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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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Over the subsequent years, when the Armenians in Transcaucasia organised their campaigns for defensive and retaliatory acts in Western Armenia, they were forced to fight on two fronts, on one side against the Russian forces and on the other side against the Turkish and the Kurdish forces.

Hundreds of Armenian warriors died by the bullets of the Russian units, which were guarding the Russian-Ottoman border and had been ordered to cooperate with the Ottoman forces.

In the next chapter we will examine the struggle between the Russian tsarist power in Transcaucasia and the Armenians. We will also look at the Armenian defensive measures organised by the revolutionary parties, who led the battle in Western Armenia and formed the symbol of political and human demands and the ideas of a nation.

The Cooperation of Armenia in the Liberation of the People in the Orient

The Armenian revolutionary movement was not limited to the liberation of the Armenian people. The movement remained faithful to its slogan: "Where there is an oppressed person, one must take the side of the weaker". It expanded its activities and assisted the oppressed people in the Orient, who fought for the liberation of their countries.

Later we will come to the cooperation between the Armenian revolutionary parties and the Young Turks who fought against the regime of Sultan Abdul Hamid.

Here we will describe the part that the Dashnak party played in the 1906-1907 revolution in Persia (the Monarch Revolution) and the defence of this new regime.

In 1906 the Persians revolted and forced the shah to approve monarchic rule with a national parliament. The revolutionary Persians desired to liberate Persia from oppressive rule, threatened as it was by the imperial attentions of England and Russia.

After the death of Mozzafaredin Shah in 1907, his successor, Mohammad Ali Shah, with support from Russia, attempted to reinstate the earlier dictatorial regime. This battle gave him control over Tehran and the centre of the country, but the freedom fighters continued the war in other places in the country and finally restored the monarchy. The Armenian nationalists were instrumental in this victory. The brave Armenian soldier Yeprem, the future Yeprem Khan,led the monarchic forces to retake Tehran and repel all attacks from the enemy. The Armenian revolutionary movement sent some of its leaders, such as Keri and Khetcho, and a group of Armenian soldiers to the monarchists. This unit were at the forefront of the monarchist army and sacrificed themselves without hesitation. 59 Yeprem received the title of commander from the new regime and swore to its defence. He was finally killed during the defence of Persia against forces which had been incited by foreign imperialists against the monarchists.

With this knowledge in mind, Baron Nold, the spokesman of the Russian reactionaries in the Duma, warned of the Dashnak party thus: "This strong union must be stopped by all means, a union which fights on three different fronts and reinforces revolutionary movements on all these fronts."

This was an astute though contemptuous statement. As Morane pointed out at that time: "Russia is suspicious of the Armenian element, not because of its special character and special demands, but because of its inner core combining elements of freedom and democracy. Armenia, by nature and ethnicity, is a completely different concept than the society which the Russian is used to. The Armenian, in a country with an oppressive regime, cannot be anything else than a factor of resistance." 61