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PAWEŁ OLSZEWSKI The Great Britain towards the future of Georgia and the South Caucasus at the turn of 1918 and 1919 – the summary of the article
The subject of this article is an analysis of the British government's attitude towards the future of Georgia and other South Caucasian republics. It was included in four memoranda prepared by representatives of the English authorities in late 1918 and early 1919. The full texts of these documents, original versions of which can be found in the National Archives, Kew, London, are cited in the second part of this article. These documents seem to be interesting as they were an attempt to define the British politics towards the Transcaucasian republics and Daghestan after the end of World War I. The importance of these documents was emphasized by the fact that, due to the presence of significant British military forces in the Transcaucasia until October 1919, it was primarily the government in London that shaped the South Caucasian policy of the victorious Entente powers in the first year after the end of World War I. In turn, the policy of the Entente powers had a large impact on the international position and the internal situation of Georgia and its South Caucasian neighbors after 1918. Therefore, the presentation and discussion of these documents seems essential for the analysis of the international position of the South Caucasus after World War I. Moreover, a comparison of the proposed assumptions of British policy towards the South Caucasus presented in these documents with their practical implementation may be interesting for the study of the history of Georgia and the South Caucasus in 1918-1921. Key words: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Daghestan, South Caucasus, Great Britain, history 1918-1921.
