Concerned that political fragmentation would lead to a civil war in Russia, Tsereteli strived to broker compromises between the various leftist factions in the Russian Revolution and was the force behind efforts to work together with the middle classes, to no avail.

He spent the rest of his life in exile, mainly in France, working with socialist organisations and writing on socialism, and died in New York City in 1959.

[4] When he was three, Tsereteli's mother died, so he and his siblings were sent to live with two aunts in Kutaisi, while Giorgi moved to Tiflis (now Tbilisi), the administrative centre of the Caucasus, occasionally visiting the children.

[8] At the gymnasium Tsereteli distanced himself from Christianity, questioning death and its meaning, and was introduced to the writings of the British naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin, which also factored into his move away from religion.

[3] There had been relative quiet in the universities until that point, but it again erupted into protests; this time Tsereteli took a leading role, and was regarded as one of the most important figures of the Moscow student movement.

[14] Though the government quickly backtracked and offered him the chance to serve it in Georgia, Tsereteli refused, seeing it as a pardon and considering "its acceptance as being in conflict with [his] views", as he explained in a letter.

[16] After declining the offer to return to Georgia, Tsereteli arrived in the village of Tulun in early 1902, located about 400 kilometres (250 mi) from Irkutsk, Siberia's administrative centre.

Tsereteli was allowed to leave Georgia, likely due to the influence of his uncle, and he moved to Berlin to resume his law studies, spending 18 months in Europe.

[20] Suffering from a form of haemophilia, Tsereteli became seriously ill in the autumn of 1905, but was unable to quickly return home for rest as the 1905 Revolution broke out in the Russian Empire.

[22] Even so, he was invited to stand as the Social Democratic candidate for the Russian legislative elections in January 1907, representing the Kutais Governorate, his home region.

[34] In the autumn of 1913 Tsereteli was permitted to move to Usolye, a village about 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Irkutsk and easily accessible owing to its location on a branch line of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

[39] Through his editorship of the journals, Tsereteli both became a mentor to other Siberian Zimmerwaldists and influenced the group's stance on the war despite writing just three articles, making it difficult to fully understand his position.

"[45] That socialist leaders in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom had supported their respective governments in the war effort was also unacceptable to Tsereteli, though he explained that it "could not distort the historical path of the proletariat".

[44] The second article Tsereteli wrote, "Democracy in Russia at War" ("Демократия среди воюющей России") was largely a response to the leading Russian "Defensists", namely Georgi Plekhanov and Alexander Potresov, and refuted their argument.

[47] He called the conflict an "imperialist struggle over spheres of influence", largely conforming to the view of the International, though also stating his support for the idea of self-defence.

[50] Tsereteli took a leading role in this committee, though the work took a considerable toll on his health and after ten days he stepped down as he began to vomit blood.

His family and friends suggested he return to Georgia, though Tsereteli instead decided to travel to Petrograd (the name St. Petersburg had adopted at the start of the war), arriving there on 19 or 20 March.

[54] Immediately, Tsereteli went to the Petrograd Soviet and gave a speech in support of the revolution, but warned members that it was too early to implement socialist policies.

[60] He stated that both the country and the revolution had to be defended from the German Empire, but also that the Soviet should pressure the Provisional Government to negotiate a peace, one that recognized self-determination and did not include annexation.

[70] Despite his relatively unimportant ministerial post, Tsereteli was regarded as a major figure by his peers: Viktor Chernov called him the "Minister of General Affairs", while Nikolai Sukhanov referred to him as the "Commissar of the Government in the Soviet".

[67] Highly valued by the Prime Minister, Georgy Lvov, Tsereteli was part of the "inner cabinet" that held the real power in the Provisional Government.

[73] Tsereteli had travelled to Kiev with a party representing the Provisional Government to negotiate a means to ensure defence of Russia while respecting Ukrainian self-determination.

[78] However, with Kerensky frequently absent, Tsereteli served as the de facto Prime Minister, and tried to implement some domestic reforms and restore order throughout the country.

[91] A member of this new body, Tsereteli took up a leading role in helping defend the Transcaucasus, which included Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, from the approaching forces of the Ottoman Empire.

[92] He strongly denounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which was signed between the Bolshevik government and the Central Powers to end Russia's involvement in the war, as it would have meant ceding important Transcaucasian territories to the Ottoman, such as the Black Sea port city of Batumi.

[93] The tripartite Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was formed on 22 April, though due to the ongoing invasion by the Ottoman Empire and the lack of unity among the three groups, it was immediately in a precarious position.

[101] He also proved instrumental in helping Karl Kautsky, a leading Marxist theoretician, arrive in Georgia in August 1920 to research a book on the country.

[112] Highly indignant about what he called the "platonic attitute" of the Western socialist parties towards Georgia and their inadequate support to the beleaguered country, Tsereteli continued to regard Bolshevism as the cause of the troubles, but believed that the Bolshevik regime would not survive long.

[125] Trotsky also paid tribute to him as "a splendid speaker whose moral authority had a strong appeal" adding: "He was the only one of my opponents to be take seriously, but, as is often the case in history, it took a revolution to prove that Tsereteli was not a revolutionary.

Wade, one of the preeminent historians of the Russian Revolution, noted that Tsereteli "was not as flamboyant as Kerensky or as well known to foreigners as Miliukov, and therefore has not attracted as much attention as either in Western writings".