The Five Day War: The Bear Awakens

Underestimating the Russian liberal: the prelude

Georgia was one of the first points where the Soviet Union began to break apart. Ever since Stalin’s time, Georgia had been favored in investment priorities by the Soviet government, according to the available data it grew faster than the overall Soviet economy until 1984. But while Georgia was favoured, it was not permitted everything. One thing which Stalin had never tolerated was Georgian ethnonationalism. The independent Georgian republic founded in 1918 had committed mass murder against ethnic minorities especially the Abkhaz and Ossetians. Stalin was aware of the dangers of this resurging, he himself had been a Georgian nationalist in his early youth. Soviet state patriotism mixed with permitted levels of local pride and particularism were what was permitted.

Zviad Gamsakhurdia

Zviad Gamsakhurdia was a strong proponent of violent Georgian ultranationalism. In a pattern that recurs throughout the histories of the infamous in those who despised Soviet power, Gamsakhurdia was involved with US sponsored Human Rights groups such as Amnesty International and the Helsinki Group. The Human Rights in this case were the right to express violent ultranationalism. When Gorbachev initiated Glasnost, Gamsakhurdia used this to help lead a movement for Georgian independence, and Georgian ethnonationalism. Gamsakhurdia argued that the Communists were out to ‘replace’ ethnic Georgians with foreigners and prevent their births and flowering. If this sounds familiar, it should. It is a variant of the right-wing conspiracy theory “the Great Replacement Theory.” Similar beliefs, not entirely coincidentally were held by Baltic, Ukrainian and Russian ethnonationalists and all were convinced that the Communist Party was out to ‘replace’ them with some ill-defined other.