- See History of Armenia (Movses Khorenatsi)
The History of Armenia attributed to Moses Khorenatsi is an early account of Armenia, covering the mythological origins of the Armenian people as well as Sassanid, Byzantine and Arsacid Armenia down to the 5th century....
for the historiographical work.
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of
AraratMount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey...
. The original
ArmenianThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
name for the country was Hayk, later Hayastan (
ArmenianThe Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
: Հայաստան), translated as the land of Haik, and consisting of the name Haik and the suffix '-stan' (land).
The name Armenia was given to the country by the surrounding states, and it is traditionally derived from Armenak or
AramAram may refer to:In the Bible:* Aram, son of Shem , according to the 'Table of Nations' in Genesis 10* Aram-Naharaim , the land in which the city of Haran lay...
(the great-grandson of Haik's great-grandson, and another leader who is, according to Armenian tradition, the ancestor of all
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
). In the
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire (at the height of its power),
MitanniMitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria from ca. 1500 BC-1300 BC...
(South-Western historical Armenia), and
Hayasa-AzziHayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa was a Late Bronze Age confederation formed between two petty kingdoms of Anatolia, Hayasa located South of Trabzon and Azzi, located North of the Euphrates and to the South of Hayasa...
(1600-1200 BC). Soon after the Hayasa-Azzi were the Nairi (1400-1000 BC) and the Kingdom of Urartu (1000-600 BC), who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highlands. Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the
ArmenianThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
people.
YerevanYerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I.
The Iron Age kingdom of
UrartuUrartu Urartu Urartu (natively ; , Assyrian: , corresponding to Ararat, or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
(
AssyrianAssyrian language may refer to:*The Assyrian language, an extinct Semitic language spoken in ancient Assyria*the modern Assyrian Neo-Aramaic language...
for
AraratMount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey...
) was replaced by the
Orontid dynastyThe Orontid Dynasty was the first known Armenian dynasty. The Orontids established their supremacy over Armenia around the time of the Scythian and Median invasion in the 6th century BC....
. Following Persian and Macedonian rule, the
ArtaxiadArtaxias I was the founder of the Artaxiad Dynasty whose members ruled the Kingdom of Armenia for nearly two centuries....
dynasty from 190 BC gave rise to the
Kingdom of ArmeniaThe Kingdom of Armenia was an independent kingdom from 190 BC to AD 387 and a client state of the Roman and Persian empires until 428, stretching from the Caspian to the Mediterranean seas.- History :...
which rose to the peak of its influence under Tigranes II before falling under Roman rule.
In
301For the article, see Article 301 .-Roman Empire:* Emperor Diocletian issues his Edict on Maximum Prices, which, rather than halting rampant inflation and stabilizing the economy, adds to inflationary pressures by flooding the economy with new coinage and by setting price limits too low.-Armenia:*...
,
Arsacid ArmeniaThe Arsacid Dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Formerly a branch of the Iranian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty until 62 AD when...
was the first sovereign nation to accept Christianity as a state religion. The
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
later fell under
ByzantineThe word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of The Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
, Persian, and Islamic hegemony, but reinstated their independence with the
Bagratuni DynastyThe Bagratuni or Bagratid royal dynasty of Armenia is a royal family whose branches formerly ruled many regional polities, including the Armenian lands of Syunik, Lori, Vaspurakan, Vanand, Taron, and Tayk....
kingdom of Armenia, rival to nearby
AtropateneAtropatene or Media Atropatene was an ancient kingdom established in the 4th century BC in modern Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan. Its capital was Gazaca...
. After the fall of the kingdom in 1045, and the subsequent Seljuk conquest of Armenia in 1064, the Armenians established a kingdom in
CiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia now known as Çukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of Asia Minor south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, where they prolonged their sovereignty to 1375.
Greater Armenia was later divided between the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Armenians then suffered in the genocide that was inflicted on them by the Ottomans. As a result, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered and a large number were
dispersedThe Armenian diaspora has created the communities of Armenians living outside of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Javakhk. The total Armenian population living worldwide is estimated to be 11,000,000, but only about 3,150,000 live in Armenia, about 140,000 in Nagorno-Karabakh and approximately 120,000...
throughout the world via
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
. Armenia, from then on corresponding to much of
Eastern ArmeniaEastern Armenia was the portion of Ottoman Armenia and Persian Armenia that was ceded to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829...
, once again gained independence in 1918, with the establishment of the
Democratic Republic of ArmeniaThe Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian republic. The republic was established in the former territory of Eastern Armenia in the Russian Empire following the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, and then in 1991, with the
Republic of ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
.
Prehistory
The
Armenian HighlandThe Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet...
shows traces of settlement from the
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
era.
The
Shulaveri-Shomu cultureShulaveri-Shomu culture is a Late Neolithic/Eneolithic culture in the Transcaucasus region. The culture is dated to mid-6th or early-5th millennia BC...
of the central Transcaucasus region is the earliest known prehistoric culture in the area, carbon-dated to roughly 6000 - 4000 BC.
Bronze Age
An early Bronze Age culture in the area is the
Kura-Araxes cultureThe Kura-Araxes culture or the Early trans-Caucasian culture, was a civilization that existed from 3400 B.C until about 2000 B.C. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain; thence it spread to Georgia by 3000 B.C., and during the next millennium it proceeded westward to...
, assigned to the period of ca. 4000 - 2200 BC, succeeded by the
Trialeti cultureThe Trialeti culture after Trialeti region is attributed to the first part of the 2nd millennium B.C. In the late 3rd millennium B.C. settlements of the Kura-Araxes culture began to be replaced by early Trialeti culture sites...
(ca. 2200 - 1500 BC).
The earliest ethnonyms of the area are known from Hittite sources of the Late Bronze Age, such as the
Hayasa-AzziHayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa was a Late Bronze Age confederation formed between two petty kingdoms of Anatolia, Hayasa located South of Trabzon and Azzi, located North of the Euphrates and to the South of Hayasa...
or the
MushkiThe Mushki were an Iron Age people of Anatolia, known from Assyrian sources. They do not appear in Hittite records. Several authors have connected them with the Moschoi of Greek sources and the Georgian tribe of the Meskhi. Josephus Flavius identified the Moschoi with the Biblical Meshech...
.
Between 1500 - 1200 BC, the
Hayasa-AzziHayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa was a Late Bronze Age confederation formed between two petty kingdoms of Anatolia, Hayasa located South of Trabzon and Azzi, located North of the Euphrates and to the South of Hayasa...
existed in the western half of the Armenian Highland, often clashing with the Hittite Empire. Between 1200 - 800 BC, much of Armenia was united under a confederation of kingdoms, which Assyrian sources called
NairiNairi was the Assyrian name for a region of eastern Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the modern Van and Hakkâri provinces of Turkey....
