History of Georgia (country)

This article is about the country. For the U.S. state, see History of Georgia (U.S. state).
See also: Timeline of Georgian history and Military history of Georgia

The nation of Georgia was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty in 1008 AD, arising from several successor states of the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia. The Kingdom of Georgia flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries under King David IV of Georgia and Queen Tamar the Great. It fell to the Mongol invasion by 1243 but saw restoration of its former strength under the leadership of George V the Brilliant. Throughout the Middle Ages, Georgia was one of the preeminent powers of the Eastern Orthodox world.

Facing relentless invasions from much larger empires, by 1490 Georgia finally collapsed into several petty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout the Early Modern period feuded with one another and struggled to defend themselves against external threats, such as Ottoman and Persian encroachment. This prompted Georgian monarchs to increasingly seek an alliance with the Russian Empire, their Orthodox Christian neighbor to the north, culminating in the annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire beginning in 1801.

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia emerged as an independent republic under German protection. However, this was cut short by Russia's violation of the Treaty of Moscow and the Red Army invasion of Georgia, which ended the country's sovereignty and transformed it into a Soviet Republic until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The current republic of Georgia has been independent since 1991. For much of the 21st century, Georgia pursued a strongly pro-Western foreign policy, introducing a series of reforms aimed at integration into the European Union and NATO. This Western orientation led to worsening relations with Russia, culminating in the Russo-Georgian War.

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