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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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Battle on Two Fronts

The Birth of the Armenian Revolutionary Movement

In the previous chapter we described the role which the Armenian revolutionary movement had during the last stages of the massacres of Sultan Abdul Hamid. Let us turn to the origin and the first demonstrations of these revolutionary groups, which like the Greek secret political associations, Massini's party "New Italians", and the Bulgarian secret committees, played an overwhelming role in the struggle of the Armenian nation for freedom.

Like many races are which are forced to submit under the weight of oppression and yet do not lose their identity, there were Armenians who during the most difficult times of submission and humiliation strove for the liberation of their people.

We have mentioned the work of Ori, one of Karabakh's Armenian princes, who towards the end of the 17th century tried to find a way to liberate the Armenian people. 3

His counterpart during the 18th century was Hovsep Emin, whose soul burned for his country, and who recruited people to liberate Armenia. 4

The efforts of both of these brave pioneers, however, could not gather momentum as neither internal nor external circumstances nor the attitude of the Armenian people was suitable for a liberation movement.

Finally, at the end of the 19th century, a new way of thinking and the renaissance of the Armenian nation paved the way for a liberation movement. As Brandes writes: "a new generation was formed which was familiar with the spirit of the old Armenia and its ideas and at the same time possessed a new culture. This generation arose in protest against the injustice of the Turks and the mercilessness of the Kurds." 5

The demands of these political forces were very moderate in the beginning. "The general opinion contented itself with having a decent and a secure life within the frames of the Ottoman Empire and being able to farm its land in peace and have freedom of religion and being able to teach in its schools." 6

The Ottoman government, between 1878 and 1882, had stalled all attempts of the European major powers to implement paragraph 61 in the Berlin Treaty, regarding the reforms in the Armenian provinces. In response in 1885, the first spokesmen for an organised and well-devised implementation plan of the necessary reforms emerged. Mégredich Portoukalian and Minas Tcheraz were amongst the first defenders of the rights of the Armenian nation, playing the patriotic role for their people that Koraï and Rhigas had played for the Greek movement. 11 Subsequently came the creation of the first revolutionary committees of the Armenian people. The emergence of these committees was inevitable in the face of the violence and oppression enacted by the Ottoman Empire. The idea of an armed resistance against the assaults of the Turks and the Kurds slowly started to take form. It was from these committees that the Armenian movement grew, just as the Bulgarian revolutionary committees in Odessa and Bucharest between 1860 and 1876, under the leadership of Levsky and Boteff, injected national sentiment into the Bulgarian people.