Batumi

Batumi, Georgia’s most important Black Sea port, is the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and Georgia’s second-largest city. It was a Greek trading colony in the 2nd-century BC, a Roman port under Hadrian, and was fought over against the Ottomans many times between the 15th and the 19th centuries. The port played a key role in the early 20th century when, after the 1918 Armistice, British troops came to Batumi to protect the then independent Georgia and the Caspian oilfields from the Bolsheviks and Germany. They remained for two years; when they left, the Bolsheviks invaded and annexed Georgia. Just before the Bolsheviks arrived in Batumi, Turkey decided to occupy the city. In the very short war that followed - of just a few days - the Georgians fought the Turks in the streets of Batumi and liberated the city.