15 Facts About Russian Armenia

Russian Armenia is the period of Armenian history under Russian rule from 1828, when Eastern Armenia became part of the Russian Empire following Qajar Iran's loss in the Russo-Persian War and the subsequent ceding of its territories that included Eastern Armenia per the out coming Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828.

Hundreds of years, the inhabitants of Eastern Russian Armenia lived under the rule of successive Iranian empires.

The Russian campaigns found enthusiastic support amongst the Armenians, led by the Bishop of Tbilisi, Nerses Ashtaraketsi, who took part in the fighting in person.

The new Russian administration encouraged the return of ethnic Armenians from Iran proper and Anatolia to their homeland.

The Russian ruling classes welcomed the Armenians' entrepreneurial skills as a boost to the economy, but they regarded them with some suspicion.

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All this meant that the tensions between Armenians, Georgians and Azeris in Russian Transcaucasia were not simply ethnic or religious in nature but were due to social and economic factors too.

Since Russian Armenia was on Russia's frontline against the rival empires of the Ottomans and Persians, it was initially treated as a military zone.

Until 1840, Russian Armenia was a separate administrative unit, the Armenian Oblast, but it was then merged into other Transcaucasian provinces with no regard to its national identity.

Armenian culture flourished in these years as the new unified province under Russian rule gave Armenians a sense of their shared identity once more.

Russian Armenia viewed any expression of a desire for increased freedom and autonomy by his subjects as evidence of rebellion.

The Russian authorities began to be suspicious of Armenian economic dominance in Transcaucasia.

The Russian authorities were disturbed by revolutionary Armenian nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire and feared their links with eastern Armenians would increase subversion within Russian Transcaucasia too.

The Catholicos of Armenia begged the Russians to overturn the decree but when they refused he turned to the Dashnaks.

At Gandzak the Russian Armenia army responded by firing into the crowd, killing ten, and further demonstrations were met with more bloodshed.

Russian Armenia replaced Golitsin with the Armenophile governor Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov and returned the property of the Armenian Church.