ბოშიშვილი, ალექსანდრე / Boshishvili, Aleksandre2025-01-202025-01-202024ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები, XX, თბილისი, 2024, გვ. 182-192 / Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Institute of Georgian History Proceedings, XX, Tbilisi, 2024, p. 182-1921987–9970https://dspace.tsu.ge/handle/123456789/2583https://geohistory.humanities.tsu.ge/ge/procedings/83-shromebi/179-shromebi-20.html ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის ჰუმანიტარულ მეცნიერებათა ფაკულტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები შესულია ERIH PLUS-ში (The European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences) / This journal was approved on 23.10.2024 according to ERIH PLUS criteria for inclusionThe Germans left their homeland and emigrated far away in the 18th and especially the 19th centuries for political, religious, economic and personal reasons. Thousands of people left the German states of that time every year. They went to America and Russia. The emigration of Germans to the Russian Empire was facilitated by special manifestos issued by Empress Catherine II (1762-1796) in 1762 and 1763. People from various foreign countries were invited to Russia and promised assistance in land and farming. Soon the first German settlement appeared on the Volga River. Along with the Germans, the French, Swiss, and Dutch came to Russia. The authorities placed those wishing to settle in the Russian Empire in a somewhat privileged position. The newly settled colonists were given land from the state fund, and sufficient funds were allocated from the budget for farming. They were not subject to serfdom in the Russian Empire, and were exempted from military service for 100 years, etc. Napoleon's campaigns impoverished all of Germany, including the Kingdom of Württemberg. Where, in parallel with the economic hardship of the local population (the Swabians), religious sects that emerged in the Lutheran Church also became active. Among them was the “Pietist” group. The Pietists could not find common ground with either the clerical or secular authorities. Soon, more radical trends emerged among the Pietists. As a result of internal conflict, a group of so-called “separatists” emerged, distinguished by their activity. Religious movements that became active in Germany in the 19th century, especially the “separatists” of the Pietists, were brutally persecuted by the authorities. The Pietist movement was most widespread in Württemberg, Baden, Bavaria, and Switzerland. They believed that the end of the world was near. According to the Pietists, the only way for Germans to save themselves was far from their homeland, in Jerusalem, or in the Caucasus, near Mount Ararat, where Noahʼs Ark had come to rest. They were also troubled by the Napoleonic Wars. They saw Napoleon as the “Antichrist” and the “Black Angel” who opposed the “White Angel”, the Russian Emperor Alexander I. Napoleonʼs return from Elba in 1815 would herald new battles, and naturally this caused great concern among the “separatists”. The preaching of the end of the world was supplemented by the poor harvest of 1816 in Europe and a great food crisis. The summer of 1816 was exceptionally cold for Western Europe and America. It even snowed in June, July, and August. Consequently, it was impossible to cultivate the land or grow crops. The poor harvest caused prices to increase almost tenfold, which led to famine and the spread of various diseases. As it turned out later, all this was connected with the eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia in April 1815. As a result, Europe and North America were covered with a dense cloud of tons of volcanic ash for several months. The so-called “volcanic winter” was established. 1816 is also called the “Year Without a Summer”. Karl Stumpp talks in detail about the emigration of Germans in the Russian Empire, including the Caucasus. He notes that one of the reasons for the emigration of people was the cold and bad year of 1816. He focuses on the economic aspect of the event. It is emphasized that the event influenced the decision of the Germans to leave their homeland. However, the cause of the bad year is not mentioned. Karl Stumpp writes that the bad weather in 1816 led to a large shortage and failure of the harvest. Two-thirds of the livestock either died or were slaughtered for food. People used tree bark, straw and bran to bake bread. The impoverished population boiled grass and hay and ate it. He describes the whole year in a dramatic way, Stumpp notes that in 1816 “the weather was abnormally bad and destructive. On New Yearʼs Day it was as hot as in summer. And in March there were thunderstorms like in June. In May it was as cold as in February. The wells were so frozen that water could not be obtained. In June it began to rain, which did not end and all the grain rotted in the fields. In July hail spoiled everything...” and so on. In Germany, those wishing to emigrate to the territory of the Russian Empire gathered in the city of Ulm, and soon seven thousand people gathered. In 1817-1820, 53% of the colonists who settled in the years 1817-1820 named hunger as the reason for their emigration. Only 21% - religious dreams, and the rest named better prospects for finding work. This indicator also makes it clear that the primary reason for leaving Germany was precisely the hunger and economic hardship caused by the “Year Without a Summer”. The first colonies in Georgia: According to the administrative division of the Russian Empire, the Georgian Governorate (Russian: «Грузинская губерния»), in addition to Eastern Georgia, also included the Ganja region. In 1817-1820, Germans who migrated from Württemberg founded eight settlements (Colonia) – Alexandersdorf, Annenfeld, Elisabethtal, Helenendorf, Katharinenfeld, Marienfeld, Petersdorf and Tifliser Kolonie (Neutiflis).otherArticle