1918 in Armenia - Battle of Sardarapat (Paperback)

Chapters: Battle of Sardarapat. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 33. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Battle of Sardarapat (Armenian:, Sardarapati akatamart) was a battle of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place near Sardarapat (modern-day Armavir), Armenia from May 21 to May 29, 1918. Sardarapat was only 40 kilometers west of the city of Yerevan (Erevan) and the battle is currently seen as not only stopping the Turkish advance into the rest of Armenia but also preventing the complete destruction of the Armenian nation. In the words of historian and researcher Christopher J. Walker, had the Armenians lost this battle, "it is perfectly possible that the word Armenia would have henceforth denoted only an antique geographical term." In January 1918, two months after the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, the Sovnarkom, the highest government authority under the Bolshevik system, issued a decree which called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Caucasus Front. This move threw the Armenian leadership in the Transcaucasia into a panic, since it removed from the region the only force capable of protecting the Armenian people from the Ottoman Empire, which had effectively exterminated its Armenian population through systematic massacres and deportations. The Armenians refused to recognize the authority of the Bolsheviks and attempted to form military units to defend the front as the Ottoman armies prepared to expand eastward. The Armenians attempted to stall the Ottoman advance as they created a small Armenian army to take up the positions the Russians had abandoned. General Tovmas Nazarbekian was selected as its commanding officer and Drastamat Kanayan was appointed as civilian commisar. But in May 1918, just two months after the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=1828183