Georgia in 1921-1945
In the 19th century Georgia was an independant kingdom.Its populationhad a sizeable Muslim population ,though its majority belonged to the Georgian Orthodox Church Georgia being a small country became involved in Turkish wars and in order to stop the turks ,the Russian Tsar occupied and annexed Georgia ,abolished its church ,its culture and replaced same with the Russian Orthodox church and Russian customs and culture . Even the name of Georgia was abolished,and its language was replaced with Russian
After occupation of Georgia by Lenin, Russian Communists took over and "Russified" the country. Privacy of lands was abolished. Industry, railways, fleet, banks etc. passed in the hands of the government. Massive shootings and exile of opposition became the order of the day Especially, former officers and representatives of nobility and intelligentsia were targeted . Atheism replaced religion . Communists destroyed churches, exterminated clergymen in the era 1922-1923 1500 churches were destroyed in Georgia.
There was anti-communist resistence ,but Russian imposed Government easily managed to localize and suppress it. Communists arrested rebellion leaders. Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia (it was officially called so by that time), was considered as an independent state at first, but its territory was occupied by Russian Army, and Georgian Communists acted only under Moscow orders. The plan for state construction of Soviet Georgia was made in Moscow, which would simplify its steps into the Soviet political and economical system.
Georgian SSR, in fact, was a federal state. At the end of 1921 on the ground of the Alliance Agreement, Abkhazia SSR (Autonomous Republic since 1931) entered its structure. There was created an Ajara Autonomous Republic on Georgia territory in 1921 and a South Ossetia Autonomous Region in 1922.
Georgia USSR itself with Azerbaijan and Armenia, by the proposal of Lenin in 1922, was made into a Transcaucasian Federation, which entered USSR, created at the end of the same year. In 1936 the Transcaucasia Federation was abolished, and the State of Georgia entered the Soviet Union structure.
From the second half of the 20s, swift processes in industrialization and collectivization began in the Soviet State, the aim of which was maximal strengthening of the existing regime. Lots of factories and hydroelectric power stations and mines were built in Georgia. Coal and Manganese was widely mined. Tea and citrus was planted for the huge Soviet market.Industries built at accelerated pace were of a low quality. Woods were cut and crops sewn .Monocultures were created in all regions thus losing the traditional Georgian many-sided agriculture.
Communist dogma ruled industrialization and collectivization as the main condition for socialism. In the 20-30s the amount of secondary and high educational institutions rose in Georgia. Science and Art developed. In 1940 there was established the Academy of Science of Georgia USSR. But from that very time the individual thinking abilities of the creative intelligentsia, literature and art representatives were reduced. Communist Dictatorship Ideology had to be obeyed . With the aim of frightening and weakening the population , Stalins government organised wide repressions in the second half of the 30s, which became especially massive in 1937-1938.
Georgia was one of those regions of the USSR, where the repressing engine was particularly active. During those years, thousands of innocent people in Georgia were shot , and even more were sent to "Gulag" camps, where most of them died . Among repressed people there were the best representatives of intelligentsia, including such remarkable representatives of Georgian culture, as writer M. Javakhishvili, poets T. Tabidze and P. Iashvili, stage-manager S. Akhmeteli, scientist-philologist Gr. Tsereteli, conductor E. Mikeladze etc. Villages were involved in the massive repressions as well, where thousands of peasants died from the public collectivization, which ended in that period.
The population of Georgia in 1940 was 3.6 million . 700,000 were drafted into the Russian Army 400,000 of them returned. The war divided Georgia ,some of its population fought for the Germans believing that Germany would restore Georgias independence, the vast majority fought in the Russian army. Wives took the place of husband soldiers in the factories .Arms and uniforms were produced . Soviet collective farms highly implemented agricultural and production plans. Georgia sheltered also many thousands of evacuated people from the territories, occupied by Nazis. In the famous resorts and medical institutions, wounded Soviet soldiers recouperated .Thus, the population of Georgia played an important role in that great victory, which was got in the struggle against Fascism by Soviet people.
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