The Armenian national movement ( hy, Հայ ազգային-ազատագրական շարժում ''Hay azgayin-azatagrakan sharzhum'') included social, cultural, but primarily political and military movements that reached their height during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and the following years, initially seeking improved status for Armenians in the Ottoman and Russian Empires but eventually attempting to achieve an Armenian state. Influenced by the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

and the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire, the Armenian national movement developed in the early 1860s. Its emergence was similar to that of movements in the

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

nations, especially the Greek revolutionaries who fought the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

. The Armenian élite and various militant groups sought to defend the mostly rural

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

Armenian population of the eastern

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

from banditry and abuses by

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s, but the ultimate goal was to push for reforms in the six Armenian-populated vilayets of the Ottoman Empire at first and after this failed, the creation of an Armenian state in the Armenian-populated areas controlled at the time by the Ottoman Empire and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

. Starting in the late 1880s, the movement engaged in

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run ta ...

against the Ottoman government and Kurdish irregulars in the eastern regions of the empire, led by the three Armenian political parties named the

Social Democrat Hunchakian Party The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) ( hy, Սոցիալ Դեմոկրատ Հնչակյան Կուսակցություն; ՍԴՀԿ, translit=Sots’ial Demokrat Hnch’akyan Kusakts’ut’yun), is the oldest continuously-operating Armenian ...

, the

Armenakan Party The Armenakan Party (in Armenian Արմենական Կուսակցութիւն) was an Armenian political party established in Van, Ottoman Empire in 1885 by Mekertich Portukalian as an underground organization against the ruling system. It ...

and the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

. Armenians generally saw Russia as their natural ally in the fight against Turks although Russia maintained an oppressive policy in the Caucasus. Only after losing its presence in Europe after the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...

, the Ottoman government was forced to sign the Armenian reform package in early 1914, however it was disrupted by World War I. During

, the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated by the government in the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. According to some estimates, from 1894 to 1923, about 1,500,000—2,000,000 Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire. After the decision to exterminate the Armenians was taken by the Ottoman Ministry of Interior and first implemented with the Directive 8682 on February 25, 1915, tens of thousands of

Russian Armenians Armenians in Russia or Russian Armenians are one of the country's largest ethnic minorities and the largest Armenian diaspora community outside Armenia. The 2010 Russian census recorded 1,182,388 Armenians in the country. Various figures estimate ...

joined the Russian army as

Armenian volunteer units The Armenian volunteer units ( hy, Հայ կամավորական ջոկատներ ''Hay kamavorakan jokatner'') were units composed of Armenians within the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. Composed of several groups at battalion stre ...

with a Russian promise for autonomy. By 1917, Russia controlled many Armenian-populated areas of the Ottoman Empire. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, however, the Russian troops retreated and left the Armenians irregulars one on one with the Turks. The Armenian National Council proclaimed the Republic of Armenia on May 28, 1918, thus establishing an Armenian state in the Armenian-populated parts of the

Southern Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arm ...

. By 1920, the Bolshevik Government in Russia and

Ankara Government The Government of the Grand National Assembly ( tr, Büyük Millet Meclisi Hükûmeti), self-identified as the State of Turkey () or Turkey (), commonly known as the Ankara Government (),Kemal Kirişci, Gareth M. Winrow: ''The Kurdish Question and ...

had successfully come to power in their respective countries. Turkish forces had successfully occupied the western half of Armenia, while the Red Army invaded and annexed the Republic of Armenia in December 1920. A friendship treaty was signed between Bolshevik Russia and Kemalist Turkey in 1921. The formerly Russian-controlled parts of Armenia were mostly annexed by the Soviet Union, in parts of which the

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

was established. Hundreds of thousands of genocide refugees found themselves in the Middle East, Greece, France and the US giving start to a new era of the

Armenian diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

. Soviet Armenia existed until 1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and the current (Third) Republic of Armenia was established.

Origins

Nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

was an important factor in the development of Europe. In the 19th century, a wave of

romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

swept the continent of Europe transforming the countries of the continent. Some new countries, such as Germany and Italy were formed by uniting smaller states with a common "national identity". Others, such as Romania, Greece, Poland and Bulgaria, were formed by winning their independence. Armenians were living among Ottoman Empire and

during the rise of nationalism. In 1827–1828,

Tsar Nicholas I , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date = ...

in the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) sought help from Armenians, promising that after the war, their lives would improve. In 1828, Russia annexed

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

, Nakhichevan, and the surrounding countryside with the

Treaty of Turkmenchay The Treaty of Turkmenchay ( fa, عهدنامه ترکمنچای; russian: Туркманчайский договор) was an agreement between Qajar Iran and the Russian Empire, which concluded the Russo-Persian War (1826–28). It was second ...

. Armenians still living under Persian rule were encouraged to emigrate to Russian Armenia and 30,000 followed the call. In 1828, the Russians

declared war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, ...

and in the Treaty of Adrianople, Akhalkalak and Akhaltsikhe exchanged to Russia. There was a new wave of immigration as 25,000 Ottoman Armenians moved to Russian Armenia. Russia annexed significant portion of the Armenians. In 1897 Russian Census stated that 1,127,212 Armenians were in the Russian Lands (Erivan, 439,926; Elizavetpol, 298,790; Kars 72,967, Tiflis, 230,379, Baku, 52,770; Chernomorsk, 6,223 Daghestan, 1,652, Kutais, 24,505). At the same period (1896

Vital Cuinet Vital-Casimir Cuinet, commonly known as Vital Cuinet (December 19, 1833 in Longeville – September 6, 1896 in Constantinople (now Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code ...

) Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were 1,095,889 (Adana Vilayet, 97,450 Aleppo Vilayet, 37,999; Ankara Vilayet, 94,298; Bitlis Vilayet, 131,300; Bursa Vilayet, 88,991; Diyâr-ı Bekr Vilayet 67,718; Erzurum Vilayet, 134,967; İzmir Vilayet, 15,105; İzmit, 48,655; Kastamonu Vilayet, 2,647; Mamure-ul-Azil Vilayet, 79,128; Sivas Vilayet, 170,433; Trebizond Vilayet, 47,20; Van Vilayet, 79,998) There were many Armenians familiar with Russian customs. Russia, for Armenians, was also a path to Europe. In 1836, Russifican, Russian cultural advances included “limited” Russian reforms. Russia targeted the Armenian Church. Russia curtailed the Church's advances in the society. In 1839, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire, Tanzimât period emerged from the minds of reformist sultans like

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

and

Abdülmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...

as well as prominent reformers who were European-educated bureaucrats. Tanzimat included the policy of Ottomanism, which was meant to unite all of the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, "Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab". For this purpose, Islamic law was put aside in favour of secular law. This policy officially began with the Imperial Rescript of the Rose Chamber of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans. In 1863, Ottoman Armenians were introduced to a set of major reforms as an extension of Tanzimat. The Armenian National Constitution (150 articles drafted by Nahapet Rusinian, Servichen, Nigoghos Balian,

Krikor Odian Krikor Odian ( hy, Գրիգոր Օտեան, December 9, 1834, Constantinople (now Istanbul), Ottoman Empire - August 6, 1887, Paris, France) was an Ottoman Armenian jurist, politician, and writer. He was a key figure in the establishment of t ...

and Krikor Margosian) defined the condition of

Armenians in the Ottoman Empire Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (or Ottoman Armenians) mostly belonged to either the Armenian Apostolic Church or the Armenian Catholic Church. They were part of the Armenian millet until the Tanzimat reforms in the nineteenth century equa ...

, but also introduced regulations defining the authority of the Patriarch. The constitution of the

Armenian National Assembly Armenian National Assembly was the governing body of the Armenian millet in the Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρα� ...

was seen as a milestone by progressive Armenians. A second development was the introduction of elementary education, colleges and other institutions of learning by Protestant missionaries. Communications improved with the starting of Armenian newspapers. Books about Armenian history enabled a comparison of the past with current conditions and expanded readers' horizons. This was part of an evolution in Armenian political consciousness from purely cultural romanticism to a programme for action.Edmund Herzig "Armenians Past And Present In The Making Of National Identity A Handbook" page.76 1860 and onward, the number of Armenian schools, philanthropic and patriotic organizations multiplied in the Ottoman Empire. The initial aim of Protestant missionaries were the conversion of the Muslims and Jews, but soon they became involved with

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

of the Orthodox Armenians. The Armenian subjects of the Empire influenced by the Armenian Diaspora, the network of congregations and schools of the Protestant missionaries throughout the Ottoman Empire begin to rethink their position in the world. In 1872, the journalist Grigor Ardzruni from Ottoman Empire said “Yesterday we were an ecclesiastical community, today we are patriots, tomorrow we will be a nation of workers and thinkers.” A parallel development occurred in Russian Armenia. Before 1840, Armenian journals were mainly in the hands of the clergy. This was changed. Along with the schools, the press played an important educational role and pointed the way to insurrection. From the first day when Rev. William Goodell settled in Constantinople in 1831 to the end of World War I, the missionaries made considerable contributions to the education of Armenians. The European intellectual currents such as ideas of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

were transmitted through the 23,000 Armenian students within 127 Protestant congregations with 13,000 communicants, and 400 schools. In the 1880s, after the Russian defeat in the Crimean War in 1856 and the Polish rebellion of 1861, Tsar Alexander II increased Russification to reduce the threat of future rebellions (Russia was populated by many minority groups). Tsar Alexander II attempted to prevent self-determinationistic tendencies and separatism. Armenian language, schools were targeted. Russia wanted to replace with Russian schools and Russian educational materials.

