Establishment of Russian administration in Georgia (1801-1918)

When the Russian Empire was strengthened, it began to expand its conquest area. After the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, Russia had a claim to be the "Third Rome". Using this name, Russia claimed being the protector of the Christians in the Caucasus and wanted to occupy their countries. Then, they tried to expand the sphere of influence by establishing their own administrative order in the occupied countries. Georgia which was considered the center of the South Caucasus was the target of Russia from the first quarter of the 18th century. If Russia had invaded Georgia, it would be easy to get the whole Caucasus. By conquering Georgia, it would strengthen its rule in both the Caucasus and the east of Black Sea. Taking benefit of the political weakness of Georgia, which was the competitive area of Russia, Iran and the Ottoman Empire, had an opportunity and promised to help Georgia as a co-religious country. However, Russia's goal has never been the protection of Georgia. Its aim was to expand its spheres of influence to the Caucasus and to get the eastern shores of the Black Sea area. Russia wanted to show it as a demand of the Georgian people. Russia officially entered Georgia in 1801 and then began to establish Russian administrative system there. The old system in Georgia was abolished and the Russian military system was established. In Georgia, kingdom and sovereignty were abolished. The Russians were put forward as administrators for the important positions. Russia changed the old administrative, judicial, financial and religious system in Georgia. For Georgia, which has a great history and tradition, it was very difficult to get used to this new Russian system. Russia has prepared a series of projects on the establishment of Georgia's new administrative system. The changes in the administration system were planned in a slow and fragmented way because they were afraid of the reaction of the Georgian people. In the first years, the Russian administration left some of the Georgian administrative institutions in place, but later changed or removed them. Due to the great discontent of the Georgian people, there were continuous reforms. Russia's laws and rules were completely foreign to the Georgian people. People also had great difficulty because they did not know the Russian language. The goal of Russia was never the prosperity of the Georgian people. Their aim was to implement the policy of the Russification in Georgia, which had been made a part of Russia as in their words, to create the "Russian mind in the Georgian body." The reforms were also performed to serve in this way. In our thesis, which aims to evaluate the administrative, judicial, social and economic regulations in Georgia in the light of the main sources between 1801-1918, it is explained in detail what reforms the Russians have implemented in order to realize their policies on Georgia. Keywords: Georgia, Caucasus, Russia, Administrative system.