FROM MILITARY CHRONICLE TO IMPERIAL PROJECT: GEORGIA IN THE GERMAN PRESS, 1723–1724

Abstract

Reports concerning Georgia published in the German press in 1723-1724 reflected not only military and political events, but also the processes through which the Caucasus became part of European political thought. The materials published in the newspaper “Staats- und gelehrte Zeitung des holsteinischen unpartheyischen Correspondenten” demonstrate particularly clearly how operational information in the form of military chronicles was transformed into a means of explaining Russian imperial policy. Reports disseminated in the context of the Russian-Ottoman-Persian confrontation simultaneously reflected the Caucasian policy of the Russian Emperor Peter I, Russian military activity, and Georgia’s place within the regional balance of power. The analysis of these reports demonstrates that periodical publications did not merely serve the function of transmitting information; they also created political and symbolic representations through which European readers perceived Georgia, the Caucasus, and Russia’s southern policy. Particular attention is devoted to the sources of information, narrative structures, forms of transmission, and interpretative models that gradually transformed military reports into elements of a broader geopolitical vision. In this process, Georgia initially appeared as an area of military operations and troop movements, but later came to be represented as a strategically important territory whose control was connected to Russia’s plans for expansion toward the south. From this perspective, early eighteenth-century German periodicals constitute an important source for studying the transformation of information, political evaluation, and the history of European perceptions of Georgia.

Keywords: Georgia; German press; eighteenth century; Caucasus; Russian-Ottoman-Persian relations.