Armenia

Antiochus III, king of Syria, conquered it in 212 BC and divided it into two satrapies under Armenian princes. These satrapies were independent kingdoms from 190 BC until 94 BC, when Tigranes the Great (~ 140 - 55 BC), king of Armenia, reunited them under his rule. Tigranes conquered parts of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, but was beaten by the Romans in 69 BC. As a result, Armenia became a satellite of Rome. In the struggles between Rome and the Parthians, who had become masters of Persia, Armenia remained neutral and autonomous whenever possible. When the Sassanid Persians overthrew the Parthians in the third century AD, they seized Armenia, but the Arsacid king Tridates III (238 - 314), with the aid of Roman emperor Diocletian, liberated the country. Tiridates was converted to Christianity in 303 and established a state church some 20 years before Roman emperor Constntine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

As a center of Christianity, Armenia opposed the Zoroastrian Persians after the fourth century. The conquest of Persia by the Arabs in 642 was followed by their overlordship in Armenia. In 653, however, the Arab caliph chose an Armenian prince to administer the country, designating him patrician of Armenia. In time the patricians became virtual kings, and in 886 the Bagratuni dynasty reestablished the Armenian kingdom, and ruled the country during the nineth and tenth centuries. Many churches and vast irrigation works survive from that era. The major enemies of medieval Armenia were the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuks, who overran the country in the eleventh century. Constant warfare drove many Armenians to seek homes elsewhere; one group founded a kingdom called Lesser Armenia, which included the ancient region of Cilicia, in 1082; it lasted until 1375.

About 1240 Armenia was invaded by the Mongols, who ruled it until the early fifteenth century. A period of confusion, during which Iran for a short time controlled Armenia, ended when the Ottomans conquered most of the region in the sixteenth century. Thereafter it suffered ceaseless warfare between Turkey and Iran. The Armenians remaining in the Iranian-controlled part were removed to another part of the country early in the seventeenth century, while those in the Turkish part, after the fall of Constantinopel in 1453, were reorganized under the leadership of an Armenian bishop. They were given a large degree of religious, cultural, and political autonomy. Yet, Russian conquests in Caucasia in the nineteenth century were welcomed by the Armenians. After the Russians captured part of the region in 1828-29, most Armenians moved into Russian-conquered area. At first the Russians welcomed them, possibly hoping thast a friendly attitude would make them their allies.

Similar considerations of power politics involved Great Britain in Armenian affairs. In order to offset the role assumed by Russia as protector of Armenian Christendom, the British undertook to act as protector of the Armenians in Turkey, which was at that time under British influence. As a result of such foreign intervention, factions appeared among the Armenians, stimulating the development of nationalism, but directing it along divergent paths. Part of the Armenian leadership emphasized loyalty to Turkey, but other groups engaged in activities the Turks considered subversive. Turkish reprisals took the form of atrocities that shocked the world, including massacres of an estimated 200 000 Armenians in 1896 alone. Meanwhile the Russians, disturbed by the effect among Armenians of British propaganda against them, forbade the Armenians to speak their own language and to have their own schools and churches. They also deported various nationalists leaders to Siberia. British "protection" proved worthless.

During World War I Armenia became a battleground for Russian and Turkish armies. Between January and August 1916, the Russians conquered the greater part of Turkish Armenia, but the revolution in 1917 forced their withdrawal, and the Turks reoccupied the country.

As the war raged on, Turkish atrocities against Armenians inc reased, leading the government of the USA to send a formal note of protest to Turkey on 17 February 1916. Deaths attributed to massacres and famine reached an estimated total of 800 000 during the war period. Many Armenians fled, seeking homes in other lands, including the USA; about 200 000 found refuge in Russia.

On 26 May 1918 Armenians formerly under czarist rule established the Armenian Autonomous Republic, which was recognized by the Allies in 1920. During the Greco-Turkish war of 1920-1922 the Armenians sided with the Greeks; the victorious Turkd inflicted severe reprisals on them and invaded the republic, which they had refused to recognize. A settlement was reached in 1921, by which the Republic of Armenia ceded about half its Caucasian lands to Turkey. In 1922 the Armenian Republic joined with the Soviet Socialist republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia to form the Transcaucasian SFSR, which became one of the four original republics of the USSR. A separate Armenian SSR was formed in 1936.

Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted in the late 1980s after residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan, demanded to become part of the Armenian SSR. In December 1988 an earthquake devastated northern Armenia, killing an estimated 55 000 people.

In 1990 the Supreme Soviet declared the country a sovereign republic and elected Levon A. Ter-Petrosyan (1945 - ), leader of the Armenian National Movement, as its president. On 21 September 1991 Armenia's voters approved a declaration of independence from the USSR. Ter-Petrosyan was elected president in October, In December, Armenia became a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The conflict with Azerbaijan escalated in 1992, as the Armenian army invaded and occupied Nagoro-Karabkh Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, aided by Turkey, blockaded Armenia's supply routes, stiffling the country's economy.