Brief History
Armenian kingdoms, principalities and even a short-lived empire (95-55 B.C.) managed to survive and thrive for some 1,700 years. Under various kings and princes, the Armenians developed a sophisticated culture, an original architecture and their own national alphabet. In the year 2001, the Armenians will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity as their religion. The Seljuq conquest of the last Armenian kingdom in the 11th century marked the beginning of an exodus of the Armenians from historical Armenia resulting in the advent of an Armenian Diaspora. As a result of this migration, an Armenian kingdom was established on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Cilicia. This kingdom, often an ally to the West during the period of the Crusades, absorbed Frankish culture. The kingdom fell in 1375, ending the independence of the Armenian Statehood. 
 
From 1507 until 1829, historical Armenia was divided between the Ottoman and Persian Empires. After 1829, historical Armenia was divided amongst three empires - Ottoman, Persian, and Russian. From the 18th century on, the Armenians within the three empires clamored for economic and social reform, and political and cultural autonomy. The literary, artistic, religious and educational renaissance of the Armenians during the 19th century within both the Ottoman and the Russian Empires led to the formation of Armenian political parties and their energetic intervention for reforms, equality and cultural autonomy. The 1905 Russian revolution and the Young Turk revolution in 1908 raised the hopes of the Armenians for reform, and an opportunity to build a homeland in historical Armenia. These hopes were dashed as the Ottoman and the Russian Empires fought each other during World War I. The war brought the greatest calamity for its Armenians. Some 1,750,000 Armenians were deported into Syria and Mesopotamia by the Ottoman authorities. Subject to famine, disease and systematic massacres, most of them perished. This “ethnic cleansing” of the Armenians from their historical homeland led Raphael Lemkin, the father of the Genocide Treaty, to coin the new term of “genocide” in the 1930’s in order to describe this historical plight of the Assyrians and the Armenians as subjects of the first genocide of the 20th century.

In the aftermath of World War I, the Armenians formed a small independent republic. It lasted two years. Notwithstanding U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s recommendations through the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) to recreate an Armenia within the realm of its historical lands, it was vanquished by Turkey and was forcibly incorporated within the Soviet domain in 1920. It became one of the 16 Soviet republics constituting the Soviet Union. During the Soviet period the Armenian culture and economy flourished. However, Armenians suffered enormous losses during World War II and were subjected to periodic deportations ordered by Stalin’s regime. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia reemerged as an independent republic, ethnically homogenous, though landlocked, and without energy. Because of the Ngorno-Karabagh conflict, Armenia has been the subject of an economic blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan for the past three years. Today there are six million Armenians all over the world - three million in Armenia and the rest in Diaspora. There are an estimated one million Armenians in the U.S.A.

Armenian tradition has preserved several legends concerning the origin of the Armenian nation. The most important of these tells of Hayk (Hayg or Haig), the eponymous hero of the Armenians who called them-selves Hay (Hye) and their country Hayk' or Hayastan. The historian of the 5th century, Movses Khorenatsi, also relates at some length the valiant deeds of Aram whose fame extended far beyond the limits of his country. Consequently, the neighboring nations called the people Armens or Armenians. 

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Archeology has extended the prehistory of Armenia to the Acheulian age (500,000 years ago), when hunting and gathering peoples crossed the lands in pursuit of migrating herds. The first period of prosperity was enjoyed by inhabitants of the Armenian upland in the third millennium B.C. These people were among the first to forge bronze, invent the wheel, and cultivate grapes. The first written records to mention the inhabitants of Armenia come from hieroglyphs of the Hittite Kingdom, inscribed from 1388 to 1347 B.C., in Asia Minor. The earliest inscription to be found directly upon Armenian lands, carved in 1114 B.C. by the Assyrians, describes a coalition of kings of the central Armenian region referring to them as "the people of Nairi."

