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Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918
Before we continue to the period for the second Armenian Republic, it is essential that we understand the course of events during the crucial period of 1915-1918 which came to shape the future Armenia and its boundaries. These events would not only draw the present map of Armenia, but also dictate the future relations with its neighbours, specially with Turkey and Azerbaijan. In order to render the episode of 1915-1918 we therefore take a short step back in history. 1a
Eastern Armenia
The conquest of Transcaucasia by the expanding Russian colossus was an important step toward Armenian independence. To most Armenians of Turkey and Persia, Romanov Russia symbolized an advanced civilization and society, a champion of Christendom against Islam, and the hope for emancipation. There was some validity to this belief, for much of the Armenian Plateau was eventually liberated by the Russian armies. Many of the aspiring Armenian youth were allowed to study in the universities of Russia, and some succeeded in entering the ranks of the civil and military elite of the Empire. The masses, however, did not rise from their inferior status, as the Romanov motto, "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality," precluded equality for the subject minorities. 1 The Moslems, Georgians and Armenians of Transcaucasia, like Poles, Jews, and religious dissenters in other areas of the Empire, were subject to numerous restrictions. Thus, when conspirators and utopians of nineteenth-century Russia schemed against the Romanov dynasty in order to inaugurate representative government and the era of the new society, they were joined by intellectuals of the minority groups. Of the latter, some sought the severance of their native provinces from the Empire, but Armenian opposition to the tsars was never a manifestation of separatist tendencies. On the contrary, Russia, before and after her annexation of Transcaucasia, was considered by the Armenians as the most auspicious means to profound national revival.
Russian Conquest of the Caucasus
Long before the Russian annexation of Transcaucasia, adventurous Armenian champions of liberty and more than one Catholicos, the supreme religious prelate of the Church of Armenia, had petitioned the Romanov rulers to deliver the area from the Moslem masters. 2 It is doubtful that the tsars were overly concerned with the fate of the Armenians, but it is certain that they welcomed the prospect of territorial expansion. The southward drive of Peter I was resumed in earnest by Catharine II, who seized rich strategic Ottoman lands along the entire northern coast of the Black Sea and compelled the Sultan to recognize Russia's right to intercede on behalf of the his Christian subjects. In 1783 when Catharine, by treaty arrangement with Iraklii II of Georgia, extended her protection over his Caucasian realm, Imperial Russia approached the northern limits of the Armenian Plateau. Tsar Paul continued his mother's expansionist policies and, violating the agreement with Iraklii II, annexed eastern Georgia. 3 His successor, Alexander, seized the remaining Georgian provinces of Mingrelia, Imeretia, Guria, and Abkhazia between 1803 and 1812 and, in the Treaty of Bucharest, obliged Turkey to relinquish its claim to these regions. 4
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1a) The text of this section is the contents from Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918, Berkeley, 1967
1) The phrase is attributed to S. S. Uvarov, the influential Minister of Education during the reign of Nicholas I. for biographical sketches of Uvarov, consult "Bolshaia Entsiklopediia", XVIII (St. Petersburg, n. d.), 711-712; "Entsiklopedicheskii Slovar", XXXIV (St. Petersburg, 1902), 419-420.
2) The following works include much material on this subject: G. A. Ezov, ed., "Snosheniia Petra Velikago s armianskim narodom" (St. Petersburg, 1898); Ashot Hovannisian, "Drvagner hai azatagrakan mtki patmoutian" [Episodes from the History of Armenian Liberation Thought], Vol. II (Yerevan, 1959); Joseph Emin, "Life and Adventures of Joseph Emin Joseph, 1726-1809: Written by Himself" (2nd edition, Calcutta, 1918), 2 vols.; Leo [A. Babakhanian], "Hayots patmoutyoun" [History of the Armenians], III (Yerevan, 1946), 512-821; Z. T. Grigorian, "Prisoedinenie Vostochnoi Armenii k Rossii v nachale XIX veka" (Moscow, 1959).
3) Boris Nolde, "La formation de l'Empire russe: Études, notes et documents", II (Paris, 1953), pp. 364-384; John F. Baddeley, "The Russian Conquest of The Caucasus" (New York, and London, 1908), pp. 59-61; David Marshall Lang, "The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy, 1658-1832", (New York, 1957), pp. 181-185, 242-245.
4) T. Iuzefovich, ed., "Dogovory Rossii s Vostokom: Politicheskie I torgovye" (St. Petersburg, 1869), p. 53; John F. Baddeley, "The Russian Conquest of The Caucasus" (New York, and London, 1908), pp. 65-82; A. V. Fadeev, Rossiia i Kavkaz pervoi treti XIX v. (Moscow, 1960), pp. 110-169.
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