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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 Consequences of Soviet Armenia

Now, in retro-perspective, one can discuss whether Armenia won more than the country and the nation lost on the sovietisation of Armenia.

Armenia lost once more its independence and sovereignty, this time to the Bolsheviks in Moscow. The abduction of the decision-making right, besides the direct loss of Nakhichevan and Karabakh, resulted also in the indirect loss of the Armenian areas in Western Armenia since the leading Communist rule, in an efficient manner, put an end to any attempts for Armenian demands for justice in the Armenian Question, the Armenian Genocide and the lost Armenian territories which the Turks had implemented ethnical ethnic cleansing in.

Armenia, once famous for its trade relations with the West as well as with the East and its open relations with the surrounding world was now, as good as, stripped from any contacts with the external world. Even if the living standards had been raised in general, in similarity to the rest of Soviet Union, it was not even close to the standards in West, at least for the ordinary citizen. The quality, in all areas, had been rationalised in favour for the quantity.

But in the name of fairness one should mention that despite the many negative aspects which hit the Armenians by the sovietisation of Armenia, it also resulted in a number of positive influences within the cultural, scientific, and the military life. As so many times earlier the Armenians proved that they are a competitive people with strive for knowledge and cultural development. With the newly won, and relative, independence came also the possibility to develop and the Soviet Armenia came to foster some of the most famous Armenians, not only in Armenia, but also on an international level. But we will return to this subject later in order to give a more detailed information about these aspects during the entire 20th century.

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

On September 21, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Armenia declared Armenia as independent. For the second time during the 20th century Armenia had achieved independence. Ironically, the circumstances and the preconditions at the start were astonishingly alike: the country had been hit by a catastrophe, lost a large portion of its population, was in an unofficial war with a neighbouring country, the newly independent Azerbaijan, and was isolated because of the blockade from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The new government, precisely as its predecessor in 1918, found the country in less favourable circumstances. In order to make the problems even worse, Armenia experienced some of the harshest winters in a long time during its first independent years. The blockade from Azerbaijan had cut the deliveries of fuel to Armenia and during the harsh winters the Armenians were forced to burn everything that they could throw in the fire in order to warm up their homes. No one knows how many trees, in the forests as well as the public parks and the gardens were cut down, but in several places this could be compared downright to clear-felled areas.

At the beginning of the summer of 1989, the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, an umbrella group which led the opposition against the communist regime, organised a blockade against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. The blockade had a significant negative effect of the already fragile economy of Armenia, since Armenia imported 80 percent of its fuel from USSR, of which 82 percent was produced by Azerbaijan. Furthermore, Azerbaijan also cut the deliveries of oil and gas from Russia and Kazakhstan. 15 The effect of the blockade was amplified eve more when the Turkish government decided to block the transit cross its Armenian border.