War in Abkhazia

The 1992–1993 armed conflict between Georgian government forces and Abkhaz separatists ended with Abkhazia outside Georgia’s effective control, though most countries continued to recognize it as Georgian territory.

Abkhazian-Georgian conflict: A long-running dispute over Abkhazia’s political status and relations between Abkhaz and Georgians. The war was the conflict’s decisive armed phase, not its entire history.
Soviet Abkhazia: The changing autonomous and union-republic status of Abkhazia within the Soviet Union and Georgian SSR. Its shifting constitutional status supplied competing historical claims before independence.
Vladislav Ardzinba: The leader of Abkhazia’s separatist government during the war and its first de facto president. He directed the Abkhaz political project whose forces fought Georgian rule.
Internally displaced persons from Abkhazia: People displaced from Abkhazia, most of them ethnic Georgians, who could not return after the war. Their prolonged displacement is among the conflict’s largest unresolved human consequences.
Battle of Gagra: A 1992 battle in which Abkhaz forces and North Caucasian allies captured the coastal city of Gagra. Its capture marked an early major Abkhaz victory and was followed by violence against civilians.
Abkhazian ASSR: An autonomous republic within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1931 until the Soviet Union’s dissolution. Abkhaz leaders invoked its autonomy when opposing subordination to an independent Georgia.
Eduard Shevardnadze: A former Soviet foreign minister who led Georgia from 1992 and became its president in 1995. He headed Georgia during the conflict and negotiated with Abkhaz leaders and Russia.
Republic of Abkhazia: A de facto state in the South Caucasus that Georgia and most countries regard as part of Georgia. Its separate institutions emerged from the wartime loss of Georgian control.
Battle of Sukhumi: The September 1993 battle in which Abkhaz forces captured Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia. The city’s fall ended Georgian control over most of Abkhazia.
Georgian independence referendum, 1991: The March 1991 referendum in which Georgian voters overwhelmingly supported restoring national independence. Abkhazia largely boycotted the vote, deepening disagreement over who could determine its future.

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