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{{Short description|1783 treaty between the Russian Empire and the Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti}}
{{Infobox Treaty
| name                = Treaty of Georgievsk
| long_name           =  
| image               = Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783 (Esadze, 1913).JPG
| image_width         = 180px
| border              = yes
| caption             = A photograph of the Georgian version of the Treaty of Georgievsk with [[Heraclius II of Georgia|Heraclius II]]'s signature and seal, c. 1913
| date_drafted        =
| date_signed         = July 24, 1783
| location_signed     = [[Georgiyevsk]], [[Russian Empire]]
| date_sealed         = 1784
| date_effective      = 1784
| condition_effective = 
| date_expiration     =
| signatories         = 
* [[File:Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti.svg|25px]] [[Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti]]
* {{flag|Russian Empire}}
| wikisource          = Treaty of Georgievsk
}}

The '''Treaty of Georgievsk''' ({{langx|ru|Георгиевский трактат|Georgievskiy traktat}}; {{lang-ka|გეორგიევსკის ტრაქტატი|tr}}) was a [[Bilateralism|bilateral]] treaty concluded between the [[Russian Empire]] and the east [[Georgians|Georgian]] kingdom of [[Kartli-Kakheti]] on July 24, 1783.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.westminster.edu/staff/martinre/Treaty.html|title = Art}}</ref> The treaty established eastern Georgia as a [[protectorate]] of Russia, which guaranteed its territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning [[Bagrationi dynasty]] in return for prerogatives in the conduct of Georgian foreign affairs.<ref name="anch">Anchabadze, George, Ph.D. History of Georgia. [http://www.parliament.ge/pages/archive_en/history/his8.html Georgia in the Beginning of Feudal Decomposition. (XVIII cen.)]. Retrieved 5 April 2012.</ref> By this, eastern Georgia abjured any form of dependence on [[Persia]] (who had been its [[suzerain]] for centuries) or another power, and every new Georgian monarch of Kartli-Kakheti would require the confirmation and [[investiture]] of the Russian [[tsar]].

==Terms==
Under articles I, II, IV, VI, and VII of the treaty's terms, [[Catherine the Great|Russia's empress]] became the official and sole [[suzerainty|suzerain]] of Kartli-Kakheti's rulers, guaranteeing the Georgians’ internal sovereignty and territorial integrity, and promising to "regard their enemies as Her enemies" <ref name="treaty">''[http://www.westminster.edu/staff/martinre/Treaty.html Treaty of Georgievsk, 1783]''. PSRZ, vol. 22 (1830), pp. 1013–1017. Translated from the Russian by Russell E. Martin, Ph.D., Westminster College.</ref>
Each of the Georgian kingdom's [[tsar]]s would henceforth be obliged to swear allegiance to Russia's [[emperors]], to support Russia in war, and to have no diplomatic communications with other nations without Russia's prior consent.

Given Georgia's history of invasions from the south, an alliance with Russia may have been seen as the only way to discourage or resist [[Persian Empire|Persian]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] aggression, while also establishing a link to [[Western Europe]].<ref name="anch"/> In the past, Georgian rulers had not only accepted formal domination by Turkish and Persian emperors, but had also often converted to Islam, and sojourned at their capitals. Thus it was neither a break with Georgian tradition nor a unique capitulation of independence for Kartli-Kakheti to trade [[vassal]]age for peace with a powerful neighbor.<ref name="anch"/> Though Orthodox Christian, Russia was otherwise culturally alien,{{sfn|Perry|2006|pp=108–109}} in the treaty's [[preamble]] and article VIII the bond of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] between Georgians and Russians was acknowledged, which tied the two, and Georgia's [[primate (bishop)|primate]], the [[Catholicos]], became Russia's eighth permanent [[archbishop]] and a member of Russia's [[Holy Synod]].

