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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According to these it was a fierce and bloody battle in which the Roman cavalry were unable to break through the enemy lines which surrounded them. Only at the end of the day when the Roman infantry came to their rescue did the cavalry manage to break free. At the end of the day the battlefield was full of wounded and dead Romans (once again according to the Roman historians): 77 The Armenian forces were as good as untouched since the Armenian infantry had not yet engaged in any fighting during the day, while the Roman army had received irreparable damage. 78 At the end of September the first snow fell and although Lucullus was just a couple of days from Artaxata, he needed still to pass over Mount Ararat, over which the Armenian army had control. This was more than most of the Roman soldiers could endure. Lucullus had no choice other than to retreat. Later Lucullus recounted that his soldiers revolted against him and forced him to retreat.
Lucullus led this terrible and heavy retreat of 500 kilometres, from Gharakilisa to Jezireh, through Van and Bashkali, in very difficult circumstances. "The horses did not have any drinking water because of the frozen brooks and the sharp pieces of ice cut their hooves and legs; the country was covered entirely by trees (it was only after 800 years of Turkish rule that this part of Armenia was turned into the present naked and treeless landscape) and beside narrow snow-covered roads there were no other roads for the soldiers to walk on and their feet got wet in the snow. They spent the nights in damp and muddy places." 79
At the end of October, Lucullus brought his army onto the plain of Tigris. During November he finally managed to take the city of Nisibis, the last Armenian fortress south of the Taurus Mountains. This fortress, held by Tigran's brother Gouras, which had managed to withstand the attack of the Roman army for over a year.
However, this last effort did not help Lucullus in the war against Armenia. In reality the war had, for him, turned into a tremendous defeat, the first of the Roman Empire in the east.
The leadership of Tigran, the bravery of the Armenian men with the help of the natural climate and terrain of Armenia, which had transformed the country into a high altitude fortress with terrifying winters, forced the Roman army to retreat and defeated one of the greatest commanders that Rome ever had. 80
The defeat of the Roman army initiated a general rearmament in all the countries of the east and considerably weakened the army itself..
Mithradates seized the moment and together with 4 000 of his men and 4 000 Armenian soldiers that Tigran had put at his disposal, marched to Pontos and managed to defeat the Romans so that he could regain the rule of his country.
Meanwhile, the Armenian army increased the pressure on the Roman army. In the spring of 67 B.C. Tigran and his men marched over the Taurus Mountains and forced Lucullus to abandon southern Armenia (Tigranakert and Nisibis and other areas) and retreat to the shores of the Euphrates. 82 Tigran concluded this campaign by leading a cavalry attack on Cappadocia. 83
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