("Land of Rivers" in Assyrian").
Iron Age
The
Kingdom of UrartuUrartu Urartu Urartu (natively ; , Assyrian: , corresponding to Ararat, or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
flourished in the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
and eastern Asia Minor between the
9th century BCThe 9th century BC started the first day of 900 BC and ended the last day of 801 BC.- Overview :The 9th century BC was a period of great changes in civilizations. In Africa, Carthage is founded by the Phoenicians...
and 585 BC in the
Armenian HighlandThe Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet...
. The founder of the Urartian Kingdom,
AraméAramu or Arame was the first known king of Urartu.Living at the time of Shalmaneser III , Aramu united the Nairi tribe against the threat of the Assyrian Empire...
, united all the principalities of the Armenian Highland and gave himself the title "King of Kings", the traditional title of Urartian Kings. The Urartians established their sovereignty over all of
TaronTaron was a canton of the Duruperan province of Greater Armenia, now in the Muş Province, Turkey.. It was divided into four districts: Mamikonian, Palauni, , Artokh Taron was a canton of the Duruperan province of Greater Armenia, now in the Muş Province, Turkey.. It was divided into four...
and
VaspurakanVaspurakan was first a province and then a kingdom of Greater Armenia during the Middle Ages centered around Lake Van. The region is considered to be the cradle of Armenian civilization...
. The main rival of Urartu was the
Neo-Assyrian EmpireThe Neo-Assyrian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 934 BC and ended in 609 BC. During this period, Assyria assumed a position as a great regional power, vying with Babylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the region, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser...
.
During the reign of
Sarduri ISarduri I also known as Sarduris was the king of the ancient kingdom of Urartu in Asia Minor. He was the son of Lutipri who was the second monarch of the kingdom of Urartu. Sarduri I is most known for moving the capital of the Urartu kingdom to Tushpa . This proved to be significant as Tushpa...
(834-828 BC), Urartu had become a strong and organized state, and imposed taxes to neighbouring tribes. Sarduri made
TushpaTushpa was the capital of Urartu in the late 9th century BC....
(modern
VanVan is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van...
) the capital of Urartu. His son,
IshpuinisIshpuinis was a king of the ancient country of Urartu. He succeeded his father, Sarduri I, who moved the capital to the ancient city of Tushpa . Ishpuinis conquered the Mannaean city of Musasir, which was then made the religious center of the empire. The main temple for the war god Haldi was in...
, extended the borders of the state by conquering what would later be known as the Tigranocerta area and by reaching
UrmiaUrmia or Orumieh , is a city in Northwestern Iran and the capital of West Azerbaijan Province. The city lies on an altitude of 1,330 m above sea level on the Shahar Chaye river...
.
MenuasMenua was the fifth known King of Urartu, an ancient country in the Armenian Highlands, from circa 810 BC to approximately 785 BC.A younger son of the preceding Urartuan King, Ishpuinis, Menua was adopted as co-ruler by his father in the last years of his reign...
(810-785 BC) extended the Urartian territory up north, by spreading towards the Araratian fields. He left more than 90 inscriptions by using the Mesopotamian
cuneiformCuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
scriptures in the
Urartian languageUrartian, Vannic, and Chaldean are conventional names for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu that was located in the region of Lake Van, with its capital near the site of the modern town of Van, in the Armenian Highland, modern-day Eastern Anatolia region of...
.
Argishtis I of UrartuArgishtis I was the sixth known king of the ancient Armenian kingdom of Urartu, reigning from 785 BC to 763 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni in 782 BC, which is the present capital of Armenia, Yerevan....
conquered
LatakiaLatakia or Latakiyah is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...
from the Hittites, and reached
ByblosByblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jbeil and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
,
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
, and he built
ErebuniErebuni may refer to:*Erebuni Fortress, an ancient Armenian fortress*Yerevan, capital of Armenia*Erebuni, Armenia, a district of Yerevan...
in 782 BC by using 6600 prisoners of war.
The
MedesThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
invaded Assyria later on in 612 BC, and then took over the Urartian capital of Van towards 585 BC, effectively ending the sovereignty of Urartu.
Antiquity
- For more details on this topic, see Roman relations with the Armenians
Contacts between the Italian peninsula and the Armenian Highland go back to the Iron Age when the Etruscan civilization traded with the Kingdom of Urartu by way of Phrygia and Ancient Greece. Urartian bronzes, bull-headed cauldrons and pottery were excavated in various parts of Etruscan Italy...
.
After the fall of Urartu around 585 BC, the Kingdom of Armenia was ruled by the Armenian
Orontid DynastyThe Orontid Dynasty was the first known Armenian dynasty. The Orontids established their supremacy over Armenia around the time of the Scythian and Median invasion in the 6th century BC....
, which governed the state in 585 - 190 BC. Under Orontids, Armenia at times was an independent kingdom, and at other times a satrapy of the Persian Empire.
Artaxiad dynasty
After the destruction of the
Seleucid EmpireThe Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan...
, a
Hellenistic GreekIn the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...
successor state of
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
's short-lived empire, a Hellenistic Armenian state was founded in
190 BC-Greece:* The Battle of the Eurymedon is fought between a Seleucid fleet and ships from Rhodes and Pergamum, who are allied with the Roman Republic. The Seleucids are led by the famous Carthaginian general Hannibal...
, with Artaxias becoming its first kings and the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty (190 BC - 1 AD). At the same time, a western portion of the kingdom split as a separate state under Zariadris, which became known as
Lesser ArmeniaLesser Armenia refers to the Armenian populated regions, primarily to the West and North-West of the ancient Armenian kingdom and North-East of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.-Geography:Lesser Armenia was the portion of historic Armenia and the Armenian Highland...
while the main kingdom acquired the name of
Greater ArmeniaGreater Armenia may refer to:* The Kingdom of Armenia, independent from 190 BC to 387 АD, known as Greater Armenia to distinguish it from Roman-controlled Lesser Armenia...
.
The new kings began a program of expansion which was to reach its zenith a century later. Their acquisitions are summarized by Strabo. Zariadris acquired Acilisene and the "country around the Antitaurus", possibly the district of Muzur or west of the
EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and historically one of the most important rivers of Southwest Asia. Together with the Tigris, the Euphrates is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
. Artaxias took lands from the Medes, Iberians, and Syrians. He then had confrontations with
PontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Pontos...
, Seleucid Syria and Cappadocia, and was included in the treaty which followed the victory of a group of Anatolian kings over Pharnaces of Pontus in 181 BC. Pharnaces thus abandoned all of his gains in the west. All of this goes to show that Artaxias was an ambitious monarch of international stature.
