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Primary sourceDocument24 July 1783

Treaty of Georgievsk

24 July 1783

The 1783 treaty making the Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti a protectorate of Catherine II's Russian Empire.

Ratified by Catherine II in 1784, this treaty shows her policy of extending Russian protection and power into the Caucasus.

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Scanned page from a historical archive publication showing the ratified Georgian-language treaty document of 1783 with handwritten Georgian script in columns, a round wax seal with an embossed emblem attached by cords, and a Russian caption reading Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the top.
Treaty of Georgievsk, 24 July 1783. Illustration from Letopis' Gruzii, ed. B. Esadze, 1913.

About this source

What it is

Signed on 24 July 1783 at the fortress of Georgievsk, this treaty was negotiated for Russia by Lieutenant-General Pavel Potemkin and Prince Grigori Potemkin, and for Kartli-Kakheti by Ioane, Prince of Mukhrani and Garsevan Chavchavadze. King Erekle II of Georgia and Empress Catherine II ratified it in 1784. The surviving treaty, with its Georgian text and wax seal, is held in the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Why it matters

The treaty made eastern Georgia a Russian protectorate in exchange for protection against Persian and Ottoman threats, while letting Georgia's king and church keep internal authority. It shows Catherine's expansion into the Caucasus, but also Russia's later failure to defend Georgia when it was attacked, and Russia's eventual scrapping of the treaty in 1801 when it annexed Georgia outright.

Look closer

  • Why might King Erekle II have decided an alliance with Russia was worth the risks?
  • What promises did Russia make, and what happened when Georgia needed that help?
  • What does the treaty's fate tell you about the gap between formal agreements and how powerful states actually behave?

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