{{multiple image
| footer    = Signatories of the Treaty of Georgievsk: Catherine II of the Russian Empire and Heraclius II of Kartli-Kakheti
| total_width = 350

| image1    = Catherine_II_by_F.Rokotov_after_Roslin_(c.1770,_Hermitage).jpg
| alt1      = Catherine II of the Russian Empire

| image2    = Heraclius II of Eastern Georgia.jpg
| alt2      = Heraclius II of Kartli-Kakheti
}}

Other treaty provisions included mutual guarantees of an open border between the two [[realm]]s for travelers, [[emigration|emigrants]] and merchants (articles 10, 11), while Russia undertook "to leave the power for internal administration, law and order, and the collection of taxes [under the] complete will and use of His Serene Highness the Tsar, forbidding [Her Majesty’s] Military and Civil Authorities to intervene in any [domestic laws or commands]".
(article VI).<ref name="treaty"/> Article III created an [[investiture]] ceremony whereby the Georgian kings of Kartli-Kakheti, upon swearing [[fealty]] to Russia's emperors, would receive the [[crown jewels of Georgia|royal regalia]].{{cn|date=July 2018}}

The treaty was negotiated on behalf of Russia by [[Lieutenant-General]] [[Pavel Potemkin]], commander of Russia's troops in [[Astrakhan]] and a delegate and cousin of General Prince [[Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin]], who was the official Russian [[plenipotentiary]]. Kartli-Kakheti's official delegation consisted of a [[Kartli]]an and a [[Kakheti]]an, both of high rank: [[Ioane, Prince of Mukhrani]], (referred to in the Russian version of the treaty as "Prince Ivan Konstantinovich Bagration"), Constable of the Left-Hand Army and son-in-law of the Georgian king, and [[Adjutant-General]] [[Garsevan Chavchavadze]], Governor of Kazakhi (''aka'' Prince Garsevan Revazovich Chavchavadze, member of a Kakhetian princely family of the third rank, [[vassal]]s of the [[Abashidze]] princes).  These emissaries officially signed the treaty at the fortress of [[Georgiyevsk|Georgievsk]] in the [[North Caucasus]] on July 24, 1783.{{cn|date=July 2018}} The Georgian King [[Erekle II]] and the Empress [[Catherine the Great]] then formally [[ratification|ratified]] it in 1784.{{cn|date=July 2018}}

==Aftermath==
[[File:Roubaud. Russian troops entering Tiflis in 1799.JPG|thumb|''Entrance of the Russian troops in Tiflis on November 26, 1799''. A painting by [[Franz Roubaud]], 1886.]]
[[File:Caucasus map 1799.png|thumb|The Caucasian states and territories in 1799.]]

The results of the Treaty of Georgievsk proved disappointing for the Georgians.<ref name="anch"/> King Erekle's adherence to it prompted Persia's new ruler, [[Agha Mohammad Khan]], who had sent several ultimatums, to invade, as he sought to re-establish Persia's traditional suzerainty over the region.{{sfn|Kazemzadeh|1991|pages=328–330}} Russia did nothing to help the Georgians during the disastrous [[Battle of Krtsanisi]] in 1795, which left [[Tbilisi]] sacked and Georgia ravaged (including the west Georgian kingdom of [[Imereti]], ruled by Erekle II's grandson, King [[Solomon II of Imereti|Solomon II]]). Belatedly, [[Catherine the Great|Catherine]] declared war on Persia and sent an army to [[Transcaucasia]]. But her death shortly thereafter (November 1796) put an end to Russia's [[Persian Expedition of 1796]], as her successor, [[Paul I of Russia|Paul]], turned to other strategic [[Indian March of Paul|objectives]]. Persia's [[Shahanshah]] next contemplated the removal of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Christian]] population from eastern Georgia and eastern [[Armenia]], launching the campaign from [[Nagorno-Karabakh|Karabagh]]. His goal was frustrated not by Russian resistance, but by a Persian [[assassination|assassin]] in 1797.{{cn|date=July 2018}}

