The Regular Army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia () was the military of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. It existed in parallel to the People's Guard of Georgia.
History Background (1917–1918) In response to the October Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the Russian Provisional Government, the major Transcaucasian political organizations refused to recognize the new Bolshevik government. They established the Transcaucasian Commissariat, a coalition government composed of Azerbaijani Musavats, Armenian Dashnaks, and Georgian Social-Democrats. Initially conceived as a temporary administration pending the restoration of a legitimate Russian government, the Commissariat continued to regard Transcaucasia as part of Russia. However, amid the Russian Civil War and the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, it eventually moved toward independence, and the sovereign Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was proclaimed in April 1918.
The Transcaucasian Commissariat inherited responsibility for the Caucasian Front of the First World War. The Russian Caucasian Army was exhausted and increasingly disorganized, with many of its soldiers sympathetic to the Bolsheviks and the army undergoing a process of spontaneous demobilization.
As the threat of an Ottoman invasion grew, the Transcaucasian government authorized the formation of national armed forces from the remnants of the Russian army to occupy abandoned positions along the front. The respective national councils and military commissariats of the Transcaucasian peoples were tasked with organizing these forces. However, the process was hampered by shortages of weapons and ammunition, political patronage at the expense of military professionalism, widespread Bolshevik sympathies among the soldiers, and low morale and discipline.
The Georgian Army Corps was formed from Georgian personnel serving in the Russian army on the Caucasus Front on 5 November 1917. The Transcaucasian Commissariat and the army command believed that national formations would be more effective in defending the region against the Ottomans than the other units on the front, which were increasingly influenced by revolutionary ideas and unwilling to continue fighting, leading to mass desertions. However, the national formations, including the Georgian Corps, were themselves affected by declining morale and discipline and proved largely incapable of sustained combat operations. The Georgian Corps comprised only about 10,300 men, making it smaller than a full division. In February 1918, Georgian regiments mutinied in Gori, Telavi, and Kutaisi, but the uprisings were suppressed by the Red Guard.
The Red Guard was a paramilitary organization of the Social Democratic Party of Georgia established in 1917 as the major political parties began forming their own armed forces amid the revolutionary upheavals. Initially known as the Workers' Red Guard, it carried out its first major operation on 12 December 1917, when it seized a district arms depot in Tiflis from pro-Bolshevik guards, thereby preventing a Bolshevik coup in Georgia. The Red Guard was subordinated to the Tiflis Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, a body dominated by Georgian Social Democrats. It consisted primarily of volunteers and had no formal officer corps.
Establishment (1918) Following the declaration of Georgian independence, debate over the organization of the Georgian armed forces based on the Georgian Army Corps intensified. The ruling Social Democratic Party of Georgia, reflecting its Marxist outlook, favored a Swiss-style militia system and regarded the Red Guard as a prototype for such a force. Nevertheless, given the complex political and military situation in the region, the Social Democrats also recognized the need for a strong regular army. They envisioned that the Red Guard and the regular army would eventually be integrated into a unified militia system. The military leadership, by contrast, advocated the establishment of a strong regular army and was willing to accept the continued existence of a separate Red Guard only if it operated in close coordination with the army. This position was supported by German military officials, a stance that was viewed with disfavor by the Social Democrats. The opposition National Democratic Party, including its prominent leader Davit Vachnadze, likewise advocated a unified army under a single commander that would bring together members of all social classes.
The Social Democrats feared the emergence of Bonapartism within the armed forces and a repetition of the Kornilov affair. They also suspected that the opposition National Democrats might ally with the German Empire to stage a coup against the government. Their distrust of the prospective regular army was further reinforced by the presence of Bolshevik sympathizers among the Georgian military personnel, who frequently organized mutinies. By contrast, the volunteer-based Red Guard was considered more politically reliable and had played a key role in suppressing Bolshevik uprisings. The Social Democrats therefore justified the Guard's continued existence primarily by emphasizing its role in countering internal threats.
Ultimately, Georgia came to have both a regular army and the Red Guard. The latter was soon renamed the People's Guard and was primarily responsible for maintaining internal security. In wartime, it was to be dissolved as a separate formation, with its members joining the army through their respective enlistment offices. The People's Guard was formally established as a state institution under a law enacted in July 1918. During peacetime, the Guard remained outside the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence, unlike the regular army, and was subordinated to its own General Headquarters. In wartime, both the army and the People's Guard were to come under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief. Service in the People's Guard did not exempt its members from compulsory military service; consequently, upon mobilization, guardsmen were to be distributed among regular army units. The Guard was directly subordinate to the chairman of the government and maintained its own district headquarters. These district headquarters were elected by local guardsmen and required confirmation by the General Headquarters.
