February Uprising

February Uprising
Part of Sovietization of Armenia
A New York Times article headline from March 17, 1921
Date February – April 1921 Location Armenia Result Uprising quelled Power temporarily seized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia in Zangezur
Belligerents
Armenian Revolutionary Federation	Revolutionary committee (Revkom) of Armenia Supported by: Soviet Russia Soviet Azerbaijan
Units involved
Salvation Committee of the Fatherland	11th Red Army
Strength
~10,000 (April)[1]	unknown
Casualties and losses
unknown	200 (in mid-April, Soviet claim)[2]

History of Armenia
Etymology Timeline Traditional Urheimat
Prehistory Stone & Copper Age Shulaveri-Shomu culture c.6500–3400 BCE Areni-1 Cave Complex Kura–Araxes culture c.3400–2000 BCE Legend of Hayk (?) 2492 BCE Bronze & Iron Age Hayasa-Azzi c.1500–1290 BCE Arme-Shupria c.1300s–1190 BCE Ararat/Urartu Nairi Tribes 1114–860 BCE Kingdom of Van 860–590 BCE Scythian & Mede Invasions 6th Century BCE
Antiquity Achaemenid Period Satrapy of Armina 549–331 BCE Orontid Dynasty Ancient Armenia Armenia Minor 331–72 BCE Kingdom of Armenia 321 BCE–428 CE Artaxiad dynasty 189 BCE–12 CE Empire 84–34 BCE Arsacid dynasty 52–428 CE Roman–Parthian War 58–63 CE Roman Province of Armenia 114–118 CE Christianization 301 CE Kingdom of Sophene c.200–94 BCE Kingdom of Commagene 163 BCE–72 CE Marzpanate period Byzantine Armenia 387–536 Persian Armenia 428–646 Mamikonian dynasty Battle of Avarayr 451
Middle Ages Arabic Period Emirate of Armenia 653–884 Hamamshen 700s–1300s Amatuni Dynasty Medieval Armenia Bagratid Armenia 884–1045 Bagratid dynasty 861–1118 Kingdom of Vaspurakan 908–1021 Artsruni dynasty Sajid dynasty 889–929 Sallarid dynasty 919–1062 Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget 979–1118 Kingdom of Syunik 987–1170 Kingdom of Artsakh 1000–1261 House of Hasan-Jalalyan Battle of Manzikert 1071 Cilician & Turco-Mongol Period Seljuq rule 1071–1201 Georgian union 1201–1236 Ilkhanid rule 1236–1335 Principality of Khachen 1261–1750 Turkmen rule 1335–1508 Kingdom of Cilicia 1198–1375 Rubenid dynasty 1000–1261 Hethumid dynasty 1226–1373 Lusignan dynasty 1341–1375
Early modern age Perso-Ottoman Period Safavid & Qajar rule 1502–1828 Five Melikdoms Nakhichevan deportation 1606 Ceding of Eastern Armenia 1828 Ottoman rule 1548–1915 Six Vilayets 1878 Hamidian massacres 1895–1896 Armenian Genocide 1909–1918 Russian period Russian rule 1828–1918 Armenian Oblast 1828–1840 Western Armenia 1915–1918 National Liberation Movement Armenakan 1885 S.D. Hunchakian Party 1887 ARF (Dashnaktsutyun) 1890 Caucasus Campaign 1914–1918 Battle of Sardarapat 1918 Battle of Karakilisa 1918 Modern Armenia First Republic of Armenia 1918–1920 Treaty of Batum 1918 War with Azerbaijan 1918–1920 War with Georgia 1918 Treaty of Sèvres 1920 Wilsonian Armenia 1920 War with Turkey 1920 Treaty of Alexandropol 1920
Modern age Soviet Period Armenian S.S.R. 1920–1991 February Uprising 1921 Republic of Mountainous Armenia 1921 Treaty of Moscow 1921 Treaty of Kars 1921 Territorial claims against Turkey 1945–1953 Independence Armenian diaspora Hidden Armenians Republic of Armenia since 1991 Post-Soviet transition 1991–1995 Modern era since 1995 Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War 1989–1994
Armenia portal

The February Uprising (classical Armenian: Փետրուարեան ապստամբութիւն, reformed: Փետրվարյան ապստամբություն, P'etrvaryan apstambut'yun) was an anti-Bolshevik rebellion by the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation which started on February 13 and was suppressed on April 2, 1921 by the recapture of Yerevan by Bolshevik forces.

