Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a fanmade character for Hetalia: Axis Powers. He is the representation of the Republic of Abkhazia, an unrecognized country in western Georgia. His human name is Ziv Brgash.

Appearance
Ziv has thick grey hair and violet eyes like Russia. He wears a black greatcoat over his clothes, as well as a green and red scarf. He has an amulet with a raised hand hanging from his necklace, symbolizing Abkhazia's flag. He is a little taller than Raivis Galante (Latvia).

Personality and Interests
Ziv is intensely patriotic in his earlier years, but as the years passed, his interest in becoming a real nation waned until his half-brother South Ossetia fought their half-sister Georgia, and he once again claimed his independence. Back when he and Georgia fought, Ziv's people massacred a lot of Georgia's people, a point which had kept the two from reconciling peacefully.

Early life
Between the 9th and 6th centuries, Ziv was born and was immediately adopted by Georgia (or Colchis as she was known then). Between 1000 and 550 BC, Ancient Greece established trade colonies along the Black Sea coast. One of those colonies would become Abkhazia's capital, Sukhumi. In the 1st century AD, Ancient Rome conquered Egrisi (which had conquered Colchis in 63 BC), placing Abkhazia under his effective rule. This rule continued until the 4th century AD, in which Ziv regained some sort of independence but remained within the Byzantine Empire's sphere of influence. It is unknown when Abkhazia was converted to Christianity, but the Metropolitan of Pitius (modern-day Pitsunda) participated in the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.

Under Byzantine rule
Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classical sources of the time, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. Anacopia was the capital. The country was mostly Christian and the seat of the archbishop is located in Pitius. Arabia, while trying to sneak into Ziv's house, was repelled by Leon I with the help of Egrisi and Kartli.

The Kingdom of Abkhazia
After marrying Egrisi, Ziv became the dominant man in the region and established himself as the Kingdom of Abkhazia. Georgian replaced Greek as the language of literacy and culture. Between 850 and 890, he took Georgia and Tbilisi into his house. Unrest followed this decision, and then in the 10th century, Georgia unified herself with Abkhazia and established Georgian rule under King Bagrat III.

The Coming of the Ottomans
In the 1570s, the Ottoman Navy occupied Sukhumi, Abkhazia and Ziv came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Sadik, Ziv and his people were converted to Islam. He retained a degree of autonomy under Sadik and later, Ivan Braginski (the Russian Empire), before Ivan finally absorbed him in 1864.

Abkhazia within Russia
In the beginning of the 19th century, when Russia and the Ottomans were vying for control of the area, Ziv shifted his allegiances back and forth between the Christians and Muslims. Throughout the Russo-Turkish Wars, Ziv was split between the two factions, until in 1864, Russia finally subjugated the highlanders of the Western Caucasus and Abkhazia's function as a pro-Russian buffer zone in the area was no longer needed. Prince Michael renounced his rights to Abkhazia and resettled in Voronezh, and the country was absorbed into the Russian Empire as a special military province that was subsequently transformed into an okrug. Large numbers of Muslim Abkhazians fled to the Ottoman Empire, along with the other Muslim populations in the Caucasus.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the creation of an independent Georgia (of which Abkhazia is a part), but they were quickly reoccupied by the Bolshevik Red Army. In 1931, Joseph Stalin gave Ziv the status of an autonomous Soviet socialist republic within the Georgian SSR, but in reality, they were subject to strong central rule. However, with Stalin's death, Ivan encouraged the development of Ziv's culture and gave him certain bureaucratic positions within the Soviet government, which Georgia resented.

