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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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"Caesar's plan was thought to work in the following way: In Erzurum gather an army of almost 100,000 men, made up of Roman legions and other extra armies, together with huge amounts of provisions and tools to stage a siege. From this inhabited and rich area, which also was the friend of Rome (Armenia), they would cross the Araxes River and attack the capital of the Medes, Atropatene, which was the ally of the Persians. If the Persians came to their aid, then the Roman army would attack them in a suitable place. But if the Persians left their allied king to his destiny, then the Medes kingdom would become the first Roman conquest and the base for the coming campaigns for the Roman army, which could now advance to conquer the entire Persian Empire." 13

The Campaign of Marcus Antonius

This plan held good until 63 B.C., when Marcus Antonius in the spring, with an army of nine legions reached the Euphrates. Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, who recently had married him, accompanied him.. He crossed the Euphrates near Biridjik and then marched through Melitene (Malatya) and Salata towards the plain of Erzurum, where he received the additional reinforcement of another six legions. The Armenian king, through whose country the Roman army would have pass, together with the king of Pontos, joined the Roman army. Armenia contributed an army of 6 000 cavalry and 10 000 foot soldiers. By that the army of Mark Anthony now constituted more than 100 000 men. The Persians came with an army of 50 000 men, of which 40 000 were horsemen.

Partly because Marcus Antonius wanted to return to his sweetheart, Cleopatra, as soon as possible, and partly, as Ferrero has mentioned, because of the situation in Rome and his differences with Octavianus, Marcus Anthonyhad to end this war as soon as possible and consequently made a grave mistake. Instead of a gradual advance or spending the winter in Armenia, he marched rapidly with his army and left the equipment behind him, since they could not keep up with his pace.

His siege equipment had to go through the Araxes Valley (present-day Erzurum-Yerevan-Joulfa), while Marcus Antonius went a more direct route, with the main force (possibly through Basen-Alashkert-Bayazid or maybe Erzurum-Khnis-Moush-Van) and put the fortress of Pharaaspe, which lay south of the present city of Tabriz, the capital of the Medes, under siege. The Persians seized the opportunity of attacking the heavy caravans carrying the siege machines at Gazaca and destroyed them entirely.

Marcus Antonius, who now completely lacked siege machines and equipment, was constantly under attack from the Persian cavalry, led by their king Farhad. The Persians wanted to avoid a direct engagement with the Romans in full-scale battle and these attacks alone meant that the Romans never managed to take the city of Pharaaspe. When the winter began to approach Mark Anthony was compelled to give up his objective and started to retreat at the beginning of October. This retreat in itself was a great achievement, since the Romans had to march 500 kilometres back through enemy territory while constantly under attack from 40 000 Persian horsemen. This cavalry can be described in the words of Ardant du Picqs 19 as: "a group of flies which constantly trouble you and which kill at the slightest carelessness." But the Roman army was finally able to cross the Araxes River and arrive in Armenia, where it was supplied with provisions and allowed to rest. In this way the war ended, despite the magnificent planning of Mark Anthony and many Roman heroic deeds, and losses. This war was, considering the many different tactical moves, one of the most interesting in history, since it ended with defeat, while the prevailing political situation in Rome and its empire demanded a victory. As Ferrero noted: "The retreat of Mark Anthony from Persia was, like the retreat of Napoleon from Russia, the beginning of his end, and one can to a certain extent claim that it was this retreat that enabled Octavianus to become Emperor Augustus." 20