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THE MYSTERY OF THE HEROIC BATTLES OF 1918
Gevorg Khoudinyan Doctor Of History
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 20, 2008
Armenia
1. 1918-1928: The Contemporary Nature of Historical Parallels
Whether consciously or automatically, we confess at moments of
self-flagellation that we, Armenians, are a nation with a "rich
experience" of suffering the collapse of empires.
First, during the 1917 Russian Revolution and then, in the period of
signing the Belovest Agreement, a document declaring the collapse of
the Soviet Union, we were left alone, face-to-face with the external
enemy, and despite the bitterness for the defeats and the enthusiasm
for the victories, we had, after all, to learn certain lessons from
history.
Let's bear in mind that at the end of 1917 and during the first
months of 1918 we were unable to defend Western Armenia due to our
disorganization and lack of courage because, after the withdrawal of
the Russian Army, we had an unlimited storage of arms and ammunition
together with the invincible castles of Kars and Erzrum.
And only at the very end, when the worst had come to the worst and the
danger of losing Western Armenia was real, did we manage to impede the
enemy's progress in the unexampled battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan
and Gharakilisa, as the enemy had to put up, at least temporarily,
with the existence of the First Republic of Armenia proclaimed on
May 28, 1918.
In 1991, the empire collapsed again, and the Soviet-Russian Army again
withdrew our region; instead of the liberation of western Armenia,
we were facing the Karabakh problem which we had inherited from the
First Republic era.
This time, however, we had managed to learn something from history,
at least a little. Left alone, we were neither dispirited nor weakened;
we realized that in order to live it was necessary to win, forgetting
about the advantages of the rival and the mercy of the world which was
indifferent. We should confess, however, that in 1991 the collapse
of the empire was slower and more controllable, and this enabled us
to simultaneously solve the problem of establishing an independent
state and confronting the external enemy. And we were no longer scared
people who had just survived the massacres, but rather, a nation that
perceived the recollections of the Genocide as an instructive lesson.
Ninety years after the 1918 heroic battles and the formation of the
First Republic of Armenia and 20 years after the start of the Karabakh
Movement - one of the incentives for the collapse of the Soviet Union,
we all are, some way or another, tormented by the following question:
whether all that happened 90 or 20 years ago is just history with its
raw and sometimes unattractive facts and figures, and whether the world
has changed so much that we can feel secure even in the environment
which surrounded us in the past and still surrounds at present?
Or, perhaps, the instinct of self-preservation has weakened,
giving way to the hedonistic psychology of temporary pleasures
and enjoyments? After all, we, as a nation and state, have not yet
become powerful enough to allow for temporary stupor while being
in the neighborhood of a bellicose country like Azerbaijan, with a
population of 8 million, and Turkey, with a population of 70 million.
In case of viewing the 1918 heroic battles against such a vast
background, we arrive at the conclusion that the bitter though
heroic fate that fell to the lot of our past generations as a result
of the collapse of empires was a direct expression of simple and
repeated regularities rather than a repetition of historical facts
and events. And the causes giving rise to such regularities were not
only preserved in the course of the recent years, but also remind
about their existence more and more at present.
While the disaster that fell to the lot of Russia in October 1917 was
one of the biggest mysteries of the world history, and the collapse
of the USSR, one of the most powerful empires of the world - just an
evidence of its repetition, the current developments taking place on
the international arena are forewarnings of the possibility of the
same processes on a new - global level. The conclusions are obvious:
First: if there are no chances for the Karabakh issue to be settled
purely on the bilateral level, i.e. through Armenian-Azerbaijani talks,
Second: if it is beyond dispute that the post-Cold War fragile balance
of the international forces cannot, during the coming years, ensure
guarantees for the establishment of final peace in our region,
Third: if the South Caucasus is now the world's leader in terms of its
current armament race, then any serious collapse on the global level
and radical change of the ratio of forces will result in resuming
the military operations in our region.
This time, we must ready not only for the collapse of a separate
empire but rather, for the instability and collapse of the world
economy and hence - the temporary collapse of the "disturbed"
regions. And to resist all that, it is not enough to have economic or
military-technical resources. What is no less important is to learn
the lessons of history fixed in our memory - the moments of history
when the ill fate left us alone with the enemy which surpassed us in
terms of its potentials and resources.
It is in this respect that the lessons of the 1918 heroic battles are
instructive because in the course of millennia, the Armenians had never
been so weak and tormented as they were after the 1915 Genocide. And
neither the history of the Armenian people nor the history of the
world have seen a nation that has just survived genocide find itself
alone with yesterday's butcher thereafter.
Therefore, in 1918 the Armenian nation proved to the whole world
that it is even possible to win one's destiny. And in order to rule
out the slightest possibility of repeating the past, the present-day
generation of Armenians should thoroughly study the chronology of
the 1918 battles - the most difficult and at the same time, the most
heroic page of their own history.
