Eduard Shevardnadze

Who was Eduard Shevardnadze?

Eduard Shevardnadze is a former Soviet minister of foreign affairs, and later, Georgian statesman from the height to the end of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, from 1972 to 1985, and as the President of independent Georgia from 1992 to 2003. Shevardnadze was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy in the Gorbachev Era. He was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution.

Shevardnadze's political career started in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, and even First Secretary. His rise up the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961 when he was demoted after he insulted a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze returned as a First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district, and was able to charge the Tbilisi First Secretary at the time for corruption. His anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government, and Shevardnadze was appointed to First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR.