ORDER OF BATTLE // August 8, 2008
Russo-Georgian War
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 80,000–81,000 estimated
Russia
70,000
Medium-confidence figure
Georgia
10,000–11,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Russo-Georgian War of August 2008 was fought between Russia and Russian-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on one side, and Georgia on the other, in the strategically important South Caucasus region. Russia fielded a force of approximately 70,000 against a Georgian military of 10,000–11,000, with Georgian casualties recorded at 1,174. The conflict is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century, marking a significant rupture in post-Cold War security assumptions on the continent. Russian military intervention in support of South Ossetian and Abkhazian separatists demonstrated a willingness to use conventional force to contest the sovereignty of a neighboring state and underscored the continued strategic importance of the South Caucasus as a zone of great-power competition.
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