Map Close  
Person info Close  
Information Close  
Source reference Close  
  Svenska
 
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

Previous page Page 139 Next page Smaller font Larger font Print friednly version  
The Middle East at the End of the 11th century

The situation in the Middle East at the end of the 11th century was conducive to the plan of the Armenians.

This period marked the end of power of the Arab Empire and the start of its decline and the end of Islam, in the sense of a modern and driving civilization and an active force.

This fall in fortune of the Arab and Islamic Empire was the result of different factors, among which the most important one was the entrance of the Turanians, with the Seljuk Turks at their front, who in less than 100 years were able to conquer the majority of the Middle East, including Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria, reducing the role of the caliphs in Baghdad.

Only the coastal region in Asia Minor remained under Byzantine rule and Byzantine continued to show signs of increasing weakness and decay.

In 1071 the city of Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Seljuk Turks. Unlike to the Arabs who had shown good treatment of the Christians of the Holy City, and had let them execute their religious rituals and make pilgrimage to the sacred locations, the Seljuk Turks began to attack the pilgrims who travelled there from Europe sparking the motivation behind the crusades.

The enormous empire of the Seljuk Turks was short-lived, lasting only 40 years. It reached its peak during the reign of Seljuk Melik Shah (son of Alp Arsalan, the conqueror of Ani). This king, who ruled from 1072 to 1092, had his centre of power in Persia. With his death in 1092 his empire was divided into smaller independent principalities called Atabegs, including Fars and Kerman (Iran), Aleppo, Damascus and Ikonion (Konya and Sivas) and into even less regulated parts where the local lords (Khans) ruled (In Sivas a prince ruled, whose nickname was the Scientist and was of Armenian origin).

All these countries were small administrative units which were in constant war against each other and were neither competent nor capable of building a united front against their common external enemy. Egypt, at that time ruled by the Fatemian caliphs, was at war with the Seljuk Turks - an indication of the deep division of the Islamic world - the Seljuk Turks were Sunnites while Egyptians, until the rule of Sallahedin Ayoubi, were Shiites).

Just before the arrival of the crusaders, in 1098, the Fatemian caliphs managed to drive the Seljuk Turks out from Jerusalem and it was they who defended Jerusalem against the crusaders the following year.

This Islamic schism was taken advantage of by the Armenians as well as the crusaders – in its absence, New Armenia may never have emerged. 9