National Revival

The discovery of Urartu has come to play a significant role in 19th and 20th-century Armenian nationalism. Kagik Ozanyan claims that Tanzimat regulations, helped the formation of an Armenian political strata and incited the Armenian national spirit, which was aligned with the nation building through revolution aligned with the French Revolution perspective. The Russian Consul General to Ottoman Empire, General Mayewski, recorded the followingGeneral Mayewski ; Statistique des Provinces de Van et de Bitlis, pp. 11-13 The development of ideas of nationalism, salvation and independence, established during the late 19th century, along with the other national movements, as a nascent Armenian intelligentsia promoted the use of these new concepts in society with a particularly an Armenian import. The first wave of these concepts were developed by an Armenian intelligentsia which had studied in Western Europe under the influence of the

(1789). They were espoused a democratic-liberal ideology and the concept of the rights of man. The second wave come with the emergence of Russian revolutionary thought. At the end of the 19th century, the movement was based on a socialist ideology, specifically in its Marxist variant, specifically ARF. There was a major problem, the materialism and class struggle (Marxist variant) did not directly apply to the

socioeconomics Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their l ...

as much as to those in the Russian Armenia that had already achieved the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

Armenian majority

A basic form of "

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterplurality, (larger than any other group) considered for establishing a form governance (or a state). the Six vilayets or Six provinces were presented as the Armenian-populated vilayets (provinces) of the Ottoman Empire, while

Erivan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and ...

and

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography (Strabo), part of ...

provinces were the main Armenian-populated provinces on the Russian side.

Founding

The development of ideas of nationalism, salvation and independence, established during the late 19th century, gathered momentum with the establishment of

and Armenakan (later named as

Ramgavar The Armenian Democratic Liberal Party ( hy, Ռամկավար Ազատական Կուսակցութիւն), the Ramgavar Party, (known before 1921 as the Armenakan party) ( hy, Արմենական Կուսակցութիւն), also known by its Ar ...

). The organized Armenian activities traced back to first known Armenian group, the "Union of Salvation," before the three major groups established themselves. On March 3, 1872, 46 Armenians came together to build “ Union of Salvation (Armenian)” (different from the Russian

Union of Salvation The Union of Salvation ( rus, Союз спасения, Sojuz spasenyja), formed in 1816, also known as the Society of True and Loyal Sons of the Fatherland (russian: Общество истинных и верных сынов отечеств� ...

). The organization declared “Gone is our honor; our churches have been violated; they kidnapped our brides and our youth; they have taken away our rights and try to exterminate our nation..” On April 26, 1872, villages around Van send a request “In order to save ourselves from these evils, we are prepared to follow you even if we must shed blood or die. We are ready to go wherever... If the alternative to our present condition is to become Russified, let us be Russified together; if it is to be emigration, let us emigrate; if we are to die, let us die” This organization had not only direct contact with the Russian government but with certain Russian organization. These Russian organizations had goals to liberate the Ottoman Armenians from Ottoman Empire. Union of Salvation served a major step toward the formation of the first Armenian political party, the Armenakan. In 1881 Erzurum; Ottoman Armenians educated with the European Way began to make attempts in forming organizations –

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ...

- local groups, such as the 'Protectors of the Fatherland' (1881) which was established in Erzurum. Protectors of the Fatherland was almost certainly affected by the ideas of

French revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

and

Greek Revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted b ...

as 'Freedom or Death' was their motto. The protectors of the fatherland was significant Armenian organization. The constitution and the bylaws were memorized as written documents were dangerous. The membership was performed by sponsorship. Members are organized in tens, and only the leader had access to the central committee. After the first couple months in Erzurum membership became in hundreds. In 1885, the "Armenian Democratic Liberal Party" was established in

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

by Mëkërtich Portukalian, who later went into exile in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

but kept in touch with local leaders, and published a journal of political and social enlightenment titled ''L'Armenie''. The Armenians of Van continued to develop the political principles behind Armenian nationalism, in secret. The party's aim soon become to 'win for the Armenians the right to rule themselves, through revolution'. Their view on how to liberate Armenia from the Ottoman Empire was that it should be through the press, national awakening and unarmed resistance. In 1887, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hentchak, Hunchak) was the first socialist party in the Ottoman Empire and Persia, founded by Avetis Nazarbekian,

Mariam Vardanian Mariam Vardanian (also known as Maro Nazarbek) (1864–1941) was an Armenian political activist and revolutionary in the Russian Empire. She was one of the founders of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party. From Tiflis, where she was born, Maro ...

Gevorg Gharadjian Gevorg Harutyuni Gharadjian (1861 in Tiflis – 1936 in Yerevan), also known as ''S. T. Arkomed'', was an Armenian political activist and revolutionary, one of the founders of Social Democrat Hunchakian Party. Biography Gharajian studied at G ...

Ruben Khan-Azat Ruben Khan-Azat ( hy, Ռուբեն Խան-Ազատ 1862, Yerevan - 1929, Iran), was an Armenian political activist, one of the founders and leaders of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party and Hunchak journal. Biography Ruben Khan-Azat was born a ...

, Christopher Ohanian,

Gabriel Kafian Gabriel Gerasimi Kafian (1861, Shusha, Karabakh - 1930, Tbilisi) was an Armenian political and public activist, one of the founders of Social Democrat Hunchakian Party. Biography Kafian was born in the town of Shusha, in the Karabakh region of ...

and

Manuel Manuelian Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel ...

, a group of college students who met in Geneva, Switzerland, with the goal to gain Armenia's independence from the Ottoman Empire. Hunchak means "Bell" in English, and was taken by party members to represent "awakening, enlightenment, and freedom." It was also the name of the party's main newspaper. In 1889 the Young Armenia Society was founded by Kristapor Mikayelian in Tbilisi. The Young Armenia Society organised Fedayee campaigns into Ottoman territory. The Young Armenia Society an armed expedition to Ottoman Armenia with the Gugunian Expedition. Its aims were the carrying out reprisals against Kurds persecuting Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The society believed that the Russians would assist in the creation of an autonomous Armenian province under Russian rule. In 1890 the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (“ARF” or Dashnaktsutiun) was founded in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

. Its members armed themselves into fedayee groups to defend Armenian villages from widespread oppression, attacks and persecution of the Armenians. It being seen as the only solution to save the people from Ottoman oppression and massacres. its initial aim was to guarantee reforms in the Armenian provinces and to gain eventual autonomy. During 1880-1890 the local communication channels were developed. The organizations were fully functional under

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ...

, Çorum,

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortres ...

, Yozgat, and

Tokat Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid- Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155, ...

. In 1893 they began to use wall newspapers (newspapers like billboards) directed toward the non Armenian subjects. The main theme of these materials were people should take control of their own life against the oppressors. These ideological communicants did not have any effect on the Muslims. These activities ended with clashes between revolutionaries and Ottoman police. Generally resulted with the jail time. Sultan panicked, and local authorities act against them as they were cutting telegraph wires, bombing the odd government buildings. Britain or European powers concluded that however if there would be more interference these would end with religious fanaticism, and a civil war (massacres) would occur. *

Notable figures

The partisan movement was established by these leaders. * ARF: Stepan Zorian, Christapor Mikaelian, Simon Zavarian * Armenakan:

Mekertich Portukalian Mekertich Portukalian ( hy, Մկրտիչ Փորթուգալեան; October 21, 1848 – October 1921) was an Armenian teacher and journalist who founded the first Armenian political party, the Armenakan Party, in Van in 1885. The son of a banke ...

* Hentchak: Avetis Nazarbekian,

, Christopher Ohanian,

and

There were many notables besides the "founding leaders" listed. The classifications given below refer to the titles for which they are mostly remembered today. They served in multiple duties and ranks. *

Aram Manukian Aram Manukian, reformed spelling: Արամ Մանուկյան, and he is also referred to as simply Aram. (19 March 187929 January 1919), was an Armenian revolutionary, statesman, and a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (D ...

