History of South Ossetia

I first heard about the Georgia-Russia conflict when it was reported that Georgia was withdrawing its 1000 troops from Iraq to help quell the uprising in its breakaway province of South Ossetia. First of all, I was surprised at the extent of Georgia's involvement in the Iraq war. Secondly, I asked myself, "Where and what is South Ossetia?"

Then came the news that Russia had invaded Georgia. Great. Just what the world needs. More war. My gut reaction was against Russia. Media reports supported this feeling. But I knew nothing of the region or its history. And how was South Ossetia involved? After some research, I learned the following:

I start with a partial timeline from the Free Republic, followed by a more in-depth review, thanks to Answers.Com/Wikepedia, and the Belfast Herald:

1237-40 - Mongols invade Russia, forcing Ossetians to migrate south over the Caucasus mountains to present-day Georgia.

18th and 19th centuries – The Russian empire extends to the Caucasus, provoking strong resistance from the people of the north Caucasus. The South Ossetians do not join the uprising, some preferring to side with the Russian army.

1801 - South Ossetia and Georgia are annexed by Russia and absorbed into the Russian empire.

1918 – Georgia declares independence following the Russian revolution.

1921 – The Red Army invades. The South Ossetians are accused of siding with the Kremlin.

1922 - Georgia becomes a founder member of the Soviet Union. The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (district) is created within Georgia in April 1922.

1989 - Demands for more autonomy in the South Ossetia region lead to violent clashes between Georgians and Ossetians.

1990-91 – South Ossetia declares its intentions to secede, leading to more clashes.


"South Ossetia lies on the southern slopes of the Caucasus, a mountain range that is home to some 50 different ethnic groups, many speaking mutually incomprehensible languages and with long histories of violent enmity.

The Caucasus were brought under Russian control in a series of wars in the 19th century, fought against not only the often fiercely-independent local peoples but the Persians and the Ottomans, who coveted the high ground between the Black and Caspian seas.

The people of the Caucasus, many of whom adhered to ancient traditions and were resentful of outsiders' attempts to control them, were perhaps the most troublesome subjects of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union that succeeded it. Stalin – whose father was reputed to be Ossetian – in 1922 divided control over Ossetia between the Georgian and Russian Soviet republics, a move which angered Ossetians and prompted occasional protests over subsequent decades.

When the South Ossetians attempted in 1989 to reunite with ethnic kin in Russian-controlled North Ossetia, the Georgian nationalist Zviad Gamsakhurdia marched supporters into the region to confront the secessionists.

In 1989-91, as the Kremlin's hold over its empire crumbled, the Caucasus witnessed a surge in nationalism. Regions like Chechnya declared independence from Moscow but in South Ossetia, local leaders proclaimed their region part of the Russian Federation rather than the emergent sovereign state of Georgia.

Sporadic clashes between Georgians and South Ossetians – who had mostly lived together in peace for decades, often inter-marrying – continued until 1991, when Tbilisi sent in troops to crush the separatist movement. More than 2,000 people are believed to have died in the fighting.

After a coup toppled Mr Gamsakhurdia as president, his successor, Eduard Shevardnadze, agreed to a deal with Boris Yeltsin for Russian peacekeepers to monitor a ceasefire. When Mikheil Saakashvili ousted Mr Shevardnadze in the 2003 Rose Revolution, he vowed to bring South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, back under Tbilisi's control.

He accuses Russia of sending cash and weapons to separatists in both regions, to ensure continued Kremlin influence in the oil-rich Caucasus – the BTC pipeline carrying oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey is routed through Georgia – and to undermine Georgia's bid to join Nato [sic].

Russia has given passports to the vast majority of South Ossetians and Abkhazians, and pledges to defend its citizens in those provinces. Many South Ossetians say they expect other Caucasian peoples to support their fight against Georgia, and reports are emerging of volunteers heading for the region from Abkhazia and North Ossetia."

South Ossetia, considering itself to be a de facto autonomous entity within Georgia, held its second referendum on independence in 2006:

"The unrecognized republic of South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia with its capital in Tskhinvali, held a referendum on independence on November 12, 2006. The voters answered a question: "should South Ossetia preserve its present status of a de facto independent state?" 99% of voters supported independence.

The South Ossetian Information and Press Committee announced that the residents of the Georgian villages, that are not controlled by the separatist authorities, will be able to participate. Those choosing to do so were able to use ballots written in Georgian language. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the West's main election monitoring body, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which boycotted the poll, called the referendum counterproductive and said that the ethnic Georgians were not given the right to vote.

According to the de facto authorities, the referendum was monitored by a team of 34 international observers from Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden and other countries at 78 polling stations.

On November 11, 2006, the South Ossetian State Security Committee exposed an alleged Georgian attempt to assassinate the South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity and organize a coup d'état in the region. Alan Parastayev, the former South Ossetian Interior Minister and Supreme Court chairman, has reportedly turned himself in to the State Security Committee and confessed to being a party to the plot. The South Ossetian authorities named Amiran Meskheli, the deputy head of the Georgian Interior Ministry’s Counterintelligence Department, to be in charge of the operation[8]. The Georgian Interior Ministry denied South Ossetia's assertions."


To those readers still with me, I thank you for your time and patience. Most conflicts, from personal to political, have levels of details and nuances seldom explored in today's world. I hope that this post provided information that will give us all some new information with which to judge this conflict.