 = Democratic Republic of Georgia
| flag_p1 = Flag of Georgia (1918-1921).svg
| s1 = South Ossetia
| flag_s1 = Flag of South Ossetia.svg
| s2 = Georgia (country){{!}}Georgia
| flag_s2 = Flag of Georgia (1990-2004).svg
| image_map = Georgian soviet republic1957 1991.png
| image_map_caption = Map of the Georgian SSR, 1957–1990. The South Ossetian AO is in the middle, highlighted in yellow.
| capital = [[Tskhinvali]]
| government_type = [[Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union|Autonomous Oblast]]
| date_start = 30 April
| year_start = 1922
| date_end = 10 December
| year_end = 1990
}}

The '''South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast''' ({{langx|ru|Юго-Осетинская автономная область|Yugo-Osetinskaya avtonomnaya oblast'}}; {{lang-ka|სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი|tr}}; {{langx|os|Хуссар Ирыстоны автономон бӕстӕ|Xussar Irystony avtonomon bæstæ}}) was an [[Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union|autonomous oblast]] of the [[Soviet Union]] created within the [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgian SSR]] on April 20, 1922. It was an ethnic enclave created for the Ossetians within Georgia by Soviets as a reward for their political loyalty during the 1921 [[Red Army invasion of Georgia|Soviet invasion of Georgia]].<ref>{{cite magazine|author=John Kohan|url=https://time.com/archive/6716965/hastening-the-end-of-the-empire/|title=Hastening The End of the Empire|magazine=Time Magazine|date=January 28, 1991}}</ref> Its autonomy was revoked on December 11, 1990 by the [[Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia|Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR]] after illegally holding [[1990 South Ossetian Supreme Soviet election|rival elections]], leading to the [[First South Ossetian War]]. Currently, its territory is controlled by the breakaway [[South Ossetia|Republic of South Ossetia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Конфликты в Абхазии и Южной Осетии: документы 1989-2006 гг.|url=https://mgimo.ru/library/publications/8431/|access-date=2021-05-09|website=Официальный сайт МГИМО МИД России}}</ref>

The population of the South Ossetian AO consisted mostly of ethnic [[Ossetians]], who made up roughly 66% of the 100,000 people living there in 1989, and Georgians, who constituted a further 29% of the population as of 1989.

==History==
{{See also|History of Ossetia}}

===Establishment===
Following the [[October Revolution|Russian revolution]],<ref>{{harvnb|Souleimanov|2013|p=99}}</ref> the area of modern South Ossetia became part of the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]].<ref name="Soulemanov 2013 112–113">{{harvnb|Souleimanov|2013|pp=112–113}}</ref> In 1918, [[Georgian–Ossetian conflict (1918–20)|conflict began]] between the landless Ossetian peasants living in [[Shida Kartli]] (Interior Georgia), who were influenced by [[Bolshevism]] and demanded ownership of the lands they worked, and the [[Mensheviks|Menshevik government]] backed ethnic Georgian aristocrats, who were legal owners. Although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic policies of the central government, the tension soon transformed into ethnic conflict.<ref name="Soulemanov 2013 112–113"/> The first Ossetian rebellion began February 1, 1918, when three Georgian princes were killed and their land was seized by the Ossetians. The central government of [[Tbilisi|Tiflis]] retaliated by sending the National Guard to the area. However, the Georgian unit retreated after they had engaged the Ossetians.<ref>{{harvnb|Saparov|2015|pp=66–89}}</ref> Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of [[Tskhinvali]] and began attacking ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]], but even so, were defeated. Between 3,000 and 7,000 Ossetians  were killed during the crushing of the 1920 uprising;<ref name="Soulemanov 2013 112–113"/> according to Ossetian sources ensuing hunger and epidemics were the causes of death of more than 13,000 people.