Post-Soviet Abkhazia
As the Soviet Union began to collapse in the 1980s, tensions between Ziv and Ludmilla Shevardnadze (Georgia) grew as Ludmilla began to push for independence. Fearing that he would lose his autonomy, Ziv pleaded for the creation of a separate Abkhazian Soviet Socialist Republic. In March 1990, Ludmilla declared her sovereignty and nullified all agreements made with the Soviet government. She boycotted the 1991 all-Union referendum on the renewal of the Soviet Union, but Ziv's people voted overwhelmingly for the preservation of the Union. He later boycotted the Georgian independence referendum of 1991, but, on April 9, Georgia finally declared her independence. Fortunately for Ziv, Ludmilla allowed his people some over-representation in her legislature.

On February 12, 1992, Georgia's ruling Military Council decided to abolish its Soviet constitution and adopt the 1921 Constitution. Ziv saw this as the end of his autonomy, and on July 23, he declared independence. Ludmilla boycotted this, however, and Ziv remained unrecognized by other countries. He therefore launched a campaign to oust Georgian officials in his government offices and intensified his relations with Ivan and his military elite.

The Abkhazian War
In August 1992, Ludmilla accused Ziv of kidnapping her Interior Minister and hiding him in his house. Taking 3,000 troops with her, she marched into Ziv's house with little resistance, who was unarmed and uneducated in fighting at the time. Because of this, he was forced to retreat to Gudauta and Tkvarcheli. After he finally received military training from Ivan, he struck back at Ludmilla, taking back most of the territory northwest of Sukhumi by the end of 1992. In July of 1993, after a stalemate in their fighting, Ziv and his militias launched an attack on Georgian-held Sukhumi, surrounding and shelling the city. He and Ludmilla agreed to truce brokered by Ivan in Sochi, but it collapsed when Ziv renewed the attacks. After ten days, he finally retook Sukhumi. Eduard Shevardnadze, Ludmilla's boss, narrowly escaped death from Ziv's snipers and escaped the city after to not leave it no matter what. Ziv, in a rage, ordered his troops to massacre the ethnic Georgians in the city. Ziv quickly retook the rest of his country, and only Upper Abkhazia remained under Ludmilla's control (until 2008, that is).

Post-war Abkhazia
There was sporadic fighting in the post-war years. Ludmilla constantly accuses Ivan of selling arms and financial support to Ziv. This became obvious when Ziv adopted the Russian ruble as his national currency. She also accused Ivan of violating her airspace when his helicopters attacked Georgian-held towns in the Kodori Valley.

In 2006, Ludmilla launched a police attack against Ziv's leader in the Kodori Valley, and they succeeded in retaking the gorge. On August 9, 2008, Ziv's forces fired on Ludmilla's forces in the Kodori Valley. Coincidentially, Ludmilla was fighting both Ivan and Eduard Turasvili (South Ossetia) in the 2008 South Ossetian War. By August 12, Georgian forces within the Upper Kodori finally fled the last area in Abkhazia under Georgian control. This led to Russia recognizing Ziv's independence.

However, since Ivan recognized his independence, a number of controversial deals between their two countries began to worry Ziv. A number of key state assets were either leased or sold to Russia, and he was forced to relinquish control of his borders after his boss made the deals. Then, on hindsight, he realized that he shouldn't have relied on Ivan as much as he had.

Russian Federation (Ivan Braginski)
Main article: Russia

Ivan is always on Ziv's side whenever the latter's independence is being discussed, and recently, he recognized Ziv's independence along with South Ossetia, Nicaragua and Nauru.

Republic of South Ossetia (Eduard Turashvili)
Main article: South Ossetia

Ziv and Eduard declared their independence from Georgia when the Soviet Union broke apart, but she merely ignored them. When the two of them fought in 2008, Ziv and Ivan supported Eduard against Georgia.

Republic of Georgia (Ludmilla Shevardnadze)
Main article: Georgia (Europe)

Ziv and Ludmilla are not on good terms after his people massacred thousands of hers during their 1992 war, but today, they are trying to patch up their relationship, but she will still not agree to his independence.

Trivia

 * Ziv's birthday is listed as August 25, the day that Abkhazia declared sovereignty from Georgia.