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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 Sovnarkom Seeks Peace

In Soviet efforts to end the state of war with or without the approval of the former Entente partners, the term "Armenia" was used once again. On November 21, two weeks after Kerensky's flight, the Sovnarkom instructed the Commander in Chief, General N. N. Dukhonin, to arrange an immediate armistice with the Central Powers. 30 Refusing, Dukhonin was lynched, and the obligation devolved on N. V. Krilenko of the Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs. Unit commanders were immediately ordered to communicate with the opposing forces to arrange a cease-fire. Then Soviet negotiators travelled to the Polish village of Brest-Litovsk, German Eastern Front Headquarter, where, on December 15, after extolling the magical terms "self-determination," "no annexations," and "no indemnities," they concluded a preliminary armistice, to take effect two days later. 31 On that occasion the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs appealed to the toilers of Europe to pressure their respective governments: "Belgium, Serbia, Rumania, Poland, the Ukraine, Greece, Persia, and Armenia can only be liberated by the workers in all belligerent and neutral countries in the victorious struggle against all imperialists, and not by the victory of one of the imperialist coalitions." 32

Peace negotiations began on December 22 with A. A. Ioffe leading the Sovnarkom delegation, while an assorted array of militarists and diplomats represented the German, Austrian-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires and the Bulgarian kingdom. During the first plenary session, Ioffe announce the Soviet bases for peace. There was to be


  1. no forceful appropriation of territories taken during the war; withdrawal of all occupying armies;
  2. restoration of political independence to nationalities deprived of this since the outbreak of war;
  3. choice for nationalities hitherto not independent of either independence or unification with other states;
  4. safeguarding of minorities in multinational territories;
  5. imposition of no indemnities;
  6. settlement of colonial questions in accordance with points 1 through 4. 33


A few days later a specific suggestion was presented regarding point 1: "Russia will withdraw its troops from all parts of Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Persia which it occupies, while the Powers of Quadruple Alliance will withdraw theirs from Poland, Lithuania, Courland, and other regions of Russia." 34

The Soviet government was quite prepared to relinquish Russian advantages on the Caucasian front in return for restoration of her western provinces. Of course, German militarists, represented by General Max von Hoffmann, refused to consider such proposals seriously and advanced plans to shear from Russia some of her most fertile, populous regions. At the same time the Ottoman delegate at Brest-Litovsk, General Zekki Pasha, adjutant to the Sultan and military envoy to Berlin, attempted to prod the German allies to demand the reestablishment of the 1877 Russo-Turkish boundary. Von Hoffmann and his associates received the suggestion coldly, insisting that, at least for the present, recovery of the eastern provinces was adequate compensation for the Turks. 35

By the beginning of 1918, the annexationist ambitions of Germany were made painfully clear. Ono January 1, the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviet appealed to the peoples of Europe and protested that, although accepting the principles of a no annexation-no indemnities settlement, the German militarists still had not renounced imperialistic designs. The Executive Committee earnestly urged that "you will not allow the German and Austrian imperialists to carry on war against revolutionary Russia so that they can enslave Poland, Lithuania, Courland, and Armenia." 36 Von Hoffmann was unmoved. Trotsky, who had replaced Ioffe as chief Soviet delegate, returned to Petrograd in mid-January to report on the German territorial demands. The humiliating terms hopelessly split the Bolshevik Central Committee. Some demanded "revolutionary war"; others, including Lenin, insisted on peace at any price. Finally Trotsky's formula carried – "no war, no peace." 37 returning to Brest, the Foreign Commissar declared on February 10 that Russia had withdrawn from the war but could not sign the proposed peace terms: "…in refusing to sign a peace of annexation, Russia declares, on its side, the state of war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria as ended. The Russian troops are receiving at the same time an order to a general demobilisation on all lines of the fronts." 38