THE ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN TERRITORIAL ISSUE AND THE PECULIARITIES OF NATION-STATE BUILDING IN THE TRANSCAUCASUS (1918)

The article provides the analysis of the tense and unstable political situation in Transcaucasia during the period of 1918, when Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their independence and began to territorialize their borders, i-nally burying the idea of the Transcaucasian Confederation. The author focuses on the characterization of socio-political positions in deining the borders of Armenia and Georgia that have developed in the context of the ongoing World War I. The article explores not only the beliefs of the ruling circles, but also reflects the vision of the situation by publicists who seek to influence the broad masses of the population. The source for study are different historical documents: diplomatic documents, memoirs of politicians, and periodical materials. Their analysis made it possible to determine the positions of the parties in designating the conceptual positions of the formation of the borders of independent states, to show the reasons for the territorial claims of Armenia and Georgia, the role of the Entente states and the reasons for their failures in resolving ethno-territorial contradictions, which for a long time determined the attitude of other states to the region. Assessing the facts cited, the authors conclude that, having given absolute priority to the issues of territorial delimitation in the formation of their own statehood, the Armenian and Georgian sides relied more on the arbitration of the Entente countries, not trying to independently resolve the issue. The idea of creating a Transcaucasian Confederation, which could turn out to be the most viable political formation in the current geopolitical situation, gave way to the ambitions of national political elites, who could not cope with the desire to increase their scale at any cost at the expense of the territories of their neighbors and determined their reputation as "unsupportable", which was one of the reasons for the loss of statehood that did not take shape.

Transcaucasian Confederation, Entente, Armenian-Georgian War of 1918, the newspaper Georgia, N. Zhordania, Z. Avalov

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