By the 9th century B.C., a confederation of local tribes flourished as the unified state of Urartu. It grew to become one of the strongest kingdoms in the Near East and constituted a formidable rival to Assyria for supremacy in the region. The Urartians produced and exported wares of ceramic, stone and metal, building fortresses, temples, palaces and other large public works. One of their irrigation canals is still used today in Yerevan, Armenia's capital - a city which stands upon the ancient Urartian fortress of Erebuni. In the 6th century Urartu fell to the Medes, but not long after, the Persian conquest of the Medes, led by Cyrus the Great, displaced them. Persia ruled over Armenia from the 6th century until the 4th century B.C. Its culture and Zoroastrian religion greatly influenced the spiritual life of the Armenian people who absorbed features of Zoroastrianism into their polytheistic and animistic indigenous beliefs.
 

Seleucid influence over Armenia finally dissolved when, in the second century B.C., a local general named Artaxias (Artashes) declared himself King of Greater Armenia and founded a new dynasty - Artaxiads Dynasty (Artashesian) - (The Artain 189 B.C. Artaxias expanded his territory by defining the borders of his land and unifying the Armenian people.

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The "renaissance of Armenia" was accomplished during the reign of Tigran the Great (94-54 B.C.), who proclaimed himself "King of Kings." Under Tigran II, Armenia grew to a great degree of military strength and political influence. According to the Greek biographer Plutarch, the Roman general Lucullos said of this king,

"In Armenia, Tigran is seated surrounded with that power which has wrested Asia from the Parthians,
which carries Greek colonies into Media, subdues Syria and Palestine and cuts off the Seleucids."

And Cicero, the Roman orator and politician, adds,

"He made the Republic of Rome tremble before the powers of his arms."

Tigran the Great (94-54 B.C.)  Armenia's borders extended from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. Tigran's victories were, however, destined to hasten his downfall, which occurred in 66 B.C. His son, King Artavazd II, governed Greater Armenia for 20 years until Anthony and Cleopatra had him brought to Egypt in chains. Artavazd refused to name Cleopatra as his queen and was executed.

By 64 A.D. the new Arsacids dynasty (Arshakuni Dynasty), a branch of the Parthian Arsacids, came to power, and the country as a whole soon became a buffer zone over which the Romans and Parthians fought for domination. In order that we may realize the real implications of the history of Armenia and grasp the soul of this people, we must turn our gaze upon the beginning of the 4th century, which was momentous in its consequences for the growth of the nation. King Tiridates III (Trdat), having been converted by Gregory the Illuminator, proclaimed Christianity as the religion of the state in 301 A.D.
 

Thus, Armenia became the first nation to embrace Christianity officially. This was 12 years before the Emperor Constantine's Edict of Milan which declared tolerance of Christians in the Roman Empire. Gregory the Illuminator, later canonized, was elected Catholicos of the new Armenian national Church, the first in a long line of such clergy to be elected supreme head of the Armenian Church.

The conversion to Christianity was inevitably to bring in its wake complications of a political nature and to arouse grave anxieties in neighboring Persia. The Sassanian Persians took advantage of Armenia's inner weakness and launched a campaign to stamp out Christianity there and replace it with Mazdaism. Under this common threat, the princes, nobility and the people of Armenia rallied, and in 451 under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief Vartan Mamikonian, the Armenians heroically faced the Persians at Avarair in defense of their faith and national heritage. Heavily outnumbered, they were defeated; Vartan Mamikonian and many valiant men fell fighting. But guerrilla warfare continued in the mountainous regions. Vahan Mamikonian, a nephew of Vardan, continued the struggle. This time the Persians, realizing the futility of their policy, were obliged to come to terms with the Armenians. Freedom of religious worship was restored with the Treaty of Nvarsag. 
 

