MAIN PERIODS OF ARMENIAN POLITICAL HISTORY
(CULTURALLY, ARMENIA HAS LASTED FOR NEARLY 3000 YEARS.)
1. URARTU – THIS CIVILIZATION LASTED FROM ROUGHLY 1000 TO 500 B.C.
– IT WAS CENTERED AROUND LAKE VAN IN SOUTHWESTERN TURKEY.
– THIS PERIOD IN ARMENIAN HISTORY IS KNOWN AS THE PROTO-ARMENIAN PERIOD (JUST BEFORE ARMENIA WAS 100% ARMENIAN).
2. ERVANDUNI – THIS WAS THE FIRST PURELY ARMENIAN PERIOD IN ARMENIAN HISTORY THAT LASTED FROM 585 TO 189 B.C.
3. ARTASHESIAN – THIS PERIOD LASTED BETWEEN 189 B.C. AND 10 A.D. AND IS NAMED AFTER THE KING WHO RULED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS AGE.
– THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PERIOD IN ARMENIAN CULTURE BECAUSE IT IS DURING THIS TIME THAT KING ARTVAZ CREATED ARMENIAN THEATER AND WROTE DRAMA.
IT WAS ALSO DURING THIS TIME THAT THE GREATEST KING KNOWN TO THE ARMENIANS (TIGRANES II – THE GREAT) RULED.
TIGRANES II
* WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST ARMENIAN KINGS WHO RULED FROM 95 TO 55 B.C.
* HE HAD A GREAT EMPIRE INCLUDING TURKEY, SYRIA PALESTINE AND LEBANON ALL THE WAY UP TO THE SINAI DESERT.
* HE HAD 5 OR 6 CAPITALS THAT WERE NAMED AFTER HIM.
* WHEREVER HE WENT HE MINTED COINS (THIS STUDY OF COINS IS VERY IMPORTANT IN ARMENIAN CULTURE).
* HE FOLLOWED THE POLICY OF EXCHANGING POPULATIONS.
– HE TOOK JEWS FROM PALESTINE AND PLACED THEM IN ARMENIA, AND VICE VERSA TOOK ARMENIANS AND PLACED THEM IN PALESTINE.
* DURING HIS REIGN HE WAS INTERMITENTLY ALLIED WITH AND AGAINST THE ROMANS.
4. ARSHAKUNI – THIS PERIOD LASTED FROM 66 TO 428 A.D.
– DURING THIS TIME THE ARMENIAN FEUDAL SYSTEM WAS ESTABLISHED.
* THE NAKHARAR (ARMENIAN MEDIEVAL FEUDAL LORDS) WOULD ARISE FROM THE NOBILITY OF THIS TIME.
– ALSO DURING THIS PERIOD THE ARMENIANS ACCEPTED CHRISTIANITY WITHIN THEIR CULTURE (DURING THE 1ST CENTURY A.D.).
* ACCORDING TO ARMENIAN FOLKLORE, THIS OCCURRED BECAUSE JESUS’ DISCIPLES WENT TO ARMENIA AND PREACHED THE GOSPEL.
– IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT DURING THIS PERIOD (IN 301 A.D.)ARMENIA BECAME THE FIRST PEOPLE ON EARTH TO ACCEPT CHRISTIANITY AS A NATION.
– IN 405 A.D., THE ARMENIAN ALPHABET WAS CREATED BY MESROP MASHTOTS.
– ALSO DURING THIS TIME, THE BIBLE WAS TRANLATED FROM CLASSICAL GREEK TO ARMENIAN.
5. PERSIAN DOMINATION – THIS PERIOD LASTED BETWEEN 428 AND 640 A.D.
– THEY DID NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF THE ARMENIANS BEING CHRISTIANS.
* THEY WANTED TO MAKE THE ARMENIANS CONVERT TO ZOROASTRIANISM.
– THE ARMENIANS REVOLTED AND IN 451 THERE WAS A FAMOUS BATTLE, THE BATTLE OF AVARAI, WHICH THE ARMENIANS LOST.
(HOWEVER, TO THIS DAY ARMENIANS BELIEVE THEY WON A MORAL VICTORY IN THAT THEY REFUSED TO REJECT THEIR FAITH.)
* FOR THE NEXT 30 YEARS, THE ARMENIANS FOUGHT IN A HIT AND RUN GAME AGAINST THE PERSIANS AND FINALLY THE PERSIANS REALIZED THEY COULD NOT SUBJUGATE THE ARMENIANS AND THEY LET THEM WORSHIP THEIR OWN RELIGION WITHOUT FURTHER PERSECUTION.
6. ARAB DOMINATION – THIS PERIOD LASTED FROM 640 TO 880.
– ALTHOUGH THE MUSLIM RELIGION WAS FOUNDED IN THE 5TH CENTURY A.D., THEY DID NOT TRY TO HARD TO MAKE ARMENIANS MUSLIM SO LONG AS THE ARMENIANS PAID THEIR TRIBUTE (TAXES).
* IN FACT THEY WERE RELATIVELY MORE LENIENT TOWARDS THE ARMENIANS THAN SOME OF THE BYZANTINE EMPORERS AT THE TIME.
– THEY APPOINTED GOVERNORS IN ARMENIA CALLED “VOSTIKAN” – WHICH IS THE TERM USED TODAY FOR ARMENIAN POLICEMEN.
7. BAGRATUNI – THIS PERIOD LASTED FROM 885 TO 1045
– THE CAPITAL OF THIS DYNASTY WAS LOCATED JUST ACROSS THE BORDER FROM MODERN DAY ARMENIA IN WHAT IS NOW TURKEY.
* THE NAME OF THIS CAPITAL WAS ANI. (MANY ARMENIAN WOMEN TODAY ARE NAMED AFTER THIS CITY).