At its zenith, from 95 to 66 BC, Greater Armenia extended its rule over parts of the Caucasus and the area that is now eastern and central
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, northwestern
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
, forming the second Armenian empire. For a time, Armenia was one of the most powerful states in the Roman East. It eventually confronted the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c...
in a war, which it lost in 66 BC, but nonetheless preserved its sovereignty. Tigranes continued to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome until his death in 55 BCE. Later on, in 1 AD, Armenia came under
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
control until the establishment of the Armenian Arsacid dynasty. The Armenian people then adopted a Western political, philosophical, and religious orientation. According to Strabo, around this time everyone in Armenia spoke "the same language." (Strabo 11.14.4).
Arsacid dynasty
Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and
ParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasts, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
. The Parthians forced Armenia into submission from 37 to 47, when the Romans retook control of the kingdom.
Under
NeroNero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne...
, the Romans fought a campaign (55–63) against the
Parthian EmpireThe Parthian Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in the ancient Near East, and a counterweight to the Roman Empire in the region....
, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60) and losing (62) Armenia, the Romans under
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo-Descent:Corbulo was born in Italy into a senatorial family. His father had the same name and his mother was named Vistilia, who came from a family who held the praetorship.-Under Caligula:...
,
legateLegate may refer to:*Legatus, a general officer of the ancient Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class*Papal legate, a messenger from the Holy See*Legate, a rank in the Cardassian military in the fictional Star Trek universe...
of
SyriaSyria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War...
entered (63) into an agreement of
Vologases I of ParthiaVologases I of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from about 51 to 78. Son of Vonones II by a Greek concubine, he succeeded his father in 51 AD. He gave the kingdom of Media Atropatene to his brother Pacorus II, and occupied Armenia for another brother, Tiridates...
, which confirmed
Tiridates ITiridates I was King of Armenia beginning in AD 53 and the founder of the Arshakuni Dynasty, the Armenian line of the Arsacid Dynasty. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His early reign was marked by a brief interruption towards the end of the year 54 and a much longer one from 58...
as king of Armenia, thus founding the Arshakuni Dynasty.
Another campaign was led by Emperor
Lucius VerusLucius Aurelius Verus , born as Lucius Ceionius Commodus, known simply as Lucius Verus, was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius , from 161 until his death.-Early life and career:...
in 162-165, after
Vologases IV of ParthiaVologases IV of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from 147 to 191. The son of Mithridates IV of Parthia , he united the two halves of the empire which had been split between his father and Vologases III of Parthia...
had invaded Armenia and installed his chief general on its throne. To counter the Parthian threat, Verus set out for the east. His army won significant victories and retook the capital. Sohaemus, a Roman citizen of Armenian heritage, was installed as the new client king.
The Sassanid Persians occupied Armenia in 252 and held it until the Romans returned in 287. In 384 the kingdom was split between the
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
or East Roman Empire and the Persians. Western Armenia quickly became a province of the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
under the name of Armenia Minor; Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until 428, when the local nobility overthrew the king, and the Sassanids installed a governor in his place.
According to tradition, the Armenian Apostolic Church was established by two of Jesus' twelve
apostleIn Christianity, apostles were missionaries among the leaders in the Early Church and, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ himself. The term was also used, especially by the Gospel of Luke, for "the Twelve," Jesus' inner circle of disciples...
s--
ThaddaeusJude was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally identified with Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus , Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus...
and Bartholomew--who preached Christianity in Armenia in the 40's-60's AD. Between 1st and 4th centuries AD, the Armenian Church was headed by patriarchs.
Christianized Arsacid dynasty
In 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
as a state religion. It established a church that still exists independently of both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches, having become so in 451 after having rejected the
Council of ChalcedonThe Council of Chalcedon is considered by the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Old Catholics, and various other Western Christian groups to have been the Fourth Ecumenical Council . It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon...
. The
Armenian Apostolic ChurchThe Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
is a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion, not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox communion. The first
CatholicosThe Catholicos of All Armenians is the Chief bishop of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is one of the Oriental Orthodox churches that do not accept the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. The first Catholicos of All Armenians was Saint Gregory the Illuminator...
of the Armenian church was Saint
Gregory the IlluminatorSaint Gregory the Illuminator or Saint Gregory the Enlightener is the patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church...
. Because of his beliefs, he was persecuted by the pagan king of Armenia, and was "punished" by being thrown in
Khor VirapThe Khor Virap monastery is a 7th century Armenian monastery in the Ararat plain in Armenia, very close to the border with Turkey and the closest point in Armenia to Mount Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia....
, in modern-day Armenia. He acquired the title of Illuminator, because he illuminated the spirits of Armenians by introducing Christianity to them.
During its later political eclipses, Armenia depended on the church to preserve and protect its unique identity.
In
405-Western Roman Empire:* Stilicho orders the Sibylline Books burned.* The Emperor Honorius abolishes gladiator combat in the Colosseum.-Asia:* The Khitan are first mentioned in Chinese chronicles...
/
406-Western Roman Empire:*Roman legions in Britain mutiny against Honorius and select Marcus as new emperor. He is soon assassinated and replaced by Gratianus....
, Armenia's political future seemed to be uncertain. With the help of the King of Armenia, Mesrop Mashtots thus invented a unique alphabet to suit the people's needs. By doing so, he ushered a new Golden Age and strengthened the Armenian national identity and belongingness.
In the 5th century, the Sassanid Shah Yazdegerd II tried to tie his Christian Armenian subjects more closely to the Sassanid Empire by imposing the
ZoroastrianA Zoroastrian is an adherent to Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic religion that is based on the teachings and philosophies of Zoroaster....
religion. The Armenians greatly resented this, and as a result, a rebellion broke out with Vartan Mamikonian as the leader of the rebels. Yazdegerd thus massed his army and sent it to Armenia, where the Battle of Avarayr took place in
451-Western Roman Empire:* April 7—The Huns sack Metz.* June 20—Battle of Chalons: The Huns and the Ostrogoths, facing the Romans and the Visigoths, achieve at best a draw. After the battle, between 10,000 and 20,000 men lie dead on the Catalaunian Fields.-Europe:...
. The 66,000 Armenian rebels, mostly peasants, lost their morale when Mamikonian himself died in the battlefield. They did not stand a chance against the 180,00-220,000-strong Persian army of
ImmortalsThe "Immortals" were an elite force of soldiers who fought for the Achaemenid Empire...
and war elephants. Despite being a military defeat, the Battle of Avarayr and the subsequent guerrilla war in Armenia eventually resulted in the Treaty of Nvarsak (
484-Europe:* December 28—Alaric II succeeds Euric as king of the Visigoths.* Gunthamund becomes king of the Vandals.* Gundobad proclaims the Burgundian Code-Asia:* The Hephthalites invade Persia, and Peroz I is killed in battle; Balash becomes king of Persia....