, "key figure", politician, general. * Andranik Ozanian, "key figure", military commander, fedayee leader *

Drastamat Kanayan Drastamat Kanayan (; 31 May 1884 8 March 1956), better known as Dro (Դրօ), was an Armenian military commander and politician. He was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He briefly served as Defence Minister of the First Republic ...

, "key figure" * Karekin Pastermadjian, "key figure," politician , military commander, fedayee leader * Aghbiur Serob, military commander *

Arabo Arabo ( hy, Արաբօ, 1863–1893), born Arakel Mkhitarian, was an Armenian fedayi of the late 19th century. Arabo was born in the village of Kurter or Korter ( or ) in the region of Sasun in the Bitlis vilayet. Arabo studied at the Arake ...

, fedayee leader *

Sose Mayrig Sose Mayrig ( hy, Սօսէ Մայրիկ, 1868 – 1953), born Sose Vartanian, () was an Armenian female '' fedayee'', the wife of famous hajduk leader Aghbiur Serob. She was surnamed ''"mayrig"'' (mother) by Serop's hajduks for her bravery and m ...

, fedayee leader * Garegin Nzhdeh, politician, military commander * Kevork Chavush, fedayee leader *

Sebastatsi Murad Murad of Sebastia ( hy, Սեբաստացի Մուրատ, ''Sebastatsi Murad''; Murad of Sebastia; Murad Khrimian; Murad Hagopian; 1874 — 4 August 1918) was a well-known Armenian fedayee during the Armenian national liberation movement in the ...

, fedayee leader * Paramaz, fedayee, political activist * Armenak Yekarian, fedayee leader, political activist * Panos Terlemezian, fedayee leader * Krikor Amirian *

Alexander Khatisian Alexander Khatisian (; 17 February 1874 – 10 March 1945) was an Armenian politician, doctor and journalist. Khatisian was born in Tiflis in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (Tbilisi, Georgia) to a prominent Armenian family of nobl ...

, politician, journalist *

Hovhannes Katchaznouni Hovhannes Kajaznuni or Katchaznouni (; 14 February 1868 – 15 January 1938) was an Armenian architect and politician who served as the first Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia from June 6, 1918 to August 7, 1919. He was a member of ...

, political activist, politician * Simon Vratsian, political activist, politician * Movses Silikyan, military commander, * Hovsep Aivazian, key figure", military commander, fedayee leader

The Church

Armenian nationalism and Armenian religion (the Armenian Apostolic Church, a

non-Chalcedonian Non-Chalcedonian Christianity comprises the branches of Christianity that do not accept theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Non-Chalcedonian denominations reject the Christologica ...

church, which is also the world's oldest national church) is intertwined. The main voices of the movement were secular, as close to the turn of the century, Massis (published in the capitol), the Hiusissapile and Ardzvi Vaspurkan (published in the Van) became the main national organs (journals). These publications were secular. Major Armenian writers of the era,

Mikael Nalbandian Mikayel Nalbandian ( hy, Միքայել Նալբանդյան; ) was a Russian-Armenian writer, poet, political theorist and activist. Nalbandian was born in Nakhichevan-on-Don, an Armenian town in southern Russia, and traveled extensively, a ...

and

Raphael Patkanian Raphael Patkanian ( hy, Ռափայել Պատկանյան, also known as Kamar Katiba; 20 November 1830 – 3 September 1892) was one of the most popular Armenian poets.The Survey - Page 259 by Survey Associates Biography Patkanian was born i ...

can be counted among the influential. Beginning with 1863, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople began to share his powers with the Armenian National Assembly and his powers were limited by the Armenian National Constitution. He perceived the changes as erosion of his community. Armenian religious leaders played a key roles in the revolutionary movement. The Patriarch of Constantinople

Mkrtich Khrimian Mkrtich Khrimian or ''Mıgırdıç Kırımyan'' ( classical hy, Մկրտիչ Խրիմեան, reformed: Մկրտիչ Խրիմյան; 4 April 182029 October 1907) was an Armenian Apostolic Church leader, educator, and publisher who served as Ca ...

was an important figure. Mkrtich Khrimian transferred to Jerusalem in his later years, although this was actually an exile.

Great Powers, Russo-Turkish War

Beginning in the mid-19th century, the Great Powers took issue with the Empire's treatment of its Christian minorities and increasingly pressured extend equal rights to all its citizens. Following the violent suppression of Christians in the uprisings in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

in 1875, the Great Powers invoked the 1856 Treaty of Paris by claiming that it gave them the right to intervene and protect the Ottoman Empire's Christian minorities. By the late 1870s, the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...

, along with several other Christian nations in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, frustrated with their conditions, had, with the help of the Powers, broken free of Ottoman rule. The Armenians, on the other hand, received less interest and no support that wasn't later withdrawn from the Great Powers and remained, by and large, stagnant during these years, earning them the title of 'millet-i sadika' or the "loyal millet". Armenian position changed as an intellectual class began to emerge among Armenian society. At the same time, the Armenian patriarchate of Constantinople, Nerses II of Constantinople (1874–1884), forwarded Armenian complaints of widespread "forced land seizure ... forced conversion of women and children, arson, protection extortion, rape, and murder" to the Powers. March 1878, after the conclusion of the 1877–78

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...

, the Armenians began to look more toward the

as the ultimate guarantors of their security. Patriarch Nerses Varjabedyan approached the Russian leadership during the negotiations with the Ottomans in San Stefano and convinced them to insert a clause, Article 16 to

Treaty of San Stefano The 1878 Treaty of San Stefano (russian: Сан-Стефанский мир; Peace of San-Stefano, ; Peace treaty of San-Stefano, or ) was a treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-18 ...

, stipulating that the Russian forces occupying the Armenian-populated provinces in the eastern Ottoman Empire would withdraw only with the full implementation of reforms. June 1878, Great Britain was troubled with Russia's holding on to so much Ottoman territory in the "Treaty of San Stefano" and forced the parties for a new negotiations with the convening of the

Congress of Berlin The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at th ...

. The Article 61 of the Treaty of Berlin contained the same text as Article 16 but removed any mention that Russian forces would remain in the provinces. Instead, the Ottoman government was periodically to inform the Great Powers of the progress of the reforms. The Armenian National Assembly and Patriarch Nerses II of Constantinople sent Catholicos Mgrdich Khrimian to present the case for the Armenians at Berlin; in his famous patriotic speech (following the Berlin negotiations) “The Paper Ladle,” Mgrdich Khrimian advised Armenians to take the national awakening of Bulgaria (Liberation of Bulgaria) as a model as the hopes for

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

were ignored by the European community of nations. In Bulgarian historiography, Liberation of Bulgaria means the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian Sovereign state with the

. In 1880 Armenians especially encouraged by the prime minister Gladstone touched the Armenian issue with the words “To serve Armenia is to serve the Civilization. June 11, 1880, The great powers sent to porte an “Identic Note” which asked for the enforcement of the article 61. This followed on January 2, 1881, with a British Circular on Armenia to other Powers. The "Young Armenia Society" believed that the Russians would assist in the creation of an autonomous Armenian province under Russian rule. The ARF is often accused of having tactics, even today viewed as still being, aimed at convincing Western governments and diplomatic circles to sponsor the party's demands. The Armenian national movement had discovered through their revolutionary movement that neither

Tsar Alexander II Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin ...

with his idealism nor

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-cons ...

's Liberalism was a dependable hope.

Armenian diaspora

Significant European and American movements began with the Armenian diaspora in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and in the U.S. as early as in the 1890s. The previous Armenian migrations were minor or and had not been statistically significant. In 1885, the

Armenian Patriotic Society of Europe The Armenian Patriotic Society of Europe ( hy, Եվրոպայի հայ հայրենասիրական ընկերություն) was founded in 1885 by Garabed Hagopian and Mekertich Portukalian. Its goal was to facilitate the Armenian diaspora in p ...

was established in Chesilton Road, Fulham, with its headquarters there. Its goal was that the

should help those in their native land, both financially and raise Armenian political consciousness about its subject condition. Various political parties and benevolent unions, such as branches for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Social-Democrat Henchagian party, and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) which was initially founded in Constantinople, were established wherever there was a considerable number of Armenians. The Armenian diaspora played a significant role in every stage such as Armenian Revolutionary Federation in diaspora did not forgive what they saw as betrayal of the 'Free, Independent Armenia' (the motto of the party) and campaigned against the Soviet state in a variety of ways.

Activities (Ottoman Empire)

Abdul Hamid II Era

The emergence of the Armenian Partisan Movement in the early 1880s and the armed struggle by the late 1880s fall into the

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

's reign. Abdul Hamid II come to rule where he oversaw a period of decline in the power and extent of the Empire. He ruled from 31 August 1876 until he was deposed on 27 April 1909.

Armed movement

The partisan movement organized around Armenian centers, such that before ARF replaced the Armenakans, Armenakans mainly operated in and around the city of Van. There are advantages to look events using the regions as the groups were organized regional bases.

