I didn't want to make this a maps blog (of course I want to), but when I went to the Georgian National Museum recently, I couldn't resist to make these pictures on the floor hosting the Museum of Soviet Occupation. In a way quite similar to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia in centre Riga, the Soviet interlude of history is brought as an aberration in Georgian history. In both Latvia and Georgia, the 'real' history started in 1918, with the establishment of Republics after the breakup of the Russian Empire. However, Bolshevik Revolution followed soon, and both states were reincorporated in the Eurasian superstate. Latvia had a short Nazi interlude, but whilst trying to reach the rich oil fields of Baku, the Germans came in the Caucasus only as far as Mount Elbrus, on the border of Russia and Georgia. Nevertheless, the Georgian part of the Soviet contribution to the defeat of the Third Reich is to a large extend ignored by now.
What is more, even the recent history is framed in a history of occupation and resistance. In the Baltic states, the so-called 'first cyber war' (in which Estonian servers were attacked from a source in Russia) of 2007 is an example. In Georgia, this would be quite obvious the August War of 2008. In this 'short victorious war' Russian involvement finalized the de facto independence since the nineties of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia proper. Hereafter, they became de facto part of the Russian Federation, but I guess that's another story.
What is more, in national (history) museums there's often some romantic nostalgia to a Golden Age. In the Netherlands, this would be the seventeenth century, when it were the Dutch who ruled the waves, the NY stock market and the European economy. We do brag with the world-famous art we produced in these days, and sometimes with one of these 'our borders as they should be' maps.
The Georgian National Museum has one as well.
And guess what? Just after the Winter Olympics - only ten kilometres from the Georgian border - are over, Sochi seems to be part of Georgia anyway! There was no need to worry about the Russian press recently presenting both Georgian cuisine and the mythical Gulden Fleece of Jason and his Argonauts as originating in Sochi! This one is in Batumi, in the Georgian part of the Black Sea coast:
What is more, even the recent history is framed in a history of occupation and resistance. In the Baltic states, the so-called 'first cyber war' (in which Estonian servers were attacked from a source in Russia) of 2007 is an example. In Georgia, this would be quite obvious the August War of 2008. In this 'short victorious war' Russian involvement finalized the de facto independence since the nineties of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia proper. Hereafter, they became de facto part of the Russian Federation, but I guess that's another story.
What is more, in national (history) museums there's often some romantic nostalgia to a Golden Age. In the Netherlands, this would be the seventeenth century, when it were the Dutch who ruled the waves, the NY stock market and the European economy. We do brag with the world-famous art we produced in these days, and sometimes with one of these 'our borders as they should be' maps.
The Georgian National Museum has one as well.
And guess what? Just after the Winter Olympics - only ten kilometres from the Georgian border - are over, Sochi seems to be part of Georgia anyway! There was no need to worry about the Russian press recently presenting both Georgian cuisine and the mythical Gulden Fleece of Jason and his Argonauts as originating in Sochi! This one is in Batumi, in the Georgian part of the Black Sea coast:
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