First Republic of Armenia

The First Republic of Armenia was the independent Armenian state of 1918 to 1920. It declared independence on 28 May 1918, after the Transcaucasian Federal Republic, formed on 22 April, broke up.¹ The declaration followed the battles in which the Armenians stopped the Ottoman army, ending at Battle of Sardarabad.²

Founding

The Armenian National Council in Tiflis proclaimed itself the supreme authority over the Armenian provinces. A parliament and government were formed, with Hovhannes Kajaznuni as prime minister, and Yerevan was named the capital.² On 4 June 1918 the republic signed the Treaty of Batum with the Ottoman state and accepted the frontier that Russia and the Ottomans had drawn before 1878, along the Arpa and Aras rivers.¹

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation was the dominant party of the republic.³

The end

On 10 August 1920 the Treaty of Sèvres recognized Armenia as a free and independent state.¹ In September 1920 Turkish forces attacked, and by 7 November they had taken Kars and Alexandropol.¹ On 2 December 1920 Armenia signed the Treaty of Alexandropol, giving up its claims to the territories of the former Ottoman Empire and giving up Kars and Ardahan. On the same day a new government in Yerevan, of communists and Dashnaks, proclaimed Armenia a Soviet republic.¹ The Dashnaks were soon removed from it, and an uprising in February 1921 failed.¹