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In the 7th century, the mighty Arabs stormed into Armenia and conquered the country. Beginning in the 9th century, Armenia enjoyed a brilliant period of independence when the powerful Bagratids Dynasty (Bagratuni Dynasty) asserted political authority. Resumption of international trade brought prosperity and the revival of artistic and literary pursuits. The capital of Ani grew to a population of about 100,000, more than any urban center in Europe. Religious life flourished and Ani became known as the "city of one thousand and one churches." In the middle of the 11th century, most of Armenia had been annexed by Byzantium. The destruction of the Bagratid Kingdom was completed by raids of new invaders, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia. With little resistance from weakened Byzantium, the Seljuk Turks spread into Asia Minor as well as the Armenian highlands.

Along with its break-up in the ninth century, the compact Arab empire also saw a weakening of its power in Armenia. Meanwhile, a very important change had taken place in the ranks of the Armenian aristocracy. The house of Mamikonian, which had played a leading role in the political life of Armenia, actually governing as sovereigns without titles during certain periods, disappeared from the scene towards the end of the eighth century. The Arabs used harsh reprisals to crush the insurrection led by Mamikonian in 774, and the whole family was wiped out.

Once the Mamikonians had disappeared from the scene, the Bagratids began their ascendancy. They had a more flexible approach to the Arabs. One of the oldest and most influential dynasties of Armenia, never yet exposed to the hazards of struggles for power, the Bagratids had, since the times of Artashes I, by tradition and by acquired right, held the title of t'agatir, that is, crowners (of the king) while the Mamikonians had held the title of sparapet, commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Unlike the feudal possessions of the Mamikonians, which occupied a practically continuous strip starting from the regions of T'aron, west of the lake of Van, and ending in the area around Mount Ararat and Mount Aragatz to the north east, the fiefs of the Bagratids were spread a little everywhere throughout Armenia and were later to extend even further into the Iberian kingdom (present-day Georgia).

Another family of nakharar, one of the few that survived the repression, were the Artzruni, whose dominions lay to the east of the lake of Van. On account of their less drastic attitude towards the Arabs, both the Bagratids and the Artzuni were able to profit from the confiscation and dismemberment of the property of the Mamikonians and other dynasties allied to them and enlarge their own possessions. The Bagratids assumed the role of representatives and promotors of this new conscience.

At practically the same time, in 888, a Bagratid branch of the Tayk' (Tao) lineage, near the borders between Armenia and Georgia along the river Djorokh (Coruh), created the Iberian kingdom of the Bagratids. This was to haae an extremely long life, lasting more than 1,000 years, thanks to the geopolitical situation in Georgia, which was more favourable than Armenia's. The new kingdom unfortunately collapsed in 1045.

The foundation of the Bagratid kingdom in Armenia emerged from the revolt of Prince Smbat Bagratuni about halfway through the eighth century. Despite the partial failure of the insurrection, at the end of which Smbat was captured and sent off to Baghdad, the growth of Byzantine power under the young dynasty of the Macedonians ( of Armenian origin) forced the Arabs to adopt a more moderate policy, ensuring a certain equilibrium in Armenia and, thus, greater guarantees of safety for Arab interests.

In 861, Ashot, son of Smbat, was recognized by the court at Baghdad as prince of princes, a measure that did not fail to provoke a violent reaction on the part of the semiautonomous Arab emirates that had been established in the very heart of Armenia. They attacked Ashot with an army of 80,000 men. Ashot's forces were only half those of the Arabs, but nevertheless defeated them soundly. Ashot's prestige was now at its peak. In 855, the caliph sent him the crown and recognized him as shahnshah, king of kings of the Armenians. Basil I, emperor of Byzantians, made haste to do the same.
 
King Ashot

This was perhaps one of the happiest periods in the tormented history of Armenia: two empires were vying with each other not to dominate Armenia with arms but to gain its sympathy and consolidate its independence.