There was discussion to create a united republic for Ossetians, incorporating both North and South Ossetia. This was indeed proposed by Ossetian authorities in July 1925 to [[Anastas Mikoyan]], the head of the ''kraikom'' (Bolshevik committee in charge of the Caucasus). [[Sergo Orjonikidze]] had opposed incorporating the proposed state into Russia, fearing it would lead to unrest in Georgia, so Mikoyan asked Stalin about placing all of Ossetia within Georgia.<ref>{{harvnb|Marshall|2010|p=189}}</ref> Stalin initially approved, but later decided against it, fearing it would lead to other ethnic groups in Russia demanding to leave the RSFSR, which would destroy the federation. Thus South Ossetia was made subordinate to Georgia, while North Ossetia remained in the RSFSR.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2001|pp=397–398}}</ref>

===End of the South Ossetian AO===
In 1989, during the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], violent unrest broke out in [[Tskhinvali]] between the Georgian independence-minded population of the region and Ossetians loyal to the Soviet Union. In September 1990 [[Ossetian nationalism|Ossetian nationalists]] in the South Ossetia's regional soviet declared independence from Georgia by announcing "South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic" loyal to Moscow. After the [[1990 Georgian Supreme Soviet election|Georgia's October elections to the Supreme Soviet]], on December 11 1990, the autonomous oblast illegally held [[1990 South Ossetian Supreme Soviet election|rival elections]]. On 12 December, gunmen driving a car in [[Tskhinvali]] opened fire from a submachine gun, killing three Georgians and wounding two in what has been described as a terrorist attack and an act of ethnic violence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/12/13/ethnic-fighting-kills-3-in-soviet-georgia-region/ba121f7d-2ec7-4e66-ab94-26668587a485/|title=Ethnic Fighting Kills 3 in Soviet Georgia Region|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=13 December 1990}}</ref><ref name="cur">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/14/world/the-trade-decision-a-curfew-is-declared-in-the-soviet-caucasus.html|title=THE TRADE DECISION; A Curfew Is Declared In the Soviet Caucasus|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 December 1990}}</ref> The [[Supreme Soviet of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR]] responded to these illegal actions by annulling the autonomy of South Ossetia and declaring the state of emergency to restore order.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=John Kohan|url=https://time.com/archive/6716965/hastening-the-end-of-the-empire/|title=Hastening The End of the Empire|magazine=Time Magazine|date=January 28, 1991|quote=Fears are widespread that Moscow is creating a pretext for a military crackdown by inflaming unrest in the South Ossetian Autonomous Region, an ethnic enclave created for the Ossetians as a reward for their political loyalty after the Bolsheviks took control of the republic in 1921. Last September, as the rest of Georgia was moving toward independence, the South Ossetian regional council declared the area to be a "Soviet Democratic Republic" loyal to Moscow. The parliament in Tbilisi responded by dissolving the autonomous region altogether.}}</ref>

==Culture and society==
[[File:Soviet caucasus1922.png|thumb|Caucasus territory in 1922 with South Ossetia (center, marked dark green, bordered) and disputed territories claimed by it shown (marked dark green, non-bordered, numbered)]]
===Demographics===
The main ethnic group of the South Ossetian AO was the [[Ossetians]]. Throughout the entire existence of the region, the Ossetians represented a stable majority of over two-thirds of the population. Georgians constituted the only significant minority, with between 25 and 30% of the population. No other ethnic group constituted more than 3% of the total population.<ref name="Kolossov 5">{{harvnb|Kolossov|O'Loughlin|2011|p=5}}</ref> About half of all families in the region were of mixed Ossetian–Georgian heritage.<ref>{{harvnb|Zürcher|2007|p=124}}</ref> Considerable numbers of Ossetians lived elsewhere in Georgia as well, with upwards of 100,000 spread across the country.<ref name="Cornell 153">{{harvnb|Cornell|2001|p=153}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Ethnicity
! 1926
! 1939
! 1959
! 1979
! 1989
|-
| [[Ossetians]]
| 60,351 (69.1%)
| 72,266 (68.1%)
| 63,698 (65.8%)
| 66,073 (66.5%)
| 65,232 (66.2%)
|-
| [[Georgians]]
| 23,538 (26.9%)
| 27,525 (25.9%)
| 26,584 (27.5%)
| 28,125 (28.3%)
| 28,544 (29.0%)
|-
| [[Jews]]
| 1,739 (2.0%)
| 1,979 (1.9%)
| 1,723 (1.8%)
| 1,485 (1.5%)
| 396 (0.4%)
|-
| [[Armenians]]
| 1,374 (1.6%)
| 1,537 (1.4%)
| 1,555 (1.6%)
| 1,254 (1.3%)
| 984 (1.0%)
|-
| [[Russians]]
| 157 (0.2%)
| 2,111 (2.0%)
| 2,380 (2.5%)
| 1,574 (1.6%)
| 2,128 (2.2%)
|-
! Total
! 87,375
! 106,118
! 96,807
! 99,421
! 98,527
|-
! colspan="10" | Source:<ref name="Kolossov 5"/>
|}

