Presumably, many readers are familiar with the Caucasus Mountains, a mountain range located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, which almost cuts off eastern Europe from the Anatolian Peninsula. The Caucasus Mountains are composed of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, the two mountains are rugged and uneven, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and have always been a place of contention. But right between these two mountains, there are three countries, georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the protagonist of our story is Armenia.
Geographically, Armenia's Caucasus Mountains are surrounded by three countries: Russia, Turkey, and Iran. As we said earlier, the Caucasus Mountains have always been a place where soldiers must fight, and since they are places where soldiers must fight, the countries located in this region must be in a little better situation.
Although Armenian ancestors were also known as the little overlords of West Asia, they once controlled about one-third of the Caucasus and eastern Turkey. However, Armenia was divided between 95 and 65 BC by the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire, then by the Persian Empire and the Arabs and Mongols, and then by the Ottomans and Tsarist Russia.
As for why Armenia is so unlucky and miserable? As we said earlier, the Caucasus is a place where soldiers must fight, and whoever controls the Caucasus controls the throat of entering and leaving West Asia and Eastern Europe from the ground. Especially the local small countries are surrounded by strong countries or regional powers, this kind of small country under the eyes of the strong country, according to the reason, want to survive either hold the thigh, or find neighbors to hug the group for warmth. But what about the relations between Armenia and its neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan?
The relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be said to be very simple, in short, the entanglement between territory and religion, and it is simply common to stage all-out martial arts on weekdays. Armenia and Georgia, on the other hand, were once very close, both Orthodox countries and resisting Ottoman aggression. Of course, the relations between the two countries are not as close as in the past, not because the two sides have territorial or ethnic entanglements, in fact, Georgia has close economic exchanges with Turkey and Azerbaijan, which can be called quasi-allies, and naturally there is no reason to support the sworn enemies of friends.
Now we continue to talk about armenia's past, before the First World War, Armenia and most of Azerbaijan were ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Azerbaijanis are predominantly Muslim and therefore have close relations with the Ottoman Turks. The Armenians believed in Orthodoxy, which was a proper thorn in the eyes of the Ottoman Empire. So the Ottomans tried to balance the Armenians with azerbaijanis and used Azerbaijanis settlements to disperse Armenian settlements. This was a very effective means of transferring contradictions, and as long as the Armenians and Azerbaijanis fought each other to the death, the Ottoman Empire could sit back and relax.
In addition, at that time, Armenians were generally inclined to seek military protection from Russia, and the Ottomans and Tsarist Russia were mortal enemies, so the Ottomans believed that the Armenians would surrender to the enemy at any time, and this trouble must be solved before they could deal with Tsarist Russia with all their might. Therefore, the Ottomans used cruel measures against the Armenians, including but not limited to confiscation of property, deportation, killing, etc.
During World War I, the Ottomans blamed the Armenians for military defeat and launched "military operations" against the Armenians. After the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire fell apart, and in 1919-1920, Mustafa Kemal established the Provisional Turkish Government in Ankara, and then sought economic and military assistance from the Soviet Union, hoping that the Soviet Union would support Turkey's territorial claims. In return, Mustafa Kemal promised that Turkey would form an alliance with the Soviet Union to jointly oppose the imperialist war, liberate the oppressed peoples of West Asia, and jointly fight against the enemy entrenched in the Caucasus.
At that time, the Red Army was dealing with the White Army and the Intervention Army in the Azerbaijani region, and the Armenian and Turkish National Armed Forces were also fighting each other. Taking into account the practical needs, the Soviet Union agreed to meet with Mustafa Kemal, after all, at this time the Soviet Union was facing enemies on all sides, and it was necessary to strive to maintain neutrality with Turkey or form a temporary alliance, and cut off the passage for Britain and France to continue to intervene in the Soviet-Russian civil war from the Anatolian Peninsula.
The meeting began on May 11, 1920, and was attended by a delegation of the Soviet Union, turkey, and Armenia, and after three months of "friendly" exchanges, a relatively vague oral agreement was reached.
