But the land of Stalin's birth is fiercely proud, and its people were always wary of authoritarian rule from far-off Moscow.
The tradition of dissidents fighting for national liberation was particularly strong in Georgia, and often included high profile members of society, such as noted musician, poet and author Merab Kostava, whose anti-Communist activities date back to the 1950s.
In 1989, the push for Georgian national independence exposed rapidly spreading cracks in the Soviet facade. That year, parliamentary elections saw the Free Georgia party trounce the entrenched Communist Party by an almost 3 to 1 margin.
Image: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discusses the Georgia conflict with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov (Left) and Chief of Staff of the army Nikolai Makarov at the Kremlin in Moscow.
Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 28 hours in Moscow
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