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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 renewed nationalism among Soviet Armenians was less the product of resistance to the forced Russification than it was the result of social, economic, and political development both under Stalinism and in the years of gradual reform since 1953. Armenia had developed economically into a more urban and industrial country under successive Soviet governments. At the same time its territory and people had become more ethnically homogenous. Armenians were better educated, knew their history, language, and culture more completely, and had maintained their national culture even during the repressive years of Stalinism. Once the terror of the 1930s and 1940s was replaced by the greater tolerance of the 1950s and 1960s, the pent-up demand for greater national and personal expression exploded in the form of a new nationalism. Armenians were both more Armenian in consciousness and more eager to express their ethnic distinctiveness and protect it against incursions from the central power.

Rather than groaning under the government that in no way satisfied their aspirations, Armenians were involved through the years of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev's rule (1964-1982) in a complex and constant series of negotiations, both with the local Soviet Armenian administration and with the central Soviet government. Their discontents were multiple, particularly concerning the low level of material life compared with more developed Western countries. Armenians continually pushed the limits of national expression, while the government tried both to keep that expression within acceptable bounds and satisfy those popular desires that did not threaten the Communist Party's monopoly of power.

From Renewed Reform to National Revolution

Brezhnev died in November 1982 and was succeeded by the former head of the KGB Yuri Andropov (1982-1984). Beginning cautiously with calls for greater labour discipline and a concerted struggle against corruption, Andropov initiated moderate reforms that began a long process of social and political change in the USSR. After a brief interregnum under Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985), Andropov's protégé Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in March 1985, and within a few years he shook the conservative party regime to its foundations. Gorbachev boldly began a program of restructuring the Soviet economic and political system (perestroika), expanding enormously the bounds of free expression (glasnost), and decentralising political control and increasing democratic participation (demokratizatsia). For the non-Russian peoples he promised grater autonomy and more respect for national cultures and languages, but opposed any moves toward separation form the Soviet Union.

In Armenia three concerns combined to stimulate a broad-based national movement by 1988. The transformation of Armenia into an industrial-urban country had brought in its wake severe ecological problems, most important of which was the threat from a nuclear plant at Metzamor. Second, many Armenians were angered by the pervasive corruption and arrogance of the Demirchian regime. Third and most immediate, they were concerned about the fate of Karabakh, where more than 100,000 Armenians lived under Azerbaijani rule and had been cut off from Armenian culture. Petitions and protests over Karabakh had had no effect either on the Azerbaijani party or on the central Soviet leadership.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, on February 13, 1988, Karabakh Armenians began demonstrating in their capital, Stepanakert, in favour of unification with the Armenian republic. Six days later they were joined by mass marches in Yerevan. On February 20 the Soviet of People's Deputies in Karabakh voted 110 to 17 to request the transfer of the region to Armenia. This unprecedented action by a regional soviet brought out tens of thousands of demonstrations both in Stepanakert and Yerevan, but Moscow rejected the Armenian's demands. In response to the demands, Azerbaijanis in Sumgait, an industrial town on the Caspian, on February 26, 1988, went on a rampage for two days, and at least thirty-one people died before Soviet troops ended the pogrom.