Russian Armenia
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Russian Armenia is the period of Armenias history under Russian rule beginning from 1829, when Eastern Armenia became part of the Russian Empire to the declaration of the Democratic Republic of Armenia in 1918.
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[edit] History
For hundreds of years, the inhabitants of Eastern Armenia lived under Ottoman or Safavid rule. Subsequent wars between the Ottoman and Safavid empires led to the destruction of many of the Armenian towns, and made Armenian life difficult.
In 1678, the Armenian leadership secretly conducted a congress in Echmiadzin, and decided that Armenia had to be liberated from foreign domination. At this stage, the Armenians were unable to fight against two empires at once, so they searched for help from abroad. Israel Ori, an Armenian native of Karabagh, son of an Armenian melik or prince, searched for help in many of the European capitals. Israel Ori died in 1711, without seeing the Armenian Dream realized.
In 1722, the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great, declared war against the Safavid Persians. Georgians and Karabagh's Armenians helped the Russians by rebelling against Safavid rule. David Bek commanded the rebellion for 6 years, until David Bek died in the battlefield.
In 1827-1828, Nicholas I also declared war against the Qajarid Persians, and sought help from Armenians, promising that after the war, their lives would improve. In 1828, with the treaty of Turkmenchay, Russia annexed Yerevan, Nakhichevan, and the surrounding countryside. Those areas were considered part of the Armenian Oblast (or province) of the Russian Empire. The Armenians were hoping for autonomy under Russian rule.
In 1828, the Russians declared war against the Ottoman Empire. They quickly conquered Kars, Akhalkalak, Akhaltsikhe, Bayazid, Alashkert, Erzerum, and reached Trabzon. However, in the peace treaty of 1829, Russians gave all of the newly captured Armenian territories back to the Ottoman Empire, keeping only Akhalkalak and Akhaltsikhe.
In 1836 a regulation was enacted by the Russian government that greatly reduced the powers of the Armenian religious leadership, including that of the Catholicos[citation needed].
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[edit] Religion
After 1836, in accordance with the new regulation, the Catholicos of Echmiadzin was to be elected in congresses in Echmiadzin, in which religious and non-religious dignitaries would participate. The Tsar would have a last word in the choice of the Catholicos. Armenians greatly profited from the fact that the Catholicosate detained the authority to open schools. Notable ones are Moscow's Lazarian Tiflis' Nersessian schools. Moreover, the Catholicosate opened printing houses and encouraged the publication of Armenian newspapers.
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[edit] Culture
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[edit] Timeline
- For the background timeline for Ottoman Armenia.
- 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay awards Nakhichevan and area around Erevan to Russia, strengthening Russian control of Transcaucasus and beginning period of modernization and security.
[edit] References
Translated from the Armenian: Mihran Kurdoghlian, Badmoutioun Hayots, B. hador [Armenian History, volume II], Athens, Greece, 1996, pg. 89-93.