), which guaranteed religious freedom to the Armenians.
Byzantium and Bagratid Armenia
In 591, the great Byzantine warrior and Emperor
MauriceFlavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus , known in English as Maurice and in Greek as Maurikios, was a soldier and Byzantine Emperor who ruled from 582-602...
defeated the Persians and recovered much of the remaining territory of Armenia into the empire. The conquest was completed by the Emperor
HeracliusFlavius Heraclius was a Byzantine Emperor of Armenian origin, who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for over thirty years, from October 5, 610 to February 11, 641...
in 629.
In 645, the Muslim Arab armies of the
CaliphateThe term caliphate refers to the first form of government inspired by Islam. It was initially led by Muhammad's disciples as a continuation of the political authority the prophet established, known as the 'rashidun caliphates'. It represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah, and was the...
had
attacked the countryThe Arab conquest of Armenia was a part of the Muslim conquests after the death of Muhammad in AD 632.Persian Armenia had fallen to the Byzantine Empire shortly before, in AD 629, and was conquered in the Rashidun Caliphate by AD 645.-Islamic expansion:...
, which fell before them. Armenia, which once had its own rulers and was at other times under Persian and Byzantine control, passed largely into the power of the Caliphs.
Nonetheless, there were still parts of Armenia held within the Empire, containing many Armenians. This population held tremendous power within the empire. The Emperor
HeracliusFlavius Heraclius was a Byzantine Emperor of Armenian origin, who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for over thirty years, from October 5, 610 to February 11, 641...
(610-641) was of Armenian descent, as was the Emperor Philippicus (711-713). The Emperor
Basil IBasil I, called the Macedonian was Byzantine emperor of Armenian origin from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in Thrace, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Michael III...
, who took the Byzantine throne in 867, was the first of what is sometimes called the Armenian dynasty (see
Macedonian DynastyThe Macedonian dynasty ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, following the Amorian dynasty. During this period, the Byzantine state reached its greatest expanse since the Muslim conquests, and the Macedonian Renaissance in letters and arts began...
), reflecting the strong effect the Armenians had on the Eastern
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
State. Indeed, while there were many different racial and linguistic groups within the Byzantine Empire, only the Armenians were able and allowed to maintain a distinct culture.
Evolving as a feudal kingdom in the 9th century, the
Bagratuni DynastyThe Bagratuni or Bagratid royal dynasty of Armenia is a royal family whose branches formerly ruled many regional polities, including the Armenian lands of Syunik, Lori, Vaspurakan, Vanand, Taron, and Tayk....
led Armenia on a brief cultural, political, and economic renewal. Bagratid Armenia was eventually recognized as a sovereign kingdom by the two major powers in the region: Baghdad in 885, and Constantinople in 886.
AniAni is a ruined and uninhabited medieval city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, beside the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey...
, the new Armenian capital, was constructed at the Kingdom's apogee in
964-Religion:* May 22—Pope Benedict V begins his pontificate as the 132nd pope, chosen by the people of Rome over Pope Leo VIII.* June 23—Pope Benedict V is deposed and ecclesiastically degraded....
. The royal capital at Ani held approximately 200,000 inhabitants and a reported "1001 churches". With the construction of Ani, Armenia became a populous and prosperous nation, exerting political and economic influence over surrounding states and nations. Yet, Armenia was still a weak state, perched precariously between the rival Byzantine Empire and the Abbassid Caliphate. Its existence depended on both of these states desiring the continuation of Bagratid Armenia as a buffer state, and Armenia itself being strong enough to maintain this status.
Although the native dynasty of the
Bagratuni DynastyThe Bagratuni or Bagratid royal dynasty of Armenia is a royal family whose branches formerly ruled many regional polities, including the Armenian lands of Syunik, Lori, Vaspurakan, Vanand, Taron, and Tayk....
was founded under favourable circumstances, the feudal system gradually weakened the country by eroding loyalty to the central government. Thus internally enfeebled, Armenia proved an easy victim for the Byzantines, who captured Ani in 1045. The Seljuk Turks under
Alp ArslanAlp Arslan was the second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponym of the dynasty...
in turn took the city in 1064. In 1071, after the defeat of the Byzantine forces by the Seljuk Turks at the
Battle of ManzikertThe Battle of Manzikert, or Malazgirt, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq forces led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert . It resulted in one of the most decisive defeats of the Byzantine Empire and the capture of the Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes...
, the Turks captured the rest of Greater Armenia and much of
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
. So ended Christian leadership of Armenia for the next millennium with the exception of a period of the late 12th-early 13th centuries, when the Muslim power in Greater Armenia was seriously troubled by the resurgent
GeorgianGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
monarchy. Many local nobles (
nakharars) joined their efforts with the Georgians, leading to liberation of several areas in northern Armenia, which was ruled, under the authority of the Georgian crown, by the Zacharids/Mkhargrdzeli, a prominent Armeno-Georgian noble family.
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
To escape death or servitude at the hands of those who had assassinated his relative,
Gagik IIGagik II of Ani was the last Bagratuni King of Ani from 1042 to 1045.-Historical background:During the reign of John Smbat III, a feudal lord, David, who owned Taik during his battles against the Muslims, gained a large area which stretched all the way to Manzikert...
, King of
AniAni is a ruined and uninhabited medieval city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, beside the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey...
, an Armenian named
RoupenRuben I , also Roupen I or Rupen I, was the first lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” . He declared the independence of Cilicia from the Byzantine Empire, thus formally founding the beginning of Armenian rule there...
with some of his countrymen went into the gorges of the Taurus Mountains and then into Tarsus of Cilicia. Here the Byzantine governor of the place gave them shelter. Thus, from around 1080 to 1375, the focus of Armenian nationalism moved south, as the
Armenian Kingdom of CiliciaThe Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was a state formed in the Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia...
.
After the members of the first Crusade appeared in Asia Minor, the Armenians developed close ties to European
Crusader StatesThe Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land . The Middle Eastern Islamic powers eventually conquered them...
, flourished in southeastern Asia Minor until it was conquered by
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
states. Count
BaldwinBaldwin I of Jerusalem, formerly Baldwin I of Edessa, born Baldwin of Boulogne , 1058? - 2 April 1118, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, who became the first Count of Edessa and then the second ruler and first titled King of Jerusalem...
