# Annexation of Eastern Georgia
Paul I's manifesto of 18 January (30 January New Style) 1801 announced the annexation of the "Georgian kingdom," and [Alexander I](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander-i)'s manifesto of 12 September (24 September New Style) 1801 abolished the Georgian monarchy and placed the country under direct Russian administration.[2](https://web.archive.org/web/20150724121458/http:/www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=407) • [3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php) The act ended the rule of the [Bagrationi dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/bagrationi-dynasty) and made Eastern Georgia an ordinary province of the empire.[4](https://urvak.ru/articles/probe-9083-vypusk-2-pravovye-aspekty-prisoedineniya/) • [3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Event | Incorporation of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti into the Russian Empire[1](https://regnum.ru/article/4014235) |
| Dates | Manifesto of 18 January (30 New Style) 1801; manifesto of 12 September (24 New Style) 1801[2](https://web.archive.org/web/20150724121458/http:/www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=407) • [3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php) |
| Sides | Russian Empire; Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti under the Bagrationi dynasty[1](https://regnum.ru/article/4014235) • [3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php) |
| Key figures | Paul I, Alexander I, Giorgi XII, Prince David, Lieutenant General Knorring[5](https://doi.org/10.38154/cjas.15) • [6](https://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/Article/man_georg.php) |
| Outcome | Monarchy abolished; Georgia became the Georgia Governorate, an ordinary imperial province[7](https://abzubov.com/russiaxix/lecture028) • [3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php) |
## Background and causes
From 1783 Eastern Georgia was under a Russian protectorate under the [Treaty of Georgievsk](https://www.edgepedia.org/treaty-of-georgievsk).[8](https://www.interanalytics.org/jour/article/view/79) • [9](https://mosumvd.editorum.ru/ru/nauka/article/124454/view) The military and political weakness of the Georgian kingdom made the treaty ineffective as a guarantee of protection.[8](https://www.interanalytics.org/jour/article/view/79)
Internal weakness compounded the external threat. After Heraclius II's death in 1798, competition among aristocratic clans sharpened,[10](https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/prisoedinenie-vostochnoy-gruzii-1801-g-v-pravitelstvennyh-diskussiyah-mezhdu-voley-monarha-i-kollegialnostyu/pdf) and Giorgi XII faced stiff opposition from his stepmother Queen Darejan and her sons, led by his half-brothers Iulon and [Alexander](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander); [Heraclius](https://www.edgepedia.org/heraclius) had overturned the principle of primogeniture in 1794 to placate Darejan, leaving the succession disputed.[11](https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403932785_6) Facing the threat from Iran, annexation to Russia became, in one assessment, the only way to save Eastern Georgia from devastation.[8](https://www.interanalytics.org/jour/article/view/79)
The Georgian side itself initiated the closer union. In September 1799 Giorgi XII opened negotiations for a new comprehensive agreement with Paul I's government, one that would have almost completely deprived Georgia of its state sovereignty and made it part of Russia.[4](https://urvak.ru/articles/probe-9083-vypusk-2-pravovye-aspekty-prisoedineniya/)
## Course of events
- 18 January (30 New Style) 1801. Soon after George XII's death, Paul I signed a manifesto on the annexation of Georgia to Russia; in this document Kartalinia and Kakhetia were named the "Georgian kingdom" for the first time, and the rights of George's son David to the throne were not confirmed.[2](https://web.archive.org/web/20150724121458/http:/www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=407) • [12](https://base.garant.ru/55003856/) Paul I signed the manifesto without Giorgi XII's agreement to the final version of a "mutual act," and the Georgian demand to preserve, even nominally, the institution of royal power was ignored.[4](https://urvak.ru/articles/probe-9083-vypusk-2-pravovye-aspekty-prisoedineniya/)
- 12 September (24 New Style) 1801. During his coronation days in Moscow, Alexander I signed the manifesto "To the Georgian People," completing the incorporation.[3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php) The manifesto cited the Persian devastation, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the strife of the royal family, and the [Georgians](https://www.edgepedia.org/georgians)' appeal for direct Russian rule, and appointed Lieutenant General Knorring commander-in-chief.[6](https://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/Article/man_georg.php) • [13](https://ctik.ru/the-reserves-of-the-body/kogda-gruziya-voshla-v-rossiiskuyu-imperiyu-prisoedinenie/)