To be continued
Gevorg Khoudinyan Doctor Of History
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 20, 2008
Armenia
1. 1918-1928: The Contemporary Nature of Historical Parallels
Whether consciously or automatically, we confess at moments of
self-flagellation that we, Armenians, are a nation with a "rich
experience" of suffering the collapse of empires.
First, during the 1917 Russian Revolution and then, in the period of
signing the Belovest Agreement, a document declaring the collapse of
the Soviet Union, we were left alone, face-to-face with the external
enemy, and despite the bitterness for the defeats and the enthusiasm
for the victories, we had, after all, to learn certain lessons from
history.
Let's bear in mind that at the end of 1917 and during the first
months of 1918 we were unable to defend Western Armenia due to our
disorganization and lack of courage because, after the withdrawal of
the Russian Army, we had an unlimited storage of arms and ammunition
together with the invincible castles of Kars and Erzrum.
And only at the very end, when the worst had come to the worst and the
danger of losing Western Armenia was real, did we manage to impede the
enemy's progress in the unexampled battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan
and Gharakilisa, as the enemy had to put up, at least temporarily,
with the existence of the First Republic of Armenia proclaimed on
May 28, 1918.
In 1991, the empire collapsed again, and the Soviet-Russian Army again
withdrew our region; instead of the liberation of western Armenia,
we were facing the Karabakh problem which we had inherited from the
First Republic era.
This time, however, we had managed to learn something from history,
at least a little. Left alone, we were neither dispirited nor weakened;
we realized that in order to live it was necessary to win, forgetting
about the advantages of the rival and the mercy of the world which was
indifferent. We should confess, however, that in 1991 the collapse
of the empire was slower and more controllable, and this enabled us
to simultaneously solve the problem of establishing an independent
state and confronting the external enemy. And we were no longer scared
people who had just survived the massacres, but rather, a nation that
perceived the recollections of the Genocide as an instructive lesson.
Ninety years after the 1918 heroic battles and the formation of the
First Republic of Armenia and 20 years after the start of the Karabakh
Movement - one of the incentives for the collapse of the Soviet Union,
we all are, some way or another, tormented by the following question:
whether all that happened 90 or 20 years ago is just history with its
raw and sometimes unattractive facts and figures, and whether the world
has changed so much that we can feel secure even in the environment
which surrounded us in the past and still surrounds at present?
Or, perhaps, the instinct of self-preservation has weakened,
giving way to the hedonistic psychology of temporary pleasures
and enjoyments? After all, we, as a nation and state, have not yet
become powerful enough to allow for temporary stupor while being
in the neighborhood of a bellicose country like Azerbaijan, with a
population of 8 million, and Turkey, with a population of 70 million.
In case of viewing the 1918 heroic battles against such a vast
background, we arrive at the conclusion that the bitter though
heroic fate that fell to the lot of our past generations as a result
of the collapse of empires was a direct expression of simple and
repeated regularities rather than a repetition of historical facts
and events. And the causes giving rise to such regularities were not
only preserved in the course of the recent years, but also remind
about their existence more and more at present.
While the disaster that fell to the lot of Russia in October 1917 was
one of the biggest mysteries of the world history, and the collapse
of the USSR, one of the most powerful empires of the world - just an
evidence of its repetition, the current developments taking place on
the international arena are forewarnings of the possibility of the
same processes on a new - global level. The conclusions are obvious:
First: if there are no chances for the Karabakh issue to be settled
purely on the bilateral level, i.e. through Armenian-Azerbaijani talks,
Second: if it is beyond dispute that the post-Cold War fragile balance
of the international forces cannot, during the coming years, ensure
guarantees for the establishment of final peace in our region,
Third: if the South Caucasus is now the world's leader in terms of its
current armament race, then any serious collapse on the global level
and radical change of the ratio of forces will result in resuming
the military operations in our region.
This time, we must ready not only for the collapse of a separate
empire but rather, for the instability and collapse of the world
economy and hence - the temporary collapse of the "disturbed"
regions. And to resist all that, it is not enough to have economic or
military-technical resources. What is no less important is to learn
the lessons of history fixed in our memory - the moments of history
when the ill fate left us alone with the enemy which surpassed us in
terms of its potentials and resources.
It is in this respect that the lessons of the 1918 heroic battles are
instructive because in the course of millennia, the Armenians had never
been so weak and tormented as they were after the 1915 Genocide. And
neither the history of the Armenian people nor the history of the
world have seen a nation that has just survived genocide find itself
alone with yesterday's butcher thereafter.
Therefore, in 1918 the Armenian nation proved to the whole world
that it is even possible to win one's destiny. And in order to rule
out the slightest possibility of repeating the past, the present-day
generation of Armenians should thoroughly study the chronology of
the 1918 battles - the most difficult and at the same time, the most
heroic page of their own history.
To be continued