, who with the rest of the Crusaders was passing through Asia Minor bound for Jerusalem, left the Crusader army and was adopted by
Thoros of EdessaThoros was an Armenian ruler of Edessa at the time of the First Crusade.Thoros was a former officer in the Byzantine Empire and a lieutenant of Philaretos Brachamios. He was Armenian but practised the Greek Orthodox faith. Around 1094, the Seljuk emir of Damascus, Tutush I, captured Edessa and...
, an Armenian ruler of Greek Orthodox faith. Hostile as they were to the Seljuks, and unfriendly to the Byzantines, the Armenians took kindly to the crusader count, and when Thoros was assassinated Baldwin was made ruler of the new crusader
County of EdessaThe County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
. It seems that the Armenians enjoyed the rule of Baldwin and the crusaders in general, and some number of them fought alongside the Christians of Europe. When
AntiochAntioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River...
had been taken (1097), Constantine, the son of Roupen, received from the crusaders the title of baron.
The failed
Third CrusadeThe Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin ....
and other events elsewhere left Cilicia as the sole substantial Christian presence in the Middle East. World powers, such as Byzantium, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy and even the Abbassid Caliph competed and vied for influence over the state and each raced to be the first to recognise
Leo IILeo II , also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” , and the first king of Armenian Cilicia .During his reign, Leo succeeded in establishing Cilician Armenia as a powerful and a unified...
, prince of Lesser Armenia, as the rightful king. As a result, he had been given a crown by both German and Byzantine emperors. Representatives from across Christendom and a number of Muslim states attended the coronation, thus highlighting the important stature that Cilicia had gained over time. The Armenian authority was often in touch with the crusaders. No doubt the Armenians aided in some of the other crusades. Cilicia flourished greatly under Armenian rule, as it became the last remnant of Medieval Armenian statehood. Cilcia acquired an Armenian identity, as the kings of Cilicia were called kings of Armenians, not of Cilicians. In Lesser Armenia, Armenian culture was intertwined with both the European culture of the Crusaders, and with the Hellenic culture of Cilicia. As the Catholic families extended their influence over Cilicia, the Pope wanted the Armenians to follow Catholicism. This situation divided the kingdom's inhabitants between pro-Catholic and pro-Apostolic camps. Armenian sovereignty lasted till 1375, when the Mamelukes of Egypt profited from the unstable situation of Lesser Armenia and destroyed it.
Early Modern period
Persian Armenia
Due to its strategic significance, Armenia was constantly fought over and passed back and forth between the dominion of Persia and the
OttomansThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
. At the height of the Turkish-Persian wars,
YerevanYerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
changed hands fourteen times between 1513 and 1737.
In 1604, Shah Abbas I pursued a scorched-earth campaign against the Ottomans in the Ararat valley. The old Armenian town of Julfa in the province of
NakhichevanThe Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,363 km² and borders Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest...
was taken early in the invasion. From there Abbas' army fanned out across the Araratian plain. The Shah pursued a careful strategy, advancing and retreating as the occasion demanded, determined not to risk his enterprise in a direct confrontation with stronger enemy forces.
While laying siege to Kars, he learned of the approach of a large Ottoman army, commanded by Djghazadé
Sinan PashaSinan Pasha was an Albanian born Ottoman military commander and statesman.-Life:In 1569, he was appointed governor of Ottoman Egypt, and was subsequently involved until 1571 in the conquest of Yemen...
. The order to withdraw was given; but to deny the enemy the potential to resupply themselves from the land, he ordered the wholesale destruction of the Armenian towns and farms on the plain. As part of this the whole population was ordered to accompany the Persian army in its withdrawal. Some 300,000 people were duly herded to the banks of the Araxes River. Those who attempted to resist the mass deportation were killed outright. The Shah had previously ordered the destruction of the only bridge, so people were forced into the waters, where a great many drowned, carried away by the currents, before reaching the opposite bank. This was only the beginning of their ordeal. One eye-witness, Father de Guyan, describes the predicament of the refugees thus:
-
- It was not only the winter cold that was causing torture and death to the deportees. The greatest suffering came from hunger. The provisions which the deportees had brought with them were soon consumed... The children were crying for food or milk, none of which existed, because the women's breasts had dried up from hunger... Many women, hungry and exhausted, would leave their famished children on the roadside, and continue their tortuous journey. Some would go to nearby forests in search of something to eat. Usually they would not come back. Often those who died, served as food for the living.
Unable to maintain his army on the desolate plain, Sinan Pasha was forced to winter in
VanVan is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van...
. Armies sent in pursuit of the Shah in 1605 were defeated, and by 1606 Abbas had regained all of the territory lost to the Turks earlier in his reign. The scorched-earth tactic had worked, though at a terrible cost to the Armenian people. Of the 300,000 deported it is calculated that under half survived the march to Isfahan. In the conquered territories Abbas established the
Erivan khanateThe Khanate of Erevan or Čoḵūr Saʿd was an administrative territory of Persia. Its covered an area of roughly 7,500 square miles and corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, most of the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey, and the Sharur and Sadarak rayons of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan...
, a
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
principality under the dominion of the Safavid Empire.
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
formed less than 20% of its population as a result of
Shah Abbas IShāh ‘Abbās the Great or Shāh ‘Abbās I was Shah of Iran, and the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the third son of Shah Mohammad....
's deportation of much of the Armenian population from the Ararat valley and the surrounding region in 1605.
A often used policy by the Persians was the oppointment of
TurksThe Turkish people , also known as the "Turks" are defined mainly as citizens of the Republic of Turkey. An early historic text provided the definition of being a Turk as "any individual within the Republic of Turkey; whatever his/her faith or racial/ethnic background; who speaks Turkish, grows up...
and Kurds as local rulers. These were counted as subordinate to the Persian Empire, but most of them had a
de facto independence. Examples include: the Khanate of Erevan, Khanate of Nakhichevan and the
Karabakh KhanateThe Karabakh khanate was a Turkic khanate established in 1747 under nominal Persian suzerainty in Karabakh and adjacent areas until 1805, when the Russian Empire gained control over the Karabakh khanate in 1805 from Persia, but the Russian annexation of Karabakh was not formalized until the Treaty...
.
Russian Armenia
In the aftermath of the
Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828The Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828 was the last major military conflict between the Russian Empire and the Persian Empire.After the Treaty of Gulistan concluded the previous Russo-Persian War in 1813, peace reigned in the Caucasus for thirteen years...
, the parts of historic Armenia under Persian control, centering on
YerevanYerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
and
Lake SevanLake Sevan is the largest lake in Armenia and one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world.Historical names of the lake include Gegharkunik , Sea of Gegham , Lychnitis and Gokcha . The name Sevan literally means "Black Van" referring to Lake Van in modern Turkey...
