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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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The announcement of Armenia's sovietisation did not remove the Turkish menace, since Karabekir threatened to resume the offensive unless his government's peace terms were accepted forthwith. Those terms obliged Armenia to renounce the Treaty of Sevres and all claims to Turkish Armenia and the province of Kars, to accept temporary Turkish jurisdiction in Sharur-Nakhichevan, to recall all representatives from Europe until the Ankara government had settled its differences with those adversary states, and to reduce the size of the Armenian army to 1,500 men. In case of need, Turkey would extend military assistance to the remaining small Armenian state. Only after all these terms had been fulfilled would the Turkish army withdraw from the Alexandropol region and establish the Arpa-chai River as the new international frontier. Even though his government had officially relinquished power, -Khatisian signed the Treaty of Alexandropol (Gümrü) shortly after midnight on December 3. Denounced and branded a traitor by Soviet and other non-Dashnakist authors, -Khatisian justified his action as an exigency measure taken with the knowledge of the new Yerevan government and intended to give time for the Red Army to enter Armenia in sufficient numbers to block further Turkish advance. Realizing that he had no legal jurisdiction, Khatisian hoped that the new Soviet government, with support from Russia, would repudiate his action and force the Turks to withdraw at least to the prewar boundaries. As it turned out, these calculations proved ill-founded. The efforts of the Soviet Armenian government to recover a part of the lost territories were supported only with mid diplomatic note by Soviet Russia, which proceeded towards normalisation of relations with the Ankara government.

The Aftermath

The Military Revolutionary Committee of Armenia arrived in Yerevan on December 4, followed two days later by the first echelons of the Red Army. The Revkom, dominated by young, vindictive Bolsheviks, immediately repudiated the treaty negotiated between Legran and the former Armenian government on December 3 and initiated an aggressive course of War Communism. Hundreds of former government officials and non-Bolshevik political leaders were imprisoned, the army officer corps was exiled, and a harsh regime of retribution and requisition was imposed. These oppressive policies, coupled with the trenchant anti-Russian and anti-Bolshevik sentiment of the Western Armenian refugee population and the collusion of some Dashnakist partisan leaders, produced a surge of rebellion in February 1921. the Revkom was driven out of Yerevan and a Salvation Committee was swiftly organised under Simon Vratsian's presidency to coordinate the movement sweeping the countryside.

Not until Georgia had been sovietised in March were sufficient Red Army reinforcements brought in to suppress the revolt. In April the Salvation Committee and thousands of insurgents and civilians withdrew into Zangezour, where the battle continued under the command of Garegin Nzhdeh until a reorganised Soviet Armenian government issued an amnesty and gave assurances that Zangezour would become a part of Soviet Armenia. Lenin had already chided his Caucasian comrades for their overzealousness and advised that conditions in the local republics necessitated a "slower, more careful, and more systematic transition to socialism". 96 Alexandr Miasnikian, a trusted veteran party professional, was transferred from the European theatre to head the Armenian government. In July 1921, as Miasnikian began to implement the more cautious measures of the New Economic Policy, thousands of anti-Bolshevik rebels and bewildered civilians crossed the Araxes River into Persia to begin the bitter life reserved for expatriates and exiles.