This was a difficult objective, to say the least. Indeed, the kingdom of Ashot's son, Smbat I (892-914), was one continuous round of harsh struggles against the Arab emirates that surrounded the young kingdom. Only by paying this high price was the Armenia of the Bagratids able to reach the peaks of economic, social and cultural prosperity which, according to Muyldermans, constituted a period of incomparable splendour in Armenian history, from about 920 to 1020. The best evidence of this was the fabulous city of Ani, built by Ashot III (952-977), with its "thousand and one churches." Jacques de Morgan has this to say: "In Europe, we still haae a large number of cities surrounded by their medieval fortified walls: Avignon, Aigues-Mortes, Carcassone, in the south of France alone. But none of these can be compared with Ani because of the deep impression that dead city still arouses in us today: lost in the middle of an immense solitude, still bearing the deep wounds it receivetl during its agony. Ani under the Bagratids was a great, beautiful city, embellished with numerous churches, palaces, beautiful walls in many-colored stone." (In Histoire du peuple armenien, p. 121).

When Ani fell into Byzantine hands in 1045, that was the end of the kingdom. Unfortunately, Byzantium's expansionist policy with regard to Armenia, developed above all under Basil II, was ultimately to the detriment of the empire itself, for it had done away with that buffer state that had for centuries served as a bulwark against forces from the East. In Grousset's view, 1045 marks the beginning of the collapse of Byzantium, in spite of its apparent prosperity. This was illusory, as soon became apparent with the terrible defeat of Romano Diogenes at Manzikert in 1071 by the Seljuks of Alp Arslan, which opened the gates of Anatolia fully and for good.

The arts and culture in general flourished greatly in the reign of the Artzruni too (908-1021). The now well-known church of Aght'amar, the marvellous architecture of the school of Ani, and the mystical poetry of St. Grigor of Narek, with its passionate accents and flowing lyrics, embody the highest values of this artistic peak.
 
King Ashot III (The Iron)

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The Seljuk Turks invasion compelled a large number of Armenians to move south, toward the Taurus Mountains close to the Mediterranean Sea, where in 1080 they founded, under the leadership of Ruben (Rubenian Dynasty), the Kingdom of Cilicia or Lesser Armenia. Close contacts with the Crusaders and with Europe led to absorbing Western European ideas, including its feudal class structure. Cilician Armenia became a country of barons, knights and serfs. The court at Sis adopted European clothes. Latin and French were used alongside Armenian. The Cilician period is regarded as the Golden Age of Armenian Illumination, noted for the lavishness of its decoration and the frequent influence of contemporary western manuscript painting. Their location on the Mediterranean coast soon involved Cilician Armenians in international trade between the interior of Western Asia and Europe. For nearly 300 years, the Cilician Kingdom of Armenia prospered, but in 1375 it fell to the Mamelukes of Egypt. The last monarch, King Levon VI, died at Calais, France in 1393, and his remains were laid to rest at St. Denis (near Paris) among the kings of France.

While in the 13th century the Armenians prospered in the Cilician Kingdom, those living in Greater Armenia witnessed the invasion of the Mongols. Later, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Armenia was divided between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran. With the annexation of the Armenian plateau, the Armenians lost all vestiges of an independent political life. The Persian leader Shah Abbas I inaugurated a policy of moving populations of entire Armenian regions to his country to create a noman's land in the path of the Ottoman advance, and to bring a skilled merchant and artisan class to his new capital, Isfahan. The Armenian community of New Julfa, a suburb of Isfahan, was held by Shah Abbas I in great esteem and became one of the economic bases of the Safavid state.

Persians ruled Eastern Armenia until 1828, when it was annexed by Russia. However, it was the Ottoman Turks who governed most of the Armenian land and population (Western Armenia). During the 19th century, Armenians under Turkish rule suffered from discrimination, heavy taxation and armed attacks. As Christians, Armenians lacked legal recourse for injustices. They were taxed beyond their means, forbidden to bear arms in a country where murdering a non-Muslim often went unpunished, and were without the right to testify in court on their own behalf. During the late l9th century, the increasingly reactionary politics of the declining Ottoman Empire and the awakening of the Armenians culminated in a series of Turkish massacres throughout the Armenian provinces in 1894-96. Any illusion the Armenians had cherished to the effect that the acquisition of power in 1908 by the Young Turks might bring better days was soon dispelled.  