, were incorporated into
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Under Russian rule, the area corresponding approximately to modern-day Armenian territory was called "Province of Yerevan". The Armenian subjects of the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
lived in relative safety, compared to their Ottoman kin, albeit clashes with Tatars and Kurds were frequent in the early 20th century.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the ambitious Russians sought out to continue their expansion into Armenian land in order to reach the warm waters of the Mediterranean. This caused conflict between the Russian and Ottoman Empires eventually culminating in the
Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention.When the hostilities erupted, the...
. In the aftermath of the war, the Ottoman Empire ceded a small part of the traditional Armenian homeland to the Russian Empire, known as Eastern Armenia following the while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman sovereignty.
Ottoman Armenia
Mehmed IIMehmet II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446,...
conquered
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire...
from the Byzantines in 1453, and made it the Ottoman Empire's capital. Mehmed and his successors used the religious systems of their subject nationalities as a method of population control, and so Ottoman Sultans invited an Armenian archbishop to establish an Armenian patriarchate in Constantinople. The Armenians of Constantinople grew in numbers, and became respected, if not full, members of Ottoman society.
The Ottoman Empire ruled in accordance to
Islamic lawSharia is an Arabic word meaning ‘way’ or ‘path’. In Arabic, the collocation ‘Šarīʿat Allāh’ is traditionally used not only by Muslims, but also Christians and Jews, sometimes translating expressions such as Torat Elōhīm [תורת אלוהים] or ‘ho nómos toû theoû' '’...
. As such, the
People of the BookIn Islam, the People of the Book are non-Muslim peoples who, according to the Qur'an, received scriptures which were revealed to them by God before the time of Muhammad, most notably Christians and Jews. The generally accepted interpretation is that the pre-Islamic revealed texts are the Tawrat,...
(the
ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and the
JewsJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
) had to pay an extra tax to fulfill their status as
dhimmiA dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law...
and in return were guaranteed religious autonomy. While the
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
of
ConstantinopleIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
benefitted from the
Sultan's support and grew to be a prospering community, the same could not be said about the ones inhabiting
historic ArmeniaThe Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet...
. During times of crisis the ones in the remote regions of mountainous eastern Anatolia were mistreated by local Kurdish chiefs and feudal lords. They often also had to suffer (alongside the settled Muslim population) raids by nomadic Kurdish tribes.
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
, like the other Ottoman Christians - though not to the same extent - had to transfer to the Sultan's government some of their healthy male children, to become Janissaries, who were educated to be fierce warriors in times of war, as well as
BeyBey is a Turkish title for "chieftain," traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh...
s,
PashaPasha or pacha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries...
s and even
Grand VizierGrand Vizier, in Turkish Sadr-ı Azam or Serdar-ı Ekrem , deriving from the Persian word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
s in times of peace.
The Armenian national liberation movement was the
ArmenianThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
effort to free the
historic Armenian homelandThe Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet...
of eastern
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
and Transcaucasus from
RussianThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
domination and re-establish the independent
Armenian stateArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. The national liberation movement of the Balkan peoples and the immediate involvement of the European powers in the Eastern question had a powerful effect on the development of the national liberation ideology movement among the
Armenians of the Ottoman EmpireArmenistan became a province of the Ottoman Empire under Selim II . Armenia remained under Ottoman rule for three centuries, until after the Russo–Turkish War , when Eastern Armenia was ceded to the Russian Empire...
. The Armenian national movement, besides its individual heroes, was an organized activity represented around three parties of Armenian people,
Social Democrat Hunchakian PartyThe Social Democrat Hunchakian Party , is the oldest of the Armenian political parties and was the first Socialist party in the Ottoman Empire and in Persia...
,
ArmenakanArmenakan may denote:*Armenian Democratic Liberal Party , historically known as the Armenakan Party from 1985 until 1921*Armenakan-Democratic Liberal Party, an Armenian Party established in 2009 as a splinter group from the Armenian Liberal Democratic Party...
and
Armenian Revolutionary FederationThe Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
, which ARF was the largest and most influential among the three. Those Armenians who did not support national liberation aspirations or who were neutral were called
chezoks.
In 1839, the situation of the Ottoman Armenians slightly improved after Abdul Mejid I carried out reforms in its territories. However, later Sultans, such as
Abdul Hamid IIHis Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful, , was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
stopped the reforms and carried out massacres, now known as the
Hamidian massacresThe Hamidian massacres, also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894-1896, refers to the massacring of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, with estimates of the dead ranging from 80,000 to 300,000, and at least 50,000 orphans as a result...
of 1895-96.
The Armenian Genocide (1915-1917)
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire systematically carried out the
Armenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
. This
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
was preceded by a wave of massacres in the years 1894 to 1896. In 1915, with
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
in progress, the Ottoman Turks accused the (Christian) Armenians as liable to ally with Russia, and treated the entire Armenian population as an enemy within their empire in a wave of
ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a term that has come to be used broadly to describe all forms of ethnically inspired violence, ranging from murder, rape, and torture to the forcible removal of populations...
.
The events of 1915 to 1923 are regarded by Armenians and the vast majority of Western historians to have been state-sponsored mass killings. Turkish authorities, however, maintain that the deaths were the result of a
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
coupled with disease and
famineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species, which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality...
, with casualties incurred by both sides.
The exact numbers of deaths is hard to establish. It is estimated by many sources that close to a million and a half Armenians perished in camps, which excludes Armenians who may have died in other ways. Most estimates place the total number of deaths between 800,000 and 1.5 million. These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on April 24, the Armenian Christian martyr day.
This horrific ethnic cleansing done by the Ottoman turks were not only done to
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
, ethnic cleansing regimes were also carried on to the Greeks and Kurds. This act of ethnic cleansing was done by the Ottoman turks to "turkify" the Ottoman Empire completely. These acts of
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
were done from 1915 till 1918.
Democratic Republic of Armenia (1917-1922)
Between the 4th and 19th centuries, the traditional area of Armenia was conquered and ruled by Persians,
ByzantinesThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
,
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
s,
MongolsMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
, and
TurksThe Ottoman Turks were the subdivision of the Ottoman Muslim Millet that dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. Reliable information about the early history of the Ottomans is scarce. According to some sources , the leader of the Kayi tribe of the Oguz Turks, Ertugrul, left Persia in...
, among others. Historic Armenia remained under the Ottoman yoke from, until parts of Armenia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire after the collapse of these two empires in the wake of the First World War.
After the
Russian Revolution of 1917The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
and the takeover of the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
s, Stepan Shaumyan was placed in charge of Russian Armenia. In September 1917 the convention in Tiflis elected the
Armenian National CouncilArmenian National Council is a term that refers to*Armenian National Council of Karabagh was also referred as People's Government of Karabagh before the rename in September 1918*Armenian National Council of Baku*Armenian National Council of Tiflis...
