The Russians
Russia was first mentioned in Armenian manuscripts in a history book by Movses Kaghantkatvatsi (9th century): “At that time an unknown people called Ruziks appeared in the North. More than three times they swept like a storm down to the Caspian Sea and reached Partav, the capital of the Albans…” As early as the 12th century Grigor Tutevordi, the father superior of Sanahin Monastery, appealed for help against the Seljuks, “Send protests to the emperor, confer with the nations of the Franks, Assyrians and the glorious Russian Church, revered by Christianity, and ask them the assistance you need.”

Peter the Great, in recruiting Armenian craftsmen, builders and educators to his reforms, decreed, “The Armenians are to be welcomed and made comfortable so as to induce them to come to Russia in greater numbers” (March 2, 1711). By giving Armenians special privileges and a haven from the constant warfare in their homeland, more than half a million Armenians immigrated to Russia during and after his reign. Russia also had her eyes on opening the territories of the South, as she sought to create a warm-water port on the Black Sea and capture trade routes to Persia and the west. And she gradually succeeded in this quest beginning in the 18th century.

The Persian Irakli II was forced to accept Russian suzerainty in 1783, prompted by Catherine the Great’s troops invading the Caucasus in 1770. For the next century Russia was engaged in military conflict (all ought war) to subdue the Caucasus kingdoms, wresting Yerevan and Eastern Armenia from Persia in 1828, and Kars and Ardahan (now in Turkey) from the Turks in the 1878. Russia’s quest for a southern port on the Black Sea was a direct threat to the Ottoman Empire, and Armenians often found themselves as pawns in orchestrated forays and purges by both Russian and Ottoman powers seeking advantage.

Armenia and the Russian Caucasus

The relationship between Eastern Armenia and Russia was formed in this period, and continues to the present day. It is a complicated relationship, based on both hatred for Russian brutality and oppression, and gratitude for saving the Armenian nation at a crucial period in their history. Russian control permitted Armenia to develop economically in the eastern territories while the western regions faced increasing persecution. Though members of a vassal state of the Russian Empire, Armenians nonetheless were able to achieve prosperity inside Armenia, and influence in the Russian State.

By accepting Russian rule, the Armenians were able to prevent further incursions on their land by Ottomans, and maintained religious autonomy. On the other hand, Armenians have always wanted independence, and the Russian Empire squashed any signs of rebellion. During the Czarist period, Alexandropol (before Kumairi, now Giumri) thrived as a regional trade center, as did Yerevan (despite its reputation as a sleepy village, Yerevan was the center for several sought-after commodities in Czarist Russia). Still, the Russians looked to Armenia more for its raw minerals than the potential of its people, forcing Armenians to migrate to other cities. Armenia's importance in the Russian Empire increased, as Armenians took advantage of economic opportunities in the Crimea, Ukraine, Poland and throughout the Russian State.

The largest concentration of Armenians outside Armenia was in Tbilisi, which is indebted to them for the prosperity that allowed the creation of the sumptuous mansions in the old quarter. Tbilisi had already become an important Armenian cultural center in the 17th century, but in the 19th century it was the undisputed center for Armenian arts and intellectual development. In moves that would greatly influence the history of the region in the next century, Tbilisi also became a center for dissent and the budding anti-czarist movement, which developed into dissident "cells". Cells were secret groups that published pamphlets and books promoting independence and worker rights. At first following the influence of Herzen and the Decembrists, the cells became increasingly strident in their views, so that by the 1890's, many were promoting revolution and Socialism. As Armenians grew in economic and political importance, there were inevitable backlashes by jealous overlords.

Seeds of Genocide
In many ways, the pogroms against the Jews in Czarist Russia were duplicated against Armenians. While the rise of socialist and nationalist movements throughout the Caucasus brought brutal repression in Western Armenia by the Ottomans. Both empires were in decay, and faced with increased socialist movements within their borders. While in the East the formation of the First, Second and Third Groups eventually led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, in Turkey national movements for independence terrified an already paranoid dynasty in its death throes.

In this same period a second relationship formed between Greeks and native Armenians. After the Greek war of independence (1821-1828) and the War between Russia and Persia (1827-1828), the Ottoman Empire entered a period of decline, and xenophobic backlashes against minorities were expanded. Confronted on three fronts by hostile neighbors (the World Powers to the West, and Russia to the North and East), and crippled by the defeat of her forces in the war with Greece, Turkey struck back in the only way she knew. Tens of thousands of Greeks living in the empire were slaughtered, prompting large communities to migrate into Armenia, where they found a safe haven. Both facing brutal repression by Ottomans (and later the Ataturk Republic), Greece and Armenia began a period of mutual friendship that continues to the present day. Other ethnic groups that found acceptance in Armenia were Yesdis (a Zoroastrian community), Kurds, Jews, Molokons (Russian Old Believers who were exiled to Armenia by Catherine the Great) and one of the last surviving populations of Assyrians.

As much as the Eastern Armenians achieved limited success within the existing power structure, the Western Armenian population was continually faced with systematic discrimination, heavy taxation and armed attacks. As Christians, Armenians lacked legal recourse for injustices, were forbidden to bear arms in a country where murdering a non-Muslim often went unpunished, and were without the right to testify in court on their own behalf. Large populations of Armenians in Ankara and Istanbul (Constantinople) did achieve a level of prosperity, and rose to prominence within the Ottoman government. Their prosperity was seen as a danger to the Turkish people, while they were increasingly relied on to prop up a decaying dynasty.

Top