Background Democratic Republic of Georgia

nikolay chkheidze president of georgian provisional assembly, later of constituent assembly

after february revolution of 1917 , collapse of tsarist administration in caucasus, power held special transcaucasian committee (ozakom, short osobyi zakavkazskii komitet) of russian provisional government. of soviets in georgia firmly controlled georgian social democratic party, followed lead of petrograd soviet , supported provisional government. bolshevist october revolution changed situation drastically. caucasian soviets refused recognize vladimir lenin s regime. threats increasingly bolshevistic deserting soldiers of former caucasus army, ethnic clashes , anarchy in region forced georgian, armenian , azerbaijani politicians create unified regional authority known transcaucasian commissariat (november 14, 1917) , later legislature, sejm (january 23, 1918). on april 22, 1918, sejm – nikolay chkheidze president – declared transcaucasus independent democratic federation executive transcaucasian government chaired evgeni gegechkori , later akaki chkhenkeli.

many georgians, influenced ideas of ilia chavchavadze , other intellectuals late 19th century, insisted on national independence. cultural national awakening further strengthened restoration of autocephaly of georgian orthodox church (12 march 1917) , establishment of national university in tbilisi (1918). in contrast, georgian mensheviks regarded independence russia temporary step against bolshevik revolution , considered calls georgia s independence chauvinistic , separatist. union of transcaucasus short-lived though. undermined increasing internal tensions , pressure german , ottoman empires, federation collapsed on may 26, 1918 when georgia declared independence – noe zhordania speaker of georgian national council – followed armenia , azerbaijan within next 2 days. noe ramishvili formed first government of democratic republic of georgia.