On January 14, 1798, King [[Erekle II]] was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son, [[George XII of Georgia|George XII]] (1746–1800) who, on February 22, 1799, recognized his own eldest son, [[Tsarevich]] David (''[[David Bagrationi|Davit Bagrationi-batonishvili]]''), 1767–1819, as official [[heir apparent]]. In the same year Russian troops were stationed in Kartli-Kakheti. Pursuant to article VI of the treaty, Emperor Paul confirmed David's claim to [[reign]] as the next king on April 18, 1799. But strife broke out among King George's many sons and those of his late father over the throne, Erekle II having changed the succession order at the behest of his third wife, Queen [[Darejan Dadiani]], to favor the accession of younger brothers of future kings over their own sons. The resulting dynastic upheaval prompted King George to secretly invite Paul I to invade Kartli-Kakheti, to subdue the Bagratid princes, and to govern the kingdom from [[Saint Petersburg|St. Petersburg]], on the condition that George and his descendants be allowed to continue to reign nominally – in effect, offering to mediatize the Bagratid dynasty under the [[Romanov]] emperors.<ref>Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, 1980, "Burke's Royal Families of the World: ''Volume II Africa & the Middle East'', page 59 {{ISBN|0-85011-029-7}}</ref> Continued pressure from Persia, also prompted George XII's request for Russian intervention.<ref name="Tsag">{{cite book |title = Charters and other historical documents of the XVIII century regarding Georgia|last = Tsagareli|first = A|year = 1902|pages = 287–288}}</ref>

Paul tentatively accepted this offer, but before negotiations could be finalized changed his mind and issued a decree on December 18, 1800, [[annexation|annex]]ing Kartli-Kakheti to Russia and deposing the Bagratids.<ref name="britannica.com">[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/230341/Treaty-of-Georgievsk Encyclopædia Britannica, "Treaty of Georgievsk", 2008, retrieved 2008-6-16]</ref> Paul himself died shortly thereafter. It is said that his successor, Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]], considered retracting the annexation in favor of a Bagratid heir, but being unable to identify one likely to retain the crown, on September 12, 1801, Alexander proceeded to confirm annexation.<ref name="britannica.com"/> Meanwhile, King George had died on December 28, 1800, before learning that he had lost his throne. By the following April, Russian troops took control of the country's administration, and in February 1803, Tsarevich David Bagrationi was escorted by Russian troops from Tbilisi to St. Petersburg. He was pensioned, joined the Russian [[Senate]], and retained his royal [[style (manner of address)|style]] until May 6, 1833, when he was demoted from ''tsarevich'' (the Russian equivalent of ''[[batonishvili]]'') to "prince" (''[[knyaz]]''), along with other members of the deposed dynasty, following an abortive uprising in Georgia led by David's uncle, Prince [[Alexandre Bagrationi]]. {{cn|date=July 2018}}

The Russians then ended the [[Russo-Persian War (1804–13)|Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813]] with a victory. By the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] (1813), [[Qajar Persia]] was forced to officially cede eastern Georgia to the Russian Empire.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|pages=348–349}}

Paul's annexation of east Georgia and exile of the Bagratids remain controversial: [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] historians would later maintain that the treaty was an act of "brotherhood of the Russian and Georgian peoples" that justified annexation to protect Georgia both from its historical foreign persecutors and its "[[decadence|decadent]]" native dynasty. Nonetheless, no [[bilateralism|bilateral]] amendment had been ratified altering article VI sections 2 and 3 of the 1784 treaty, which obligated the Russian emperor "to preserve His Serene Highness Tsar Irakli Teimurazovich and the Heirs and descendants to his House, uninterrupted on the Throne of the Kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti...forbidding [Her Majesty’s] Military and Civil Authorities to intervene in any [domestic laws or commands]."<ref name="treaty"/>

==Legacy==
[[File:Commemorative medal 'Treaty of Georgievsk 1783'. Russia, 1790 02.jpg|thumb|A 1790 Russian medal commemorating the treaty.]]
[[File:1983 CPA 5428.jpg|thumb|A 1983 Soviet stamp commemorating the 200-years anniversary of the treaty and celebrating it as "the first manifesto of the friendship and brotherhood between the Russian and Georgian peoples."]]

