Railway Communication. Possession of a coast line on the Black Sea has greatly affected the course of recent Georgian history. Owing to the configuration of sea and land in western Asia the Georgian port of Batum is the natural port not only for Georgia, Erivan and Azerbaijan but for wide regions of Central Asia. Rail- road development, determined by this geographical fact, has there- fore made Batum the gateway for a large part of the continent of Asia. It is in the power of Georgia to keep the gate closed or open, or to exact tolls; in fact it is in her power to penalize or favour her inland neighbours as expediency or need, friendship or hostility may move her. And the military importance of Batum is not less than the political and economic. The port is in rail communica- tion with Erivan, with Erzerum in Asia Minor, with Tabriz in northern Persia, with Russia and with Baku in Azerbaijan; from Baku all the coast line of the Caspian Sea lies open ; from Baku to Krasnovodsk is a few hours' steaming, and at Krasnovodsk begins a line of railway which runs to the Afghan frontier and the Pamirs. Whether Georgia be a weak power or a strong it cannot avoid the great influence exerted by Batum.
The Georgian People. The Georgian people so placed are, as a race, the most advanced in civilization of any in Trans-Caucasia, or indeed in Asia. They have a further advantage over their neigh- bours in possessing a cherished tradition of comparatively recent independence. Towards the close of the i8th century a Georgian kingdom made a treaty of close alliance with Russia, whereby in return for support against the Ottoman the great northern Power guaranteed Georgian internal independence. Within 20 years, however, the terms of the treaty were violated and Georgia was incorporated as a Russian province. Although the lot of the coun- try in these conditions was not unsatisfactory, the breach of faith was never forgotten and served to keep alive the memory of past nationhood ; Georgian national consciousness therefore centres more in the State than in the race, though elsewhere-in Trans-Caucasia racial consciousness predominates. Due perhaps to this wider out- look and tradition is the distinct capacity for self-government which the Georgian people showed during the early period of independence. While professing and practising an advanced form of socialism in political and economic affairs, they displayed no want of patriotic zeal, and were opposed to Bolshevism. Indeed, the resistance this small people had shown up to 1921 to intense Bolshevik propaganda and efforts at corruption was remarkable.
Recent History. For the first 18 months of the World War Georgia's part was that of any Russian province; that need for independent action might arise was not so much as suspected. But in the spring of 1917 distinct signs became visible in Trans- Caucasia that a serious upheaval was fast approaching in Russia; and that an opportunity might present itself for Georgians and Armenians to obtain their independence and perhaps the inde- pendence of all Trans-Caucasia. It was recognized further that a Russian coUapse would leave the Trans-Caucasian provinces open to Turkish invasion unless the people were prepared to take care of themselves. From this point events in Russia moved fast. In April the Provisional Government, established after the abdication of the Tsar, declared for the self-determination of peoples, and the conclusion of a permanent peace without in- demnities. In June occurred the mutiny of the Russian Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol; and in the same month the Russian armies in Asia Minor, putting Bolshevik theories into practice, left their positions and voluntarily retired behind the pre-war Russo-Turkish frontier. Here for a time they were held together by the great personal influence of the Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief. Russia became a republic on Sept. 15; the time had come for Trans-Caucasia to dispose of its own destinies.
Preparations had already been made in this direction. Unity of purpose existed to some extent among Georgians and Ar- menians, but less so on the part of the Tartars of Azerbaijan; propaganda, however, was undertaken to bring them into line with their neighbours. Representatives of the three peoples were elected in Aug. and met in Tiflis in Sept. as the " Council of the Trans-Caucasian Peoples." There, on Sept. 17, they proclaimed the Federal Republic of Trans-Caucasia.
