Ossetian rebellion in Georgia (1920)

In 1920, a much larger Ossetian uprising took place, which was supported by the regional committee of the Bolshevik Russian Communist Party, which had gathered a military force in Vladikavkaz, the capital of modern-day North Ossetia-Alania, Russia. Despite assurance of respecting Georgia's territorial integrity in the Treaty of Moscow of 7 May 1920, Soviet Russia demanded Georgia recall its troops from Ossetia.

On May 8, the Ossetians declared a Soviet republic in the Roki area on the Russian-Georgian border. A Bolshevik force from Vladikavkaz crossed into Georgia and helped the local rebels to attack a Georgian force in the Java district. The rebellious areas were effectively incorporated into Soviet Russia. However, Vladimir Lenin's desire to keep peace with Georgia at that time and eventual military failures of the rebels forced the Bolsheviks to distance themselves from the Ossetian struggle. The Georgian People's Guard under Valiko Jugheli crushed the revolt with great violence, defeating the insurgents in a series of hard-fought battles.[1]

Many villages were burned down large areas were depopulated, around 5,000 people perished and 20,000 Ossetians were forced to seek refuge in Soviet Russia.[2] Ossetian sources give the following breakdown of casualties: 387 men, 172 women, and 110 children were killed in action or massacred; 1,206 men, 1,203 women, and 1,732 children died during flight. The total fatalities amounted to 4,812–5,279 according to another source, i.e., 6–8 percent of the region's total Ossetian population.[3]

In the spring and summer of 1920, Georgia crushed the revolt.[4]