In June 1918, the government issued its first decree regulating the regular army and establishing its provisional organizational structure. The army was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Defence, with the deputy minister serving as its commander. The army had a General Staff and a Field Staff, the latter responsible for training and supply, while the former handled war planning, mobilization schemes, topography, and legislative matters. The Georgian Army Corps was reorganized as the Georgian Regular Army, and the corps commander was replaced by a Commander-in-Chief. The regular army was to be recruited through compulsory conscription. Conscripts were required to serve for two years in the army, followed by 18 years in the reserve and a further eight years in the militia. In contrast, the People's Guard remained a volunteer-based force.
Relations between the Regular Army and the People's Guard were characterized by persistent antagonism, while the existence of parallel military structures hindered effective coordination. Tensions occasionally escalated into armed clashes between guardsmen and regular army personnel. The People's Guard was generally treated as the more privileged of the two forces. Although it was formally required to come under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief during wartime, with guardsmen being incorporated into regular army units, in practice they often continued to operate as separate People's Guard formations and frequently disregarded the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
The regular army had its own senior military chaplain, a position held by Anton Totibadze.
In August 1918, new legislation was enacted establishing the organizational structure of the regular army. Under the 1918 establishment, the army was to comprise two infantry divisions, a separate artillery brigade, a cavalry brigade, an engineering-technical force, and a coastal (border) force, with a total authorized strength of 41,260 personnel.
The army was to comprise the following formations:
Infantry division: division headquarters, three infantry regiments, an artillery brigade, a separate cavalry squadron, and a sapper company — 11,178 men, 45/54 cannons, and 1,680 horses. Artillery brigade: brigade headquarters, a light artillery divizion consisting of three four-gun batteries, and two field heavy howitzer divizions, each consisting of three four-howitzer batteries (with two guns per battery in peacetime) — 2,146 men, 30/48 cannons, and 870 horses. Cavalry brigade: brigade headquarters; three cavalry regiments, each consisting of a regimental headquarters, three cavalry squadrons, a cavalry machine-gun squadron, a communications group, a cavalry sapper company, a training group, a repair group, and a bugler group; a reserve squadron; and a cavalry artillery battery — 3,437 men, four cannons, and 3,173 horses. Engineering-Technical Force: a Sapper Battalion, Technical Battalion, Special Motor Company, Armored Vehicle Company, and Aviation Squadron — 2,656 men, six armored vehicles, 11 cars, 35 trucks, six car-trucks, three car workshops, eight motorcycles, seven bicycles, and an unspecified number of aircraft. Coastal Guard: three detachments and a training detachment — 4,859 men and 1,146 horses.
Under the August 1918 law, the National Council was the supreme authority over the army and exercised its powers through the government and the Ministry of the Military. The Commander-in-Chief was to be appointed by the government during wartime and granted full operational authority. The General Headquarters of the Regular Army was established within the Ministry of the Military, while a Field Staff was to be formed in wartime.
Although Georgia had a manpower pool of approximately 164,000 men, which was expected to be fully mobilized in wartime, the regular army struggled to recruit sufficient personnel. Shortages of equipment, economic difficulties, logistical challenges, inexperienced and insufficiently diligent officers, low troop morale, and other factors restricted recruitment to approximately 9,000–12,000 men in peacetime and 20,000–30,000 through wartime mobilization. Moreover, the repeated mobilization and demobilization necessitated by the country's successive wars disrupted conscription and prevented the proper training of troops. By late September 1918, the regular army consisted of the 1st Division (2,333 men), 2nd Division (3,032 men), Army Artillery Brigade (600 men), Cavalry Brigade (993 men), Coastal Army (1,181 men), and Engineering-Technical Force (769 men). All formations were severely understrength, and the entire army had fewer personnel than a single full-strength division. By October, the army was short of approximately 60% of its authorized personnel and 80% of its horses.
The failure of the 1918 conscription campaign demonstrated that Georgia lacked the resources to maintain a large regular army. Moreover, Georgia relied heavily on the German Empire, which had an interest in maintaining a strong Georgian military presence. However, Germany's defeat in the First World War in November 1918 further complicated Georgia's strategic position and removed an important source of support. These developments prompted the government to reorganize the structure and personnel establishment of the permanent regular army.
1919–1921