Garsevan Chavchavadze

Prince Garsewan Chavchavadze (Georgian გარსევან ჭავჭავაძე; born July 20, 1775 in Kartli - Kakheti, † April 7, 1811 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Georgian politician and diplomat. From 1784 to 1801 he was ambassador to Russia.

Life

He came from a princely family of the third rank, who lived in the Kingdom of Kakheti in eastern Georgia. He served several years as Adjutant-General King Irakli II of Kartli - Kakheti. He later became governor-general of the province Kasachien.

In 1783 he negotiated the Georgian- Russian negotiations on the Treaty of Georgiyevsk who put the Kingdom of Kartli - Kakheti under the Russian protection. In 1784 he was Georgian ambassador at the Russian court in St. Petersburg. Catherine II was godmother of his son who was born in Saint Petersburg, later poet Alexander Chavchavadze and Generals.

When Persia invaded Georgia in 1795 and devastated the country, he urged Russia to intervene militarily, as it provided for the concluded contract. But the Russian government reacted too slowly. The Tsar's troops were too late. The Battle of Krtsanisi had already been lost. While Georgia's political elite disappointed turned away from Russia, he continued to advocate an alliance with the northern neighbor. In 1799 he supported the proposal of the Georgian King Giorgi XII. on the accession of Georgia to Russia under the condition that the Georgian royal house the crown forever would be preserved and the country would get a certain amount of local autonomy in the Russian legal system.

The accession negotiations in St. Petersburg were still in progress, as Giorgi XII. 1800 died, the Russian Tsar in 1801 decreed the annexation of Georgia and the Bagratides dynasty dethroned. Chavchavadze was appalled. He wrote to his family in Tbilisi, the Russians had " not one of Giorgi XII. Fulfilled conditions. You have our kingdom abolished ... No country has ever been so humiliated like Georgia. " In September 1801, he presented to the Russian vice-chancellor Prince Alexander Kurakin, a formal note of protest against the annexation of Georgia.

After his ambassador activities in the same year he returned to Georgia, and there he sat in vain to obtain a minimum level of regional autonomy. Because he opposed it in the following years again and again against Russian rule, he was deported to Russia in 1805. It was forbidden to return to his homeland. Chavchavadze lived in St. Petersburg and was buried in the cemetery of Alexander Nevsky Lavra.