The Fall of the First Republic of Armenia in the Context of Relations with the Entente Countries, USA and Russia

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

The article discusses the issues of the Western orientation of the government of the First Republic with its Entente allies, and significant failures in foreign policy choices. It is emphasised that the leadership of the Republic of Armenia in 1918‒1920. placed excessively unjustified hopes on the Entente countries in resolving issues of recognition of independence and sovereignty and disputed territories. Reliance on the Entente countries during the First Republic (May 1918 ‒ December 1920) did not guarantee the continued existence and security of the Armenian republic. It is noted that the Treaty of Sèvres, signed by the Entente powers (Great Britain, France) and the United States on August 10, 1920, was deceptive and was not recognised by either the Sultan’s government or the Kemalists. In this regard, the article states that, however, not a single European state has expressed a desire to help resolve territorial issues through diplomatic pressure on Turkey or the use of military force. It is also shown that as a result, the RA government ignored the Armenian-Russian agreement signed on August 10 and tried to resolve issues independently, which at the end of 1920 led to complete defeat in the Armenian-Turkish war and capitulation. It is demonstrated that Soviet Russia really assessed the current situation for intervention with the goal of rapid Sovietisation of Armenia, creating an Armenian buffer, instead of the First Republic, creating the Soviet Republic. It is concluded that the orientation of the government and major failures in army construction turned out to be the dominant factors and reasons for the decline of the First Republic of Armenia at the end of 1920. The ineffectiveness of the militarydiplomatic support of the Entente states and the underestimation of the Russian factor are revealed. The RA’s orientation toward its European allies and the United States turned out to be disastrous, since it belatedly became obvious that the Armenian leadership had made a mistake in its calculations and turned out to be short-sighted, since it did not even try to act faster in order to win real and necessary military-political support from Russia. As a result, we can come to the conclusion that after a steep fall at the end of 1920, the First Republic of Armenia, on the basis of the Armenian-Russian agreement signed on December 2, acquired a new historical perspective for further existence in the form of a Soviet socialist republic.

About the authors

V. H Virabyan

Armenian state pedagogical university after Kh. Abovyan

Email: anik.virabyan@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8874-1780
Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor Department of History of Armenia, Faculty of History and Social Sciences Yerevan, Armenia

H. V Virabyan

Armenian state pedagogical university after Kh. Abovyan

Email: hrant-virabyan@bk.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0000-6182-4810
Faculty of History and Social Sciences, Faculty of History and Social Sciences Yerevan, Armenia