Not to be outdone, Britain and France planned to support some new forces in eastern Ottoman Turkey, with the easternmost region directly assigned to Armenia and Georgia, the establishment of a Mesopotamian kingdom or Kurdish autonomous region in the southeastern region of the Anatolian Peninsula, and the United States promised to provide economic and military support for armed groups in these areas.
This also caused the Soviet Union to abandon the negotiations for more land for Armenia in order to win over Turkey. As a result of the Compromise of the Soviet Union, the contradictions between Armenia and Turkey intensified and war broke out. The confident Armenians did not wait for aid from the United States in the war, let alone support from Britain and France, but for a violent beating from the Turks.
After only a month of fighting this war, the Armenian army was almost completely destroyed, and if it were not for the Armenians who finally asked the Soviet Union for protection, I am afraid that Armenia would be part of Turkey today. Some friends may ask, Turks and Armenians fight each other, what is the matter with Azerbaijan?
Remember when the Ottomans used the Azerbaijanis against the Armenians? During the war between the Armenians and turkeys, they could not forget to take revenge on the Azerbaijanis, and this new hatred and old hatred were completely settled. In the end, the Soviet Union came forward to temporarily solve the contradiction between these two people, but the Soviet Solution was too simple and crude, that is, you all don't fight, come and mix with me! If anyone disagrees, ask me if the saber in my hand says yes or no!
As we all know, the Soviet Union and Turkey did not claim sovereignty over Mount Ararat when demarcating the border, but only claimed several border states, including Nagorno-Karabakh (mount Ararat is regarded by the Armenians as a sacred mountain and spiritual symbol). Subsequently, the Soviet Union established an autonomous region of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was strongly opposed by the Armenians, and the armenian representative even submitted a request to Moscow to relocate the Azerbaijanis back to the Republic of Azerbaijan and to reclassify the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Armenia. Of course, in the eyes of the soviet big brother, what is yours? You are all mine, what is the contention? Have you asked if I have a saber in my hand?
During Stalin's rule, Armenia and Azerbaijan were generally at peace. From Khrushchev onwards, the contradiction between the two became more and more obvious, and by the time of Gorbachev, many large-scale violent incidents broke out. The armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan intensified after the collapse of the Soviet Union, especially the daily opening of Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
From 1992 to 2020, the two sides engaged in three large-scale competitions around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, especially in the first two conflicts, when Armenia once controlled most of the Nagorno-Karabakh region (which was a territorial recovery for the Armenians and a territorial dispropriation for the Azerbaijanis, and the contradictions between the two sides were getting deeper and deeper). In these three conflicts, the first time was a ceasefire under the intervention of Russia, and the United States also intervened many times to try to mediate the contradictions, but the two sides did not give in to each other in successive negotiations, and neither the United States nor Russia could balance these two positions.
If Armenia once had the upper hand, why was it finally beaten in the third conflict? In fact, after the first conflict, Armenia felt that Russia was an unreliable neighbor, and that Georgia and Azerbaijan were far from quenching their thirst.
After the end of the second conflict, Azerbaijan grew stronger with the support of Turkey. In Armenia's view, a small country with a population of 3.06 million naturally cannot defeat Azerbaijan, which has a population of 10 million. But since Turkey is a member of NATO, it can balance the situation by holding NATO's lap. In order to pull Armenia out of Russia's sphere of influence, the United States may promise economic and military support. Did Armenia's swinging geostrategy bring him security? The answer is clearly no.
NATO chose to remain neutral in the third Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, calling only for a ceasefire between the two sides, and U.S. support was not at all shadowy. As for Russia, it chooses to sit back and watch Azerbaijan violently attack Armenia. It can be seen that the unfortunate Armenia is obviously not qualified in geopolitics, after all, it is a small geopolitical country located at the fork in the road, and it is wise to find a reliable big brother.
epilogue
For a small geopolitical country like Armenia, it will be difficult to get real foreign aid in geopolitical conflicts. However, relying on foreign aid may become a pawn or an outcast of the powerful countries, which shows that the geopolitical game of small countries is so realistic and cruel.
Bibliography:
State-Building and Conflict in the Caucasus
History of Armenia: From Origin to the Present