Andranik Ozanian was an Armenian military commander, freedom fighter, and a key figure of the Armenian national liberation movement within the Ottoman Empire during the late 19th and early 20th century. He is considered one of the most famous icons of the Armenian independence struggle, dedicating most of his life to achieve national sovereignty for his nation, mostly by military means.
After the Partition of Armenia in late 1919, Andranik became one of the leading members of the Armenian resistance, fighting for the Armenian cause in the mountains of Zangezur and, after his departure from the Caucasus due to health reasons in 1921, abroad.
History[]
Early Life[]
Andranik Ozanian was born on 25 February 1865 in Shabin-Karahisar, Sivas Vilayet, Ottoman Empire. His mother died when he was one year old and his elder sister took care of him. Andranik went to the local Musheghian School from 1875 to 1882 and thereafter worked in his father's carpentry shop. He married at the age of 17, but his wife died a year later while giving birth to their son—who also died days after the birth.
The situation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had worsened under the reign of Abdul Hamid II, who sought to unify the Muslim world under his rule. In 1882, Andranik was arrested for assaulting a Turkish gendarme for mistreating Armenian citizens. With the help of his friends, he managed to escape from prison. He settled in Constantinople in 1884 and stayed there until 1886, working as a carpenter. He began his revolutionary activities in 1888 after returning to the Vilayet of Sivas, joining the socialist and Armenian nationalist Hunchak party in 1891.
In 1892 he was arrested for taking part in the assassination of Constantinople's police chief, Yusup Mehmet Bey (known for his anti-Armenianism) on 9 February. Andranik once again managed to escaped from prison. In 1892, he joined the newly created Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, also called Dashnaktsutyun). During the Hamidian massacres, Andranik with other fedayi (volunteer peasant rebels) defended the Armenian villages of Mush and Sasun from attacks of the Turks and the Kurdish Hamidiye units. The massacres, which occurred between 1894 and 1896 and are named after Sultan Abdul Hamid II, killed between 80,000 and 300,000 people.
In 1897, Andranik went to Tiflis, the largest city of the Russian Caucasus and a major center of Armenian culture at the time, where the ARF headquarters was located. Andranik returned to Turkish Armenia "entrusted with extensive powers, and with a large supply of arms" for the fedayi. Several dozen Russian Armenians joined him, with whom he went to the Mush-Sasun area where the fellow Armenian resistance fighter Aghbiur Serob was operating. Serob's forces had already established semi-independent Armenian areas by expelling the Ottoman government representatives.
Armenian National Liberation Movement[]
Aghbiur Serob was killed in 1899 by a Kurdish chieftain. Months later, the Kurds committed further atrocities against the Armenians by killing a priest, two young men and 25 women and children in the village of Talvorik. Andranik replaced Serob as the head of the Armenian irregular forces "with 38 villages under his command" in the Mush-Sasun region of Western Armenia, where a "warlike semi-independent Armenian peasantry" lived. His goal was to kill the Kurdish chieftain as an act of revenge; Later that year, he managed to capture and decapitate him and and destroyed all of his military decorations in the aftermath. Andranik thus earned an undisputed authority among his fedayi.
In November 1901 the fedayi clashed with Ottoman troops in what later became known as the Battle of Holy Apostles Monastery near Mush. Since Andranik had gained significant influence over the region, more than 5,000 Turkish soldiers were sent after him and his band. The Turks chased and eventually circled him and his men, numbering around 50, at the Arakelots Monastery in early November. A regiment under the command of Ferikh Pasha and Ali Pasha besieged the fort-like monastery and forced Andranik to surrender immediately. However, after weeks of resistance and negotiations—in which Armenian clergy, the headman of Mush and even foreign consuls took part—Andranik and his companions managed to leave and flee the monastery unnoticed by dressing as Turkish officers.
In 1903, Andranik demanded the Ottoman government stop the harassment of Armenians and to implement reforms in the Armenian provinces. The most fedayi were concentrated in mountainous Sasun, a vilayet with an overwhelming Armenian majority. The region was in "a state of revolutionary turmoil" because the local Armenians had refused to pay taxes for the past seven years. Andranik and several other fedayi held a meeting in Gelieguzan in late 1903 to manage the future defense of the Armenian villages from possible Turkish and Kurdish attacks. They decided to orchestrate a local uprising in Sasun, which would be commanded by Andranik.
The first clashes took place in January 1904 between the fedayi and Kurdish irregulars. Later, more than 15000 Ottoman troops arrived, massively decimating the rebels and many of their leaders. Between 7,000 and 10,000 Armenian civilians were killed during the two months of the uprising, while about 9,000 were left homeless. Around 4,000 Armenians were forced into exile after the uprising. By May 1904, the uprising had been suppressed. Europe didn't care for these events as they had laid their eyes on the ongoing Russo-Japanese War. Andranik and his surviving associates fled onto Persia to avoid persecution.
