@portu-cale ACTUALLY they were united a couple times (and it never worked out).
Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)
I’d say this technically counts, but they were their own subdivisions and not really overtly representing the Viceroyalty. They still had to get together for certain events and administrative things.
Georgia also has the capital (Tbilisi) (and this continues for every single time they unite which is sexy). Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why, but I can guess...
Closest to Russia
Christian
Biggest population
Most developed
Economically doing alright
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (1918)
After the Bolsheviks took over St. Petersburg, the biggest groups in the Caucasus (Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians and Russians) got together to create a government to try and stabilize the region (and be anti-Bolshevik).
However, they all had wildly different ideas of what they wanted.
Georgia was a socialist, Armenia was a different type of socialist, and Azerbaijan was pan-Turkish and pan-Islamist.
Azerbaijan wanted to become very involved with the Ottomans (which Georgia and Armenia both did not want).
Georgia needed Azeri oil and wanted a federation but Azerbaijan instead wanted a confederation (which means a constitution was never agreed on).
The Ottomans were pushing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on the TDFR and threatening to go to war if they didn’t give back the lands the dead Russian Empire had taken from Turkey, and Georgia and Armenia were not willing to give up what was their land.
They all lowkey-highkey really wanted to be independent by themselves.
There’s more but basically it’s all bad.
Georgia was the first to declare independence after he realized the union wasn’t going to work. Azerbaijan left shortly after (and then tried to shift the blame away from herself when accused of being the cause of the breakup which... yeah). Armenia declared independence and was left to fend for himself.
This all took place over a couple months too.
Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (1922–1936)
It’s the TDFR Part 2: Electric Boogaloo (but Socialist and Soviet). The Soviet republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Abkhazia are united into the TSFSR. I’m not sure about the others, but Georgia had some resistance to being put in a union again.
The TSFSR becomes a founding member of the Soviet Union (alongside Russia, Ukraine and Belarus).
Strangely enough, the major issues between them hadn’t just disappeared! They continued to have problems for years and it was to the point where it became very difficult for the TSFSR to make any major decisions.
Finally, with the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union (which gave Russia a huge amount of control over the USSR), the TSFSR was dissolved and they all became their own Soviet republics (aside from Abkhazia who got demoted).
Have a horrible history fact: In the same year (1936), Stalin and his ally Lavrentiy Beria (both Georgians) worked to try to bring Armenia’s population down through executions and deportations so they could justify Georgia absorbing Armenia. 🙃 The USSR is great.