Background

After the Republic of Armenia was Sovietized in December 1920 about 1,000 Armenian officers were arrested by the new Bolshevik authorities, including generals Tovmas Nazarbekian and Movses Silikyan. They were forced to walk from Yerevan to Alaverdi by foot (about 160 kilometers) and some of them were killed on the road. These officers were subsequently sent to jails in Baku and Russia. In February 1921, many heroes of the Battle of Sardarabad were shot, including Daniel Bek-Pirumyan, while his brother Poghos Bek-Pirumyan committed suicide after being tortured. Pro-ARF intellectuals were also harassed. Wheat was taken away from villagers without any compensation.

The Uprising

The repressions by the Bolshevik government of Armenia created widespread discontent and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation began a rebellion on February 13. By February 17 Ashtarak, Ejmiatsin, Garni, and Hrazdan were taken over by ARF forces. On February 18 they entered Yerevan.^[3] The Bolsheviks and the Red Army retreated to Artashat. Hovhannes Katchaznouni, Levon Shant, Nikol Aghbalian and 100 other political activists and intellectuals were freed from jails.

After the capture of Yerevan, the Salvation Committee of the Fatherland was founded under the leadership of former Prime Minister Simon Vratsian,^[3] which was to govern the country until the formation of a new government. The committee addressed the population on February 18 which invoked people to "protect order and rule, strictly fulfill all the orders of the committee". Throughout the 42-day rebellion, bloody battles took places between ARF forces and the Bolsheviks. On February 27 the Bolsheviks tried to attack Yerevan but on March 1 they were forced to retreat. After a two-week pause, Bolshevik units again attacked and took over Artashat on March 16 but the next day ARF forces started an offensive and recaptured the town.

The Bolshevik forces, greatly outnumbering the ARF, began a large offensive on March 24. They captured Aparan, Kotayk and gradually emerging, entered Yerevan on April 2.^[4] The ARF forces retreated without any serious battle to avoid the destruction of the capital.

Aftermath

Yerevan prison after Bolshevik slaughter. At the night of 17 February 1921, 50 people were brutally slaughtered at Yerevan prison.

The "Salvation Committee of the Fatherland", ARF forces and many civilians retreated to Zangezur, where they joined Garegin Nzhdeh, where the Republic of Mountainous Armenia was established. It was finally taken over by Bolshevik forces in July 1921. The Armenian leaders escaped to Persia to avoid arrest and possible execution by the Bolsheviks.

The reasons of the revolt were later discussed by the Bolshevik government and was decided to treat the population with more tolerance. After suppressing the February Uprising, Aleksandr Myasnikyan was appointed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Armenia, the newly installed government of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

International reactions

On February 18, the Committee send a message to the Armenian delegation in Paris and to the leaders of world powers (France, England, Italy), League of Nations, etc., but it remained unanswered. A message was also sent to the Armenian delegation in Tiflis, Georgia, where after the Sovietization of Armenia, local Armenians were subjected to violence. Georgia responded to the message on February 21, when the Armenian embassy was reopened in Tiflis. Georgia fell to the Soviets on February 25, thereafter the Armenian rebels were left alone against the Bolshevik forces in the Caucasus.

See also

• August Uprising, a similar anti-Soviet uprising in Georgia in 1924

References

Bibliography

• Chorbajian, Levon; Mutafian, Claude; Donabedian, Patrick (1994). The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh. Zed Books. ISBN 1-85649-287-7. 
• Payaslian, Simon (2007). The History of Armenia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-7467-9.  External link in |title= (help)

Further reading

• Hovsepian, Yurik (1987). "1921 թ. փետրվարյան խռովության առաջացման պատճառների նենգափոխումը հայ բուրժուական պատմագիտության մեջ [The falsification of the beginning of February, 1921 mutiny in Armenian bourgeois historiography]". Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri (in Armenian) (4): 49–55.  [a Soviet-era propaganda article about the causes of the uprising]