Eduard Shevardnadze Biography Quotes 31 Report mistakes

Early Life and Rise
Eduard Amvrosiyevich Shevardnadze was born on January 25, 1928, in the village of Mamati in western Georgia, then part of the Soviet Union. He joined the Komsomol youth organization early and by the 1950s had become a full-time party functionary. From youth work he moved into internal security and policing, acquiring a reputation as a disciplined organizer. In 1965 he became interior minister of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, where he opened a campaign against entrenched patronage and corruption networks that had flourished under long-serving party boss Vasil Mzhavanadze. In 1972, after Moscow removed Mzhavanadze, Shevardnadze was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia, the republic's top post.

Reformer in Tbilisi
As the Georgian party leader from 1972 to 1985, Shevardnadze tried to modernize the economy and curb corruption that had linked industry, agriculture, and local party elites. He promoted younger cadres and moved conspicuous power brokers aside, while maintaining loyalty to Moscow. He also navigated the delicate politics of national culture. In 1978, when popular protests erupted over plans to dilute the constitutional status of the Georgian language, he mediated between central authorities and demonstrators. The Georgian language retained its privileged status, and he avoided a violent showdown. His record as an administrator willing to take risks, paired with political tact, attracted attention at the Kremlin as Mikhail Gorbachev assembled a new leadership in the mid-1980s.

Foreign Minister and the End of the Cold War
In 1985 Gorbachev brought Shevardnadze to Moscow as Minister of Foreign Affairs, succeeding Andrei Gromyko and becoming one of the key architects of perestroika-era diplomacy. Partnering with Gorbachev's close advisers Alexander Yakovlev and Anatoly Chernyaev, and working with veteran diplomat Anatoly Dobrynin, he advanced the "new political thinking" that prioritized common security, arms control, and the non-use of force in Eastern Europe.

Shevardnadze built a pragmatic rapport with American counterparts George Shultz and later James Baker, and with leaders Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He played a central role in the negotiations that produced the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, and the 1990 Charter of Paris that framed the peaceful end of the Cold War. He worked closely with West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Chancellor Helmut Kohl during the Two Plus Four talks that cleared the way for German reunification. He also helped steer the Soviet exit from Afghanistan, supporting the 1988 Geneva accords and the 1989 withdrawal, and participated in the normalization of relations with China.

At the United Nations during the 1990-1991 crisis in the Persian Gulf, he aligned Soviet policy with collective action against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, reinforcing a new pattern of cooperation with the United States and its allies. At home, however, he confronted resistance from hardliners who opposed rapid change. On December 20, 1990, he resigned as foreign minister, warning that a dictatorship was coming, a prescient alarm ahead of the failed August 1991 coup by security and military chiefs including Vladimir Kryuchkov, Dmitry Yazov, and Boris Pugo. In the final weeks of the Soviet Union he briefly returned to the foreign ministry to help Gorbachev manage the state's dissolution.

Return to a Turbulent Georgia
After the Soviet collapse, Georgia spiraled into civil strife. In early 1992, following the ouster of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia by militias led by figures such as Tengiz Kitovani and Jaba Ioseliani, Shevardnadze returned to Tbilisi at the invitation of the new rulers. He assumed the chairmanship of the State Council and, effectively, the role of head of state. He faced a fractured country: an armed confrontation in South Ossetia had ended in 1992 with an uneasy truce, and war erupted in Abkhazia in 1992-1993. The fall of Sukhumi in 1993 and mass displacement of civilians marked a profound national trauma. Depending on Russian mediation as well as pressure, Shevardnadze accepted the deployment of Russian-led "peacekeepers", a decision that brought an end to large-scale fighting but left Georgia with unresolved conflicts and heavy external leverage.

Presidency and State-Building
Shevardnadze steered a new constitution adopted in 1995 that created a semi-presidential system. Elected president that year and re-elected in 2000, he sought to move Georgia toward Euro-Atlantic institutions while stabilizing relations with Moscow under Boris Yeltsin and later Vladimir Putin. He worked with Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev and Turkish leaders, including Suleyman Demirel, to advance energy corridors that would lessen dependence on Russian routes. Agreements on the Baku-Supsa pipeline and the later Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline positioned Georgia as a strategic transit state. He joined regional groupings such as GUAM and brought Georgia into the Council of Europe in 1999 and NATO's Partnership for Peace.

Yet domestic governance was marred by entrenched corruption, weak state institutions, and insecurity. He survived multiple assassination attempts, including a 1995 car bombing near parliament and a 1998 attack on his motorcade. Security chief Igor Giorgadze fled the country after the 1995 incident and the paramilitary Mkhedrioni organization, associated with Jaba Ioseliani, was dismantled. Rolling blackouts, wage arrears, and the persistence of criminal networks eroded public trust. In Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze maintained a quasi-autonomous fiefdom, underscoring the center's limited reach.

Shevardnadze nonetheless cultivated Western support. He worked with American and European leaders across the 1990s, and with Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov in times of crisis. He balanced outreach to NATO and the European Union with the inescapable realities of Russian influence and unresolved separatist conflicts.

Rose Revolution and Resignation
Parliamentary elections in November 2003, marred by fraud, triggered sustained protests led by a new generation of leaders including Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania, and Nino Burjanadze. As demonstrators carrying roses entered parliament on November 23, Shevardnadze declared a state of emergency but ultimately chose to step down after late-night mediation in Tbilisi that involved Igor Ivanov. His resignation ended an era. Burjanadze became acting president, and Saakashvili secured the presidency in early 2004.

Later Years
After leaving office, Shevardnadze retired from politics, offering occasional commentary on Georgia's trajectory and on the legacies of perestroika. His wife, the journalist and activist Nanuli Shevardnadze, died in 2004. He lived quietly in Tbilisi, receiving foreign visitors and reflecting on the tumultuous transformations he had helped to shape. He died on July 7, 2014, in Tbilisi.

Legacy
Eduard Shevardnadze occupies a singular place in late twentieth-century history. As Soviet foreign minister, he helped end the Cold War without a shot in Europe, working alongside Mikhail Gorbachev and engaging counterparts such as George Shultz, James Baker, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Helmut Kohl, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. His readiness to accept the independence of Eastern Europe, to sign landmark arms control treaties, and to support international law shifted the global security order.

As Georgia's leader, his record is more contested. He restored a semblance of statehood after civil war and positioned the country on a Western-leaning path, building energy and diplomatic linkages that outlasted his tenure. But he left unresolved territorial conflicts, a fragile state apparatus, and widespread corruption that fueled the Rose Revolution. In both arenas he showed political courage: first by challenging Cold War orthodoxy, later by resigning to avoid bloodshed. His life traced the arc from Soviet provincial apparatchik to global statesman and, finally, to the fragile work of nation-building in a newly independent Georgia.

Our collection contains 31 quotes who is written by Eduard, under the main topics: Justice - Friendship - Leadership - Freedom - Honesty & Integrity.

Other people realated to Eduard: Mikhail Gorbachev (Statesman), George Schultz (Public Servant)