Alexander Chavchavadze

Alexander Chavchavadze in hussar uniform in the 1920s

Prince Alexander Tschawtschawadze ( Georgian ლექსანდრე ჭავჭავაძე ; * 1786 in St. Petersburg , Russian Empire , †  November 6, 1846 in Tbilisi ) was a Georgian poet and general.

Life

Alexander Chavchavadze was born in St. Petersburg in 1785 as the son of Garsewan Chavchavadze. His father served as the ambassador of the Kingdom of Kartlien-Kakheti in Russia. Tsarina Katharina II was Alexander's godmother.

In the 1820s, Chavchavadze served in the Russian Army in the wars against Persia and the Ottoman Empire and was promoted to major general. He played an essential role in the conquest of Yerevan from Persia. In the following year he defended the province of Yerevan against a Kurdish attack and even advanced to Anatolia, where he took the fortress of Beyazıt .

In 1846 Alexander Chavchavadze was killed in an accident in Tbilisi.

writer

As a writer, Chavchavadze is the author of several romantic poems that are shaped by a longing for the glorious Georgia of the Middle Ages and that compare this past with the inconspicuous present of the country. Chavchavadze criticized the Russian way of dealing with Georgian culture and tried to stand up for the interests of the Georgian elites and nobles. He also compared the rule of Russia over Georgia with the foreign rule of the Ottomans and Persia, even more destructive, since the Russian Empire had dissolved the Georgian monarchy and the Georgian state. In his later works from 1832 onwards, he had a more positive view of Russian influence in Georgia, which also saw benefits for the country. Nevertheless, the country's independence remained his goal. His poems became less romantic and more sentimental, always showing an optimistic view of the world.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} M. Kveselava,: Anthology of Georgian Poetry . The Minerva Group, Inc., 2002, ISBN 0-89875-672-3 , pp. 181 .
2. ^ ^{A b} Allen Wed: A History of the Georgian People: From the Beginning Down to the Russian Conquest in the Nineteenth Century . Barnes & Noble, New York City 1971, pp. 234 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} L. Blanch: Sabers of Paradise . Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1995, ISBN 0-88184-042-4 , pp. 54 .
4. ^ RG Suny: The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition . Indiana University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-253-20915-3 , pp. 124 .
5. ↑ DM Gamezardashvili: Georgian Literature . The Minerva Group, Inc., 2001, ISBN 0-89875-570-0 , pp. 50 .
6. ^ D. Rayfield: The Literature of Georgia: A History . Routledge (UK), 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1163-5 , pp. 148 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Alexander Tschawtschawadze in the catalog of the German National Library