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Georgia

Western Georgia was occupied by Greece around 500 BC. Christianity reached Georgia in the 4th century AD. The area was battle ground between Persian and Byzantine conquerors. By the 7th century Arabs had conquered and taken over the region.

Most of the Georgian principalities were united into one kingdom under Bagrat III, but Tbilisi remained an emirate of the Seljuk Turks. In 1122 David II drove the Seljuks out and recovered Tbilisi. The Georgian kingdom flourished until the 13th century when the Mongols invaded. Mongol incursions continued until the 15th century causing the disintegration of the Georgian kingdom and successful invasions by Iranians and the Ottoman empire. By the 16th century, Iran had won control over all Georgian territories.

In 1783 King Erekle II, a vassal of Iran, sought Russian help and protection against Iran. To regain control, Iran attacked and captured Tbilisi in 1795. In 1801 Russia deposed the king and annexed the eastern portion of Georgia to th Russian empire. By 1878 all of Georgia had been annexed by the Russian empire. After the collapse of the Russian empire in the revolution of 1917, independent Georgia re-emerged in May 1918. However, this independent Georgia would not last. Joseph Stalin, a Georgian and a Bolshevik, ordered the Russian Red Army invasion and occupation of Georgia in 1921, during the Russian Civil War. In 1936 Georgia became one of Soviet Socialist Republics within the Union of of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Georgia would remain part of the USSR until April 1991 when -- as the reformist policies of glasnost ('openness') and perestroika ('restructuring'), introduced by USSR leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, began to backfire -- the Georgian Supreme Soviet declared the independence of Georgia from the USSR.

Glasnost and perestroika had led to other parties being allowed to participate in the Georgian Supreme Soviet elections held in November 1990. Without its monopoly on power, the Communist Party of Georgia lost the election to the more popular Round Table-Free Georgia coalition, which a majority of the votes cast. The leader of the coalition, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, became chairman of the new legislature. The legislature declared Georgia independent in April and Gamsakhurdia was elected president of Georgia in May 1991.