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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 Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

During the last days of May, 1918, three independent republics were born amidst the chaos and ruin of Transcaucasia. The failure to gain peace through the Batum negotiations, the Turkish drive deep into the Tiflis and Yerevan guberniias, and the absence of cohesion among Georgians, Armenians, and Tatars shattered the wobbling foundations of the Transcaucasian Federation. In contrast to their neighbours, the Armenians shuddered before the prospect of independence. Having been abandoned and hurled upon the mercy of the same Turkish rulers who had annihilated the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire, they searched desperately for a glimmer of hope. It was detected in the undisguised wrath of Germany against the Ittihadist rulers and in the first substantial Armenian victory on the battlefield. The Armenian National Council, basing its decision on these considerations and, more intrinsically, on the realisation that there existed no other feasible alternative, timorously sanctioned the creation of the Republic of Armenia.

Collapse of the Transcaucasian Federative Republic

Just as the Mensheviks had assumed the initiative in declaring Transcaucasian independence, so, too, did they take the lead in dissolving the Federation. The preliminaries for German protection over Georgia had already been completed when, in the early afternoon of May 26, the Seim assembled for what was to be its final session. The Social Democrat "fraction" called upon Irakli Tsereteli to defend the proposed resolution announcing the self-liquidation of the Seim. In a lengthy oration, Tsereteli accurately renounced the lack of unity in the Federative Republic, its executive body, its legislature, and its peace delegation. Each of the Transcaucasian peoples, he said, stood at a different stage of national development and was unable to reconcile its aspirations with those of the other two. 1 He chastised the Moslems for their sympathy with and assistance to the enemy. They had rejoiced as the Turks had invaded Transcaucasia and had denied support to the legally constituted government of the Republic. The Armenians, on the contrary, had made every effort to withstand the foe, but had been compelled by brute force to relinquish many of their native regions. 2 In view of this sad reality, the Menshevik party had arrived at the following conclusion: "The part [of Transcaucasia] which is still not occupied, that sector which is still prepared to resist occupation with all its power and which stands against the enemy, who is conducting talks with us, that part is, as we know, the Tiflis and Kutais guberniias – the Georgian people. It has been left alone, as the Armenian people were plucked from it and the Moslems have turned away from it. And the fictive existence of the Transcaucasian delegation deprives this people of the possibility of creating with the forces at its disposal a governmental organism capable of defending its interests. And we, who have always said to this people that its salvation lay in unity with the others…must now tell the Georgians: at the present moment you are alone, you are abandoned to your own forces; you have no government, you have no delegation in Batum, and as heavy as the loss of those allies is, you must realise that you are left to your own powers and that matters become progressively worse as you live with illusions of a united Transcaucasia, a single government, and delegation in Batum. If you are to save yourself, then you must create your own governmental structure…" 3

The reactions to Tsereteli's declaration varied. On behalf of the Musavat fraction, Rustambekov welcomed the Georgian decision but admonished the illustrious Menshevik spokesman that this was certainly not the time to heap unjustified abuse upon one another. De denied that the Moslems favoured union with Turkey, and he pledged friendship with the other peoples of Transcaucasia. The Georgian proposal did not surprise Semenov, who had predicted this eventuality during the April 22 session of the Seim. It was well quite understandable: "The declaration of the independence of Georgia – it is the logical sequel to the separation of the Transcaucasia from Russia." 4 The Social Revolutionaries who had opposed Transcaucasian independence now condemned the Menshevik scheme. Berezov, chairman of the SR Regional Committee, accused the Georgians of turning away from the Russian Democracy and of deserting the Armenians, exclaiming, "The battle continues against the enemy, Armenian units continue the fight; they have been left alone, they are calling for aid, they search allies!" 5 From the opposite side of the chamber, Georgian National Democrat Gvazava expressed his party's satisfaction that the misguided Social Democrats, having always favoured centralism, now stood on the correct path, with led toward the formation of a national government and the establishment of independence. 6 Faced with an uncomfortable situation, Tsereteli rose a second time to plead for the Menshevik tactic and to refute the allegations of his critics. As if to soothe the conscience of Social Democracy, popularly recognised as the foe of nationalism, he reasoned that "national self-preservation does not contradict the work of democracy, but this survival is the best foundation for the ultimate ideal – the realisation of socialism…" 7 The oratory having been concluded, the legislature performed its final act by adopting the Menshevik-sponsored resolution: "Because on the question of war and peace there arose basic differences among the peoples who had created the Transcaucasian Republic, and because it became impossible to establish one authoritative order speaking in the name of all Transcaucasia, the Seim certifies the fact of the dissolution of Transcaucasia and lays down its powers." 8 At three o'clock in the afternoon on May 26, 1918, the "Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia" was no more. President Chkheidze wired the obituary to the capitals of eighteen nations. 9