Zviad Gamsakhurdia was a Georgian nationalist leader who served as his country’s first independent President from 1991 until 1992. Under him, Georgia became a hellish place, ripped apart by civil war, organised crime and militia violence.
Sadly, Gamsakhurdia cannot be acquitted in all of this as a placeholder- his commitment to an ethnically homogenous Georgia, in a part of the world anything but, was always going to lead to problems. Gamsakhurdia’s own life ended in a Tblisi bunker in 1993, probably by suicide, and is a rather sordid reflection of how Georgia’s own utopian dream for its future died on its feet in the early 1990s.
Thankfully, the country has taken a different and cannier path to self-government since, and is a relative success story among the post-Soviet states.
My guest for this conversation today is Tom de Waal. Tom is a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, and is one of the leading authorities on the Caucasus region. I would highly recommend is book The Caucasus: An Introduction, to anyone looking to read up on this amazing and enigmatic part of our continent. As well as Gamsakhurdia’s life, Tom and I discussed the bizarre interplay between Stalinism and Georgian nationalism, Georgia’s place in Europe, and how a country and a region so far away from the capitals of diplomacy has forged relations with the great World powers.
I was very pleased to uncover this great site. I need to to thank you for ones time for this fantastic read!! I definitely appreciated every bit of it and I have you bookmarked to look at new information on your blog.