The Republic of Armenia. Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization

With these two volumes, Richard Hovannisian completes his definitive history of the first independent Armenian state in modern times and provides the basis for comparison with the new Armenian republic established in 1991 after seven decades of Soviet rule. Based on Armenian, Russian, Turkish, German, Italian, French, and English-language archival materials, these volumes provide the first comprehensive, multidimensional analysis of this critical turning point in Armenian history—a period clouded in misinformation and controversy.

Volume Four examines the final months of the Armenia republic and the destructive impact of a Soviet-Turkish entente on the goal of a united, independent Armenia. The Turkish-Armenian war from September to December 1920 culminated in the loss of half of the Armenian republic and the Sovietization of what was left. The experiment in Armenian independence had failed; and the Armenian people, unable to gather together in a common homeland, remained scattered among communities in the diaspora and in the Soviet Union. At the time, no one could predict that a new opportunity for independence would unfold before the end of the century.