* THIS CAPITAL WAS A CENTER OF ART AND CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE.
– THIS DYNASTY FELL TO THE SELJEK TURKS IN 1045.
– THIS WOULD BE THE LAST ARMENIAN DYNASTY IN ARMENIA PROPER.
WHILE ANI WAS BEING BURNED, RANSACKED, AND DEPOPULATED, A NEW ARMENIA WAS BEING FORGED IN THE SOUTH. THIS NEW ARMENIA WOULD BE CALLED CILICIA.
8. CILICIA – THIS KINGDOM LATED FROM 1080 TO 1375.
– IT BEGAN FIRST AS A PRINCIPALITY AND THEN BECAME A KINGDOM.
– THIS KINGDOM BECAME A STOPPING POINT FOR CRUSADERS TRAVELING TO THE HOLY LAND FROM THE WEST.
– IT MARKED A PEACEFUL PERIOD IN WHICH COMMERCE AND TRADE FLOURISHED.
* WHILE THE REST OF ARMENIA – WHICH WAS BEING OPPRESSED BY THE SELJEK TURKS – WAS IN A DARK PERIOD, THIS AREA FLOURISHED.
* LARGE CASTLES, CATHEDRALS, AND MONASTERIES WERE ERECTED DURING THIS TIME AND SOME OF THE BEST ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS EMERGED OUT OF THIS KINGDOM.
– THE KINGDOM ULTIMATELY FELL IN 1375 TO MAMELUKS (EGYPTIAN WARLORDS).
AFTER THE FALL OF CILICA, THE WHOLE OF ARMENIA FELL INTO A DARK AGE THAT LASTED SEVERAL CENTURIES.
OTTOMAN INVASION
IN 1604 THE OTTOMAN TURKS INVADED ARMENIA AND BEGAN RAIDING AND DESTROYING CITIES, HOWEVER SHAH ABBAS I OF PERSIA WHO HAD INVADED THE TURKISH-HELD ARMENIAN CAPITAL YEREVAN WITHDREW FROM THE AREA USING SCORCHED EARTH TACTICS THUS PROVIDING NO REST FOR THE OTTOMAN FORCES.
– ABBAS I AIDED THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE IN RELOCATING THEM TO ESFAHAN, THE CAPITAL CITY OF PERSIA.
– ABBAS I GAVE THE ARMENIANS CERTAIN PRIVILEGES BECAUSE HE KNEW THEY WERE NO ALLIES TO THE OTTOMANS. FURTHERMORE, HE KNEW THEY WERE BRILLIANT ARTISANS AND ALLOWED THEM TO BUILD CHURCHES.
* MANY CHURCHES AND CENTERS FOR RELIGIOUS WRITING EMERGED AND MANY RELIGIOUS MANUSCRIPTS DEVELOPED DURING THIS TIME.
TREATY OF ZUHAB
SIGNED IN 1693, THIS WAS A TREATY BETWEEN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. IT DIVIDED THE LAND OF ARMENIA BETWEEN THE PERSIANS (EASTERN ARMENIA) AND THE OTTOMANS (WESTERN ARMENIA).
– THIS PARTITIAN LASTED FROM 1693 TO 1826.
RUSSO-PERIAN WAR
THIS WAR LASTED FROM 1826 TO 1828. IN THE AFTERMATH OF THIS WAR, THE RUSSIANS WON ALL OF THE TERRITORY IN ARMENIA BELONGING TO PERSIA WAS GIVEN TO THE RUSSIANS.
– FROM 1828 TO 1918 THE RUSSIANS OCCUPIED EASTERN ARMENIA.
BREST-LITOVSK TREATY
IN 1918 TOWARD THE END OF WORLD WAR I THIS TREATY WAS SIGNED BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN AND GERMANS. ACCORDING TO ITS TERMS, THE RUSSIANS AGREED TO WITHDRAW FROM THE CAUCUSES MOUNTAINS (WHICH INCLUDED ARMENIA).
INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
AFTER THE RUSSIANS DEPARTED IN 1918, ARMENIA ESTABLISHED AN INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC UNDER EXTREMELY ADVERSE CONDITIONS. THIS REPUBLIC HOWEVER WOULD TURN OUT TO BE SHORT LIVED LASTING ONLY FROM 1918 TO 1920.
SOVIET ARMENIA
AFTER NOVEMBER 1920, ARMENIA BECAME A SOVIET REPUBLIC. ARMENIA HAD SEVERAL ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES TO BE A SOVIET REPUBLIC.
ADVANTAGES
– UNDER THE SOVIET RULE ARMENIA WAS SAFE FROM INVASION. THE TURKS WOULD NOT SET FOOT IN ARMENIA AS LONG AS IT WAS UNDER SOVIET PROTECTION.
– THE SOVIETS ALLOWED ARMENIAN TO BECOME THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE REPUBLIC ALONGSIDE RUSSIAN ALLOWING THEM TO EXPAND THEIR CULTURE THROUGH LITERATURE.
DISADVANTAGES
– SOVIET RUSSIA WAS A TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT PLACED HARSH RESTRICTION ON WHAT ONE COULD SAY AND WRITE.
– MANY ARMENIANS LOST THEIR LIVES DURING SOVIET DOMINATION.
THE ARMENIANS WERE TREATED LESS SEVERELY THAN OTHER REPUBLICS UNDER SOVIET DOMINATION. THIS MAINLY HAD TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT, FOR THE MOST PART, ARMENIANS VENTED THEIR ANGER TOWARDS TURKEY RATHER THAN RUSSIA.
RUSSIAN CONTROL OF ARMENIA LASTED UNTIL THE SOVIET REGIME FELL. ROUGHLY FROM 1920 TO 1991.