The Day Georgia Lost Its Independence - And How It's Remembered Today
By Malkhaz Matsaberidze
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Last month marked the anniversary of a pivotal moment in Georgia's history - the loss of its independence. February 25 holds a significant place in modern Georgian political memory. Ideally, such a date should unite the nation, yet the ruling party "Georgian Dream," and the opposition marked it separately, drawing different conclusions from the past.
On February 25, 1921, the 11th Red Army of Soviet Russia entered Tbilisi without resistance. The attack on Georgia had begun on the night of February 11-12 from Armenia, followed by an invasion from Azerbaijan on February 16, while simultaneous offensives took place along the Black Sea coast and through the Caucasus mountain passes. Ironically, just a year prior, on May 7, 1920, Soviet Russia had recognized Georgia's independence and promised to establish good neighborly relations.
Despite the surprise attack and the imbalance of forces, the Georgian army repelled two major assaults on Tbilisi on February 19 and 23, even capturing around a thousand Red Army soldiers as prisoners. It is said that among them was a young Nikita Khrushchev, the future leader of the Soviet Union. The immediate threat seemed to have passed, but on the night of February 24, Tbilisi faced the risk of encirclement. At that moment, Georgia's military commander, General Giorgi Kvinitadze, made the decision to withdraw from Tbilisi to prevent its destruction and regroup in Gori, with the hope of launching a counteroffensive with reinforcements from western Georgia. Militarily, this strategy may have been sound, but politically, it had catastrophic consequences - while Tbilisi was fighting, the whole country was fighting; but when Tbilisi was abandoned, many lost hope for victory.
Soviet-Bolshevik propaganda further exploited the situation, claiming that Georgia's independence was not at risk and that only the ruling Georgian Mensheviks would be replaced by Georgian Bolsheviks, who, after all, had once belonged to the same party.
Despite these events, the war continued for another three weeks. On March 17, 1921, the Georgian government, led by Noe Zhordania, left Batumi and headed for France, hoping to secure European support. Just a few weeks earlier, at the end of January 1921, Georgia had received legal recognition of its independence.
On February 25, 1921, the Red Army entered Tbilisi without a fight. Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who later became synonymous with betrayal in Georgia, sent a famous telegram to Lenin and Stalin in Moscow: "The red flag flies over Tbilisi."
Initially, February 25 had little political significance. Since Soviet authorities outwardly maintained the rhetoric of Georgia's continued independence, an unusual situation occurred - on May 26, 1921, Georgia's Independence Day was officially celebrated even under the occupation. However, it was clear to all that this was not truly a holiday for the new rulers. In 1922, Georgia's national movement organized a protest against the occupation on February 11, the anniversary of the Soviet attack. But soon after, the Bolsheviks played a propaganda trick - on February 25, 1922, they adopted the Soviet Constitution of Georgia and declared it the country's real Independence Day. From then on, celebrating May 26 was banned. Over time, the constitutional pretext faded, and February 25 became officially recognized as the day of the founding of Soviet Georgia, celebrated as a national holiday.
From that moment on, February 25 - the day of Soviet occupation - was set in direct opposition to May 26, Georgia's true Independence Day. The Soviet regime lasted in Georgia for seventy years and came at a heavy cost to the country.
The official commemoration of Soviet Occupation Day in Georgia began after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. In 2010, the Georgian Parliament unanimously passed a resolution instructing the government to organize annual memorial events on February 25 in honor of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the communist occupation.
On February 25, 2025, Georgia marked the 104th anniversary of the Soviet occupation. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, lowered the national flags, government officials visited memorial sites, and their central message was: "February 25 must never be repeated." However, they framed the threat of another February 25 as originating from the "global war party" and the "deep state," claiming that these forces had pushed Georgia into war with Russia in 2008 and had since attempted to drag the country into war again. According to Georgian Dream, their government's policies had successfully shielded Georgia from such dangers.
The opposition and protest movements, which had been demonstrating for 90 consecutive days, saw things differently. In their view, Georgia is currently under the rule of a Russian-backed regime led by Georgian Dream, which must not be allowed to block Georgia's European path and bring about another Russian occupation. On February 25, protests and marches were held in 23 locations across Tbilisi and other regions. Protest marches also took place in eight major cities: Kutaisi, Batumi, Akhmeta, Telavi, Zugdidi, Chkhorotsku, Akhaltsikhe, and Gori.
At a protest rally on February 25, former President Salome Zourabichvili addressed the crowd, stating that "people have gathered not just to remember a tragic day but to ensure that February 25, 1921, never happens again." She criticized contemporary propaganda, which, just like in 1921, claims that Russia only seeks peace while blaming an imaginary "war party" for any conflict. Zourabichvili emphasized that "Russia's empire of evil must ultimately be defeated - in Georgia, in Ukraine, in Moldova, and beyond. The era of the Russian empire must be consigned to history."