The Armenian national movement ( Hay azgayin-azatagrakan sharzhum) included social, cultural, but primarily political and military movements that reached their height during World War I 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 French Revolution, and the rise of other nationalist movements in the Ottoman Empire, the Armenian national awakening developed in the early 1860s. During the Tanzimat Era, the Armenian elite worked with Ottoman reformers to prevent banditry and abuses by nomadic Kurdish tribes, particularly in the six Armenian-populated vilayets of the Ottoman Empire. When this goal failed, Armenian nationalism took hold over the intelligentsia, and the autonomy or independence for Armenians in the Ottoman and the Russian Empires was the next step. Starting in the late 1880s, Armenian nationalists engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Ottoman government and Kurdish irregulars in the eastern regions of the empire, led by the three Armenian political parties: the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchak), the Armenakan Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnak). Armenian nationalists generally saw Russia as their ally for independence from the Turks, although Russia maintained an oppressive policy in the Caucasus. After the Young Turk Revolution, Armenian political parties replaced the traditional authority of the Ottoman loyalist amira class. These parties, especially the Dashnaks, held a tense working relationship with the Committee of Union and Progress. The Ottoman government signed the Armenian reform package in early 1914, however it was shelved by World War I.
During World War I, Armenians were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman government in the Armenian genocide. According to some estimates, from 1915 to 1917, about 800,0001,500,000 Armenians were killed. After the decision to exterminate the Armenians was taken by the Ottoman Ministry of Interior, tens of thousands of Russian Armenians joined the Russian army as Armenian volunteer units upon Russian promises for autonomy. By 1917, Russia controlled many Armenian-populated areas of the Ottoman Empire. After the October Revolution, Russian forces retreated and transferred control of occupied Ottoman Anatolia to Armenian units. 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.
By 1920, the Bolshevik Government in Russia and the Ankara government came to power in their respective countries. Turkish forces successfully invaded the western half of the Armenian Republic, while the Red Army invaded and annexed the country in December 1920. A friendship treaty was signed between Bolshevik Russia and the Ankara government in 1921. The formerly Russian-controlled parts of Armenia were mostly incorporated into the Soviet Union, of which the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was established. Hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees found themselves in the Middle East, Greece, France and the United States giving start to a new era of the Armenian diaspora. Soviet Armenia existed until 1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and the current (Third) Republic of Armenia was established.
Origins
During the rise of nationalism, Armenians were living among the Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire. In the middle of the 1826-1828 Russo-Persian War Tsar Nicholas I sought help from the Armenians, promising that after the war, their lives would improve. In 1828, Russia annexed Yerevan, Nakhichevan, and the surrounding countryside with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. Armenians still living under Persian rule were encouraged to emigrate to Russian Armenia and 30,000 followed the call. In 1828, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, and in the Treaty of Adrianople, Akhalkalak and Akhaltsikhe annexed by Russia. A significant portion of Armenians were annexed into Russia. Another wave of Ottoman Armenian immigration occurred, with 25,000 settling in Russian Armenia.Bournoutian. Armenian People, p. 105
In 1836, Russification programs targeted the Armenian Church. Russia curtailed the Church's advances in the society.
In 1839, Abdülmecid I initiated the Tanzimât period to reorganize the Ottoman Empire, but also to stem the rise of nationalism among its minorities. Ottomanism was a key goal of the Tanzimat, 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 Edict of Gülhane, which declared equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans."The Invention of Tradition as Public Image in the Late Ottoman Empire, 1808 to 1908", Selim Deringil, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jan., 1993), pp. 3-29 Armenian nationalism was stagnant during these years, earning them the title of 'millet-i sadika' or the "loyal millet".
In 1863, Ottoman Armenians were introduced to a set of major reforms. The Armenian National Constitution codified the rights and privileges of the Armenian millet, but also introduced regulations defining the authority of the Patriarch.Richard G. (EDT) Hovannisian The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, page 198 Also included was a new parliament: the Armenian National Assembly, which was seen as a milestone by progressive Armenians. Another development was the introduction of elementary education, colleges and other institutions of learning by Protestant missionaries. Armenian newspapers were founded. Armenian historians began writing the history of their people, which instilled a new sense of nationalism. This was part of an evolution in Armenian political consciousness from purely cultural romanticism to one which called 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, sought to convert Gregorian 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 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 liberation. 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 were transmitted through the 23,000 Armenian students within 127 Protestant congregations with 13,000 communicants, and 400 schools.G. Warneck, Outline of a History of Protestant Missions (Edinburgh and London, 1901), p. 241.
In the 1880s, 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 separatism. The Armenian language, schools were targeted. Russia wanted to replace these Russian schools and Russian educational materials.
The 1897 Russian Empire 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) 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)Vital Cuinet, La Turquie d'Asie: géographie administrative, statistique, descriptive et raisonée de chaque province de l'Asie-Mineure, 4 vols., Paris, 1890-95. There were many Armenians familiar with Russian customs. Russia, for Armenians, was also a path to Europe.
National Revival
Kagik Ozanyan claims that the Tanzimat helped the formation of an Armenian political strata and incited an Armenian national spirit. Armenian nationalists hoped to build their nation through a revolution, similar to the French Revolution.Esat Uras, Tarihte Ermeniler ve Ermeni Meselesi, İstanbul 1976, 5. 463; 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 19th century proved to be inspiring to Armenians. These concepts were first introduced to the Armenian national psyche when Armenian intelligentsia which had studied in Western Europe studied the French Revolution. They espoused a democratic-liberal ideology which rested on the rights of man. Another second wave come with the emergence of Russian revolutionary thought which by the end of the 19th century was Marxist and socialist. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation took inspiration from this source. However, the materialism and class struggle explained in Marxism did not neatly apply to the socioeconomics of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as much as to those in Russian Armenia.
The discovery of Urartu has come to play a significant role in 19th and 20th-century Armenian nationalism., p. 276.
Demographics of Armenians The Six vilayets in the Ottoman Empire were largely populated by Armenians, while Erivan and Kars provinces were the main Armenian-populated provinces in the Russian Empire.
Founding
In the late 19th century, Armenian political organizations were founded, such as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnak), the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchak), and Armenakan (later known as Ramgavar). The organized Armenian activities traced back to an earlier known Armenian group, the "Union of Salvation," before the three major groups established themselves.
Protectors of the Fatherland was established as a secret society in Erzurum in 1881. Protectors of the Fatherland was almost certainly influenced by the ideas of the French and Greek Revolutions as 'Freedom or Death' was their motto.The Times, 10 January 1883, p. 5; ibid., 8 June 1883, p. 5 Members are organized into cells of ten, and only the leader had access to a central committee.
In 1885, the "Armenian Democratic Liberal Party" was established in Van by Mëkërtich Portukalian, who later went into exile in Marseille but kept in touch with local leaders, and published a journal of political and social enlightenment titled L'Armenie. 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.