People's Guard of Georgia

People's Guard of Georgia
People's Guard of Georgia
საქართველოს სახალხო გვარდია
	Coat of arms of the People's Guard of Georgia
Active	5 September, 1917 — 18 March, 1921
Country	Democratic Republic of Georgia
Size	10,000

The People's Guard of Georgia

The People's Guard of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს სახალხო გვარდია) was a Social-Democrat-dominated volunteer force of Georgian former soldiers and civilians, active during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 5 September 1917 to 18 March 1921. It consisted of 2,000 full-time members and 18 field battalions (300-800 soldiers in each) drafted on a territorial basis. In war time it could mobilize up to 10,000 to 12,000 citizens. The commander of the People's Guard was Valiko Jugheli, and notable members included Kakutsa Cholokashvili, , , and .^[1]

The People's Guard of Georgia conducted its first combat mission on 29 November (N.S. 12 December) 1917, when it seized a former Imperial Russian army arsenal and artillery depot in Tiflis which had hitherto been under the control of units sympathetic to the Bolsheviks. In the words of a Guard commander Valiko Jugheli, the operation "determined the fate of the revolution on a Transcaucasian scale."^[2] Throughout 1918–1921, 12 December was celebrated as the Guard's day. From 1920 to 1921, the Guard published its illustrated periodical sakhalkho gvardieli (სახალხო გვარდიელი, "People's Guardsman") twice a month.^[3]

References[]

^ Occupation of Georgia Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine Archive Administration of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs
^ Ogden, Dennis George (1977). National Communism in Georgia: 1921-1923 (Ph.D. thesis). University of London (School of Slavonic and East European Studies). p. 21.
^ "სახალხო გვარდიელი [People's Guardsman]". Digital Library "Iverieli" (in Georgian). The National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. Retrieved 21 January 2018.

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[1] Occupation of Georgia Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine Archive Administration of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs

[2] Ogden, Dennis George (1977). National Communism in Georgia: 1921-1923 (Ph.D. thesis). University of London (School of Slavonic and East European Studies). p. 21.

[3] "სახალხო გვარდიელი [People's Guardsman]". Digital Library "Iverieli" (in Georgian). The National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. Retrieved 21 January 2018.

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