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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

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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The Romans, in opposition to this, strove for a self-ruling Armenia which was under the influence of Rome. For them it was not essential who sat on the Armenian throne, as long as he was loyal to the Roman Empire and would agree to receiving his throne from the hand of the Roman emperor.

The choices of the Armenians were as follows. At first, with their bitter memories of the wars against the Persians, whom they considered to be their greatest enemies, they tended to side with the Romans But later the majority of the Armenian higher nobility, who were members of the national party, went over to the Persian side. Moreover it seemed that the vanity policy that Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra had pursued had left a deep scar between Armenia and Rome, that for a long time hindered relations between these two countries. From another perspective Armenia's foreign policy shifted to a greater wariness toward Rome namely because of the Roman threat of ruling over Armenia and transforming it into a dependent and obedient province. The Arsacids showed a much more liberal approach and only wanted to have an independent Armenia, free from all external influence. Since they were weaker than the Romans, their expectations of Armenia were also less, something that was enough to appeal to the Armenians.

The Roman historian Tacitus, who lived in a world where the general rule was to belong to Rome, could not accept the fact the someone could oppose Roman rule and wrote the following about the Armenians: "The Armenians were a people who did not know about the concept of freedom and went to the Persians in order to find a master for themselves." But in his annual description of events Tacitus, unintentionally, wrote the following about king Artashes II, who was the first king to be supported by the Persians: "He was the enemy of the Romans, since he had not forgotten that they had murdered his father and for that reason he defended his country against Roman attacks with the assistance of the Persians."

Rome and Armenia

The only thing that remains now is to devote a short time to reviewing the policy of Rome towards Armenia and summarise their relations. Ferrero noted: "In reality Roman history is about their arduous attempts to create a great empire and the value of studying its defeats is not less than studying its victories."

In the year anno domini, Rome was the master of the known world. Rome would during the next two centuries organise and conquer "both the ramshackle civilisations in the east and those civilisations which yet were not formed in the west."

But when Romans first set foot on Asian soil they raised the question of how far they should go? Where would the hunger for power end and where would the sense of adventure take over?

Armenia was without doubt one of the most important focal points in Roman politics. On the one hand Rome could not disregard this natural fortress, which with its geographical position and structure threatened the empire's entire eastern provinces; on the other hand the annexing of Armenia was not only a difficult task but also non-desirable. For a long time this was impossible, since the Romans had to first defeat the Persians in a final and decisive manner. But we see that even during the periods when the Persians were under Roman rule (e.g. during the reign of Emperor Augustus and later the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius) Rome refrained from annexing Armenia and was content with having an independent, but allied Armenia.