===Language===
Most people in the South Ossetian AO spoke [[Ossetian language|Ossetian]], with smaller numbers using [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Georgian language|Georgian]]; all three were official languages of the region. Though Georgian was the language of the Georgian SSR, of which South Ossetia was part, most people in the South Ossetian AO did not speak the language; as late as 1989, only 14 per cent knew Georgian, and it was a proposal in August 1989 to make Georgian the only official language of public use that instigated the independence movement.<ref name="Cornell 153"/> Originally written in Cyrillic, Ossetian was switched to a Latin-based script in 1923, as part of the [[Latinisation in the Soviet Union|Latinization campaign of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{harvnb|Saparov|2015|p=144
}}</ref> This was abandoned in 1938, with nearly every Latinized language switching to a Cyrillic script. Ossetian and [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]] were the only exceptions; both used a Georgian script (only in South Ossetia; North Ossetia used Cyrillic). This policy lasted until 1953 when South Ossetia abandoned the Georgian script for a Cyrillic-based one.<ref>{{harvnb|Broers|2009|pp=109–110}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Administration of South Ossetia]]
* [[South Ossetian Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|3}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Citation|last=Birch|first=Julian|year=1996|editor-last=Wright|editor-first=John F.R.|editor-last2=Goldenberg|editor-first2=Suzanne|editor-last3=Schofield|editor-first3=Richard|title=Transcaucasian Boundaries|publisher=UCL Press Limited|location=London|chapter=The Georgian/South Ossetian territorial and boundary dispute|pages=150–189|isbn=1-85728-234-5}}
* {{Citation|last=Broers|first=Laurence|date=June 2009|title='David and Goliath' and 'Georgians in the Kremlin': a post-colonial perspective on conflict in post-Soviet Georgia|journal=Central Asian Survey|volume=28|issue=2|pages=99–18|doi=10.1080/02634930903034096|s2cid=144297310}}
* {{Citation|last=Cornell|first=Svante E.|authorlink=Svante Cornell|title=Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus|year=2001|publisher=Curzon Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-70-071162-8}}
* {{Citation|last=George|first=Julie A.|year=2009|title=The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York City|isbn=978-1-349-37825-8}}
* {{Citation|last=Hewitt|first=George|year=2013|title=Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|isbn=978-9-00-424892-2}}
* {{Citation|last=Jones|first=Stephen F.|author-link=Stephen F. Jones|date=October 1988|title=The Establishment of Soviet Power in Transcaucasia: The Case of Georgia 1921–1928|journal=Soviet Studies|volume=40|issue=4|pages=616–639|doi=10.1080/09668138808411783}}
* {{Citation|last1=Kolossov|first1=Vladimir|last2=O'Loughlin|first2=John|date=2011|title=Violence in the Caucasus: Economic Insecurities and Migration in the "De Facto" States of Abkhazia and South Ossetia|journal=Eurasian Geography and Economics|volume=52|issue=5|pages=1–24|doi=10.2747/1539-7216.52.5.1|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024}}
* {{Citation|last=Marshall|first=Alex|year=2010|title=The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule|publisher=Routledge|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-41-541012-0}}
* {{Citation|last=Martin|first=Terry|year=2001|title=The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, New York|isbn=978-0-80-143813-4}}
* {{Citation|last=Saparov|first=Arsène|year=2015|title=From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh|publisher=Routledge|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-41-565802-7}}
* {{Citation|last=Souleimanov |first=Emil|year=2013|title=Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London}}
* {{Citation|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|authorlink=Ronald Grigor Suny|year=1994|title=The Making of the Georgian Nation|edition=Second|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=978-0-25-320915-3}}
* {{Citation|last=Zürcher|first=Christoph|authorlink=Christoph Zürcher|year=2007|title=The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus|publisher=New York University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-81-479709-9}}
{{Refend}}

{{coord|42|20|N|44|00|E|display=title|region:GE_type:adm1st_source:GNS-enwiki}}
{{Autonomous Oblasts of the Soviet Union}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:South Ossetia]]
[[Category:Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1922]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1990]]