ed the ancient
kingdoms of Colchis and Kartli-Iberia. The area came under Roman
influence in the first centuries A.D. and Christianity became the
state religion in the 330s. Domination by Persians, Arabs, and Turks
was followed by a Georgian golden age (11th-13th centuries) that was
cut short by the Mongol invasion of 1236. Subsequently, the Ottoman
and Persian empires competed for influence in the region. Georgia
was absorbed into the Russian Empire in the 19th century.
Independent for three years (1918-1921) following the Russian
revolution, it was forcibly incorporated into the USSR until the
Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. An attempt by the incumbent Georgian
government to manipulate national legislative elections in November
2003 touched off widespread protests that led to the resignation of
Eduard SHEVARDNADZE, president since 1995. New elections in early
2004 swept Mikheil SAAKASHVILI into power along with his National
Movement Party. Progress on market reforms and democratization has
been made in the years since independence, but this progress has
been complicated by two civil conflicts in the breakaway regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two territories remain outside the
control of the central government and are ruled by de facto,
unrecognized governments, supported by Russia. Russian-led
peacekeeping operations continue in both regions. The Georgian
Government put forward a new peace initiative for the peaceful
resolution of the status of South Ossetia in 2005.

Germany
As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation,
Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and
defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in
two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and
left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US,
UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the
Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal
Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic
(GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic
and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO,
while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led
Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War
allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has
expended