Ironically, that clause of the treaty would also be recalled during obscure late 20th century debates about restoration of the Russian monarchy.<ref name="eilers">Eilers, Marlene A., ''Queen Victoria's Descendants, Companion Volume''. Rosvall Royal Books, Falköping, Sweden, 2004. pp. 79–84. {{ISBN|91-630-5964-9}}.</ref> In 1948, [[Vladimir Kirillovich, Grand Duke of Russia|Vladimir Kirillovich]] Romanov, (1917–1992), pretender to Russia's throne, married Princess [[Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Moukhranskaya]], (born 1914), a descendant of  the ''Mukhranbatoni'' who negotiated the 1783 treaty, and thus a member of the once royal House of Bagrationi. The marriage produced an only child, [[Maria Vladimirovna of Russia|Maria Vladimirovna]], (born 1956), who has taken up her father's claim as Russia's ''[[de jure]]'' monarch. She and her son, [[George Mikhailovitch of Russia|George]] (born of her former marriage to [[Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia]]), have pretended to the Romanovs’ old grand ducal title. Her supporters argue that her father's marriage to Leonida, alone among those contracted by Romanov males in exile since 1917, complied with the [[Romanov house law]] that required marriage to a princess of a "royal or ruling family" in order for descendants to claim the throne.<ref name="eilers"/> That law also provided that upon extinction of all male [[dynasty|dynasts]], female Romanovs born of dynastic mothers become eligible to inherit the crown.<ref name="eilers"/> Based on this rationale, Maria purports to have the strongest legal claim to the Russian throne in the event that Russia ever restores its monarchy.<ref name="eilers"/>

Critics deny that Princess Leonida could be reckoned of royal rank by Romanov standards (the title of ''[[prince]]'' was one of [[nobility]], not [[dynasty]] in Russia, except in the [[royal family|imperial family]]).<ref name="eilers"/> They point out that the Bagration-Mukhranskys were demoted from [[dynasty|dynastic]] status and incorporated into Russia's ordinary nobility by 1833: Though the princess descended [[patrilineality|patrilineally]] from a dynasty that had ruled as kings in [[Armenia]] and Georgia since the [[Middle Ages]], it had been reduced to the status of Russian nobility for over a century prior to the [[October Revolution|Russian Revolution]]. Leonida's branch of the Bagratids, although [[primogeniture|genealogically senior]], had not been [[regnant]] in the male line as kings of Georgia since 1505.<ref>[[Cyril Toumanoff]], "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratides and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia". Traditio. Volume VII, Fordham University Press, New York 1949–1951, pp. 169–221</ref> Members of the family accepted court appointments under Russia's emperors incompatible with claims to dynastic dignity. Moreover, when an imperial Romanov princess wed Prince Constantine Bagration-Mukhransky in 1911, the marriage was officially deemed non-[[Dynasty#Dynasts|dynastic]] by [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]],<ref>[https://archive.today/20001015181135/http://www.permonline.ru/~museum/romanov/fond/0006.htm Frederiks, Baron V., Letter to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, 1911-06-04, State Archives of the Russian Federation, Series 604, Inventory 1, File 2143, pages 58–59, retrieved 2008-11-04]</ref> and the bride, [[Princess Tatiana Constantinovna of Russia|Tatiana Konstantinova Romanova]], was obliged to renounce her succession rights.{{CN|date=November 2021}}

While these facts are admitted, it is counter-argued that the demotion of the Bagratids, including the Mukhrani branch, violated the ''Treaty of Georgievsk'' and therefore failed to legally deprive any [[Bagrationi Dynasty|Bagrationi]] of royal rank.<ref name="eilers"/> That fact, it is claimed, distinguishes Leonida from princesses of other once-[[Sovereignty|sovereign]] families of the Russian Empire who married Romanovs. Nonetheless, it was the [[agnatic seniority]] of the ''Mukhranbatoni''’s descent from Georgia’s former kings, rather than the broken treaty, that Vladimir Kirilovich [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.talk.royalty/msg/a32c7dfaeacbffaf?hl=en& cited in a 1946 decree] recognizing the Bagration-Mukhranskys as dynastic for marital purposes,<ref name="eilers"/> presumably so as to avoid [[wikt:repudiation|repudiating]] the [[Russian Empire]]'s annexation of Georgia.{{cn|date=July 2018}}

