76 Ë War, Independence, and Reconquest, 1914–21
Fig. 4.1.Mikheil (Mikhako) Tsereteli, Istanbul, 1915.
Many Georgians also organized themselves against Russia during World War I un-
der the aegis of the Central Powers. In August 1914, Archimandrite Nicolas, who pre-
viously oversaw the largest monastery in Georgia, founded with other Georgians a na-
tionalist organization in Trabzon.¹³In September in Berlin the Georgian National Com-
mittee (also known as the Committee for the Liberation of Georgia [see p. 70]) formed
under the direction of Prince Giorgi Machabeli (1885–1935) and Mikheil (Mikhako)
Tsereteli (1878–1965), formerly a close collaborator of Dekanozishvili.
The committee collaborated with Finnish and Ukrainian organizations against
Russia. They all believed that the Caucasus would rise against Russia once the Central
Powers invaded and that within two or three months, a combat-ready army of ve hun-
dred thousand men could be deployed there.¹⁴In their September 1914 appeal to the
German Ministry of Foreign Aairs, Machabeli and Tsereteli, emphasizing the history
of Georgia’s struggle against Russia, reminded the Germans of the Japanese prece-
dent: during the Russo-Japanese War, a “certain power (eine Macht)” (that is, Japan)
assisted the Caucasians with weapons and ammunition to stand up against the Rus-
sians. They suggested that assistance of the same kind by the Central Powers to the
13 Reynolds,Shattering Empires, 131.
14 Bihl,Die Kaukasus-Politik der Mittelmächte, 60–61.