South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast

History

Background

The territory of South Ossetia was part of Georgian kingdoms throughout antiquity and Middle Ages. Ossetian migration to the region began in the 13th and 14th centuries and is believed to be connected to the fall of Kingdom of Alania in the North Caucasus to the Mongols and later to Timur's armies. They retreated into the mountains of the central Caucasus and gradually started moving south, across the Caucasus Mountains into the Kingdom of Georgia. In the 17th century, under pressure from the Kabardian princes, Ossetians started a second wave of migration from the North Caucasus to the Kingdom of Kartli.

In 18th century, Ossetians became the first people in the Caucasus to form an alliance with Russia. Ossetia was among the first areas of the northern Caucasus to come under Russian domination, starting in 1774, and the capital, Vladikavkaz, was the first Russian military outpost in the region. The Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, which included the territory of modern South Ossetia, was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Ossetian migration to Georgian areas continued in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Georgia was part of the Russian Empire.

Establishment

Following the Russian revolution, the area of modern South Ossetia became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. In 1918, conflict began between the landless Ossetian peasants living in Shida Kartli (Interior Georgia), who were influenced by Bolshevism and demanded ownership of the lands they worked, and the Menshevik government backed ethnic Georgian aristocrats, who were legal owners. Although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic policies of the central government, the tension soon transformed into ethnic conflict. The first Ossetian rebellion began February 1, 1918, when three Georgian princes were killed and their land was seized by the Ossetians. The central government of Tiflis retaliated by sending the National Guard to the area. However, the Georgian unit retreated after they had engaged the Ossetians. Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of Tskhinvali and began attacking ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but even so, were defeated. Between 3,000 and 7,000 Ossetians were killed during the crushing of the 1920 uprising.

There was discussion to create a united republic for Ossetians, incorporating both North and South Ossetia. This was indeed proposed by Ossetian authorities in July 1925 to Anastas Mikoyan, the head of the kraikom (Bolshevik committee in charge of the Caucasus). Sergo Orjonikidze had opposed incorporating the proposed state into Russia, fearing it would lead to unrest in Georgia, so Mikoyan asked Stalin about placing all of Ossetia within Georgia. Stalin initially approved, but later decided against it, fearing it would lead to other ethnic groups in Russia demanding to leave the RSFSR, which would destroy the federation. Thus South Ossetia was remained within Georgia, while North Ossetia remained in the RSFSR.

End of the South Ossetian AO

In 1989, during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, violent unrest broke out in Tskhinvali between the Georgian independence-minded population of the region and Ossetians loyal to the Soviet Union. In September 1990 Ossetian nationalists in the South Ossetia's regional soviet declared independence from Georgia by announcing "South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic" loyal to Moscow. After the Georgia's October elections to the Supreme Soviet, on December 11 1990, the autonomous oblast illegally held rival elections. On 12 December, gunmen driving a car in Tskhinvali opened fire from a submachine gun, killing three Georgians and wounding two in what has been described as a terrorist attack and an act of ethnic violence. The Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR responded to these illegal actions by annulling the autonomy of South Ossetia and declaring the state of emergency to restore order.

Culture and society

Demographics

The main ethnic group of the South Ossetian AO was the Ossetians. Throughout the entire existence of the region, the Ossetians represented a stable majority of over two-thirds of the population. Georgians constituted the only significant minority, with between 25 and 30% of the population. No other ethnic group constituted more than 3% of the total population. About half of all families in the region were of mixed Ossetian–Georgian heritage. Considerable numbers of Ossetians lived elsewhere in Georgia as well, with upwards of 100,000 spread across the country.

Language

Most people in the South Ossetian AO spoke Ossetian, with smaller numbers using Russian and Georgian; all three were official languages of the region. Though Georgian was the language of the Georgian SSR, of which South Ossetia was part, most people in the South Ossetian AO did not speak the language; as late as 1989, only 14 per cent knew Georgian, and it was a proposal in August 1989 to make Georgian the only official language of public use that instigated the independence movement. Originally written in Cyrillic, Ossetian was switched to a Latin-based script in 1923, as part of the Latinization campaign of the Soviet Union.{{harvnb|Saparov|2015|p=144

Notes

Bibliography

References

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