= Capitol

= The

Kum Kapu demonstration The Kum Kapu demonstration occurred in the Kumkapı district of Constantinople on July 27, 1890. It ensued in skirmishing in which several demonstrators and four police officers were killed. The intent of the demonstration was "..to awaken the m ...

occurred in the Kumkapı district of Constantinople on July 27, 1890. The cause of the demonstrations were "..to awaken the maltreated Armenians and to make the Sublime Porte fully aware of the miseries of the Armenians." The Hunchaks had come to a conclusion that the demonstrations at Kum Kapu were unsuccessful. Similar demonstration on a lesser scale followed throughout most of the 1890s. The

1896 Ottoman Bank Takeover The occupation of the Ottoman Bank ( tr, Osmanlı Bankası Baskını, "Raid on the Ottoman Bank"; hy, Պանք Օթօմանի գրաւումը, ''Bank Otomani k'ravumĕ'' "Ottoman Bank takeover") by members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federat ...

was the seizing of the

Ottoman Bank The Ottoman Bank ( tr, Osmanlı Bankası), known from 1863 to 1925 as the Imperial Ottoman Bank (french: Banque Impériale Ottomane, ota, بانق عثمانی شاهانه) and correspondingly referred to by its French acronym BIO, was a bank ...

in Constantinople, on 26 August 1896. Bank takeover was planned by members of the ARF. In an effort to raise further awareness and action by the major European powers, 28 armed men and women led primarily by Papken Siuni and Karekin Pastirmaciyan (Armen Karo) took over the bank which largely employed European personnel from Great Britain and France. Stirred largely due to the inaction of the European powers in regards to pogroms and massacres instigated by the Sultan

Abdul-Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

. The ARF members saw its seizure as their best attempt to bring full attention to the massacres. The

Yıldız assassination attempt A failed assassination attempted on Sultan Abdul Hamid II by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) at Yıldız Mosque took place on 21 July 1905 in the Ottoman capital Istanbul. ''The Times'' described the incident as "one of the greatest ...

was a failed assassination attempted on Sultan

by the ARF at Yıldız Mosque on July 21, 1905.

= Van/Bitlis Vilayets (Lake Van Region)

= Certain geographical and ethnic factors favored Van as a center. The lake van is the frontier to Russia and Persia, which assistance from was easily accessible. In May 1889, Bashkale Resistance was the bloody encounter of three revolutionaries of Armenakan. Bashkale was a town in the

Van Province Van Province ( tr, Van ili, ku, Parezgêha Wanê, Armenian: Վանի մարզ) is a province in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 a ...

. The comrades Karapet Koulaksizian, Hovhannes Agripasian, and Vardan Goloshian were stopped and demanded that they disarm. On them were two documents addressed to Koulaksizian, one from Avetis Patiguian of London and the other from Mëkërtich Portukalian, in Marseille. Ottoman's believed that the men were members of a large revolutionary apparatus and the discussion was reflected on newspapers, (Eastern Express, Oriental Advertiser, Saadet, and Tarik) and the responses were on the Armenian papers. In some Armenian circles, this event was considered as a martyrdom and brought other armed conflicts. The Defense of Van was the Armenian population in Van defense against the Ottoman Empire in June, 1896. The

Khanasor Expedition The Khanasor Expedition ( hy, Խանասորի արշավանքը, ''Khanasori arshavankë'') was a punitive raid launched by Armenian fedayees against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. In 1896, in the aftermath of the Defense of Van, ...

was the Armenian militia's response on July 25, 1897, to the Defense of Van, where Mazrik tribe ambushed a squad of Armenian defenders and mercilessly slaughtered them. The

Battle of Holy Apostles Monastery A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

was an armed conflict of the Armenian militia in Holy Apostles Monastery near Mush, in November 1901. Andranik Ozanian's intentions were to attract the attention of the foreign consuls at Mush to the plight of the Armenian peasants and to provide a glimmer of hope for the oppressed

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

of the eastern provinces.

= Diyarbekir/Aleppo Vilayets

= Sason was formerly part of the sanjak of Siirt which was in Diyarbakır vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, later part of Batman Province of Turkey. Zeitun was formerly part of the Aleppo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, later Süleymanlı in the

Kahramanmaraş Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahra ...

Province of Turkey. The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party and the ARF were active in the region. 1862 was important for Zeitun. The Armenians of Zeitun had historically enjoyed a period of high autonomy in the Ottoman Empire until the nineteenth century. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the central government decided to bring this region of the empire under tighter control. This strategy ultimately proved ineffective. In the summer of 1862 the Ottomans sent a military contingent of 12,000 men to Zeitun to reassert government control. The force, however, was held at bay by the Armenians and, through French mediation, the first Zeitun resistance was brought to a close. The Zeitun Armenian's gave inspiration to the ideas of creating an Armenian state in Cilicia. The Sasun resistance of 1894 was the resistance of the Hunchak militia of the Sassoun region. The region continued to be in conflict between the fedayee and the Muslim Ottomans between the local Armenian villages. Between the years 1891 and 1895, activists from the Armenian Social Democrat Hunchakian Party visited Cilicia, and established a new branch in Zeitun. The Zeitun Rebellion took place in 1895. In spring 1902, a representative of the ARF, Vahan Manvelyan, was sent to in Sason with the purpose of stopping the insignificant skirmishes, but only irritating the Muslims. In February 1903, Sofia, at the III Congress ARF, it was decided to assign Sason of committee fighting groups. Hrayr Dzhoghk went to Van where he made organize the Sasun (1902). Alongside Hrayr Dzhoghk was Andranik. Andranik became the main organizer and head of Sasun Uprising of 1904. Hrayr Dzhoghk was killed on April 13 in village Gelieguzan. He was buried in a court of a local church near to Serob Paşa. The Sassoun Uprising was the resistance of the Armenian militia in the Sassoun region.

Armenian reform program

During 1880 - 1881, while the Armenian national liberation movement was in its early stage; lack of outside support and inability to maintain a trained, organized Kurdish force diminished Kurdish aspirations. However, two prominent Kurdish families (tribes) mounted opposition to the empire, based more from an ethno-nationalistic stand point. The Badr Khans were successionists while the Sayyids of Nihiri were autonomists. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed in 1880 - 1881 by the attempt of Shaykh Ubayd Allah of Nihri to found an "independent Kurd principality" around Ottoman-Persian border (including the Van Vilayet) where Armenian population was significant. Shaykh Ubayd Allah of Nihri gathered 20,000 fighters. Lacking discipline, his man left the ranks after pillaging and acquiring riches from the villages in the region (indiscriminately, including Armenian villages). Shaykh Ubayd Allah of Nihri captured by the Ottoman forces in 1882 and this movement ended.

= Security, Reform, Order

= The Kurdish (force, rebels, bandits) sacked neighboring towns and villages with impunity. The central assumption of the Hamidiye system—Kurdish tribes ( Kurdish chiefdoms cited among Armenian security concerns) could be brought under military discipline—proved to be "Utopian". The Persian Cossack Brigade later proved that it can function as independent unit, but Ottoman example, which was modeled after, never replaced the tribal loyalty to Ottoman Sultan or even to its establishing unit. In 1892, first time a trained and organized Kurdish force encouraged by the Sultan Abdul Hamid II. It was established by and named after Sultan. The Hamidiye corps or Hamidiye Light Cavalry Regiments were well-armed, irregular, majority Kurdish cavalry (minor amounts of other nationalities, such as Turcoman) formations that operated in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. They were intended to be modeled after the Caucasian Cossack Regiments (example Persian Cossack Brigade) and were firstly tasked to patrol the Russo-Ottoman frontier and secondly, to reduce the potential of Kurdish-Armenian cooperation. The Hamidiye Cavalry was in no way a cross-tribal force, despite their military appearance, organization, and potential. Hamidiye quickly find out that they could only be tried through a military court martial They became immune to civil administration. Realizing their immunity, they turned their tribes into “legalized robber brigades” as they steal grain, reap fields not of their possession, drive off herds, and openly steal from shopkeepers. Kurdish chieftain also taxed the population of the region in sustaining these units, which Armenian's perceived this Kurdish taxation as an exploitation. When Armenian spokesmen confronted the Kurdish chieftain (issue of double taxation), it brought about enmity between both populations. The Hamidiye cavalry harassed and assaulted Armenians. In 1908, after the overthrow of Sultan, the Hamidiye Cavalry was disbanded as an organized force, but as they were “tribal forces” before official recognition, they stayed as “tribal forces” after dismemberment. The Hamidiye Cavalry is described as a military disappointment and a failure because of its contribution to tribal feuds.

