War over Mountainous Armenia | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of February Uprising | |||||||
Garegin Nzhdeh and his army | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Mountainous Armenia | Supported by Turkey | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Garegin Nzhdeh | Anatoly Gekker Pyotr Kuryshko Versel Bəy | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
10,000 [2] | 20,000 [3] 10,000 [4] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Light [5] | 12,000 [6] 5,000 [7] |
A military conflict was fought by the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Azerbaijani Socialist Soviet Republic and the Turkish Nationalists in 1921. [8] It was initiated due to a failed Armenian coup in Yerevan against its Communist government, and lasted from 26 April 1921 until 13 July 1921. [9] [10] [11]
The origins of the conflict began on September 24, 1920, following a Soviet invasion of the First Republic of Armenia. This invasion resulted in an Armenian coup in Yerevan which happened between February - April 1921, it had resulted in a defeat. However, this coup greatly motivated the Armenian people, especially Garegin Nzhdeh who was in Syunik at the time, Garegin Nzhdeh began an armed uprising against the Soviets on April 26, 1921, with his army which composed primarily of armed citizens and Fedayis due to Soviet plans for the incorporation of Syunik into the newly formed Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
Drastamat Kanayan, better known as Dro (Դրո), 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 of Armenia in 1920, during the country's brief independence. During World War II, he led the Armenian Legion, which consisted of Armenian POWs who opted to fight for Nazi Germany rather than face the brutal conditions of the Nazis' camps.
The Turkish–Armenian War, known in Turkey as the Eastern Front of the Turkish War of Independence, was a conflict between the First Republic of Armenia and the Turkish National Movement following the collapse of the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. After the provisional government of Ahmet Tevfik Pasha failed to win support for ratification of the treaty, remnants of the Ottoman Army's XV Corps under the command of Kâzım Karabekir attacked Armenian forces controlling the area surrounding Kars, eventually recapturing most of the territory in the South Caucasus that had been part of the Ottoman Empire prior to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and was subsequently ceded by Soviet Russia as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan, better known by his nom de guerreGaregin Nzhdeh, was an Armenian statesman, military commander and nationalist revolutionary. As a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, he was involved in the national liberation struggle and revolutionary activities during the First Balkan War and World War I and became one of the key political and military leaders of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1921). He is widely admired as a charismatic national hero by Armenians.
The Treaty of Alexandropol was a peace treaty between the First Republic of Armenia and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The treaty ended the Turkish-Armenian War that had begun on 12 September 1920, with the Turkish invasion of former-Ottoman lands ceded to Armenia a month prior in the Treaty of Sèvres.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1918–1920) was a conflict that took place in the South Caucasus in regions with a mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani population, broadly encompassing what are now modern-day Azerbaijan and Armenia. It began during the final months of World War I and ended with the establishment of Soviet rule.
Hamazasp "Hamo" Ohanjanyan was an Armenian medical doctor, revolutionary, and politician of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF/Dashnaktsutiun). He served as the third Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia from May 5 to November 23, 1920.
The Republic of Mountainous Armenia, also known as simply Mountainous Armenia, was an anti-Bolshevik Armenian state roughly corresponding with the territory that is now the present-day Armenian provinces of Vayots Dzor and Syunik, and some parts of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan in the west. It was established by military commander and Armenian political thinker Garegin Nzhdeh and his allies with the support of local guerrilla forces, following the suppression of the February Uprising in April 1921. It was not recognized by any country but existed until mid-July of the same year.
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 Oblast to the north, the Tiflis Governorate to the northeast, and the Erivan Governorate to the east. The Kars oblast included parts of the contemporary provinces of Kars, Ardahan, and Erzurum Province of Turkey, and the Amasia Community of the Shirak Province of Armenia.
The Nakhichevan uezd was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It bordered the governorate's Sharur-Daralayaz uezd to the north, the Zangezur uezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate to the east, and Iran to the south. The uezd's administrative center was the city of Nakhichevan.
