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Bob Newman's Reviews > The Caucasus: An Introduction
The Caucasus: An Introduction
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From Abkhazia to Zangezur
The mighty range of the Caucasus mountains runs between the Black Sea and the Caspian. For millennia numerous peoples took refuge in its fastnesses, to the north and to the south. Others inhabited the valleys and plains. De Waal’s book covers only those who lived on the south side, the people who today live in the modern nations of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Though those three nations may be dominated by the eponymous groups, there are many others—for example, Abkhaz, Ajarians, Ossetians, Lezgin, Kurds, and Svans. After a quick general history, the book turns to the development and political history of the three modern states---during Tsarist times; in that brief period between 1917 and 1921 when three weak, disorganized states emerged and were overwhelmed by the Bolsheviks; under Communism; and finally after the end of the Soviet Union.
If you read newspapers or serious news magazines over the last 30 years, you no doubt ran across articles dealing with all these countries and their multitude of quarrels---among themselves and with their neighbors, Russia, Turkey and Iran. Names like Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan, Ajaria, Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, Ter-Petrosian, Kocharian, Aliev and a lot of others that don’t fly off the tongues of Westerners flew across the pages and often disappeared with no trace. Owing to the fickle attention spans of Euro-American news media, you probably were left wondering at times. What the _______ is going on? You did not, without some independent research, find out. For an antidote to this lack of knowledge, I advise you to get hold of this excellent book. It is extremely well-written, avoids national bias, and covers the ground in such a way that you’ll feel that at last you have some idea of the politics and problems of the South Caucasus. The author, a British journalist, obviously knows the area well. In addition to the reportage on the wars, the political struggles, and overall problems, he provides numerous riffs on such subjects as Lermontov (famous 19th century Russian writer), Rustaveli Avenue (the Ginza of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital), how Georgian was Stalin?, Baku jazz, Shusha (the old capital of Nagorno-Karabakh), the Greeks of Abkhazia, and many other, perhaps esoteric, but highly interesting subjects. Several good maps are included.
The mighty range of the Caucasus mountains runs between the Black Sea and the Caspian. For millennia numerous peoples took refuge in its fastnesses, to the north and to the south. Others inhabited the valleys and plains. De Waal’s book covers only those who lived on the south side, the people who today live in the modern nations of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Though those three nations may be dominated by the eponymous groups, there are many others—for example, Abkhaz, Ajarians, Ossetians, Lezgin, Kurds, and Svans. After a quick general history, the book turns to the development and political history of the three modern states---during Tsarist times; in that brief period between 1917 and 1921 when three weak, disorganized states emerged and were overwhelmed by the Bolsheviks; under Communism; and finally after the end of the Soviet Union.
If you read newspapers or serious news magazines over the last 30 years, you no doubt ran across articles dealing with all these countries and their multitude of quarrels---among themselves and with their neighbors, Russia, Turkey and Iran. Names like Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan, Ajaria, Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, Ter-Petrosian, Kocharian, Aliev and a lot of others that don’t fly off the tongues of Westerners flew across the pages and often disappeared with no trace. Owing to the fickle attention spans of Euro-American news media, you probably were left wondering at times. What the _______ is going on? You did not, without some independent research, find out. For an antidote to this lack of knowledge, I advise you to get hold of this excellent book. It is extremely well-written, avoids national bias, and covers the ground in such a way that you’ll feel that at last you have some idea of the politics and problems of the South Caucasus. The author, a British journalist, obviously knows the area well. In addition to the reportage on the wars, the political struggles, and overall problems, he provides numerous riffs on such subjects as Lermontov (famous 19th century Russian writer), Rustaveli Avenue (the Ginza of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital), how Georgian was Stalin?, Baku jazz, Shusha (the old capital of Nagorno-Karabakh), the Greeks of Abkhazia, and many other, perhaps esoteric, but highly interesting subjects. Several good maps are included.
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Hi Bill,Nice comments. Yeah, I taught an all-Armenian class back in 2001-2002 in ESL. I liked them so much that I decided to go to Armenia, which my wife and I did in 2006. We had a wonderful time thanks to family, friends, and some of the same students who had gone back. We traveled throughout the country having a lot of good experiences. I remember thinking to go to Nagorno-Karabakh but when I realized I had to go through the charade of getting a visa---like getting a visa to Hawai'i--I gave that idea up.
Was hoping to get to Georgia, made plans, but so far have not done it.
A few years ago, I hired a guide in Yerevan & we hitchhiked to Nagorno-Karabakh, a bit of an adventure to be sure, like entering a no-man's land in a way, though I was required to purchase a Nagorno-Karabakh visa. I suspect that Azerbaijan has given up any hope of reclaiming the area at this point, though it remains like a lingering wound to their national pride. It was especially interesting to view the old mosques & an Islamic cemetery, now completely derelict as all Muslims have fled to Azerbaijan or elsewhere. On the train to Baku from Georgia, I offered the fellow in the next bunk a shot of brandy & he held out a glass, until he noticed the Armenian brand on the bottle, when his disposition took a quick turn in the wrong direction.
Now South Ossetia & Abkhazia are said to be independent, though no one cares, excepting Russia, a country that completely denies its own Chechen people the possibility of independence. Sometimes I think of Louis Ferlinghetti's comment about wanting to rid the world of all borders & ethnicities, without killing anyone.