For in the spring of 1909, yet another orgy of bloodshed took place in Adana, where 30,000 Armenians lost their lives after a desperate resistance. World War I offered a good opportunity for Turks to "solve the issue." In 1915, a secret military directive ordered the arrest and prompt execution of Armenian community leaders. Armenian males serving in the Ottoman army were separated from the rest and slaughtered. The Istanbul government decided to deport the entire Armenian population. Armenians in towns and villages were marched into deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia. During the "relocation" many were flogged to death, bayoneted, buried alive in pits, drowned in rivers, beheaded, raped or abducted into harems. Many simply expired from heat exhaustion and starvation. 1.5 million people perished in this first genocide of the 20th century. Another wave of massacres occurred in Baku (1918), Shushi (1920) and elsewhere.

The defeat of the Ottoman Turks in World War I and the disintegration of the Russian Empire gave the Armenians a chance to declare their independence. On May 28, 1918, the independent Republic of Armenia was established, after the Armenians forced the Turkish troops to withdraw in the battles of Sardarapat, Karakilisse and Bashabaran. Overwhelming difficulties confronted the infant republic, but amid these conditions the Armenians devoted all their energies to the pressing task of reconstructing their country. But due to pressure exerted simultaneously by the Turks and Communists, the republic collapsed in 1920. Finally, the Soviet Red Army moved into the territory (Eastern Armenia) and on November 29, 1920, declared it a Soviet republic. Armenia was made part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic in 1922, and in 1936, it became one of the Soviet Union's constituent republics.

The tumultuous changes occurring throughout the Soviet Union beginning in the 1980's inevitably had repercussions in Armenia. In 1988, a movement of support began in Armenia for the constitutional struggle of Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh) Armenians to exercise their right to self-determination. (This predominantly Armenian populated autonomous region had been placed under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan by an arbitrary decision of Stalin in 1923.)

That same year, in 1988, Armenia was rocked by severe earthquakes that killed thousands, and supplies from both the Soviet Union and the West were blocked by the Azerbaijani Government fighting the Armenians in Nagorno Karabagh. Both of these issues have dominated Armenia's political arena since the first democratic election held in Armenia during the Soviet era. In 1990, the Armenian National Movement won a majority of seats in the parliament and formed a government. On September 21, 1991, the Armenian people overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence in a national referendum, and an independent Armenia came into being.

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As Glasnost took effect, Armenia voted for independence from the USSR in 1991. The new republic has faced severe obstacles to economic development and stability. Harsh, and in some cases life-threatening living conditions have come along with independence from Soviet rule.

A major factor has been the war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the Ngorno-Karabagh region, the Armenian Christian enclave within Muslim Azerbaijan. The Ngorno-Karabagh conflict stems from centuries-old hostilities and territorial disputes between Armenian Christians and Muslims. As civil war erupted within the Ngorno-Karabagh region, Armenia launched a military offensive to help its brethren within the enclave. By 1993, Armenia controlled over one fifth of Azerbaijan, including much of Ngorno-Karabagh. A ceasefire was signed in 1994. Although the ceasefire continues to hold, Ngorno-Karabagh remains a contentious, troubled region.

The Armenian military campaign drained precious resources from the new republic. In addition, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey have imposed an economic blockade on Armenia, and the internal conflict in neighboring Georgia has also cut off supply routes. There are severe shortages of food, fuel, water and electricity. The republic has been largely unable to repair damage from a severe earthquake in 1988, which destroyed about 10% of industrial capacity and housing. Over one third of Lake Sevan, the only fresh water reservoir, has been drained due to its use as a source for hydropower, threatening the drinking water supply. Massive deforestation has occurred as the population uses every available source for firewood.

Current circumstances in Armenia are not without promise, however. Despite the harsh conditions, the economy is growing steadily. The Armenians continue to overcome enormous challenges to the survival and integrity of their homeland, culture and freedom.