The May Uprising was a coup d'état attempt by the Armenian Bolsheviks that started in Alexandropol on May 10, 1920. It was eventually suppressed by the Armenian government on May 14 and its leaders executed. Although the revolt failed, Armenia was taken over by the soviets after the 11th Army of Soviet Russia invaded the country in November 1920 and the Turkish Nationalists occupied the western half of the country. The revolt and its executed leaders were praised during the Soviet period from 1920 until the late 1980s, when the Karabakh movement began and anti-Soviet sentiment rose in Armenia – The revolt remains a controversial topic in Armenia.
The Red Army invasion of Armenia[a] was a military campaign which was carried out by the 11th Army of Soviet Russia from September to 29 November 1920 in order to install a new Soviet government in the First Republic of Armenia, a former territory of the Russian Empire. The invasion coincided with two concurrent events, the Turkish invasion, as well as the anti-government insurrection which was staged by the local Armenian Bolsheviks in the capital, Yerevan, and other cities and populated places within the country. The invasion led to the dissolution of the First Republic of Armenia and the establishment of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Anarchism in Armenia emerged as part of the Armenian national liberation movement, with its roots in various heretical Christian sects that practiced in the region. It took on an organized form with the establishment of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in 1890, before being suppressed by the various empires and authoritarian regimes that ruled over Armenia during the 20th century. It eventually re-emerged in the 21st century, as part of the anti-establishment movement that spread throughout the country in the wake of its independence.
The Zangezur uezd was a county (uezd) of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Gerusy from 1868 until its formal abolition and partition between the Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1921. The area of the Zangezur uezd corresponded to most of the contemporary Syunik province of Armenia, and Lachin, Gubadly, Zangilan, and the westernmost parts of Shusha districts of Azerbaijan.
The Kars okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently part of the Kars Province of Turkey and the Amasia District of Armenia. The okrug bordered with the Ardahan okrug in the north, the Kagizman okrug in the south, the Olti okrug in the west, and the Erivan Governorate to its east.
Zangezur is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar Iran according to the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813. In Soviet times, the Goris, Kapan, Meghri and Sisian regions of the Armenian SSR were located within Zangezur, which in 1995 became part of the Syunik Province of Armenia.
The Ardahan okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, the town of Ardagan, presently part of the Ardahan Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the south, the Olti okrug in the west, the Batum Oblast in the north, the Tiflis Governorate in the northeast, and from 1883 to 1903 the Kutais Governorate whilst the latter included the Artvin and Batum okrugs.
The Muslim uprisings in Kars and Sharur–Nakhichevan were a series of insurgencies by local Muslims against the administration of the First Republic of Armenia, beginning on 1 July 1919 and ending 28 July 1920. The areas of uprising were persuaded into insurrection by the sedition of Turkish and Azerbaijani agents who were trying to destabilise Armenia in order to form a pan-Turkic corridor between their nations.
In the aftermath of World War I and during the Armenian–Azerbaijani and Russian Civil wars, there were mutual massacres committed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis against each other. A significant portion of the Muslim population of the Erivan Governorate were displaced during the internecine conflict by the government of Armenia. Starting in 1918, Armenian partisans expelled thousands of Azerbaijani Muslims in Zangezur and destroyed their settlements in an effort to "re-Armenianize" the region. These actions were cited by Azerbaijan as a reason to start a military campaign in Zangezur. Ultimately, Azerbaijan took in and resettled tens of thousands of Muslim refugees from Armenia. The total number of killed is unknown.
The Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan respecting the District of Zanghezour was a peace agreement between the short-lived Armenian and Azerbaijani republics signed on 23 November 1919 in Tiflis and brokered by Georgia. The peace treaty came as a result of an unsuccessful Azerbaijani military campaign to absorb the Armenian-controlled Zangezur region, with the aim of forming a link with the Azerbaijani-controlled Nakhichevan. Despite the peace agreement, Azerbaijan in March 1920 again moved its forces westward to attempt to capture Zangezur, however, was stopped due to an Armenian rebellion in Nagorno–Karabakh and the country's sovietisation in April.