When did Armenia exist?

Armenia existed 1918–1920. On this map it is drawn 1918–1919.

What was the capital of Armenia?

Armenia was ruled from Yerevan.

Middle East · Empire and mandate

Armenia

Unitary parliamentary republic · 1918–1920

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Type: Unitary parliamentary republic
Existed: 1918–1920
Shown on the map: 1918–1919
Capital: Yerevan
Peak area: ~41,000 km² (map figure; ~45,000 km² at its 1919 maximum)
Region: Middle East

Origins & rise

The First Republic was the first Armenian state since the medieval Kingdom of Cilicia fell in 1375. Its nucleus was "Eastern" or Russian Armenia — the Erivan Governorate and adjacent territories annexed by Russia from Persia in 1828, where tsarist-era migration had rebuilt an Armenian majority. When the Bolshevik Revolution shattered Russian authority in the Caucasus, the region passed first to the Transcaucasian Commissariat and then, in February 1918, to the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. As Ottoman armies, freed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, advanced into the Caucasus, Georgia (26 May) and Azerbaijan (28 May) declared independence, dissolving the federation; on 28 May 1918 the Armenian National Council in Tiflis proclaimed Armenian independence.

History & key rulers

The infant republic survived its birth only because Armenian forces won the desperate May 1918 battles of Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarabad. Even so, the Treaty of Batum (4 June 1918) confined it to some 11,400 km² around Yerevan. Four prime ministers — Hovhannes Kajaznuni, Alexander Khatisian, Hamo Ohanjanyan, and Simon Vratsian — governed in succession, all under the dominance of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaks). The Ottoman collapse at the Armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918) let Armenia triple in size: in spring 1919, with British support, it annexed Kars and Nakhchivan and absorbed the short-lived, Ottoman-sponsored Southwest Caucasus Republic and Republic of Aras. But the republic was engulfed by catastrophe: hundreds of thousands of genocide refugees starved in the winter of 1918–19 (an estimated 150,000–300,000 perished), and from mid-1919 Muslim insurgencies, abetted by Azerbaijan and Turkey, stripped away Kars and Nakhchivan. War simmered with Georgia (December 1918) and Azerbaijan (over Zangezur and Nagorno-Karabakh, where the March 1920 Karabakh rebellion ended in the massacre of Shusha's Armenians). At Paris, the Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920) gave Armenia de jure recognition and awarded it the Ottoman vilayets of Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, and Trebizond — "Wilsonian Armenia" — but the treaty was never implemented.

Government, religion & culture

Armenia was a parliamentary republic with an elected legislature (the Khorhrdaran) elected in 1919; the Dashnaks dominated, initially sharing cabinet posts with the Populists and later the Social Revolutionaries. The population — about 1.5 million at the 1919 peak, roughly 60% Armenian with large Tatar (Azerbaijani), Kurdish, and Yazidi minorities — was overwhelmingly Armenian Apostolic Christian or Muslim. Despite famine, the republic founded Yerevan's first university, held elections, and established diplomatic relations with some forty countries.

Peak & territory

At its mid-1919 maximum the republic controlled about 45,000 km² (map figure ~41,000 km²) covering present-day Armenia plus Kars, Nakhchivan, and surrounding districts; Sèvres promised an expansion to roughly 155,000 km² that never materialized.

Decline & legacy

In September–December 1920 the Turkish nationalist army of Kâzım Karabekir invaded, crushing Armenia at Kars and Alexandropol (Treaty of Alexandropol, 2/3 December); the Dashnak government then handed power to the Bolsheviks, and on 2 December 1920 Armenia was sovietized. A last anti-Bolshevik stand, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia in Zangezur, held out until July 1921. The First Republic's boundaries became those of the Armenian SSR and, in 1991, of the third and current Republic of Armenia, which venerates 1918–20 as the birth of modern Armenian statehood.

Common questions

What was Armenia?: The First Republic was the first Armenian state since the medieval Kingdom of Cilicia fell in 1375. Its nucleus was "Eastern" or Russian Armenia — the Erivan Governorate and adjacent territories annexed by Russia from Persia in 1828, where tsarist-era migration had rebuilt an Armenian majority.
When did Armenia exist?: Armenia existed 1918–1920. On this map it is drawn 1918–1919.
What was the capital of Armenia?: Armenia was ruled from Yerevan.
How large was Armenia at its height?: At its mid-1919 maximum the republic controlled about 45,000 km² (map figure ~41,000 km²) covering present-day Armenia plus Kars, Nakhchivan, and surrounding districts; Sèvres promised an expansion to roughly 155,000 km² that never materialized.
Who ruled Armenia?: The infant republic survived its birth only because Armenian forces won the desperate May 1918 battles of Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarabad. Even so, the Treaty of Batum (4 June 1918) confined it to some 11,400 km² around Yerevan.
How did Armenia end?: In September–December 1920 the Turkish nationalist army of Kâzım Karabekir invaded, crushing Armenia at Kars and Alexandropol (Treaty of Alexandropol, 2/3 December); the Dashnak government then handed power to the Bolsheviks, and on 2 December 1920 Armenia was sovietized. A last anti-Bolshevik stand, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia in Zangezur, held out until July 1921.
How was Armenia governed?: Armenia was a parliamentary republic with an elected legislature (the Khorhrdaran) elected in 1919; the Dashnaks dominated, initially sharing cabinet posts with the Populists and later the Social Revolutionaries.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia — First Republic of Armenia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Republic_of_Armenia
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Armenia: History: www.britannica.com/place/Armenia/History

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 10 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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