In these events Georgian leaders, chiefly ex-members of the Russian Duma, bore a leading part; the policy followed also had a Georgian origin. Georgia, in fact, as the most advanced, popu- lous and wealthy division of Trans-Caucasia, appeared to domi- nate the Federal Republic. Jealousy between the states existed from the first, but instead of diminishing it became more and more acute. Each state had its own particular aspirations to pursue; its own special difficulties to surmount; its own suscepti- bilities to consult; each stood out for its own point of view and
seemed unable to understand the outlook of the others. Georgia desired complete independence; Erivan was under reactionary Russian influence and sought to retain some degree of Russian support; Azerbaijan with its Moslem population had leanings towards Turkey and Pan-Islamism. Both Erivan and Azerbaijan were agreed that the Federal Republic masked a Georgian ambi- tion to incorporate them in a Georgian State. Only on one point were all the states in harmony, and that was to resist Bolshevism.
After Lenin and Trotsky had established themselves in power in Russia Nov. 17 1917 the Russian armies in Trans-Caucasia dispersed into an armed rabble, fighting for trains to return home, and left the frontier open to Turkish invasion. The Feder- al Government now endeavoured to organize a force to hold the Turkish front. The old Georgian army, sent to Russia's western campaigns in 1914, were now returning, but the men had ab- sorbed Bolshevik principles, and refused to fight anywhere except on Georgian territory, nor even then unless their committees approved. Eventually a considerable force of Georgians, Ar- menians, Russian volunteers and Assyrians were got together and prevented or delayed a Turkish advance for a time.
The Petrograd Government, who had not surrendered hope of retaining the Trans-Caucasian provinces, sent a chief com- missary for the Caucasus to Tiflis in Jan. 1918. But he wielded no real power and was soon ejected. He then retired to Baku, and with the help of some 10,000 Armenian revolutionaries established a Bolshevik Government there, supported further by Bolshevik naval forces on the Caspian. This Russo-Armenian combination expelled and massacred the Moslem Tartars of Baku, and thus did much to estrange the Mahommedan popula- tion of Trans-Caucasia from any alliance or common action with Georgian or Armenian Christians.
On March 3 1918 Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which contained provisions affecting Trans- Caucasia. It awarded certain Armenian districts and the Geor- gian province and part of Batum to Turkey; and Turkish forces immediately advanced to occupy these areas. Batum fell into Turkish hands on April 15; on April 23 the Federal Republic, unable to offer any military resistance, began peace negotiations, and at the same time made a formal declaration of independence. But Georgia, Erivan and Azerbaijan were now alienated from one another beyond hope of agreement. Each had no other pur- pose than to preserve its own interests. The Azerbaijan repre- sentatives had already withdrawn from the Federal Council, and retired to Elizabetopol, where they established a form of govern- ment for their own country. On May 26 1918 the Federal Govern- ment of Trans-Caucasia was dissolved, and Georgia, Azerbaijan and Erivan became separate republics.
In this isolated situation Georgia accepted German assistance. German troops were already in Odessa and Sevastopol; German delegates came to Batum 'to negotiate peace between Turkey and Georgia; and Georgia and Germany concluded an agreement under which German financial and military support were to be extended to the Georgian Republic. The Turkish occupation of Batum could not be terminated; but Germany undertook that Georgian rights in the port should be safeguarded, and that Georgian neutrality should not be infringed. German troops were admitted to Georgia, and so long as Germany remained in Trans-Caucasia she executed the terms of her agreement with exactness, even though to the disadvantage of her Turkish ally.
The two armistices between the Allied Powers and Turkey on Oct. 30 1918 and between the Allied Powers and Germany on Nov. it which ended the war changed the whole position in Trans-Caucasia. They provided for the immediate evacuation of this region by Turkish and German troops, and their replace- ment, for the time being, by Allied troops. In execution of these provisions a British garrison was placed in Batum on Dec. 27, and a British occupation of Trans-Caucasia was carried out to ensure the evacuation by Turks and Germans.
During the British occupation Georgian administration which proved to be efficient was left undisturbed except in the matter of railways. These it was found necessary to put under a British Board of Railway Control at Tiflis, owing to their interna-
