The Republics of South Ossetia and North Ossetia

South Ossetia

The Republic of South Ossetia (in Osset: Республикæ Хуссар Ирыстон, transcribed Respublikae Xussar Iriston, in Russian: Республика Южная Осетия, transcribed Respúblika Iuzhnaia Ossetia and in Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთი, transcribed Samkhret Oseti) is a de facto independent republic within Georgia. Under the sphere of Russia and the North Ossetians, it fights against the control of Georgia since the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.
His separation from Georgia has not been recognized by any state even though South Ossetia has declared its independence. Georgia refuses to recognize South Ossetia as a different entity; the government calls it the old name of Samatxlabo or, more recently, the Tskhinvali region (by the capital of the republic). South Ossetia was part of the Georgian region of Xida Kartli.
In August 2008, the War began in South Ossetia after strong confrontations between the Georgian forces and the separatists of South Ossetia.

HISTORY

Middle Ages and Modern Age

The ossets are descendants of the Alans, a Hamlet town. They became Christian during the Middle Ages, due to the influence of Georgia and the Byzantine Empire.

The rule of Russia and the Soviet Union

South Ossetia was annexed to Russia in 1801, along with Georgia, and was incorporated into the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, South Ossetia became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, of Menshevik orientation, while North Ossetia became part of the Soviet Republic of Terek.

The Ossetian-Georgian conflict 

Main article: Ossetian-Georgian conflict
1989-2008

Since 1989, tensions have begun to emerge as a result of the growth of Georgian and Ossetian nationalisms. Until then, the two communities of the autonomous oblast of South Ossetia, integrated into the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia, had coexisted peacefully, except for the Ossetian-Georgian conflict of 1918-1920. The two communities had a high level of interaction and the intercommunal marriages were not rare.

War of 2008 

Main article: War in South Ossetia (2008)

NORTH OSSETIA

North Ossetia - Alania (in Russian Республика Северная Осетия-Алания, Respublika Sevessia Ossetia-Alania; in Osseta Цӕгат Ирыстоны Аланийы Республикӕ, Căgat Irystony Alanijy Respublikă) is a Caucasian republic of the Russian Federation. It has an area of 8,000 km² and a population of 678,600 inhabitants (2000). Its capital is Vladikavkaz. Ossets speak a language close to the Persian who is called Osseta. There is also another Georgia Ossetian republic in Georgia, which is called South Ossetia.

The aliens and the influence of Byzantium

The territory of North Ossetia, a very fertile agricultural region and part of a key commercial route through the Caucasus Mountains, was inhabited for thousands of years by Vainakh tribes. The ancestors of the current Ossets, the Alans, were a people of Persian, nomadic and warlike language, who settled in the Caucasus on the 7th century. Two centuries later they were converted to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries, and the archbishop of Western Alania, under the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, was established. Alanya was then a strong kingdom in the Caucasus, benefitting much of the legendary Silk Road to China, which passed through its territory. From the middle ages, Alanya was overwhelmed by external enemies and suffered numerous invasions. The invasions of Mongols and Tatars in the eighteenth century decimated the population, who then received the gospel of ossets. In the 17th century, the Kabardins introduced Islam. The incursions of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire forced Alania / Ossetia into an alliance with Russia in the 18th century.

Russian domination and Soviet era [edit | modify the code]
In 1806 Ossetia was already the first large area of ​​the Caucasus that remained under Russian domination, initiated with the founding of Vladikavkaz as the first Russian military enclave. The arrival of Russians accelerated the development of the region, with the establishment of industries and the construction of road connections to overcome the isolation of Ossetia. The so-called Georgia Military Highway, which is still a crucial transport link through the mountains, was built in 1799. The construction of a railway line between Vladikavkaz and Rostov of Don (Russia) was also very important, . In spite of the russification of traditional culture, the improvement of communications stimulated the local culture: at the end of the 18th century, the first books were printed. By the middle of the 19th century, Ossetia became part of the Russian region of Terskaya. After the Russian Revolution, North Ossetia was part of the ephemeral Soviet Republic of Mount (1921). On July 7, 1924, he became the autonomous Ossetian Oblast on December 5, 1936, in the Soviet Socialist Republic of North Ossetia, depending on the Soviet Socialist Republic of Russia. In World War II, the Vladikavkaz capital resisted the attack of the Nazis and marked the eastern end of the invasion. In 1944, North Ossetia incorporated the Prigorodni district, to the right of the Terek River, which had been part of the RSSA of Chechnya-Ingushetia as a result of the mass deportations of the Chechens and Inguas Stalin ordered from below the accusation of having collaborated with the Nazis. With the subsequent return of the exiles, the territorial conflict in the Prigorodni district has remained alive until today.

After the USSR

The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought ethnic tensions to the Ossetians, which were divided between the Republic of North Ossetia (1991), the Russian Federation, and South Ossetia, in the territory of Georgia. In December 1990 Georgia abolished the independence of South Ossetia, causing a leak of local population to North Ossetia, accentuating ethnic tensions with Ingush in the Prigorodni district. The conflict in the neighboring Chechnya has also often affected North Ossetia, as highlighted by the assault on the Beslan school with more than 300 civilian casualties.