In the August of 2008, a conflict that had been brewing in the West erupted into a full war between the countries of Georgia and Russia over the territorial integrity of South Ossetia, a small state who through the course of history had been vying for political sovereignty from its neighbours. Many bodies have examined the causes of this conflict and tried to pinpoint a factor that made it so, but with the years of historical background between the three bodies, it is easy to see that there is no one set reason for the war – it was inevitable that at some stage, something would commence. Russia blames Georgia, Georgia blames Russia and the European Union blames them both. Uncertainty surrounds who the originating aggressor of the war was. In order to give a fair analysis to both sides of the story, the first topic to be investigated as a potential cause is the spanning historical tensions between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia. Then four hypotheses will be evaluated; the idea that Russia instated the war as a method of maintaining hegemony over Georgia and to keep itself as a perceived major power in the East, the mistreatment of the South Ossetians in Georgia, nationalistic politics and misperceptions and individual optimism of the state leaders. This was to become a significant issue not only in the east, but also in the west with the European Union getting involved to resolve the dispute through the introduction of legal documents binding them both to peaceful distain.
The History of the Countries
In order to substantiate a perspective on the situation between Russia and Georgia and the tension over South Ossetia, it deems necessary to examine the historical context of their conflicts. One of the largest conflicts occurred between the years of 1918 and 1920. There was a struggle between the two states as South Ossetia vied for its independence, with a group of secessionists fighting against the Georgian army to display their desire for.. After the fall of the imperial regime in Russia, the Menshevik government in Georgia struggled with the Ossetian nationalists who largely sympathised with the Russians and had a politically identity which they aligned with the Russian regime. The result of this came in 1921 when Ossetians helped the Bolshevik government overthrow and overtake the Georgian government. Fighting primarily occurred since this period over the integrity of the territories, issues surrounding ethnicities and the struggles for maintaining power. Later in the relations, the First South Ossetian War (1991-1992) occurred. Following the fall of Communism, Georgia found itself as an independent state once again under the first democratically elected President, Zviad Gamsakhurdia. His politics were seen to be hard line against those of a minority within the government, and violent clashes broke out between the state and its inhabitants and in the months following the displays, South Ossetians began building up their arms. (Cvetkovski, 2009: chpt. 4) The United Nations, the EU, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the OSCE have all tried to introduce peace, but this still was not to bring about the end of the tensions. In 2004, the election of President Mikheil Saakashvili escalated the unrest even further. Over the course of his position in office, he made it his intention to bring the power back from Ossetia to return it to Georgia after doing the same in Ajaria and Abkazia. (Rutland, 2009: 1). From this date onwards, there was a downward spiral in the relations between the states. Even organisations such as the Joint Control Commission introduced after the first Georgian-Ossetian War and the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe could not prevent the pending war.
The week leading up to the war was filled with individual events sparking around the land. Tensions heated up with a roadside bomb which killed five Georgian policemen in the capital city of Tskhinvali, the introductory move that saw smaller fights breaking out across the region. On August 7th, the Russian and Georgian officials were meeting to agree to terms for peace negotiations, which only lasted them for a matter of hours as at 10pm the same night, more violence was recorded through the South Ossetia area and within hours the Georgian president had launched his forces into the area to begin the military operations. Records see the 7th as the official start date to the 2008 war.
In the case of any war, the history of relations between two states is something that cannot be overlooked. It is a common theme that tensions brewing between states over a prolonged period must also be a key theory as to why war breaks out when it does. Such political thinkers as Carr, Morgenthau and Hoffman have all used the theory of history to highlight their research. (Lawson and Hobson, 2008:2) Such political minds such as Vaughan-Williams argue that history should be excluded from the investigations into international relations, citing it as a ‘problem’ (Vaughan-Williams, 2005: 115), but I think in cases, especially those like the Russo-Georgian war, if history is to be excluded from the analysis then so much is to be missed in terms of the political and social relations. Georgia and South Ossetia had already fought a full war in the 90’s, excluding that would leave a massive lasting grievance on the sidelines when in reality it gives a large insight into the feelings and certainly the tensions between the two states.