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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

- In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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World War II and the Cold War



On June 22, 1941, Hitler's armies crossed the Soviet border and initiated the most colossal military confrontation between two nations in human history. By the time the Soviet army had driven the Nazis back into Germany, the Soviet people had lost 7,000,000 soldiers and 20,000,000 civilians. The enormous costs of the war were borne by all peoples in USSR, among them the Armenians. Though precise figures are not available, it is known that the population of Soviet Armenia dropped 12 percent (by 174,000 people) between 1941 and 1945. Not until 1952 would Armenia's population again reach the pre-war level of approximately 1 360,000. Though the Wehrmacht was stopped north of the Great Caucasus and Armenia proper was spared German occupation, the loss of life and the severe material privations of the war years left the country in dire straits by 1945. Early in the war Armenian military units were thrown into some of the heaviest fighting at the front and suffered great casualties. In the republic there was fear that the Turks would use the opportunity of Russia's weakness to launch an attack on Armenia. All able-bodied men were at the front, and there were few police, let alone soldiers, to keep law and order at home or to guard the frontier.

The Soviet government mobilised all its resources for the mortal struggle with the Fascists. Both in Russia and in Armenia a reconciliation was arranged with the church. State-church relations in Armenia had been strained since the mysterious death of Catholicos Khoren I Muratbekian (1933-1938). It was widely believed that he had been murdered by Beria's secret police. The government refused the Armenia Apostolic Church permission to elect a successor to the catholicos, and Archbishop Gevork Chorekjian directed the church as acting head. With the outbreak of the war, however, the government softened its policy. Several churches were reopened in Armenia; some exiled clergymen returned from Siberia. In April 1943 a Council of Ecclesiastical Affairs was created in Soviet Armenia. And most astonishing of all, Stalin himself received Archbishop Chorekjian in the Kremlin on April 19, 1944. The Armenian Church was permitted to open a seminary and to re-establish printing press. For its part, the church supported the fight against the Nazi invaders in every way – blessing the troops, raising money for Armenian military units, and rallying the people behind the war effort. This alliance between the church and the Soviet state repaired some of the damage done in the 1930s to popular support for the government. While such radical social transformations as collectivisation, industrialisation, and the purges had alienated many Armenians from the Soviet order, the war provided the Soviet government with a new legitimacy as the defender of the country. Patriotism was combined with appeals for a brighter future and brought many Armenians back into the Soviet fold.

At the same time, however, other Armenians broke decisively with the Soviet regime and went to the Germans. Certain Berlin-based Dashnakists, tough repudiated by the official party organs, made an agreement with the Nazis in 1942 to support the Germans against the Soviet Union in the hope of liberating Armenia. General Dro Kanayan, a one-time leader of the independent Armenian government, helped to form an Armenian legion on the Eastern front. As the Red Army drove the Germans back in 1944-1945, many Armenians living in the North Caucasus and Ukraine retreated with the Germans, ending up in refugee camps in Germany. Eventually most of them would be allowed to emigrate to the United States. Thus, Armenians fought on both sides of the Soviet-Germany front, though the great majority – including almost 500,000 Soviet Armenian soldiers – backed the anti-Nazi campaign. Sixty Armenian generals fought in the Soviet army, including the future Marshal of the Soviet Union, Ivan (Hovhannes) Baghramian.