Life in Exile[]
From Persia, Andranik moved to the Caucasus, where he met with other Armenian exiles in Baku and Tiflis. He then left Russia and traveled to Europe, where he was engaged in advocacy in support of the Armenians' national liberation struggle. In 1906 in Geneva, he published a book on military tactics. Most of the work was about his activities and the strategies he used during the 1904 Sasun uprising.
In early 1907, Andranik went to Vienna to participate in the fourth ARF Congress. The ARF, which worked together with liberal Turkish immigrant associations since 1902, discussed and approved the negotiations with the Young Turks (who would later perpetrate the Armenian Genocide) to overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Andranik strongly denounced this cooperation and left the party. In 1908, after the successful Young Turk Revolution, the ARF asked Andranik to move to Constantinople and nominate his candidacy in the Ottoman parliament election, but he declined the offer, saying "I don't want to sit in that parliament and do nothing". Andranik distanced himself from active political and military affairs for several years.
Later that year Andranik settled in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he met high-ranking leaders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. Andranik pledged to support the peoples of Macedonia in their fight against the Ottoman Empire. During the First Balkan War (1912–13), Andranik led a company of 230 Armenian volunteers against Ottoman troops. He shared the command with Garegin Nzhdeh, who would play an important role a few years later. Andranik was given the rank of a first lieutenant by the Bulgarian government. He distinguished himself in several battles, including in the Battle of Merhamli. However, when the Second Balkan War kicked off between Bulgaria and all of its neighbors, Andranik decided to retire. He bought a farm near Varna, where he wanted to settle down and live a peaceful life, viewing the Armenian struggle for freedom as a lost cause.
The Weltkrieg[]
With the outbreak of the Weltkrieg in July 1914 between Russia, France and Britain on one side and Germany, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary on the other, Andranik saw a chance for the independence of Armenia and left Bulgaria for Russia. There, he was appointed the commander of the first Armenian volunteer battalion. From November 1914 to August 1915, Andranik took part in the Caucasus Campaign as the head commander of the first Armenian battalion of about 1,200 volunteers within the Imperial Russian Army. Andranik's battalion particularly stood out at the Battle of Dilman in April 1915, which managed to halt the Ottoman offensive into the Caucasus.
Through 1915, the Armenian Genocide was underway in the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the war, virtually all Armenians living in their ancestral homeland were either dead or forced into exile by the Young Turk government. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in the process, ending two thousand years of Armenian presence in Anatolia. The only major resistance to the Turkish atrocities took place in Van. The Turkish army besieged the city but the local Armenians, under the leadership of Aram Manukian, kept them out until the Armenian volunteers reached Van, forcing the Turks to retreat. Andranik with his unit entered Van on 19 May 1915. He subsequently helped the Russian army to take control of Shatakh, Moks and Tatvan on the southern shore of Lake Van. During the summer of 1915, the Armenian volunteer units disintegrated and Andranik went to Tiflis to recruit more volunteers and continued the combat from November 1915 until March 1916. With Andranik's support, the city of Mush was captured by Russians in February 1916. The successes of the Russians on the Turkish Front were significantly associated with the fighting of the first Armenian battalion, headed by Andranik.
The situation drastically changed in 1916 when the Russian government ordered the Armenian volunteer units to be demobilized and prohibited any Armenian civic activity. Andranik resigned as the commander of the first Armenian battalion. Despite the earlier Russian promises, their plan for the region was to make Western Armenia an integral part of the Russian Empire and "possibly repopulate the region with Russian peasants and Cossacks". Andranik and other Armenian volunteers, disappointed by the Russian policy, left the front in July 1916.
Struggle for Independence[]
The February Revolution was positively accepted by the Armenians because it ended the autocratic rule of Nicholas II. The Special Transcaucasian Committee was set up in the South Caucasus by the Russian Provisional Government, which allowed press freedom. In April 1917, Andranik initiated the publication of the Armenian nationalist newspaper Hayastan in Tiflis. Additionally, he helped Armenian refugees from the Ottoman Empire in their search for basic needs..
After the 1917 October Revolution, the chaotic retreat of Russian troops from Western Armenia escalated. Bolshevik Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Erzincan on 5 December 1917, ending the hostilities. The Soviet Russian government formally acknowledged the right of self-determination of the Ottoman Armenians in January 1918, but on 3 March 1918, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, ceding Western Armenia and large areas in Eastern Europe to concentrate its forces against the Whites in the Russian Civil War.
