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Georgia World War II and the Late Stalin Period
Georgia was not invaded in World War II. It contributed more
than 500,000 fighters to the Red Army, however, and was a vital
source of textiles and munitions. Stalin's successful appeal for
patriotic unity eclipsed Georgian nationalism during the war and
diffused it in the years following. Restoration of autonomy to
the Georgian Orthodox Church in 1943 facilitated this process.
The last two decades of Stalin's rule saw rapid, forced
urbanization and industrialization, as well as drastic reductions
in illiteracy and the preferential treatment of Georgians at the
expense of ethnic minorities in the republic. The full Soviet
centralized economic planning structure was in place in Georgia
by 1934. Between 1940 and 1958, the republic's industrial output
grew by 240 percent. In that time, the influence of traditional
village life decreased significantly for a large part of the
Georgian population.
Data as of March 1994
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