= Hamidian massacres

= A major role in the

Hamidian massacres The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide a ...

of 1894–96 has been often ascribed to the ''Hamidiye'' regiments, particularly during the bloody suppression of Sasun (1894). On July 25, 1897, the Khanasor Expedition was against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe (

Muzuri Kurds The Muzuri مزووری; also spelled Mezuri, Missouri, Missuri, Musri, Mzuri or Mzwri) are a Kurdish tribal group inhabiting the northernmost areas of Iraqi Kurdistan. They live to the west of Margavar and (west of Lake Urmia). Muzuri is one of ...

) who owned a significant portion of this cavalry. The Hamidian massacres were brought to an end through mediation by the Great Powers. However instead of Armenian autonomy in these regions, Kurds (Kurdish tribal chiefs) retained much of their autonomy and power.Denise Natali. The Kurds and the State. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005) The Abdulhamid made little attempt to alter the traditional power structure of “segmented, agrarian Kurish societies” – agha, shayk, and tribal chief. Because of their geographical position at the southern and eastern fringe of the empire and mountainous topography, and limited transportation and communication system. The state had little access to these provinces and were forced to make informal agreements with tribal chiefs, for instance the Ottoman qadi and mufti did not have jurisdiction over religious law which bolstered Kurdish authority and autonomy.

Abdul Hamid II's position

Sultan

wanted to reinforce the territorial integrity of the embattled Ottoman Empire, reasserted

Pan-Islamism Pan-Islamism ( ar, الوحدة الإسلامية) is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Pan-Islamism wa ...

as a state ideology. Abdul Hamid II perceived the Ottoman Armenians to be an extension of foreign hostility, a means by which Europe could "get at our most vital places and tear out our very guts."

Second Constitutional Era

The Armenians supported the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Consti ...

, whose concepts were present in varying proportions among Armenians at the turn of the 20th century After the revolution, the Ottoman Empire in the

Second Constitutional Era The Second Constitutional Era ( ota, ایكنجی مشروطیت دورى; tr, İkinci Meşrutiyet Devri) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 dissolution of the ...

was struggling to keep its territories and promoting Ottomanism among its citizens. ARF, previously outlawed, became the main representative of the Armenian community in the Ottoman Empire, replacing the pre-1908 Armenian elite, which had been composed of merchants, artisans, and clerics who had seen their future in obtaining more privileges within the boundaries of the state's version of Ottomanism. During the same time the Armenian Revolutionary Federation was moving out of this context and developing, what was just a normal extension of its national freedom concept, the concept of the "Independent Armenian State". With this national transformation ARF's activities become a national cause. ARF, in the early 20th century was socialists, and marxist which can be seen from the party's first program.

Armed movement

= Van/Bitlis Vilayets (Lake Van Region)

= At the 1907 Battle of Sulukh, Kevork Chavush was critically wounded on May 25, 1907, during a large firefight with the Ottoman army in Sulukh, Mush. Kevork Chavush escaped the fighting. Two days later his body was found in Kyosabin-Bashin on May 27 under a bridge.

= Balkans

= The Armenians settled between the 6th and the 11th century in the Rhodopes,

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

and Macedonia were several thousand in number and were mostly Paulicians and

Tondrakians Tondrakians ( hy, Թոնդրակեաններ) were members of an anti-feudal, heretical Christian sect that flourished in medieval Armenia between the early 9th century and 11th century and centered on the district of Tondrak, north of Lake Va ...

. Later as the Ottoman Empire extended towards the Europe, a minor amount of Armenians moved along the frontiers and settled throughout the Balkans. At the time of the

(1912–1913) the Armenians in Bulgaria were about 35,000. Andranik Ozanian participated in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, within the

n army, alongside general Garegin Nzhdeh as a commander of Armenian auxiliary troops. Andranik met revolutionist

Boris Sarafov Boris Petrov Sarafov (Bulgarian and mk, Борис Петров Сарафов) (12 June 1872 in Libyahovo, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, present-day Bulgaria – 28 November 1907 in Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian Army officer an ...

in Sofia and the two pledged themselves to work jointly for the oppressed peoples of Armenia and Macedonia. Andranik participated in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

of 1912–1913 alongside Garegin Nzhdeh as a Chief Commander of 12th Battalion of Lozengrad Third Brigade of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan militia under the command of Colonel Aleksandar Protogerov. His detachment consisted of 273 Armenian volunteers, which was more than half of the 531 non-Macedonian born fighters in the group. On October 20, the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan militia and Andranik's volunteer detachment, tight circle around Edirne and surrendered Yaver Pasha's forces. On November 4, 1912, the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan militia with the support of Andranik's volunteer detachment defeated numerically exceeding Turks near Momchilgrad. On January 6, 1913, in a small town church in Rodosto, Aleksandar Protogerov awarded all Armenian fighters for bravery. Andranik Ozanyan was honored with the Order of Bravery.

The Ottoman parliament

The new parliament comprised 142 Turks, 60

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, 25

Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Ser ...

, 23

, 12

(including four from ARF and two from Hunchaks), 5

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, 4

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely underst ...

, 3

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of ...

and 1

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

in the elections of 1908. The "Committee of Union and Progress" (CUP) could count on the support of about 60 deputies and became the main party. Philip Mansel, "Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire" quoted i
Straits: The origins of the Dardanelles campaign
/ref> Karekin Pastermadjian became a member of the Ottoman parliament part from the ARF deputies. During his four years as a deputy, he worked for the railroad bill. Main object was to build railroads as soon as possible in the vilayets which were considered to be Russia's future possessions. For that reason neither France nor Germany wished to undertake it. Another fundamental object was to build those lines with American capital, which would make it possible to counteract the Russo-Franco-German policies and financial intrigues. But in spite of all efforts unable to overcome the German opposition, although, as the outcome of the struggle in connection with that bill, two ministers of public works were forced to resign their post.

The reform package

The politics in Istanbul was centered around trying to find a solution to the demands of Arab and Armenian reformist groups. 19th century politics of Ottoman Empire dealt with the decentralize demands of the Balkan nations. The same pattern was originating from the eastern provinces. With most of the Christian population having already left the Empire after the Balkan Wars, a redefinition of Ottoman politics was in place with a greater emphasis on Islam as a binding force. The choice of this policy should also be considered as external forces (imperialists) were Christians. It was a policy of "them against us". in 1913 Karekin Pastermadjian had taken active a part in the conferences held for the consideration of the Armenian reforms. He was in Paris and the Netherlands, as the delegate of the ARF, to meet the inspectors general who were invited to carry out the reforms. The reform package was signed in February 1914, between the Ottoman Empire represented by Grand Vezir

Said Halim Pasha Mehmed Said Halim Pasha ( ota, سعيد حليم پاشا ; tr, Sait Halim Paşa; 18 or 28 January 1865 or 19 February 1864 – 6 December 1921) was an Ottoman statesman of Albanian originDanişmend (1971), p. 102 who served as Grand Vizier o ...

and Russia. L. C. Westenenk, an administrator for the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

, and Major Hoff, a major in the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

, were selected as the first two inspectors. Hoff was in Van when the war broke out, just as Westenenk was preparing to depart for his post in Erzerum.

Committee of Union and Progress's position

Once in power, the Committee of Union and Progress introduced a number of new initiatives intended to promote the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. CUP advocated a program of orderly reform under a strong central government, as well as the exclusion of all foreign influence. CUP promoted industrialization and administrative reforms. Administrative reforms of provincial administration quickly led to a higher degree of centralization.

Activities (Russian Empire)

Edict on Armenian church property 1903-1904

The tsar's Russification programme reached its peak with the decree of June 12, 1903, confiscating the property of the Armenian Church.

(Catholicos of Armenia) revolted against the tsar. When the Tsar refused to back down the Armenians turned to the ARF. The Armenian clergy had previously been very wary of the ARF, condemning their socialism as

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

. However, ARF acquired significant support and sympathy in Russian administration. Mainly because of the ARF's attitude to the Ottoman Empire, the party enjoyed the support of the central Russian administration, as

tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...

and ARF foreign policy had the same alignment until 1903. The edict on Armenian church property was faced by strong ARF opposition, because it perceived a tsarist threat to Armenian national existence. In 1904, the Dashnak congress specifically extended their programme to support the rights of Armenians in the Russian Empire as well as Ottoman Turkey. As a result, the ARF leadership decided to actively defend Armenian churches. The ARF formed a Central Committee for Self-Defence in the Caucasus and organised a series of protests. At Gandzak the Russian army responded by firing into the crowd, killing ten, and further demonstrations were met with more bloodshed. The Dashnaks and Hunchaks began a campaign of assassination against tsarist officials in Transcaucasia and they succeeded in wounding Prince Golitsin. The events convinced Tsar Nicholas that he must reverse his policies. He replaced Golitsin with the Armenophile governor

Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov (russian: Илларио́н Ива́нович Воронцов-Дашков; 27 May 1837 – 15 January 1916) was a notable representative of the Vorontsov family. He served as Minister of Imperial Pr ...

and returned the property of the Armenian Church. Gradually order was restored and the Armenian bourgeoisie once more began to distance itself from the revolutionary nationalists.