After the Russian withdrawal, Transcaucasia was responsible for defending the Caucasian Mountains from a Turkish invasion. An Armenian Army Corps was founded. Two of the Corps' three divisions were made up of Russian Armenians, while Andranik commanded the Turkish Armenian division. Several thousand men now defended a 300-mile front formerly secured by a half million Russian regulars. When the Turks invaded, Andranik was unable to defend Erzurum for long and the outnumbering Turks captured the city on 12 March 1918, forcing the Armenians to evacuate.
Through March and April the Turkish forces overran the temporary establishment of Armenian rule in Western Armenia. The battle for Turkish Armenia had been quickly decided; the struggle for Russian Armenia was now at hand. In May, Andranik arrived in Dsegh in Northern Armenia. Threfore, he and his unit in Dsegh were not able to take part in the battles of Sardarabad, Abaran and Karakilisa which saved Armenia from complete annihilation.
Since the Ottoman forces had been effectively stopped at Sardarabad, the Armenian National Council declared the independence of the Russian Armenian lands on 28 May 1918. On 04 June 1918, Armenia signed the Treaty of Batum, ceding almost all of their territories to the Ottoman Empire, which reduced them to a small piece of land around Yerevan, but in return their independence was recognized by the Ottoman Empire. Andranik denounced that move and refused to acknowledge the Republic of Armenia because according to him it "was only a dusty province without Turkish Armenia whose salvation Armenians had been seeking for 40 years."
Situation in the Caucasus after the Treaty of Batum, June 1918
In early June, Andranik departed from Dilijan with thousands of refugees and traveled to Nakhchivan. On 14 July 1918, he proclaimed Nakhchivan an integral part of Russia, with the goal to gain support from the Soviets, who controlled Baku at the time. Indeed Vladimir Lenin was pleased with Andranik's proclamation; However, when the Ottomans marched into Nakhchivan in accordance to the Treaty of Batum, Andranik and his Armenian Special Striking Division moved to the mountainous region of Zangezur to set up a defense.
The eternal Guerilla War[]
By mid-1918, the relations between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis, former allies and brothers in arms, had extremely deteriorated; Nationalism had torn the formerly united Transcaucasia apart. Andranik arrived in Zangezur at a critical moment with around 30,000 refugees and an estimated force of between 3,000 and 5,000 men, which immediately caused ethnic tension, as the population of Zangezur was evenly divided between Armenians and Azeris.
Another problem was the sympathy of the local Azeris for the invading Turks, as both peoples were ethically closely related. Many Azeris in Zangezur wanted to unite with the Turks in Nakhchivan and tried to get rid of Andraniks forces. The role of Zangezur however was crucial for Andranik because it was the only connection point between Turkey and Azerbaijan; Should Ottoman forces be able to unite with the Azerbaijani forces to the east, Armenia would be completely lost and would end under eternal Muslim domination, Andranik feared.
By September, Andranik's troops had established effective control of the region, mainly via expelling or massacring the local Azeri population. His goal was to completely cleanse the region of Muslim influence to strengthen the Armenian dominance in Zangezur. Under Andranik, the region became one of the last centers of Armenian resistance after the Treaty of Batum. Ottoman and Azerbaijani troops tried to invade the region from both sides, but all battles resulted in a bloody stalemate. The Ottomans complained at the Armenian government in Yerevan about Andranik's atrocities, but Armenian Prime Minister Hovhannes Kajaznuni said that he had no control over Andranik's forces. Even Andranik's allies in Karabakh, the Karabakh Council led by Yeghishe Ishkhanian, thought that his measures were a tad too harsh, as they only worsened the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, made peace between both nations more and more unlikely and led to revenge acts of Turkish and Azerbaijani troops, like the Khaibalikend massacre in Artskakh in mid-1919.
During the winter of 1918–19, Zangezur was isolated from Karabakh and Yerevan by snow. Therefore, Andranik, his forces, several thousand refugees and the local population were trapped in the mountains, suffering from intense famine, epidemics and extremely cold weather, surrounded by hostile troops on almost all sides. Several thousand people died. Andranik decided not to give up, proclaiming to fight until the Entente had finally defeated the evil Turks and all of Armenia had been liberated from foreign oppression.
Situation in the Caucasus after the Caucasus Conference in Constantinople, November 1919
In late 1919, the Caucasus Conference was held in Constantinople, with Turkish, German, Azerbaijani and Georgian delegates attending. Armenia was not invited. The conference ended with the Partition of Armenia between its neighbors, Lori was granted to Georgia, most of the Armenian-claimed southern provinces to Azerbaijan and the territories around Yerevan to the Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Armenia therefore ceased to exist and many Armenian statesmen, politicians and military officers fled to the south into the territories controlled by Andranik's forces. Andranik, who had been completely cut off from the outside world for the past year, supposedly reacted cynically upon hearing that Armenia had been betrayed by all of its neighbors and the great powers, claiming that "it would only have been a measure of time since Armenia would have been stabbed in the back by its allies once again, like many times before".