## Outcome and losses
Supreme military and civil administration passed to a Governor-in-Chief of Georgia appointed by the emperor, under whom a "Supreme Georgian government" of Russian officials and Georgian nobility was created.[3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php) Georgia was divided into five uezds, three in Kartli (Gori, Lori, and Dusheti) and two in Kakheti (Telavi and Signakh).[3](https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php)
## Consequences and political influence
Administratively, Eastern Georgia entered the empire as the Georgian province (Guberniya), and the period from its incorporation to the Kakhetian uprising of 1812 became a search for an administrative-political model for the region.[14](https://humanitieslaw.ncfu.ru/jour/article/view/1457) The Kakhetian uprising of 1812 was one of the largest crises of the Russian administration there; after it, projects for integrating the Georgian territories no longer considered indirect rule a possible alternative.[14](https://humanitieslaw.ncfu.ru/jour/article/view/1457)
Institutionally, the event established the transition that later incorporations followed: from protectorate or autonomous status to that of an ordinary imperial province, a status imposed unilaterally by the Russian autocrat with no legal continuity from the initial political-legal relationship.[9](https://mosumvd.editorum.ru/ru/nauka/article/124454/view)
## Historians' assessment
Scholars disagree on how to characterize the event. One line of assessment frames it as the outcome of Russian-Georgian relations in the second half of the eighteenth century, in which Georgian weakness before Iran made annexation the only way to save Eastern Georgia from devastation.[8](https://www.interanalytics.org/jour/article/view/79) Legal historians emphasize instead that the incorporation was carried out with a clear violation of legal and diplomatic procedures: Paul I signed the manifesto without Giorgi XII's consent to a final mutual act, and both manifestos of 18 January and 12 September 1801 reflected unilateral imperial action despite the Georgian side's repeatedly expressed desire to join Russia on negotiated terms.[4](https://urvak.ru/articles/probe-9083-vypusk-2-pravovye-aspekty-prisoedineniya/) On the dating of the first manifesto itself, sources differ: one scholarly account holds that Paul signed the incorporation manifesto on 22 December 1800 and that it was announced to the Georgian public on 18 January 1801,[5](https://doi.org/10.38154/cjas.15) while the Presidential Library's account and the manifesto's own record date the signing to 18 January (30 New Style) 1801.[2](https://web.archive.org/web/20150724121458/http:/www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=407) • [12](https://base.garant.ru/55003856/)
## References
1. «Под покровительство престола»: как Грузия оказалась в составе России (ИА REGNUM), https://regnum.ru/article/4014235
2. Georgian kingdom (of Kartli-Kakheti), Presidential Library, https://web.archive.org/web/20150724121458/http:/www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=407
3. Манифест «К грузинскому народу», 12 (24) сентября 1801 г., https://hrono.info/dokum/1800dok/18010912gruz.php
4. Правовые аспекты присоединения Картли-Кахетинского царства (Yur-VAK), https://urvak.ru/articles/probe-9083-vypusk-2-pravovye-aspekty-prisoedineniya/
5. Unlocking the Caucasus for Empire: Roots, causes and consequences of the Russian annexation of the East Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, 1801, https://doi.org/10.38154/cjas.15
6. Манифест о присоединении Грузии к России (12 сентября 1801 г.), https://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/Article/man_georg.php
7. Лекция 28. Юго-восточный Кавказ в русской политике первой трети XIX века, https://abzubov.com/russiaxix/lecture028
8. Завоевание или добровольное присоединение? (М. Волхонский), https://www.interanalytics.org/jour/article/view/79
9. Инкорпорация Кавказских государств в состав Российской империи, https://mosumvd.editorum.ru/ru/nauka/article/124454/view
10. Присоединение Восточной Грузии 1801 г. в правительственных дискуссиях, https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/prisoedinenie-vostochnoy-gruzii-1801-g-v-pravitelstvennyh-diskussiyah-mezhdu-voley-monarha-i-kollegialnostyu/pdf
11. The Incorporation of Eastern Georgia into the Russian Empire (1798–1801), https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403932785_6
12. Манифест от 18.01.1801 «О присоединении Грузинского Царства к России», https://base.garant.ru/55003856/
13. Текст манифеста 12 сентября 1801 года, https://ctik.ru/the-reserves-of-the-body/kogda-gruziya-voshla-v-rossiiskuyu-imperiyu-prisoedinenie/
14. Грузинские территории в системе государственного управления Российской империи, 1801–1812 гг., https://humanitieslaw.ncfu.ru/jour/article/view/1457
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › European history › Russia › Russian Empire at its height (1796 to 1855) › Government and legal institutions*
*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license