1832 Georgian plot

1832 Georgian plot (Georgian: 1832 წლის შეთქმულება) was a conspiracy by the Georgian royalty and nobility to restore the Georgian statehood and monarchy under the royal then-dethroned Bagrationi dynasty.

Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801, breaking the terms of the Treaty of Georgievsk. The members of the royal Bagrationi dynasty were deported to the Russian provinces far from their homeland. The Georgians, unsatisfied with the Russian rule, yearned for the removal of Russian dominance and the return of their royal dynasty which ruled over millennium. The spirit of Georgian nationalism was kept alive principally by Prince Okropir of Georgia, a son of the last Georgian monarch, George XII. Okropir with other Georgians used to hold gatherings of with Georgian students in Moscow and St. Petersburg trying to inspire them with patriotic feeling towards their country being under Russian rule. It resulted in creation of a secret society in Tbilisi which started to work for the main goal, re-establishment of an independent kingdom under the dethroned Bagrationi rule. Okropir himself visited Georgia in 1830, and held talks with the main conspirators, who included members of Georgian aristocrats from the Orbeliani and Eristavi princely houses, as well as the philosopher Solomon Dodashvili. The plot was also supported by the Georgians from the Russian-abolished Kingdom of Imereti as well as the members of the House of Shervashidze that ruled Abkhazia.

Most of the Georgian conspirators were not liberal republicans, but rather monarchists and nationalists. It was proposed to invite the Russian commander-in-chief in Georgia with other members of their administration to a grand ball in Tbilisi and at a given signal, they would all be assassinated. Then the Georgians would seize the Daryal Pass to prevent the Russian reinforcements. Prince Aleksandre of Georgia, son of the Georgian king Erekle II would return from Persia to be proclaimed king of Georgia.

The ball at which the Russian officers and members of administration were to be assassinated was scheduled for 20 November 1832, but it was unexpectedly postponed, first to 9 December, then to 20 December. Early in December, the whole affair was revealed to the authorities by one of the conspirators, Prince Palavandishvili, and all of them were arrested. Ten of the accused conspirators were sentenced to death but later they were all reprieved. They were deported to the faraway Russian provinces instead. 1832 plot, even though was unsuccessful, would play an important role in national liberation movement that Georgians would seek to organize more fruitfully. Georgians would declare their national independence from the Russian rule in 1918 when the Democratic Republic of Georgia would emerge.[1]

References

  1. ↑ David Marshall Lang (1962) A Modern History of Georgia: Georgia under the Tsars: Resistance, Revolt, Pacification: 1801-32 NY

Further reading

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