Person

Zviad Gamsakhurdia

1939–1993 · 20th century

Zviad Gamsakhurdia was a Georgian dissident writer and nationalist leader who became the first elected president of Georgia. His coalition won the Soviet Georgian elections of 1990, and Georgia declared independence on 9 April 1991, with him elected president the following month. His authoritarian rule provoked a civil war that ousted him in January 1992, and he died in 1993 after a failed attempt to return.

Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Image: George barateli by George Barateli in 1989 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Georgian SSRGeorgia

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Zviad Gamsakhurdia. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zviad-gamsakhurdia
MLA
“Zviad Gamsakhurdia.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zviad-gamsakhurdia. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Zviad Gamsakhurdia.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zviad-gamsakhurdia.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Zviad Gamsakhurdia’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zviad-gamsakhurdia (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