Gori, Georgia in the context of "Joseph Stalin"

The Georgian Governorate (Russian: Грузинская губерния; Georgian: საქართველოს გუბერნია) was one of the guberniyas of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Tiflis (Tbilisi). It was divided into uyezds of Gori, Dusheti (Its center was Tbilisi), Lori, Signagi and Telavi.

The Georgia governorate was established in 1801 following the Russian annexation of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. In 1840 it was expanded to form the Georgia-Imeretia Governorate, incorporating the territory of the Imeretia Oblast (Its center was Kutaisi and was constituted from uyezds of Kutaisi, Vakha, Rakvta (Raczyn during Russian rule), Sachkhere, Cheri and Bagdati) and Armenian Oblast (Its center was Erivan).

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (né Dzhugashvili; 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as premier from 1941 until his death. Despite initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he eventually consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, and his version of it is referred to as Stalinism.

Born into a poor Georgian family in Gori, Russian Empire, Stalin attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary before joining the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction through bank robberies and other crimes, and edited the party's newspaper, Pravda. He was repeatedly arrested and underwent several exiles to Siberia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution of 1917, Stalin served as a member of the Politburo, and from 1922 used his position as General Secretary to gain control over the party bureaucracy. After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin won the leadership struggle over rivals including Leon Trotsky. Stalin's doctrine of socialism in one country became central to the party's ideology, and his five-year plans starting in 1928 led to forced agricultural collectivisation, rapid industrialisation, and a centralised command economy. His policies contributed to a famine in 1932–1933 which killed millions, including in the Holodomor in Ukraine. Between 1936 and 1938, Stalin executed hundreds of thousands of his real and perceived political opponents in the Great Purge. Under his regime, an estimated 18 million people passed through the Gulag system of forced labour camps, and more than six million people, including kulaks and entire ethnic groups, were deported to remote areas of the country.

Shida Kartli (Georgian: შიდა ქართლი, IPA: [ʃida kʰaɾtʰli]; lit. 'Inner Kartli') is a landlocked administrative region (mkhare) in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of 5,729 square kilometres (2,212 sq mi), Shida Kartli is the 8th largest Georgian region by land area. With 284,081 inhabitants, it is Georgia's seventh-most-populous region. Shida Kartli's capital and largest city, Gori, is the 5th largest city in Georgia.

The region is bordered by Russia to the north, Georgian regions of Mtskheta-Mtianeti to the east, Kvemo Kartli to the south, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the southwest, Imereti to the west, and Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti to the northwest. It consists of the following municipalities: Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Java, Khashuri.

The Great Liakhvi (Georgian: დიდი ლიახვი Didi Liakhvi [ˈd̪id̪i ˈliäχʷi], Ossetian: Стыр Леуахи, Styr Lewakhi) is a river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range, in the de facto independent region of South Ossetia and flows into the Kura (Mtkvari). It is 115 km (71 mi) long, and has a drainage basin of 2,311 km (892 sq mi). The cities of Tskhinvali and Gori lie along the banks of the Great Liakhvi. The river is mainly fed by the melting snows and glacier runoff of the Caucasus Mountains as well as by underground water sources. The Liakhvi reaches its highest water volume in the spring and summer while the lowest volume is recorded in the winter, when some segments of the river freeze over.

The Little Liakhvi is a left-bank tributary.

Gori Fortress (Georgian: გორის ციხე, "Goris Tsikhe") is a medieval citadel in Georgia, situated above the city of Gori on a rocky hill.

Standing on the hilltop, the fortress's outlines follow the natural relief, hence the irregular shape. The inner fortifications occupy the entire plateau, from which the walls descend towards the road along the western slope. Originally, the walls reached the river below and the water had to be diverted through a tunnel, but the river has retreated since.

During the Russo-Georgian War, the city of Gori in Georgia was militarily occupied by Russia for a period of nine days, beginning on 13 August 2008. Although it ultimately withdrew from Gori on 22 August, the Russian military has been occupying other parts of Georgia for almost two decades.

The European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) is an unarmed peacekeeping mission operated by the European Union in Georgia. The EUMM was conceived in September 2008 following the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement, which ended the Russo-Georgian War. The mission has around 200 monitors from EU member states and operates with a budget of over 47 million euros (2022/2024). Its headquarters are in Tbilisi, with field offices in Gori, Mtskheta and Zugdidi.

The EUMM started its monitoring activities on 1 October 2008 and has since been patrolling both day and night, particularly in areas adjacent to the Administrative Boundary Lines with the Russian-backed separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The organization's mission is to ensure that there is no return to hostilities, to facilitate the resumption of a safe and normal life for the local communities living in the areas adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and to build confidence among the conflict parties.