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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 first History Lessons

Before we continue with this new era of Armenian history, remarkable for the reign of Tigran II known as Tigran the Great, it would be as well to recap some of the earliest history of the country. The antiquity of the nation is remarkable and the fact that Armenians still call themselves by the same name as their forefathers did and use the same language. The forebears of presentday Armenians coexisted with civilisations which have long disappeared in the mists of time.

According to the Russian author, Valeri Brussov: "The Armenian people were born at a time when, not only the present European people did not exist, but also when the classic nations of antiquity had just taken their first steps on the stage of world history".

At the time Rome was being built (9th century B.C.), Hayk and the Armenian people came to their new homeland. During the first empire of Medes and when the Persian Empire gained control over the Middle East, the Armenians fought their first national battles and won a relatively high degree of independence with their own national satraps. Then, as a result of the miraculous emergence of Alexander the Great , Armenia enjoyed its first century of independence and developed close ties with the Hellenic culture and civilisation.

However, this should not be seen as Armenia being given its independence on a silver platter . The independence of Armenia was gained and defended only after bloody struggles with its mighty neighbours, especially the Seleucids and the Arsacids, battles in which the Armenian nation showed that it absolutely deserved its independence. even though the diplomacy of Rome helped them during their struggles.

As Mommsen pointed out, among the governments that were founded in the wake of the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire (e.g. Armenia, Medes Atropatene (Persian Azerbaijan), Sophene, Osročne, etc.), Armenia was the only one with the organisational competence under the Artashisian dynasty to reach a high level of power, development and durability. 61


61) Mommsen, Römische Geschichte, Berlin, 1919, vol. II, p. 58