Armenia is a small Caucasus country with an area of only 30,000 square kilometers (smaller than the island of Taiwan) and a population of 3 million people, which is only equivalent to a small city in the country. A veritable small country with a small population.
However, even if you look at the world, small Armenia can be described as an ancient civilization with a long history!
I. Classical Period (Greco-Roman Period)
Archaeologists have found the world's earliest leather shoes, belts, and wine-making processes here, dating back to 4000 BC.
Some Armenian nationalists were convinced that the Kingdom of Uraltu, which the Assyrian kings had repeatedly conquered, was the one established by armenian ancestors (controversially). What is certain, though, was the castle built by Argishti I in the summer of 782 BC in Elivan, making the Armenian capital one of the first cities in the world to build a city!
In the 5th century BC, the Greek general Hecataeus of Miletus described the Armenian villages and villagers as "very hospitable and spoke a language that sounded very much like Persian to me".
In 190 BC, King Artash I of Armenia established the Dynasty of Artashes, and by the time of Tigran II (95–66 BC), Armenia had become the most powerful state east of the Roman Republic.
95-66 BC, the kingdom of Armenia during the powerful period
It was from this period that Armenia was heavily influenced by Western Greco-Roman culture and parted ways with the Persian culture within easy reach.
The surviving Greco-Roman style temple building in Armenia was built in the first century AD
However, Armenia's glory did not last long. Caught between the two great empires of the East and the West, the Artash dynasty collapsed in 1 AD, first becoming a Roman protectorate, and after the defeat of the Parthian Empire captive at the Battle of Lassukale in Rome, the kingdom split, and Eastern Armenia established the Arshakh dynasty and became a vassal state of the Parthian Empire.
In 301 AD, King Terridates III of Armenia designated Christianity as the state religion, making Armenia the world's first mono-Christian state, even nearly 40 years before The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great! Throughout the Middle East, it can be said to be very different and unique!
Etchmiadzin Monastery, built in 303, is the oldest monastery in the world
In 428 AD, Armenia fell to the throne, and for the next two hundred years it was ruled by the Persian Sassanid Empire.
Second, the medieval period
After the rise of the Arab Empire, the Sassanid Empire was destroyed, and Armenia was turned to Arab rule. The Arabs have been forcing Armenians to change religion, but without success.
In 884, Arhot I of Armenia established the Bagratid dynasty, and Armenia regained its independence until 1045, when the Byzantine Empire conquered Armenia, after which Seljuk Turkey defeated Byzantium and ruled Armenia.
In the Middle East and the Caucasus in the Middle Ages, it was a national and religious shura field. Armenia during this period was divided into two parts: East and West. Western Armenia, also known as the Armenians of Chilicia, cooperated with the Crusaders against the Islamic Arabs, and often appeared in legends such as the Lionheart and the Knights. However, in 1375, Western Armenia was also destroyed by the Arabs.
The Kingdom of Armenia in Chilicia
After 1453, Armenia was divided between the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Safi dynasty of Iran, and Armenia was divided into Western Armenia (within Turkey) and Eastern Armenia (within the Safi Dynasty) as before.
Third, the modern period
In 1604, in response to the invasion of Ottoman Turkey, Abbas I of Iran implemented a "scorched earth policy" in Eastern Armenia, forcing a large number of Armenians to leave their homes and wander around.
In 1828, after two Russo-Polish wars, Iran had to cede Eastern Armenia to Russia.
Because of their similar religions (Russian Orthodoxy, Armenian Christianity), Armenians were closer to Russia, so during this period, many Western Armenians in Turkey moved into Eastern Armenia
In 1827, the Russians captured Elivan
Western Armenia was still under Ottoman Turk rule. The Western Armenians have always demanded the right to self-government, but the Ottoman Sultan Hamid II responded with organized massacres. An estimated 300,000 Armenians were killed in 1894-1896, known as the Hamid Massacre.
At the outbreak of World War I, Russia and Turkey opened their fronts along the Black Sea Caucasus. There were many Armenian volunteers in the Russian army, which further deepened the Ottoman Distrust of the Armenians in the territory, fearing that the Armenians would launch a rebellion, and from 1915 to 1918, the Ottomans carried out a massacre, killing about 1.5 million Armenians!
Victim of the Armenian Genocide of 1915
The Turkish government still does not recognize the Armenian Genocide!
Fourth, modern Armenia
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia declared its independence on September 21, 1991.
Armenia and Turkey are feuding, and Azerbaijan has a Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is also incompatible, so the surrounding environment is dangerous!
Conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region
Armenia is Christian and has tended to accept Western culture since the birth of the nation, so internationally, Armenia is supported by Russia and most European and American countries.