References

  1. Амбарцумян К.Р. (2019) «Грузия нужна нам как временный буфер»: Международные факторы большевистской советизации Южного Кавказа (1920‒1921 годы). Новый Исторический вестник. № 1 (59). С. 88‒105.
  2. Кадишев А.Б. (1960) Интервенция и гражданская война в Закавказье. Военное издательство МО Союза ССР, Москва. 510 с.
  3. Мустафа-Заде Р. (2006) Две республики. Азербайджано-российские отношения в 1918‒1922 гг. Изд.-во МИК, Москва. 356 с.
  4. Муханов В.М. (2017) Советизация Армении в 1920 г. и Серго Орджоникидзе. Международная аналитика. № 1(19). С. 89‒99. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46272/2587-8476-2017-0-1-89-98
  5. Муханов В.М. (2019) Кавказ в переломную эпоху (1917–1921 гг.). Модест Колеров, Москва. 360 с.
  6. Andersen A., Partskhaladze G. (2020) A New Turn of The Karabakh Conflict in the Context of Armenian-Russian Relations. Qalgary, Canada. URL: https://www.academia.edu/44370851 (accessed: 08.01.2024).
  7. Gökay B. (1996) Turkish Settlement and the Caucasus, 1918‒1920. Middle Eastern Studies. Vol. 32. No. 2. P. 45‒76.
  8. Hovannisian R.G. (1996) The Republic of Armenia, vol. IV, Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization. University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. 496 p.
  9. Lang D.M. (1962) A modern history of Georgia. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, UK. 298 p.
  10. Pipes R. (1964) The formation of the Soviet Union. Communizm and Nationalizm. 1917‒1923. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA. 365 p.
  11. Suny R.G. (1983) Armenia in the Twentieth Century. Scholars Press, Chico, USA. 87 p.
  12. Tsvetkova T. (2018) Turkish National Movement and Soviet Russia in Caucasus (1919‒1922). Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies. Vol. 1. Issue 1. P. 77‒114.
  13. Ambarcumyan K.R. (2019) «Gruziya nujna nam kak vremenniy bufer»: Mejdunarodniye faktori bolshevistskoj sovetizacii yujnogo Kavkaza (1920‒1921 godi). [“We need Georgia as a temporary buffer”: International factors of the Bolshevik Sovietization of the South Caucasus (1920‒1921)], Noviy Istorisheskiy vestnik, 1(59), pp. 88‒105. (In Russian).
  14. Andersen A., Partskhaladze G. (2020) A New Turn of The Karabakh Conflict in the Context of Armenian-Russian Relations, Qalgary, Canada. URL: https://www.academia.edu/44370851 (accessed: 08.01.2024).
  15. Bolduin (2022) Vec bantarkutyun eu vec hegapogutyun, Antares, Erevan, Armenia. (In Armenian).
  16. Gökay B. (1996) Turkish Settlement and the Caucasus, 1918‒1920, Middle Eastern Studies, 32(2), pp. 45‒76.
  17. Kadishev A.B. (1960) Intervenciya I grajdanskaya voyna v Zakavkazye [Intervention and Civil War in Transcaucasia], Voennoye izdatelstvo MO Soyza SSR, Moscow, Russia. (in Russian).
  18. Kharibyan G.A., Haratyan A.A., Isahakyan R.K. (2017) Ankahutyan tarinerin Hayastani Hanrapetutyan social-tntesakan zargacumnery ev mardkain kapitali verartadrutyan himnahndirnery, EPH hrat., Yerevan, Armenia. (In Armenian).
  19. Hovannisian R.G. (1996) The Republic of Armenia, vol. IV, Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization, University of California Press, Berkeley, USA.
  20. Lang D. M. (1962) A modern history of Georgia, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, UK.
  21. Mailyan B. (2010) Vrastani Hanrapetutyan 1918‒1921 tt artaqin qagakanutyan himnakan urvagcert. Chorrord tarekan gitajogov, 30 noyemberi – 4 dektemberi 2009 t Mas I. Gitakan hodvacneri jogovacu, HRH hrat, Erevan, Armenia, pp. 127‒138. (In Armenian).
  22. Mustafa-Zade R. (2006) Dve respubliki. Azerbaydjano-rossiyskie otnosheniya v 1918‒1922 gg. [Two Republics. Azerbaijani-Russian relations in 1918‒1922], Izd.-vo MIK, Moscow, Russia. (In Russian).
  23. Muhanov V.M. (2017) Sovetizaciya Armenii v 1920 g. I Sergo Ordjonikidze [Sovietization of Armenia in 1920 and Sergo Ordzhonikidze], Mejdunarodnaya analitika, 1(19), pp. 89‒99. (In Russian).
  24. Muhanov V. M. (2019) Kavkaz v perelomnuyu epohu (1917–1921 gg.) [The Caucasus in a critical era (1917‒1921)], Modest Kolerov, Moscow, Russia. (In Russian).
  25. Qemal M. (1934) Put novoy Turcii: Tom 3. Intervenciya soyuznikov. Greko-tureckaya voyna I konsolidaciya nacionalnogo fronta. 1920‒1921, Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo Litizdat N.K.I.D., Moscow, Russia. (In Russian).
  26. Pipes R. (1964) The formation of the Soviet Union. Communizm and Nationalizm. 1917‒1923, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.
  27. Petrosyan G. (2006) Hayastani Hanrapetutyan haraberutyunnery Rusastani voch xorhrdain petakan kazmavorumneri het (1918‒1920 tt. ), EPH hrat., Erevan, Armenia. (In Armenian).
  28. Safrastyan R (2019) Mustafa Qemal: Payqar Hayastani Hanrapetutyan dem (1919‒1921 tt..), HH GAA Arevelagitutyan institut; «Tir» hrat., Erevan, Armenia. (In Armenian).
  29. Suny R.G. (1983) Armenia in the Twentieth Century, Scholars Press, Chico, USA. Tsvetkova T. (2018) Turkish National Movement and Soviet Russia in Caucasus (1919‒1922), Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies, 1(1), pp. 77‒114.
  30. Zohrabyan E. (1997) 1920 t. Turq-haykakan paterazmy ev terutyunnery, “Voskan Erevanci” hrat., Erevan, Armenia. (In Armenian).

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2024 Russian Academy of Sciences