In December 1919, the former Armenian government led by President Alexander Khatisian held a congress at the old monastery in Tatev, proclaiming the Republic of Mountainous Armenia. The proclamation was supported by various former Republican military officers, like Garegin Nzhdeh and Drastamat Kanayan. Andranik however had grown ill and tired. Another harsh winter was coming, the war in Europe was over, meaning there was no chance for a defeat of the Ottoman Empire, and Zangezur was still plagued by famine, illness and poverty, with the incoming exiles only worsening the situation. Andranik was determined that further warfare in the mountains would lead to nothing, and that the fight for the Armenian cause would need to be continued abroad, in Western Europe or the US. His views were immediately denounced by Nzhdeh, a declared ultranationalist, who insulted Andranik as soft and defeatist. Andranik, knewing that he would not be able to convince his Armenian brethren, therefore decided to withdraw from active political life, passing the military ledership over to the officer clique around Nzhdeh.
Later Life[]
After the Constantinople Conference, Zangezur, Karabakh and Nakchivan all were considered de jure territories of Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani military desperately tried to assert their influence over these regions. Several military offensives were launched, but the Armenians bravely defended their mountain fortresses and all attacks ended in bloody stalemates. By 1921, the conflict had severely destabilized Azerbaijan economically and politically, and Germany sent an ultimatum to Baku to immediately lay down the weapons, as Germany's economic assets in Azerbaijan were in danger. Reluctantly the Azerbaijani agreed; Armenian presence in Zangezur and Karabakh was secured for the moment.
However, Andranik's physical condition began to detoriate over the following months. Food was still sparse and disease still common. When the autumn of 1921 arrived, it became clear that Andranik would not survive another winter at the current conditions. The exiled Armenian government decided that he could not stay any longer in the mountains and that he should go to Europe instead to fight for the Armenian cause abroad. In October 1921, he left with his horse, his weapons and his most loyal men to the west. They went over the mountains south into Persia, crossed the Turko-Persian border and traveled through the Western Armenian Highlands, where they had a last glance at the mighty Mount Ararat before leaving for Batum, taking a ferry to Odessa, Ukraine.
Communard newspaper celebrating the arrival of Andranik in Paris, May 1922
In the next months, Andranik established contact with many members of the Armenian diaspora in Europe and set up a diplomat delegation. His first visit was Bucharest, Romania, where a significant Armenian population lived. Romania had been the first country to officially provide political asylum to Armenian refugees in 1915. He was personally welcomed by Romanian Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu.
From Romania, his delegation took the Orient Express through Austria-Hungary and Germany into the Commune of France. Andranik had high hopes for his visit to France; He considered the Internationale to be one of Armenia's natural allies, as their anti-imperialist stance corresponded with his own political views. Unlike most of his extremely nationalist brothers in arms, such as Garegin Nzhdeh, Andranik had never cared about political ideology; the only thing he wished for was a free, united Armenia.
Upon his arrival in Paris, Andranik was greeted by the Syndicalist leadership at Gare de l'Est. Socialist newspapers from around Europe were present, portraying Andranik as "a brave fighter against German-Turkish imperialism". He was bestowed with several high-ranking Communard military honors and managed to raise funds to relieve the Armenian refugees in the Caucasian mountains. Andranik also visited the United Kingdom, but the British were very sceptical about him for posing with high-ranking syndicalists a few weeks prior, so he did not achieve anything during his short stay in London.
American Newspaper Cartoon about Andranik's struggle in Zangezur published after his demise
At the end of the year, Andranik and his delegation decided to take the ship to the US, where by far the most important Armenian diaspora group resided. He met with high-ranking Armenian diaspora representatives on the East Coast and then took the Pacific Railway to California, after hearing that multiple thousand Armenians lived around the city of Fresno. Upon arriving at the train station, he was supposedly greeted by hundreds of people who wanted to see the man who had fought for the freedom of Armenia for all of his life.
Eventually, Andranik decided to settle down in Fresno, after his physical condition began to detoriate further and further. He bought a house, ran a small hotel and cooperated with the local Armenian community. Every once in a while, he communicated with the resistance leaders in Zangezur via traveling intermediaries, but he never returned to Armenia for the rest of his life. He died in December 1925 in Fresno from the chronical disease he had caught during his time in the harsh mountains of Zangezur.