giorgi mazniashvili

Giorgi Mazniashvili (in Georgian: გიორგი მაზნიაშვილი) (1872-1937) was a Georgian general and one of the most prominent military figures in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. He served as the general of Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the WW1. After the collapse of the Tsarist Empire, Mazniashvili commanded Georgian national units and defeated a Turkish invasion force at the Choloki River on April 6, 1918. In the spring of 1918 he suppressed pro-Bolshevik revolt in Abkhazia. He was a Governor General of Tbilisi in 1918. In December 1918, he crushed the Armenian army during the Georgian-Armenian War. General Maznaishvili was appointed commandant of Tbilisi on October 8 1920. In February 1921, the Soviet armies invaded Georgia. At the same time, Kemalist Turkish forces occupied Batumi. Mazniashvili attacked the Turks on March 18-19, 1920 and liberated Batumi and the rest of Adjara. As the Red Army advanced to Batumi, Maznaishvili negotiated a ceasefire with the Bolsheviks and handed the control over the region to the Soviet government and was appointed Komdiv (i.e. commander of division) and infantry inspector of the Georgian Red Army units. However, he was charged for participation in an anti-Soviet plot and was arrested and exiled from Georgia in 1923. Later he returned, but was arrested again and put to death during the Great Purge in 1937. He is the author of popular Soldiers Memoirs.

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