History of Georgia (country)

The country of Georgia (Georgian: sakartvelo) was first unified as a single kingdom in 1008 AD, arising from the ancient predecessor states of Colchis and Iberia. The Kingdom of Georgia flourished and reached its Golden Age during the 10th to 13th centuries under King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great. Lasting for several centuries, the kingdom fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by the 1340s.

Throughout the early modern period, Georgia fell into decline as it clashed against various hostile empires, including Ottoman Empire and Persia. The kingdom's geopolitical situation further worsened after the Fall of Constantinople, which effectively marked the end of the Eastern Roman Empire, Georgia's traditional ally. As a result of these processes, by the end of the 15th century Georgia turned into an isolated, Christian enclave, surrounded by hostile Turco-Iranic neighbors with which it had little in common. Renewed incursions beginning in 1386 led to the final collapse of the kingdom by 1493.

Georgia’s geopolitical landscape began to shift in 1783, when the struggling Eastern Georgia forged an alliance with the Russian Empire. This led to the gradual, forced annexation of Georgia by Russia starting in 1801. Following Russia's collapse in 1917, Georgia established its first sovereign Republic under German and British protection; the First Republic was soon invaded by Bolshevik Russia and absorbed into the Soviet Union in 1922.

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