Armenian-Azeri massacres 1904-1905

Unrest in Transcaucasia, which also included major strikes, reached a climax with the widespread uprisings throughout the Russian Empire known as the

1905 Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

. 1905 saw a wave of mutinies, strikes and peasant uprisings across imperial Russia and events in Transcaucasia were particularly violent. In Baku, the centre of the Russian oil industry, class tensions mixed with ethnic rivalries. The city was almost wholly composed of Azeris and Armenians, but the Armenian middle-class tended to have a greater share in the ownership of the oil companies and Armenian workers generally had better salaries and working conditions than the Azeris. In December 1904, after a major strike was declared in Baku, the two communities began fighting each other on the streets and the violence spread to the countryside.

Tribune of People, 1912

In January 1912, a total of 159 Armenians were charged with membership of an anti-"Revolutionary" organisation. During the revolution Armenian revolutionaries were split into "Old Dashnaks", allied with the Kadets and "Young Dashnaks" aligned with the SRs. To determine the position of Armenians all forms of Armenian national movement put into trial. The entire Armenian intelligentsia, including writers, physicians, lawyers, bankers, and even merchants" on trial.Abraham, Richard (1990). Alexander Kerensky: The First Love of the Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press, pg. 53,54 When the tribune finished its work, 64 charges were dropped and the rest were either imprisoned or exiled for varying periods

Activities during World War I

Beginning at the end of July and ending on August 2, 1914, the

Armenian congress at Erzurum The Armenian congress at Erzurum (the 8th World Congress of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation), held from the end of July to August 2, 1914, was a watershed event where representatives of the ruling Committee of Union and Progress party requeste ...

was a watershed event between the Ottoman government (

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

) and Ottoman Armenian citizens. The conversation between groups were established with the Armenian liaisons Simon Vratsian,

Arshak Vramian Arshak Vramian ( hy, Արշակ Վռամյան, Arshag Vramian, born Onnik Derdzakian; 1871 – 4 April 1915) was an Armenian revolutionary and a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation; he was a member of the party's Central Commi ...

, Rostom ( Stepan Zorian), and E. Aknouni ( Khatchatour Maloumian) and Ottoman liaisons Dr. Behaeddin Shakir, Omer Naji (Omer Naci), and Hilmi Bey, also accompanied by an international entourage of peoples from the Caucasus. Committee of Union and Progress requested from Ottoman Armenians to facilitate the conquest of

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

by inciting a rebellion (with the

) against the tsarist army in the event of a

Caucasus Campaign The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dict ...

. The Ottoman plan was to draw the

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

s and

Georgians The Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, ...

into a holy war against the Allies. In order to carry this project it was necessary to make sure that Armenian geographical position would not hamper cooperation between these races. If this agreement went forward and the Ottoman Armenians did not support the Russians, they would be offered autonomy. This offer was one step forward from Armenian reform package, which was already established in February 1914. The Tsar promised autonomy for Russian Armenia. A representative meeting of

assembled in

, Caucasus, during August 1914.The Encyclopedia Americana, 1920, v.28, p.412 The Tsar promised autonomy to six Turkish Armenian vilayets as well as the two Russian-Armenian provinces.Joseph L. Grabill, (1971) Protestant Diplomacy and the Near East: Missionary Influence on American Policy, 1810-1927, page 59, Tsar asked Armenian's loyalty and support for Russia in the conflict. The proposal was agreed upon and nearly 20,000 Armenians,

, served with the Russian colors. The Armenians were quite willing to remain loyal to their government, but declared their inability to agree to the other proposal, that of inciting their compatriots under Russian rule to insurrection. In spite of these promises and threats, the executive committee of the ARF informed the Turks that the Armenians could not accept the Turkish proposal, and on their behalf advised the Turks not to participate in the present war, which would be very disastrous to the Turks themselves.

Armed movement

The

Russian Armenian Volunteer Corps The Armenian volunteer units ( hy, Հայ կամավորական ջոկատներ ''Hay kamavorakan jokatner'') were units composed of Armenians within the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. Composed of several groups at battalion stren ...

was a military fighting unit within the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. Composed of several groups at

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

strength, its ranks were exclusively made up of Armenians from the Russian Empire, though there were also a number of Armenian from the Ottoman Empire. In August 1914, following Germany's declaration of war against Russia, Count

Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov (russian: Илларио́н Ива́нович Воронцов-Дашков; 27 May 1837 – 15 January 1916) was a notable representative of the Vorontsov family. He served as Minister of Imperial Pro ...

, the Russian viceroy of the Caucasus, approached Armenian leaders in the

to broach the idea of a formation of a separate fighting corps. His offer was received warmly and within a few weeks Armenian volunteers began to enlist. Responsibility for its formation was given to a special committee created by the Armenian National Council, which coordinated its activities from Tiflis,

and

Alexandrapol Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

Initial

In November 1914,

had the 2nd battalion of the Armenian volunteers. At the

Bergmann Offensive The Bergmann Offensive ( tr, Bergmann Atağı; in Turkish literature tr, Köprüköy ve Azap Muharebeleri, "Battles of Köprüköy and Azap" russian: Берхманнский прорыв; in Russian literature russian: Кёприкейская ...

, the 2nd battalion of the Armenian volunteers engaged in battle for the first time, near Bayazid. In the course of a bloody combat which lasted twenty-four hours, commander of the battalion, was seriously wounded. From that day to March of the following year, Drastamat Kanayan remained in critical condition. The

Battle of Sarikamish The Battle of Sarikamish (''Sarighamishi chakatamart''), russian: Сражение при Сарыкамыше; tr, Sarıkamış Harekatı, lit=''Operation Sarıkamış'' was an engagement between the Russian and Ottoman empires during World ...

took place from December 22, 1914, to January 17, 1915, as part of the

. The Ottomans employed a strategy which demanded that their troops be highly mobile and to arrive at specified objectives at precise times. Along the

Kars Oblast The Kars Oblast was a province ('' oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The ''oblast'' bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Obla ...

, the 3rd battalion commanded by Hamazasp (Srvandztian) and 4th battalion by Keri (Arshak Gavafian) operated on the front facing Erzurum between Sarikamish and

Oltu Oltu (; ) is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is Necmettin Taşçı, from the AKP. The population was 31,087 in 2020. History An inscription found in Oltu’s castle has been dated to the ...

. 4th battalion of the Armenian volunteers engaged at Barduz Pass. The Ottoman army suffered a delay of 24 hours in the Barduz Pass, and 4th battalion of the Armenian volunteers lost 600 troops in a battle there. On December 16, 1914, the Ottoman Empire dismantled the Armenian reform package, just after the first engagement of the Caucasus Campaign the

. On the other side, the

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

visited the ''Caucasus front'' on December 30, 1914, telling the head of the

Armenian Church Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

that "''a most brilliant future awaits the Armenians''".

The first year

Between April 15–18 of 1915, the brigade of Armenian volunteers under the command of Andranik valiantly participated in the Battle of Dilman of the Persian Campaign. Drastamat Kanayan though remained in critical condition, his battalion led into eleven battles in the neighborhood of Alashkert, Toutakh, and Malashkert, until Drastamat Kanayan recovered and returned to resume the command. The

Red Sunday The deportation of Armenian intellectuals is conventionally held to mark the beginning of the Armenian genocide. Leaders of the Armenian community in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), and later other locations, were arreste ...

the leaders of the Armenian community were arrested and moved to two holding centers near

upon the order of the Minister of the Interior Mehmed Talaat Bey of April 24, 1915. Mehmed Talaat Bey gave the detention order on April 24, 1915, which commenced at 8 p.m. by Chief of Police of Constantinople Bedri Bey.

Hampartsoum Boyadjian Hampartsoum Boyadjian ( hy, Համբարձում Պօյաճեան) (14 May 1860 – 30 July 1915), also known by his '' noms de guerre'' Murad and sometimes Medzn Murad ( hy, Մեծն Մուրատ, "Mourad the Great"), was an Armenian '' fedayi' ...

