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The Republic of Armenia, now under Ottoman control as the Vilayet of Erivan, was an independent nation in the Caucasus. While the Sublime Porte at first officially recognized Armenia's independence in the Treaty of Batum of 1918, the young nation was later partitioned between the Ottomans, Azerbaijan and Georgia during the Caucasus Conference of late 1919. Since then, most former Armenian freedom fighters have joined the resistance, leading a guerilla war in the Caucasian mountains and carrying out terror attacks and assassinations in Azerbaijan, Turkey and abroad, like the infamous Baku theatre bombing of 1931.
The former country bordered Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and the rest of the Ottoman Empire to the west until it was partitioned by these nations. The Armenian rebel states in Azerbaijan also share a common border with Persia, and sometimes also refer themselves as the ''true'' Republic of Armenia.
Important notice: This page contains lore relevant to the upcoming Caucasus rework, and it may not reflect the current in-game setup that well. The ultimate goal, to eventually fully transpose the changes made to the lore in-game, still stands. This lore also may not be final, and some minor changes may occur.
History[]
With the collapse of Russia due to the October Revolution, the Tiflis-based Transcaucasian Commissariat declared its independence. Ruled by an unstable committee of Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, and Russians, the future of this newly proclaimed state stood on shaky grounds from the beginning. The Armistice of Erzincan, signed in December, brought a brief period of peace to the Caucasus.
This would end in March 1918 as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Germany and Soviet Russia granted Kars, Ardahan and Batumi to the Ottoman Empire, giving the Turks the justification to begin a new offensive. In May, Georgia became the first to abandon the Commissariat after signing a defensive pact with the German Empire, followed by Azerbaijan which established ties with the Turks.
After the dissolution of Transcaucasia, the new-born Republic of Armenia was forced to stand alone against the Turkish might. Eventually, Armenia was able to secure peace through the Treaty of Batum, but only after making some painful territorial concessions to the Ottoman Empire, for example the surrender of Alexandropol, Nakhchivan and Surmali. For the time being, Armenia's independence was secured, but the situation would rapidly deteriorate soon.
Situation in the Caucasus after the Treaty of Batum, June 1918
In mid-1919, in the final stages of the war, the situation in the Caucasus was a mess. Azerbaijan was occupied by the former Ottoman Army of Islam, led by Enver Pasha, who had gone rogue after his dismissal by the Sultan in late 1918 and de facto led an army of stateless soldiers. Georgia was mostly under German control, with the German Caucasus expedition led by Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein desperately trying to contain Ottoman influence in the area. The situation in Armenia however was different. Armenia proper, around Yerevan, was mostly free of foreign influence (however with the Ottoman Army holding positions only a few kilometres from the capital), but in the mountains of Zangezur and Karabakh Armenian resistance fighters, who acted independently from the government in Yerevan, were fiercely resisting Ottoman and Azerbaijani troops. Armenian government officials apporoached the German delegation in Tiflis led by Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg trying to gain their diplomatic and military support, similar to how Germany supported Georgia against Ottoman encroachment, but Berlin had other plans regarding the Armenian question, and therefore left Armenia without support and recognition.
In November 1919, the war was officially over, but the problematic situation in the Caucasus still proved to be a problem that needed to be solved, as a full fledged border war between the former allies Germany and the Ottoman Empire was looming. A conference was called in Constantinople, which should finally clarify the future of the Caucasus.
Germany's primary interest was focused on Georgia and Azerbaijan; The ports of Georgia would connect Germany to the Caucasus via the Black Sea routes from German-influenced Ukraine, while Azerbaijan was extremely precious due to the Baku oil fields. The only problem: The Ottoman Empire was interested in Azerbaijan as well, mainly because of the historical-cultural ties, and Baku was still under the control of Enver Pasha. Therefore, Germany tried to bring Azerbaijan into its sphere of influence. The Azerbaijani government was initially opposed to this move and wanted closer relations with the Ottomans, but Germany won the Azerbaijanis over by promising large amounts of economic investment and granting them all of Azerbaijan’s claimed territory - including the Armenian-held Zangezur and Karabakh, the Georgian-held Zaqatala and the Ottoman-held Nakhchivan. Azerbaijan was appeased by this, joined the German sphere and kicked Enver out of Baku with the help of German forces, greatly angering the Ottomans.
