In 1918, the Armenian people emerged from centuries of foreign domination to establish a small Republic in the russian armenian Provinces of the Caucasus. While the populace struggled for physical survival in a devastated land, armenian Representatives at the Paris Peace Conference appealed for supportive action and the means to extend the boundaries of the new state to encompass the adjacent, richer provinces of turkish Armenia. During the World War I, the Allied and the Associated Powers had solemnly pledged that the Armenians would be indemnified for their extreme sacrifices and that their historic nation would be guaranteed a permanent separate existence.

But the Republic of Armenia did not endure. The refusal of Turkey and ultimatey of Soviet Russia to tolerate armenian independence, thr failure of the Allied Powers to give force to their decisions and, the inability of the Armenians alone to defend their fledging state transformed the propect of an independent Armenia into chaotic unreality at the end of 1920.

Mr.Hovannisian has undertaken the first thorough history of the Republic of Armenia. This volume, the first of two, describes the grave political and economics crises of the Republic in 1918-1919, the labors of its delegation at Paris, the relations of Armenia with neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan and the attitude of all three Republics toward teh British Imperial forces in the Caucasus, the White Armies and the soviet government of Russia, the turkish nationalist Movement and, the Allied Powers.

After one year of Independence the fate of Armenia remained uncertain. The victorious nations repeatedly postponed The treaty with vanquished ottoman Empire, even as thousands of turkish armenian refugees were wasting away in exile and as turkish Resistance to the impending loss of the armenian Provinces was taking definite shape. Still, the Republic had managed to outlast a death-ridden winter and to fill out several additional districts that bordered upon turkish Armenia. The armenian people thus faced their second year of Independence with general optimism and the conviction that their historic lands would soon be combined into the free and united Republic of Armenia.

 

Notes sur oeuvre :

The highly controversial topics treated by Mr.Hovannisian are frequently the subject of partisan, politically-motivated interpretations. Few authors, whether Western or Soviet, armenian or turkish, have utilized the voluminous primary materials that alone make possible the presentation of a reliable account. Mr.Hovannisian is the first historian to use the available diplomatic papers, war office files, Peace Conference correspondence, embassy and consular records, cabinet minutes and memoranda, together with memoirs and published documents in russian, turkish, german, english and armenian. He has explored fresh source materials in the depositories of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and in the archives of the United States, Great Britain and the Republic of Armenia Delegation to the Peace Conference.

Richard G.Hovannisian is professor of Armenian and Near-Eastern History and Associate Director of the Von Grünebaum Center for Near-Eastern Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His three-volume, multidimensional history of the Republic of Armenia provides new information and insights into Near-Eastern and Soviet studies, the modern history of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, the peace settlements folloing WWI and the policies and actions of the European Powers and the United States in the Near-East, Transcaucasia and Russia.

MAPS

1. Turkish ARMENIA and the Transcaucasus

2. The Administrative subdivisions of Transcaucasia

3. The Turksh Offensive of 1918

4. The Battles of May, 1918

5. The Territorial Losses of Transcaucasia, 1918

6. LORI and AKHALKALAK

7. The EREVAN and ELISAVETPOL Guberniias

8. The Armeno-Georgian Field of Battle, December, 1918

9. KARABAGH and ZANGEZUR

10. The KARS Oblast

11. The Southern Uezds of the EREVAN Guberniia

12. The Proposed Boundaries of ARMENIA, 1919

13. Conflicting Territorial Claims in the Caucasus

14. The CAUCASUS and RUSSIA, 1919

15. The Republic of ARMENIA, June, 1919

 

Notes de recherche :

Armenian Populist Party, Armenian Social Revolutionary, Dashnaktsutiun,Armenian National Congress,Transcaucasian Federative Republic,Gal. William M. THOMSON,Topchibashev,Boghos Nubar,Avetis Aharonian

Informations sur le livre :

Année 1971
Nombre de pages 547
Titre tertiaire The First Year 1918-1919
Editeur University of California Press
Ville éditeur Berkeley (California)
Edition Relié Broché
Format du support 24 x 16
Type de colume 1
Numéro ISBN 0-520-01984-9
Mots-clés
Types de travail
Langues
  • Anglais