, a Hunchakian, was among the first to be arrested in April 1915 at

. After a trial in July, he was hanged on 24 August 1915, with 12 comrades. On May 6, 1915, Andranik was the commanding officer of the first Armenian volunteer detachment (about 1,200 soldiers), which helped lift the Siege of Van. Theodore G. Chernozubov for the successes of Andranik in Ashnaka, Vrush-Khoran, Khanika, Kotur, Saray, Molla-Hasan, Belenjik and Garateli stated significantly associated with the fighting of the 1st Armenian volunteers, headed by Andranik. Chernozubov praised Andranik as a brave and experienced chief, who well understood the combat situation, described him as always at the head of militia, enjoying great prestige among the volunteers. On June 15, 1915, The Twenty Martyrs from Hunchakian leaders, after spending two years in terrible conditions in Ottoman prisons, and undergoing lengthy mock trials, twenty prominent figures - Paramaz, Dr. Benne, Aram Ach'ekbashian, Vanig and others were sentenced to death by hanging. All twenty men were hanged in the central square of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, known as Sultan Bayazid Square. Paramaz's last words before his hanging were: In July 1915,

Khetcho Khetcho ( hy, Խէչո; 1872 – July 1915) was a renowned Armenian activist and combatant. A member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Khetcho led an active life in Armenian politic affairs. During his time as an activist, he participated ...

(Catchik), Karekin Pastermadjian's assistant and commander, died on the shores of Lake Van File:Hunchak leaders hung.jpg, Hunchakian leaders, The Twenty Martyrs File:Khetcho Commander of cavalry Armenian volunteer units.png WW1 Armenian volunteer soldier with gun.png, Volunteer soldier

The second year

The biggest achievement of the first year was the Armenian governing of the

Administration for Western Armenia The occupation of Western Armenia by the Russian Empire during World War I began in 1915 and was formally ended by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was sometimes referred to as the Republic of Van by Armenians. Aram Manukian of Armenian Revolut ...

, (

Republic of Van The occupation of Western Armenia by the Russian Empire during World War I began in 1915 and was formally ended by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was sometimes referred to as the Republic of Van by Armenians. Aram Manukian of Armenian Revolut ...

) with

as the head. The Republic of Van was a temporary Armenian

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

between 1915 and 1918. It was also briefly referred as Free

Vaspurakan Vaspurakan (, Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Vasbouragan'') was the eighth province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered on Lake Van. Located in what is now southeast ...

. Andranik commanded a battalion that defeated

Halil Pasha Halil Pasha (also known as Bostancı Halil Pasha) was an Ottoman statesman who served as the governor of Ottoman Egypt from 1631 to 1633. He was known for his "gentle, impartial, and prosperous administration"d'Avennes, Prisse (1983) ''Arab art ...

during the

Battle of Bitlis The Battle of Bitlis refers to a series of engagements in the summer of 1916 for the town of Bitlis and to a lesser extent nearby Moush, between Russian Imperial forces and their Ottoman counterparts. The town was the last stronghold of the Ot ...

in 1916. Negotiations with the French for returning Armenian refugees to their homes in Cilicia were performed with leadership of

Boghos Nubar Boghos Nubar ( hyw, Պօղոս Նուպար), also known as Boghos Nubar Pasha () (2 August 1851 – 25 June 1930), was a chairman of the Armenian National Delegation, and the founder, alongside ten other Armenian national movement leaders, of th ...

. Negotiations were directed by Quai d'Orsay which is a metonymy to French Ministry Foreign Affairs. Foreign Minister

Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliat ...

seized this opportunity to provide troops for French commitment made in Sykes-Picot Agreement, which was still secret at the time. Armenian leadership also meet with Sir Mark Sykes and Georges Picot. The Legion (force) was established officially in Cairo, Egypt in November 1916. The force named as

French Armenian Legion The Armenian Legion (french: Légion arménienne) was a volunteer unit that was raised by the Allied Powers to serve in the Middle East Theatre during World War I. Trained and led by French army commanders, the Légion d'Orient (The Eastern Le ...

and planned under the command of General

Edmund Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...

. However, beginning with 1917 and not in the original agreement, this Armenian force fought in Palestine, Syria.

The third year

The

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and some ...

of 1917 caused chaos among Russian soldiers in the Caucasus Front and by the end of that year most Russian soldiers left the front and returned to their homes. In July 1917 six Armenian regiments were created in the Caucasus Front with support of Armenian organizations in Petrograd and Tiflis. As of October 1917 two Armenian divisions were already created, with Tovmas Nazarbekian at their head. As of early 1918 only few thousand Armenian volunteers under the command of two hundred officers opposed the Turkish offenses. In the spring of 1917, Karekin Pastermadjian and Dr.

Hakob Zavriev Hakob Zavriev ( hy, Հակոբ Զավրիև), also known as Yakov Zavriev, was an Armenian politician. Zavriev was a graduate of the St. Petersburg Army Medical Academy. He later joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The viceroy of the ...

, was sent from the Caucasus to Petrograd to negotiate with the temporary Russian government concerning Caucasian affairs. Karekin Pastermadjian left for America in June 1917 as the representative of the

Armenian National Council of Tiflis Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

and as the special envoy of the Catholicos of all the Armenians. On December 5, 1917, the

armistice of Erzincan The Armistice of Erzincan (also spelled Erzindzhan or Erzinjan) was an agreement to suspend hostilities during World War I signed by the Ottoman Empire and Transcaucasian Commissariat in Erzincan on 18 December 1917 (5 December O.S.).Tadeusz Swiet ...

was signed between the Russians and Ottomans, ending armed conflicts between the two states. After the Bolshevik seizure of power, a multinational congress of Transcaucasian representatives met to create a provisional regional executive body known as

Transcaucasian Seim The Transcaucasian Seim (February 23, 1918 – May 26, 1918) was a representative and legislative body of state power in the Transcaucasus, convened by the Transcaucasian Commissariat in Tiflis on February 23, 1918. Consisted of members of the Al ...

Last year

In 1918, the Russian authorities made Andranik a Major General and decorated him six times for gallantry, the source stated as general Antranik as a command of the Armenian and Russian forces against those of the Turks; was in 59 engagements, several horses shot under him but kept fighting after the czar's army collapsed. The roots of the first national republic was achieved by the Armenians under Russian control which devised a national congress in October 1917. The convention in Tiflis was concluded in September 1917 with delegates from former Romanov realm (203), which 103 belonged to the ARF. On March 3, 1918, the Russians followed the armistice of Erzincan with the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russi ...

, and left the war, with territorial losses. From March 14 to April 1918, when a conference was held between the Ottoman Empire and the delegation of the Seim. When the first Republic of Armenia (

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middle ...

) was proclaimed in 1918, the ARF became the ruling party. Between March and April 1918 Andranik was the governor of the Administration for Western Armenia. Karekin Pastermadjian was assigned as the ambassador of the First Republic of Armenia to the United States in Washington, D.C. The original plan for the Armenian army was to consist of Tovmas Nazarbekian's 60,000 soldiers with Andranik Pasha's 30,000 fedayees. However after the splitting of the

Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR; (), (). 22 April – 28 May 1918) was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as ...

, the Ottoman Empire had taken Alexandropol and were intent on eliminating the center of Armenian resistance based in Yerevan. After the formation of the First Republic of Armenia in May 1918 Andranik fought alongside volunteer units to combat the Ottoman army. The Armenians were able to prevent total elimination and delivered crushing blows to the Turkish army in the battles of Sardarapat, Karakilisa and Abaran. The First Republic of Armenia had to sign the

Treaty of Batum The Treaty of Batum was signed in Batum on 4 June 1918, between the Ottoman Empire and the three Transcaucasian states: the First Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. It was the first ...

, which was signed in Batum on June 4, 1918. It was the ADR's first treaty. After the Ottoman Empire took vast swathes of territory and imposed harsh conditions, the new republic was left with 10,000 square kilometers. Andranik's military leadership was instrumental in allowing the Armenian population of Van to escape the Ottoman Army and flee to Eastern Armenia. By July inter ethnic warfare had started in

Zangezur Zangezur ( hy, Զանգեզուր) is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of the Republic of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar I ...

. Armenian couriers dispatched to

pleaded for officers and materiel. The Republic couldn't support irregular forces fighting in the south. At the critical moment General Andranik arrived in Zangezur with an irregular division estimated with about 3 to 5 thousand men and 40,000 refugees and the occupied provinces of Russian Armenia. As the commander of Armenian forces in

Nakhichivan Autonomous Republic The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic ( az, Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası, ), is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers Official portal of Nakhchivan Autonomous RepublicNakhchivan Autonomous Republic with a populati ...

, Andranik has declared that his army is determined to continue the war against Ottoman Empire. His activities were concentrated at the link between the Ottoman Empire and the

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic), or simply as Azerbaijan in Paris Peace Conference, 1919–1920,''Bulletin d'Information de l'Azerbaidjan'', No. I, September 1, 1919, pp. 6–7''125 H.C.Debs.'', 58., February 24, 1920, p. 1467. Caucasian A ...

Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and ...

, Nakhchivan, and Zangezur. Andranik and his troops were 40 km (25 mi) from

Shusha / hy, Շուշի , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg , image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...