The language of article VI guaranteed the Georgian throne not only to King Erekle II and his direct issue, but also embraced "the Heirs and descendants to his House".<ref name="treaty"/><ref name="eilers"/> On the other hand, article IX offered to extend no more than "the same privileges and advantages granted to the Russian nobility" to Georgia's princes and nobles.<ref name="treaty"/> Yet first on the list of families submitted to Russia to enjoy noble (''not'' royal) status was that of the ''Mukhran[[batoni (title)|batoni]]''. That list included twenty-one other princely families and a larger number of untitled nobles, most of whom were enrolled in Russia's nobility during the 19th century. The claims made on Maria's behalf have long embittered Romanov descendants who belong to the [[Romanov Family Association]]. Many of them descend [[matrilineality|matrilineally]] from noble Russian princesses, some of whose families were also of "dynastic" origin, but cannot claim that a Treaty of Georgievsk has "preserved" their "[[dynasty#Dynasts|dynasticity]]".{{cn|date=July 2018}}

[[File:Devils Valley.jpg|thumb|The Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument, built for the bicentennial of the treaty]]

In 1983, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] authorities celebrated the [[200 (number)|bicentennial]] of the '''Treaty of Georgievsk''', provoking protests from [[anti-Soviet]] Georgian [[dissident]]s. In this period, several monuments were erected to commemorate the treaty, among them the [[Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument]] along the [[Georgian Military Road]]. Georgia's underground [[Samizdat]] publication, ''Sakartvelo'' (საქართველო), dedicated a special issue to the event, emphasizing imperial Russia's disregard of the key agreements in the treaty. Underground political groups disseminated leaflets calling on Georgians to [[boycott]] the celebrations, and several young Georgian activists were arrested by the Soviet police.<ref>{{in lang|ru}} Алексеева, Людмила (1983), [http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/alexeewa/ Грузинское национальное движение]. In: [http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/alexeewa/ История Инакомыслия в СССР]. Accessed on April 3, 2007.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last=Kazemzadeh|first=Firuz|chapter=Iranian relations with Russia and the Soviet Union, to 1921|title=The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. '''7''')|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0521200950| editor-given1 = Peter | editor-surname1 = Avery | editor-given2 = Gavin | editor-surname2 = Hambly | editor-given3 = Charles | editor-surname3 = Melville }}
* {{cite book|last1=Mikaberidze|first1=Alexander|title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1442241466|edition=2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Perry|first1=John R.|title=Karim Khan Zand|date=2006|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=978-1851684359}}
* {{in lang|en}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927030932/http://iberiana.iatp.ge/georgia.htm Anchabadze, Dr. George. ''History of Georgia''] 
* Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. 1980 "Burke’s Royal Families of the World: ''Volume II Africa & the Middle East''", {{ISBN|0-85011-029-7}}

==Further reading==
* [[David Marshall Lang]]: ''The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy: 1658–1832''. [[Columbia University Press]], New York 1957.
* Nikolas K. Gvosdev, ''Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia: 1760–1819''. Macmillan [u.a.], Basingstoke [u.a.] 2000, {{ISBN|0-312-22990-9}}.
* "Traité conclu en 1783 entre Cathérine II. impératrice de Russie et Iracly II. roi de Géorgie". ''Recueil des lois russes''; vol. XXI, No. 15835, Avec une préface de M. Paul Moriaud, Professeur de da Faculté de Droit de l'université de Genève, et commentaires de A. Okouméli, Genève 1909.
* [[Zurab Avalishvili|Zurab Avalov]], ''Prisoedinenie Gruzii k Rossii''. Montvid, S.-Peterburg 1906.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource}}
* [http://www.westminster.edu/staff/martinre/Treaty.html Treaty of Georgievsk (Translated from the Russian by Russell E. Martin, Westminster College)]
*''The Portfolio; A Collection of State Papers, and other Document and Correspondence, Historical, Diplomatic, and Commercial'', Vol. V, [https://archive.org/details/portfoliooracol07portgoog/page/n223 <!-- pg=209 quote=Heraclius Georgian. --> pp. 206–209]. London: 1837

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty Of Georgievsk}}
[[Category:1783 treaties|Georgievsk]]
[[Category:1780s in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:1783 in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Treaties of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti|Georgievsk]]
[[Category:Treaties of the Russian Empire|Georgievsk]]
[[Category:1780s establishments in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Georgia (country)–Russia relations]]
[[Category:Bilateral treaties of Russia]]