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 Three focuses on the regional and international developments in 1920 that determined the future of the Armenian people. The Treaty of Sèvres, concluded between the Allied Powers and Turkey in August of that year, created a united, independent Armenian state--at least on paper--and authorized the President of the United States to draw the final boundaries within given limits. Yet the same powers were unwilling to use armed force to implement their award to Armenia. Meanwhile, the Russian civil war turned to favor the Bolsheviks; and as the Red Army poured into neighboring Azerbaijan, the Armenian government was faced with internal subversion and the need to reassess its political orientation.