How Is South Ossetia Related To Georgia?
Throughout the course of human history international borders have been realigned by war, strife, and political jostling. This often results in the separation of similar ethnic groups, tribes, and families. There have also been times however when ethnic groups are incapable of living together and redraw national borders because of strife between the sides. This is the case regarding the nations of Georgia and South Ossetia.
Both Georgia and South Ossetia joined with Russia in 1801 and the two were members of the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution. While the Ossetians were given an autonomous region within Georgian territory, they fell under the rule of the Georgian and Soviet governments.
The two sides have fought three battles against each other since 1918, all with the goal of South Ossetia becoming independent from Georgia. A series of rebellions took place between 1918 and 1920 during which Georgian forces were sent in to crush the Ossetian rebellion. Tensions between the two sides again boiled over in 1989, leading to nearly 20 years of tense relations between the two ethnic groups.
The heart of the conflict has been the desire of the Ossetians to gain the status of a fully autonomous republic. The most recent conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia, in 2008, led to South Ossetia gaining de-facto autonomous status. Ossetian separatists and Russian forces held off Georgia’s use of force in South Ossetia, allowing the Ossetians to declare themselves a separate nation. Since that conflict Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru and Tuvalu have politically recognized South Ossetia as separate while Georgia does not.