, the first sovereign political body of Armenians since the collapse of Lesser Armenia in 1375. Meanwhile, both the Ittihad (Unionist) and the Nationalists moved to win the friendship of the Bolsheviks. Mustafa Kemal sent several delegations to Moscow in an attempt to win some support for his own post-Ottoman movement in what he saw as a modernised ethno-nationalist Turkey. This alliance proved disastrous for the Armenians. The signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (January 1, 1918), helped Vehib Pasha to attack the new Republic. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. In the end, the Republic had to evacuate Erzurum as well.
Further southeast, in Van, the Armenians resisted the Turkish army until April 1918, but eventually were forced to evacuate it and withdraw to Persia. Conditions deteriorated when Azerbaijani Tatars sided with the Turks and seized the Armenian's lines of communication, thus cutting off the Armenian National Councils in Baku and Erevan from the National Council in Tiflis.
The Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) was established in Erevan on May 28, 1918.
In 1920, Armenian border troops skirmished with Muslim warlords in the former Georgian region of
OltuOltu is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It was historically considered to be a part of Tao-Klarjeti, ancient Georgian region...
, on the border with the DRA. Turkish General
Kazım KarabekirMusa Kâzım Karabekir was a Turkish general and politician. He was commander of the Eastern Army in the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before his death.-Early years:Kâzım was born 1882 as son of an Ottoman General Mehmet Emin...
then led four Turkish battalions into the district on 3 September and drove the Armenians out. Karabekir then moved into the DRA on 20 September prompting the Armenian government to declare war on Turkey four days later, thus precipitating the
Turkish-Armenian WarThe Turkish–Armenian War was a conflict fought between the Democratic Republic of Armenia and Turkish Revolutionaries of the Turkish National Movement which lasted from 24 September to 2 December, 1920 and largely took place in present-day northeastern Turkey and northwestern Armenia.- Background...
.
The consequences of the DRA's war with Turkey were severe. In the
Treaty of AlexandropolThe Treaty of Alexandropol was a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of Armenia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ending the Turkish-Armenian War, signed on December 2 1920, before the declaration of the Republic of Turkey. It was the first treaty signed by Turkish revolutionaries...
, the young Armenian republic was to disarm most of its military forces, cede more than 50% of its pre-war territory, and to give up all the territories granted to it at the Treaty of Sèvres. However, as the terms of defeat were being negotiated, Bolshevik
Grigoriy OrdzhonikidzeGrigory Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze Orjonikidze, , generally known as Sergo Ordzhonikidze ; – February 18, 1937) was a Georgian Bolshevik, later member of the CPSU Politburo and close friend to Stalin...
invaded the DRA from Azerbaijan in order to establish a new pro-Bolshevik government in the country. On November 29, the Soviet 11th Army invaded Armenia at Karavansarai (present-day
IjevanIjevan is a city in Armenia and the capital of Tavush region. It is located in the northern part of the region, on the foot of the Ijevan ridge and Nal'teket ridge on both banks of Aghstev River...
) and by November 29, 1920, the Soviet 11th Army marched into
YerevanYerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
.
Although the Bolsheviks succeeded in ousting the Turks from their positions in Armenia, they decided to establish peace with Turkey. In 1921, the Bolsheviks and the Turks signed the
Treaty of KarsThe Treaty of Kars was a friendship treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 declared the Republic of Turkey, and representatives of Soviet Armenia, Soviet Azerbaijan and Soviet Georgia with participation of Bolshevist Russia...
, in which Turkey ceded
AdjaraAdjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia. Adjara is also spelt Ajara or Adzhara, and is also known as Ajaria/Adjaria/Adzharia, or as Achara...
to the USSR in exchange for the Kars territory (today the Turkish provinces of
KarsKars is a province of Turkey, located in the northeastern part of the country. It shares part of its border with the Republic of Armenia.From 1878 until 1917 all of the present-day province of Kars was part of the Russian oblast of Kars...
,
IğdırIğdır is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the border with Armenia, Azerbaijan , and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the northwest and Ağrı to the west and south...
, and
ArdahanArdahan Province is a province in the far north-east of Turkey, at the very end of the country, where Turkey borders with Georgia .The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan.- Etymology :...
). The land given to Turkey included the ancient city of
AniAni is a ruined and uninhabited medieval city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, beside the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey...
and
Mount AraratMount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey...
, the spiritual Armenian homeland. In 1922, Armenia became part of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
as one of three republics comprising the
Transcaucasian SFSRThe Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , also known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the TSFSR for short, was a short-lived republic of the Soviet Union...
.
Armenia in the Soviet Union (1922-1991)
The Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved in 1936 and as a result Armenia became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union as the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. The transition to
communismCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
was difficult for Armenia, and for most of the other republics in the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities placed Armenians under strict surveillance. There was almost no
freedom of speechFreedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, even less so under
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
. Any individual who was suspected of using or introducing nationalist
rhetoricRhetoric is one of the arts of using language as a means to persuade. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century, it was a central part of Western education, filling the need to train public...
or elements in their works were labeled traitors or propangandists, and were sent to
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
during Stalinist rule. Even Zabel Yessayan, a writer who was fortunate enough to escape from ethnic cleansing during the
Armenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
, was quickly exiled to Siberia after repatriating to Armenia from
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Soviet Armenia participated in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the frontline in order to defend the "Soviet motherland."
Soviet rule also had some positive aspects. Armenia, a nation that was under foreign domination for hundreds of years, and was not ready for statehood in between hostile
TurkishThe Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
neighbors, was kept under control and put under Soviet protection from Kemalist
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, thanks to the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991...
. Armenia also greatly benefitted from the Soviet economy, especially when it was at its apex. Provincial villages gradually became towns and towns gradually became cities. Peace between
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
was reached, albeit temporarily. During this time, Armenia had a sizeable Azeri minority, mostly centred in
YerevanYerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
. Likewise, Azerbaijan had an Armenian minority, concentrated in
BakuBaku , sometimes known as Baqy, Baky, Baki or Bakou, is the capital, the largest city, and the largest port of Azerbaijan and all the Caucasus. Located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, the city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City...
,
KirovabadKirovabad can refer to:* The former name of Ganja, the second largest city in Azerbaijan.* The former name of Panj or Pyandzh a city in Tajikistan.* Kirovabad pogrom - pogrom in Kirovabad formerly Ganja....
, and
Nagorno-KarabakhNagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
. This demographic would change dramatically during and after the
Nagorno-Karabakh warThe Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
.
