Giorgi Kvinitadze
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Giorgi Kvinitadze (Georgian: გიორგი კვინიტაძე) (1874-1970) was a Georgian general and one of the most prominent military leaders of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
Born in 1874 in Dagestan, his real surname was Chikovani. In 1884, he entered Tiflis Cadet Corps, and then continued his education at St Constantine Infantry School, St Petersburg. He served later in Vladikavkaz and Poland. After having fought in the Japanese war (1904-1905), he graduated, in 1910, from the General Staff Academy and was enlisted in the Caucasian Military District headquarters as a captain. During the World War I, in 1916 he was promoted to colonel and appointed a chief of staff of the 4th Caucasian Riffle Division. In 1917, Kvinitadze, now major general, served as a Deputy Minister of War for the provisional Transcaucasus Commissariat. The following year, he retired, however, due to a conflict with the Menshevik party leadership. During a brief border war with Armenia (December 1918), he served again in the capacity of Chief of Staff. In 1919, he led a Georgian division that suppressed a pan-Turkist revolt in the Akhaltsikhe province, and occupied on April 20 1919 hitherto Turkish-held Artvin. The same year, he established the Tbilisi Junkers School, the first Georgian military educational institution. In 1920, he prevented the Bolshevik attackers from capturing the School, and later successfully defended the Georgian borders from the Soviet Russian Red Army (Action of the Red Bridge, May 1920). During the Soviet invasion of 1921, he was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces. After Georgia’s defeat in the war in March 1921, he had to leave for France, where he died on August 7 1970. He was buried at the Georgian Cemetery of Leuville-sur-Orge.
He had three daughters
- Ida, who married the Georgian general Chkheidze
- Tamar, married to the prominent Georgian general Ilia Odishelidze
- Nino, who married the Dutchman d’Abo; they are the parents of Maryam d'Abo.
His memoirs My Memoirs from the Years of Independence 1917-1921 were published in Russian in 1985 in Paris (МОИ ВОСПОМИНАНИЯ В ГОДЫ НЕЗАВИСИМОСТИ 1917-1921. YMCA-PRESS, 1985, Paris).
