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History of Armenia
The Armenian Plateau and the Caucasus have always been
at the crossroads of civilization, both geographically
and culturally. From ancient times, people have crossed
this region, which served as part of the Silk Road, to
get from the East to the West and vice versa. As far
back as the Roman Empire, Armenia was of geopolitical
interest to the Assyrians, Parthian and Romans. After
Christianity spread through much of the West, Armenia
came to be seen as an ally to the West, and thus Arabs
and Persians began invading the country, forcing it to
become a buffer zone between the East and the West.
Arabs took control of Armenia in the 7th century, and it
wasn't until the Bagratid Dynasty was established in the
9th century that Armenia was able to break free from
Arab rule. The Bagratid Dynasty was responsible for the
second Golden Age of Armenia, a time when peace brought
prosperity to the land and its people. Many monasteries
were commissioned by the Bagratid rulers for
construction in Armenia and Georgia. A monk named
Gregory wrote a book of prayers in the monastery of
Narek on the shore of Lake Van. The depth and beauty of
his prayers were unparalleled in the world. Peace and
prosperity were shattered by the arrival of Seljuk Turks
in the 11th century, who were proceeded by other Turkic
tribes from the East. The Seljuk Turks fought against
the Persians, using Armenia as their battlefield and
wreaking havoc on the country. The last Armenian kingdom
was forced to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where
it survived until the 14th century in Cilicia. With the
onset of the Mongols in the 13th century, successive
waves of invasions continued to devastate the country.
After Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, Armenia too
was overtaken in the early 16th century. The Persians
persisted to lay claims on Armenian soil, and Shah Abbas
drove the Ottomans out of Tbilisi, Yerevan, Nakhichevan,
Nagorno-Karabakh, and
Azerbaijan. He also force marched tens of thousands of
Armenians, noted for their artistic and business skills,
out of their ancestral homeland of Nakhichevan from the
prosperous city of Julfa to Esfahan. In the first
century BC Armenia was conquered by the Roman Empire,
followed by Persia in 387 and the Caliphate in the
seventeenth century. Armenia regained independence in
the ninth century under the name of Ani. Ani was
conquered by the East Roman Empire in the eleventh
century. In the twelfth century it was a puppet state
of Georgia, in 1235-1239 it was conquered by the
Mongols and in 1550 it became part of the Sefewide
state. In 1555 Armenia was divided between Turkey and
Persia: Western Armenia became part of the Ottoman
Empire and Eastern Armenia became part of Persia. Persia
transferred Eastern Armenia to Russia in 1828. At the
end of the century intellectuals formed an Armenian
independence movement, striving after the formation of a
liberal democracy. In both parts of Armenia the
Armenians were suppressed. Both in 1895 and in 1915-1917
the Armenians suffered from massacres in the Ottoman
Empire. After the communist victory in Russia in 1917,
Russian troops left the Caucasus. In 1918 the
independence of the Republic of Armenia was declared to
prevent annexation by either the Ottoman Empire or
neighboring Azerbaijan.
After the treaty of Sèvres
(1920) most of West Armenia became part of Turkey and
the independence of Armenia was recognized by Turkey.
Under pressure of communist advances in the Caucasus the
HHD formed a coalition government with the communists.
Communists seized power in 1920 and establish the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, that joined
Transcaucasia in 1922 and with Transcaucasia formed the
USSR the same year. Turkey and Azerbaijan imposed an
energy and transportation blockade on landlocked
Armenia, leaving only the Georgian border to the north
and a small border with Iran to the south as means to
transport much needed goods, including humanitarian aid,
into the country. In 1990 the Republic of Armenia
declared independence and in 1991 it was the first
state to secede from the USSR. Armenia was a
presidential republic without a real democratic culture.
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan of the Hayots Hamazgain
Sharzhum (Pan-Armenian National Movement, HHSh) was
elected president in 1991 with a huge majority. He
resigned in 1998 and that year the non-partisan
candidate Robert Kocharyan won the presidential
elections. Kocharyan was re-elected in 2003. Parliament
was dominated since 2003 by the Hayastani Hanrapetakan
Kusaktsutyun (Republican Party of Armenia, HHK) of Prime
Minister Serj Sargsyan.
Despite dispersion and effects of globalization which
have drawn Armenians to the four corners of the world,
Armenians continue to uphold strong cultural, religious,
and historical customs and traditions, and have a
rekindled spirit regarding their homeland, Armenia. |