Many Armenians still had nationalist sentiments, although they would very seldomly express them publicly. On April 24, 1965, tens of thousands of Armenians flooded the streets of Yerevan to remind the world of the horrors that their parents and grandparents endured during the
Armenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
of 1915. This was the first public demonstration of such high numbers in the USSR, which defended national interests rather than collective ones. In the late 1980s, Armenia was suffering from pollution. With
Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the second-to-last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991...
's introduction of
glasnostwas the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of 1980s....
and
perestroikais the Russian term for the political and economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, public demonstrations became more common. Thousands of Armenians demonstrated in Yerevan because of the USSR's inability to address simple ecological concerns. Later on, with the conflict in
KarabakhThe Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...
, the demonstrations obtained a more nationalistic flavour. Many Armenians began to demand statehood.
Independent Armenia (1991-today)
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
declared its sovereignty from the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
on August 23, 1990. In the wake of the August Coup, a
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
was held on the question of secession. Following an overwhelming vote in favor, full independence was declared on September 21, 1991. However, widespread recognition did not occur until the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991.
Armenia faced many challenges during its first years as a
sovereign stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
. In 1988, the Spitak Earthquake killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed multiple towns in northern Armenia, such as
LeninakanGyumri is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia...
(modern-day
GyumriGyumri is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia...
) and
SpitakSpitak is a city in northern Armenia located in the Lori region with a population of 18,237. It was mostly destroyed by the devastating Spitak Earthquake in 1988, and was subsequently rebuilt in a slightly different location...
. Many families were left without electricity and running water. The harsh situation caused by the earthquake and subsequent events made many residents of Armenia leave and settle in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
,
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
or
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
On February 20, 1988, interethnic fighting between the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijanis broke out shortly after the parliament of
Nagorno-KarabakhNagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
, an autonomous oblast in Azerbaijan, voted to unify the region with Armenia. The
Nagorno-Karabakh warThe Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
pitted Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Armenia, against the
Army of AzerbaijanThe Azerbaijani Army is the military ground force of Azerbaijan.Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been trying to further develop its armed forces into a professional, well trained, and mobile military. Since 2005 Azerbaijan has increased its military budget to $2.46 billion in 2009...
. Following the Armenian victory, both Azerbaijan and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
closed their borders and imposed a blockade which they retain to this day, though in October 2009 Turkey and Armenia signed a treaty to normalize relations. These events severely affected the economy of the fledgling republic, and closed off its main routes to
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
.
On October 16, 1991, Armenians elected
Levon Ter-PetrossianLevon Ter-Petrossian , sometimes transliterated Levon Ter-Petrosyan or Ter-Petrosian , was the President of Armenia from 1991 to 1998...
as their first president. Ter-Petrossian was faced with many difficulties, including economic difficulties caused mainly by the Turkish and Azeri blockade. His controversial banning of the
Armenian Revolutionary FederationThe Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
, one of the main organized political entities in the
Armenian diasporaThe Armenian diaspora has created the communities of Armenians living outside of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Javakhk. The total Armenian population living worldwide is estimated to be 11,000,000, but only about 3,150,000 live in Armenia, about 140,000 in Nagorno-Karabakh and approximately 120,000...
, and his apathy toward the pursuit of international recognition of the
Armenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
and
the Nagorno-Karabakh RepublicNagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
made him unpopular with Armenian citizens and diasporan Armenians during his final years as
president of ArmeniaPresident of Armenia is the title of the head of state of Armenia since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.-Chairman of the Council of Armenia:*Avetik Sahakyan -Chairman of Parliament:...
. He was forced to resign in February 1998.
After Robert Kocharyan came to power in 1998, the difficult life conditions of Armenia gradually started to change. The Armenian diaspora, and especially the
ARFThe Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
, obtained more freedom to carry out economic projects in the fatherland.
In 2006, the Republic of Armenia celebrated its 15th anniversary of independence.
Legendary history
The legendary founder of
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
was
HaikHayk is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the History attributed to Moses of Chorene .- Etymology :...
, a chieftain who called on his kinsmen to unite into a single nation, thus forming Armenia.
AraratMount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey...
was the mountain around which was centered Urartu and subsequent kingdoms, and is still considered sacred by the Armenians.
The original Armenian name for the country was Hayq, later Hayastan, translated as the land of
HaikHayk is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the History attributed to Moses of Chorene .- Etymology :...
, and consisting of the name Haik and the Iranian suffix '-stan' (land). According to legend, Haik was a great-great-grandson of
NoahNoah was, according to the Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs; and a prophet according to the Qur'an...
(son of Togarmah, who was a son of Gomer, a son of Noah's son, Yafet), and according to tradition, a forefather of all Armenians. Mount Ararat, a sacred mountain for the Armenian people, rising in the center of the
Armenian HighlandThe Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet...
as its highest peak, is traditionally considered the landing place of
NoahNoah was, according to the Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs; and a prophet according to the Qur'an...
's Ark.
Books
- Chahin, M. 1987. The Kingdom of Armenia. Reprint: Dorset Press, New York. 1991.
- Lang, David Marshall
David Marshall Lang , was a Professor of Caucasian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was one of the most productive British scholars who specialized in Georgian, Armenian and ancient Bulgarian history.David M...
. 1980. Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. 3rd Edition, corrected. George Allen & Unwin. London.
- Luttwak, Edward N. 1976. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third. Johns Hopkins University Press. Paperback Edition, 1979.
- George A. Bournoutian, A History of the Armenian People, 2 vol. (1994)
- I. M. Diakonoff, The Pre-History of the Armenian People (revised, trans. Lori Jennings), Caravan Books, New York (1984), ISBN 0882060392.
- M. Chahin, The Kingdom of Armenia (1987, reissued 1991)
- Nicholas Adontz
Nicholas Adontz was a prominent Armenian historian, specialist of Byzantine and Armenian studies, and philologist...
, Armenia in the Period of Justinian: The Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System, trans. Nina G. Garsoïan (1970)
- George A. Bournoutian, Eastern Armenia in the Last Decades of Persian Rule, 1807–1828: A Political and Socioeconomic Study of the Khanate of Erevan on the Eve of the Russian Conquest (1982)
Louise Nalbandian,
The Armenian Revolutionary Movement: The Development of Armenian Political Parties Through the Nineteenth Century (1963).
Publications
- "Armenia" in the Catholic Encyclopedia, accessed at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01736b.htm
- The Free Republic of Armenia 1918. Armenian National Committee, San Francisco. [1980].
- "The Crusaders through Armenian Eyes" by Robert W. Thomson, from The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, edited by Angeliki E. Laiou and Roy Parviz Mottahedeh (Dumbarton Oaks, 2001). Also accessible online at www.doaks.org/etexts.html