Soviet-Georgian War and Sovietization of Georgia, II-III. 1921 La guerre soviéto-géorgienne et la soviétisation de la Géorgie (février-mars 1921) By Andrew Andersen and George Partskhaladze Revue historique des Armées Numéro 254, 1/2009 Photographs: private archive of Levan Urushadze Introduction In the year 1918, Georgia restored her independence from the Russian Empire. This became possible as a result of World War I - which endorsed a tremendous pressure on states with weak economies and social structure - one of which was Russia. Military defeat in combination with both economic and political failure, led to the collapse of the empire, undermined by the devastating war, and eventually led to the Revolution of 1917, as well as the establishment of a Bolshevik dictatorship in former the imperial centres, the civil war and secession of non-Russian peripheries.