The history of these years tells of the energy and activities of the Armenians. Individual attempts and efforts, which until that moment had characterised the Armenian opposition, from this moment on joined forces to form one united movement. From Geneva and London, where the Armenian political parties had head quarters, came slogans reinforcing faith and hope, after the passage through purgatory and prison walls, to their oppressed brothers.
In Armenia itself, led by men such as Andranik (a self-taught strategist) Nikol Duman (one of the organisers of the great resistance movement), Babgen Siuni (the hero of the occupation of Bank Ottoman), Hrayr, Hratch, Gevork Tchavoush, Murad and Serop Aghbiour, Armenian units were formed to defend the Armenian people against the assaults, plundering and massacres by the Turks and the Kurds, either through defensive actions or direct acts of vengeance. During those hours of resistance, the will of a few men empowered by strong faith and persistency, crushed all obstacles.
These persons were heroes of the calibre of Ancient days. There were also less charismatic people who carried out heroic acts, but their works exalted them.
The Armenian revolutionary movement had taken "Freedom or Death" as its slogan. For the majority of the fighters it was death which awaited them, but they hoped that the day would come when their fatherland would once again experience freedom.
The Armenian forces knew that they could not defeat the Ottoman Empire; but victory for them was to never be defeated completely and to continue the battle until the bitter end.
Countless heroic acts and brave actions took place during the struggle, fuelled by the Armenian military battle-cry: "Die, but save your brother!"
The most significant battles were the military expedition to Khanasor (1897), the fights in Khasdour (1899), the fights at the Monastery of Arakelots (1901) and finally the revolt in Sasoun (1904). 47
The military expedition to Khanasor was the first organised expedition initiated by the Dashnak party in Persia, led to punish the Kurdish tribes which had participated in the 1896 bloodbath, when the Armenians were massacred. The Dashnak party gathered 300 Armenian guerrilla fighters, who attacked and killed the warriors of the Kurdish Mazrig tribe and put fire to their tents, but since they advocated non-violence towards women and children, none of the women nor children were harmed.
The battle of Khasdour took place in the Alashkert Valley, where the Armenian fighters from Transcaucasia engaged with the Turkish army units. Armenians defended themselves well, eventually cleaving a path between the Turkish forces to escape.
In the Akhlat region, for several years, the mountains were controlled by the legendary Armenian guerrilla leader Serop Aghbiour, until 1899 when he, together with 12 of his men, was killed in a gun fight with 1 500 Turkish and Kurdish soldiers who had tracked them down.
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