Old salt baths and Narikala Fortress, Tbilisi
Courtesy Michael W. Serafin

Old Tbilisi seen from Mtkvari (Kura) River
Courtesy Monica O'Keefe, United States Information Agency

In Georgia Gorbachev's simultaneous policies of glasnost and continued control energized the forces of nationalism, which pushed the republic out of the central state before the Soviet Union fell apart. The first years of independence were marked by struggle among Georgians for control of the government and by conflict with ethnic minorities seeking to escape the control of Tbilisi.

Data as of March 1994