Situation in the Caucasus after the Caucasus Conference in Constantinople, November 1918
To compensate Georgia for Zaqatala, Germany awarded them the Armenian territory of Lori, while the enraged Turks were calmed down by granting them all of Central Armenia, erasing Armenia from the map. Armenia, which had not even been invited to the conference, suddenly faced annihilation from all sides, betrayed by its neighbors and the foreign powers alike. What followed would be called internationally "the Partition of Armenia".
However, Armenia was not completely doomed at that moment. Despite Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Turks having officially received the Armenian territories at the Constantinople Conference, most of it still was under the control of Armenian guerrilla forces, like the rebel band surrounding Andranik Ozanian, who had established himself in the Caucasian mountains. While the Ottomans and Georgia managed to bring peace to their newly-gained territories pretty fast, mostly because large swathes of soldiers in the Levant could finally be demobilized and used in the Caucasus, and, in case of Georgia, because of military support by the German Caucasus expedition, the still young and unorganized Azerbaijani Military had huge difficulties to root out the militias. Their efforts were met with continued failure as the Armenians held their positions in the mountains and even reasserted their control over the Nakhchivan region, which was disconnected from Azerbaijan proper.
The stalemate in the mountains and the Armenian capture of most of Nakhchivan caused former Tsarist military officer Jafargulu Khan Nakhchivanski to seize control of the city of Nakhchivan in December of 1920 and proclaim the Republic of Aras, with the intention of uniting with Azerbaijan once the Armenian guerrillas were dealt with. The Armenians tried to retake Nakhchivan in March 1921 but failed due to Jafargulu unofficially getting supplies from the Ottomans, and the Azerbaijani Military launching an attack on Karabakh. The offensive was stopped shortly afterwards, mostly because of Germany putting pressure on Azerbaijan to deescalate the conflict to finally bring peace to the Caucasus.
Rebel States of the Caucasus in the 1920s: The Azerbaijani-Turkish-aligned Republic of Aras in Nakhchivan and the Armenian guerilla states of Mountainous Armenia (based in Zangezur) and the Karabakh Council (based in Karabakh)
Meanwhile in Yerevan, the deeply unstable Ottomans established a more or less autonomous vilayet to keep the region calm. An ambitious resettling program was started, with many Armenians being forced to leave their ancestral homeland and being resettled in Central Anatolia. The bulk of the Armenian nationalist movement, led by Garegin Nzhdeh, had relocated to the south into the disororganized Azerbaijani-held territories, proclaiming the Republic of Mountainous Armenia in December 1919. The guerilla war on the countryside continued and Armenian nationalists started a retaliation campaign against high-ranking Ottoman and Azerbaijani government officials called "Operation Nemesis" which led to the assassinations of former political figures like Talaat Pasha and Djemal Pasha throughout the early 1920s.
While the mountains of Karabakh and Zangezur remained a stronghold for Armenian freedom fighters for the rest of the 1920s and early 1930s, the region around Yerevan had finally been pacified over time. Yerevan, called "Erivan" by the Turkish administration, slowly evolved into a bustling Ottoman provincial city with a rich Turkish elite. In 1935, Kâzım Karabekir was appointed Governor of Erivan. As a relatively liberal governor primarily interested in the military with no real biases towards the Armenian nation, he allowed a slight political liberalization in the vilayet, giving the Armenian population the possibility to engage themselves in local politics. With wind of change on the horizon, the future of the Armenian vilayet seems bright; However, the exiled ultranationalists to the south still do not accept the loss of their nation and will fight for their country and identity whatever will come. Should political instability arise in Constantinople, it surely will be felt as well in the far-flung possessions in the Caucasus.