Artem Jijikhia (January 2, 1874 – December 31, 1938) was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 military officer who served in the armies of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 and Democratic Republic of Georgia

Democratic Republic of Georgia

The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...

. He was executed during Stalin’s Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

.

Jijikhia attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary, but joined the Imperial Russian military in 1893. He graduated from the Tiflis Infantry Junker School in 1897 and received a podporuchik

Poruchik

Poruchik was a military rank in several Slavic countries, such as the Russian Empire and the Republic of Poland, equivalent to Lieutenant. "Poruchik" means "messenger", "officer for orders". This is a Slavic copy of the term "Lieutenant" .In Russia this rank was first introduced in Strelets New...

’s commission in Turkestan

Russian Turkestan

Russian Turkestan was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire , comprising the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh steppes, but not the protectorates of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva.-History:-Establishment:Although Russia had been pushing south into the...

 where he spent several years and authored several works on Bukhara

Bukhara

Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...

, including a comprehensive and reliable account of the 1910 Shia-Sunni clashes in the region.

In 1910, Jijikhia, already a captain, was transferred in Congress Poland

Congress Poland

The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

 to serve in the staff of the 6th Infantry Division and then of the 15th Army Corps in which he served during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He took part in the Russian invasion of East Prussia (1914) and was captured by the Germans

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 in the Battle of Tannenberg (1914)

Battle of Tannenberg (1914)

The Battle of Tannenberg was an engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of World War I. It was fought by the Russian First and Second Armies against the German Eighth Army between 23 August and 30 August 1914. The battle resulted in the almost complete...

. Once released, he joined the army of the newly established and initially German-friendly independent Georgian republic in 1918 and was promoted to major general

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 in 1919. During the Soviet Russian offensive

Red Army invasion of Georgia

The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...

 against the Georgian capital of Tiflis in 1921, he commanded an attack force of 5 People’s Guard

People’s Guard of Georgia

The Peoples Guard of Georgia was a volunteer force of Georgian civilians, who resisted the Red Army invasion in February 1921. It was formed by 600 fighting men supported by 100 woman, who helped nurse the wounded.....

 battalions and a cavalry brigade which successfully defended the approaches to the capital, but the battle was ultimately lost and Georgia became a Soviet republic. Jijikhia became victim of the Stalinist purges in 1938.