| Treaty Of Georgievsk |
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The Treaty of Georgievsk ( kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti as a Protectorate under Suzerainty of the Russian Empire , and defined the mutual rights and obligations of the two countries toward each other in 1783. {Link without Title} THE TREATY Under articles I, II, IV, VI and VII of the treaty’s terms, Russia’s empress became the official and sole suzerain of Kartli-Kakheti’s rulers, guaranteeing the Georgians’ internal sovereignty and territorial integrity, and promising to "regard their enemies as Her enemies" {Link without Title} . 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 between Georgians and Russians was acknowledged, and Georgia’s Primate , the Catholicos , became Russia’s eighth, permanent Archbishop and a member of Russia’s Holy Synod . Other treaty provisions included mutual guarantees of an open border between the two Realm s for travelers, Emigrants and merchants (articles 10, 11), while Russia undertook to refrain from intervening, militarily or civilly, with Kartli-Kakheti’s internal affairs or taxing authority (article VI). Article III created an Investiture ceremony whereby the Georgian kings, upon swearing Fealty to Russia’s emperors, would receive in return such tokens of respect as a sword, Scepter and Ermine mantle. The treaty was negotiated on behalf of Russia by in the North Caucasus on July 24, 1783. It was then formally ratified by the Georgian King Erekle II and Empress Catherine The Great in 1784. AFTERMATH The results of the Treaty of Georgievsk proved disappointing for the Georgians. {Link without Title} King Erekle’s adherence to it prompted Persia’s new ruler, Agha Mohammad Khan , to invade. 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 ). Belatedly, Catherine declared war on Persia and sent an army to Transcaucasia . But her death shortly thereafter put an end to Russia’s Persian Expedition Of 1796 , as her successor, Paul , turned to other strategic Objectives . Persia’s Shahanshah next contemplated the removal of the Christian population from eastern Georgia and eastern Armenia , launching the campaign from Karabagh . His goal was frustrated not by Russian resistance, but by a Persian Assassin in 1797. On January 14, 1798 King Erekle II was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son, George XII (1746-1800) who, on February 22, 1799, recognized his own eldest son, Tsarevich David ('' Davit Bagrationi-batonishvili ''), 1767-1819, as official Heir Apparent . 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 , 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, subdue the Bagratid princes, and govern the kingdom from 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. Paul tentatively accepted this offer, but before negotiations could be finalized changed his mind and issued a decree on January 18, 1801 unilaterally Annex ing Kartli-Kakheti to Russia and deposing the Bagratids . This placed him in open contravention of the 1783 treaty’s provision stipulating, in article XII, that changes in the ''status quo'' could be effected only by mutual consent. But Paul himself died shortly thereafter. It is said that his successor, Emperor 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. 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 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 . Paul’s annexation of east Georgia and exile of the Bagratids remains controversial: Russian communists 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 " Decadent " native dynasty. But there is no doubt that the Russian emperor was bound, according to article VI sections 2 and 3 of the Georgievsk treaty, "to preserve His Serene Highness Tsar Irakli Teimurazovich and the Heirs and descendants of his House, uninterrupted on the Throne of the Kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti...forbidding Emperor’s Military and Civil Authorities from intervention in any laws or orders ." LEGACY Ironically, that clause of the treaty would also be recalled during obscure late twentieth century debates about restoration of the Russian monarchy. In 1948, Vladimir Kirilovich Romanov, (1917-1992), exiled claimant to Russia’s throne, married Princess Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Moukhranskaya , (born 1914), a direct 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 , (born 1956), who has taken up her father’s claim as Russia’s ''de jure'' monarch. She and her son, George (by Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia ), have assumed 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. Upon extinction of all male Dynasts , female Romanovs born of dynastic mothers became eligible to inherit the crown. Based on this rationale, Maria purports to have the strongest legal claim to the Russian throne in the unlikely event that Russia ever restores its monarchy. Critics deny that Princess Leonida could be reckoned of royal rank by Romanov standards (the title of ''’s Irredentist policy toward Georgia. 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 of his House" {Link without Title} . 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 nobles. Yet first on the list of families submitted to Russia to enjoy noble (''not'' royal) status was that of the ''Mukhranbatoni''. 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 the large group of Romanov descendants who belong to the Romanoff Family Association . Many of them descend from noble Russian princesses, some of whom were also of "dynastic" origin, but cannot claim that a Treaty of Georgievsk has preserved their " Royalty ''". SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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