The Kakhet–Khevsureti Rebellion was a rebellion in 1921 against the Bolshevik

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

 forces in the Kakheti

Kakheti

Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...

 and Khevsureti

Khevsureti

Khevsureti/Khevsuria is a historical-ethnographic region in eastern Georgia. They are the branch of Kartvelian people located along both the northern and southern slopes of the Great Caucasus...

 regions of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 (then the Georgian SSR) following the Red Army invasion of Georgia

Red Army invasion of Georgia

The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...

.

The rebellion followed the 1921 Svanetian Uprising

1921 Svanetian Uprising

The Svanetian Uprising of 1921 was an unsuccessful rebellion against the recently established Bolshevik regime in Georgia.The uprising broke out in Svaneti, a highland western Georgian province, almost immediately after the Red Army invasion of Georgia and the establishment of the Georgian SSR...

 and was organized by the Committee for Independence of Georgia

Committee for Independence of Georgia

The Committee for the Independence of Georgia or the Parity Committee was an underground anti-Soviet organization active in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early 1920s. It is commonly known as "Damkom"...

 and its Military Committee, consisting of the former officers of the Democratic Republic of Georgia

Democratic Republic of Georgia

The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...

. The leader of the movement was Prince Kakutsa Cholokashvili

Kakutsa Cholokashvili

Kaikhosro Cholokashvili commonly known as Kakutsa was a Georgian nobleman and military commander, regarded as a National Hero of Georgia...

, colonel of the Georgian army, formerly a Polkovnik

Polkovnik

Polkovnik is often a military rank in Slavic countries which corresponds to a colonel in English-speaking states. However, in the Ukraine, polkovnyk was an administrative rank similar to a governor...

 in the Imperial Russian Army and hero of the Battle of Sarikamis

Battle of Sarikamis

The Battle of Sarikamish was an engagement between the Russian and Ottoman empires during World War I. It took place from December 22, 1914 to January 17, 1915 as part of the Caucasus Campaign. The outcome was a Russian victory. The Ottomans employed a strategy which demanded that their troops be...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Since the spring of 1921 Cholokashvili organized strong militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 in Kakheti and Khevsureti from experienced Georgian army personnel and noblemen including M. Lashkarashvili, Simon Bagration-Mukhraneli, L. Lekvinadze, S. Andronikashvili, A. Sumbatashvili, Sh. Vachnadze, P. Palavandishvili, Sh. Palavandishvili, and etc.

The militia had a close contact to Catholicos-Patriarch Ambrose and enjoyed the support of the mountainous clans of eastern Georgia.

First, the militiamen blocked all the roads to Tusheti

Tusheti

Tusheti is a historic region in northeast Georgia.-Geography:Located on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, Tusheti is bordered by the Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan to the north and east, respectively; and by the Georgian historic provinces Kakheti and...

, Pshavi

Pshavi

Pshavi is a small historic-geographic area in Georgia, included in today’s Mtskheta-Mtianeti region and laying chiefly on the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountains along Aragvi River and the lower Iori River. The Pshavs, who are locally called the Pshaveli, speak a Georgian dialect...

, and Khevsureti

Khevsureti

Khevsureti/Khevsuria is a historical-ethnographic region in eastern Georgia. They are the branch of Kartvelian people located along both the northern and southern slopes of the Great Caucasus...

 and after winning the battle in Zhinvali

Zhinvali

thumb|300px|Zhinvali reservoirZhinvali is a town in Georgia, Dusheti municipality , on river Aragvi.It has one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Georgia....

, the army moved in Khevsureti. Notably, the Bolsheviks used vast inexperienced military resources, including combat aviation, against the militiamen and had heavy casualties whereas the casualties of Cholokashvili's force was zero in some cases

The rebellion was weakened from disagreement within different political parties of Georgia. For example, Social Democrats thought that Cholokashvili, a noblemen, should not be the leader of a Partisan

Partisan (military)

A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...

 army. On the other hand, the Bolsheviks arrested and executed supporters of militia in Kartli

Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...

 and Kakheti

Kakheti

Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...

 and moved more army divisions from Grozny

Grozny

Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...

.

Combination of hostility of Cheka

Cheka

Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...

 towards the population of Georgia and disagreement between different political parties forced Cholokashvili to escape to the neighboring Chechnya

Chechnya

The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...

, whence he made several inroads into Georgia, preventing the Bolsheviks from gaining a foothold in the eastern Georgian mountains before joining the major revolt against the Soviets in August 1924.