German-Georgian Cooperation in 1918. Georgia's Independence and the German-Georgian Alliance in the South Caucasus.
After the October Revolution in Russia, Georgia took the path to independence. The German Empire became an ally of the new state in May 1918. In the Georgian republic, which had grown up on the ruins of the October Revolution, Germany was seen as the representative of European civilization. Georgian nationalists had been working with Germany's military authorities since 1914 to stage an insurrection against Russia in the Caucasus. After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, the Georgian political elite supported secession from Moscow and German military intervention in Georgia to hold back the Young Turks as well as the Bolsheviks. For Berlin, rapprochement with Tbilisi represented a prerequisite for its Orientalist aspirations. The work (2022) examines German-Georgian relations during World War I, focusing on 1918, and is published by Brill I Schöningh (link to publisher's page).