Transcaucasian Front
Born in the Guria region of Georgia, Mgeladze had grown up in Abkhazia and was serving with the military on the Transcaucasian Front when he was appointed head of the Abkhazian Communist Party by Joseph Stalin. Under Mgeladze, Georgian was made the language of instruction in Abkhazia, replacing Abkhaz and Russian at the start of the 1945–46 academic year.