of Transcaucasia voted for independence, declaring itself to be the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. It was to last for only a month. The new republic was made up of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, each with their different histories, cultures and aspirations. The Armenians were well aware of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, so for them defence against the invading army was paramount, while the Muslim Azeris were sympathetic to the Turks. The Georgians felt that their interests could best be guaranteed by coming to a deal with the Germans rather than the Turks. On 26 May 1918, Georgia declared its independence and a new state was born, the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which would enjoy a brief period of freedom before the Bolsheviks invaded in 1921. See also History of Georgia (country) References Sources D.M. Lang: A Modern History of Georgia (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962) Anchabadze, George: History of Georgia: A Short Sketch, Tbilisi, 2005, Avalov, Zurab: Prisoedinenie Gruzii k Rossii, Montvid, S.-Peterburg 1906 Gvosdev, Nikolas K.: Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia: 1760-1819, Macmillan, Basingstoke 2000, Donald Rayfield, Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia (Reaktion Books, 2012) Nodar Assatiani and Alexandre Bendianachvili, Histoire de la Géorgie (Harmattan, 1997) Geography of the Russian Empire Georgia (country)–Russia relations