1991–1992 Georgian coup d'état

The 1991–1992 Georgian coup d'état, also known as the Tbilisi War, or the Putsch of 1991–1992, was an internal military conflict that took place in the newly independent Republic of Georgia following the fall of the Soviet Union, from 22 December 1991 to 6 January 1992. The coup, which triggered the Georgian Civil War, pitted factions of the National Guard loyal to President Zviad Gamsakhurdia against several paramilitary organizations unified at the end of 1991 under the leadership of warlords Tengiz Kitovani, Jaba Ioseliani and Tengiz Sigua.

The Tbilisi War ended with the exile of the first democratically elected president of Georgia, after two weeks of violent clashes on Rustaveli Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Tbilisi, mainly consisting of a siege of the Georgian Parliament building, where Gamsakhurdia was isolated in a bunker. Following Gamsakhurdia's fall, a Military Council, led by Kitovani, Ioseliani and Sigua, took power in Tbilisi and assured the return of Eduard Shevardnadze, the last Soviet Foreign Affairs Minister, to hand over power to him. During the civil war, the supporters of the ousted president staged an unsuccessful revolt to return him to power. Shevardnadze gradually sidelined Kitovani and Ioseliani, and ruled the country until he was ousted in the bloodless 2003 "Rose Revolution".

In 2005, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution denouncing the events of 1991–1992 as "anticonstitutional armed coup d'état". According to 2020 poll by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers, 76% of Georgians think that the coup was a bad thing for Georgia.