, the most important city of Karabakh at the time, in early December 1918. Just before the

Armistice of Mudros Concluded on 30 October 1918 and taking effect at noon the next day, the Armistice of Mudros ( tr, Mondros Mütarekesi) ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I. It was signed by th ...

was signed, Andranik was on the way from Zangezur to Shusha, to control the main city of Karabakh. In January 1919 Armenian troops advancing, the British general William M. Thomson gave Andranik assurances that a favorable treaty would be reached at the

Paris Peace Conference of 1919 Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. On July 26, 1918, the

Centrocaspian Dictatorship The Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, also known as the Central-Caspian Dictatorship (russian: Диктатура Центрокаспия, ''Diktatura Tsentrokaspiya'') (Azerbaijani: Sentrokaspi Diktaturası), was a short-lived anti-Soviet administr ...

was a short-lived anti-

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

client state proclaimed in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

, forged by the

Mensheviks The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions em ...

and the ARF, this unrecognized state replaced the Bolshevik

Baku Commune Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world ...

in a bloodless coup d'état. The Baku forces mainly commanded by Colonel Avetisov. Under his command were about 6,000 Centrocaspian Dictatorship troops of the

Baku Army Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

. The vast majority of the troops in this force were

, though there were some

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

among them. Their artillery comprised some 40 field guns. Most of the Baku Soviet troops and practically all their officers were Armenians of ARF affiliation. Firuz Kazemzadeh. Struggle For Transcaucasia (1917—1921), New York Philosophical Library, 1951 Centrocaspian Dictatorship fell on September 15, 1918, when the Ottoman-

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

forces took control of

Path to Unified Armenia

On October 30, the

Armistice of Moudros Concluded on 30 October 1918 and taking effect at noon the next day, the Armistice of Mudros ( tr, Mondros Mütarekesi) ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I. It was signed by ...

ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I. It also concluded the

for the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire, although it lost the Persian Campaign, Sinai and Palestine Campaign and Mesopotamian Campaign, it had re-captured all the territory which was lost to the Russians. At this point Ottomans finalized on December 5, 1917, the

, on March 3, 1918

, on March 14 Trabzon peace conference and on June 4, 1918,

. In 1919, Avetis Aharonyan was the head of the Armenian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference with

. In late 1919 Andranik led a delegation to the United States to lobby its support for a mandate for Armenia. He was accompanied by General Jaques Bagratuni, Captain Haig Bonapartian, and Lieutenant Ter-Pogossian. In Fresno he directed a campaign in which he raised $500,000 for the relief of Armenian war refugees. Avetis Aharonyan signed the Treaty of Sèvres formulating the "Wilsonian Armenia" in direct collaboration with the Armenian Diaspora. The Treaty of Sèvres was signed between the Allied and Associated Powers and Ottoman Empire at Sèvres,

on August 10, 1920. The treaty included a clause on Armenia: it made all parties signing the treaty recognize Armenia as a free and independent state. The drawing of definite borders was, however, left to President Woodrow Wilson and the United States State Department, and was only presented to Armenia on November 22. Wilsonian Armenia refers to the boundary configuration of the First Republic of Armenia, Armenian state in the Treaty of Sèvres, drawn by Woodrow Wilson.

Activities during Interwar period

Territorial disputes of Armenia

On September 24 and the Turkish–Armenian War began. Negotiations were then carried out between Karabekir and a peace delegation led by

in Alexandropol; although Karabekir’s terms were extremely harsh the Armenian delegation had little recourse but to agree to them. The Treaty of Alexandropol was thus signed on December 3, 1920, after the Armenian government had fallen to a concurrent Soviet invasion on December 2. Azerbaijan claimed most of the territory Armenia was sitting on, demanding all or most parts of the former Russian provinces of Elizavetpol,

and Batum. Territorial clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan took place throughout 1919 and 1920, most notably in the regions of Nakhichivan Autonomous Republic, Nakhichevan, Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik (Zangezur). In May 1919, Dro led an expeditionary unit that was successful in establishing Armenian administrative control in Nakhichevan

Sovietization & exile of Armenian leaders

However, despite ARF's tight grip on power

(Ministry of Defense (Armenia), Ministry of Defense) and

(Ministry of Interior), the ARF was unable to stop the impending Communist invasion of the First Republic of Armenia from the north, which culminated with a Soviet takeover in 1920. There was also a large movement of Armenian communists who aided the Soviet control. The 11th Red Army began its virtually unopposed advance into Armenia on November 29, 1920. The actual transfer of power took place on December 2 in Yerevan. The Armenian leadership approved an ultimatum, presented to it by the Soviet plenipotentiary Boris Legran. Armenia decided to join the Soviet sphere. The ARF was banned, its leaders exiled and many of its members dispersed to other parts of the world. Daniel Bek-Pirumyan was arrested and executed by the Bolsheviks in Karakilisa in 1921. In 1937 during the Joseph Stalin's Great Purge against the military and other suspected enemies, his secret police arrested Movses Silikyan, Christophor Araratov, Dmitry Mirimanov, Aghasi Varosyan, Stepan Ohanesyan, Hakob Mkrtchyan, and Harutyun Hakobyan imprisoned and finally executed in Nork gorge. Aghbalyan moved to Lebanon, directed Nshan Palanjian seminarium in Beirut. The Treaty of Kars was signed on October 13, 1921, and ratified in

on September 11, 1922. Treaty established contemporary borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus states on the count of Armenian lands. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Askanaz Mravian and Minister of Interior Poghos Makintsian signed the Treaty of Kars, which helped to conclude (for the moment) the territorial disputes originate after the Caucasus Campaign as a whole.

Cilicia and French Armenian Legion

In January 1920, Turkish National Movement advanced his troops into Marash where the Battle of Marash ensued against the

. The battle resulted in the massacres of 5,000 – 12,000 Armenians, spelling the end of the remaining Armenian population in the region. France disbanded the

shortly after the war started. One of the Armenian Legion members, Sarkis Torossian, wrote in his diary that he suspected the French forces gave weapons and ammunition to the Kemalists to allow the French army safe passage out of Cilicia. The Cilicia Peace Treaty between France and the Turkish National Movement was signed on 9 March 1921. It was intended to end the Franco-Turkish war, but failed to do so and was replaced in October 1921 with the Treaty of Ankara (1921), Treaty of Ankara.

Republic of Mountainous Armenia, 1922

On 18 February 1921, the ARF led an anti-Soviet rebellion in Yerevan and seized power. The ARF controlled Yerevan and the surrounding regions for almost 42 days before being defeated by the numerically superior Red Army troops later in April 1921. The leaders of the rebellion then retreated into the Syunik region. On 26 April 1921, the 2nd Pan-Zangezurian congress, held in Tatev, announced the independence of the self-governing regions of Daralakyaz (Vayots Dzor), Zangezur, and Mountainous Artsakh, under the name of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia and later on 1 June 1921, it was renamed the Republic of Armenia.Mountainous Armenia
/ref> After months of fierce battles with the Red Army, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia capitulated in July 1921 following Soviet Russia's promises to keep the mountainous region as a part of Soviet Armenia. After losing the battle, Garegin Nzhdeh, his soldiers, and many prominent Armenian intellectuals, including leaders of the first First Republic of Armenia, Independent Republic of Armenia, crossed the border into neighbouring Persian city of Tabriz.

Operation Nemesis

Achievements of the movement

Establishment of an Armenian State

The First Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state. The leaders of the government came from mainly the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and also other Armenian political parties who helped create the new republic. State had unquestionably Armenian color, as when it was declared out of 2,000,000 Armenian's (Russian) in the Caucasus, 1,300,000 (Russian) Armenians were to be found within the boundaries of the new Republic of Armenia, which also had 300,000 to 350,000 refugees that escaped from the Ottoman Empire. Added to this Armenian population were 350,000 to 400,000 people of other nationalities. There were 1,650,000 Armenians (both Russian, and Ottoman origin) of the 2,000,000 people within the borders of the new Republic which made clearly, uncontested, an Armenian state. Richard G. Hovannisian explains the conditions of the resistance:

Cultural heritage

There is a Fedayees museum in Yerevan named after General Andranik Ozanian. Armenian resistance has left a symbolic dish. The "Harissa (dish)" ( hy, Հարիսա): is generally served to commemorate the Musa Dagh resistance.

Timeline of the movement

The timeline covers the activities of ethnic Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire and significant European cities which had significant Armenian diaspora, such as in France as early as the 1890s. The timeline has events formulated by Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, Armenakan, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and Armenian Patriotic Society of Europe. The "liberation movement" as the term implies an "Armenian nationalism, Armenian nationalistic movement aimed to "liberate" the Armenian people from the domination of Ottoman and Russian powers as explained under the " Russian Armenia" (1828–1918), "

" (not the period (1453 to 1829) but (1830 -1922)) and also Armenian controlled (established or being part of) "

" (1915-1918),"

" (1917-1918), "

", (1918–1922) and "

" (1918). The events under the

is not covered.

References

;Notes ;Footnotes

Citations

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