The First Republic of Armenia: A Short-Lived State Born from the Ashes of War

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Emerging in 1918 after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Federation, the First Republic of Armenia faced immediate existential threats. Despite military victories against the Ottoman Empire, the fledgling nation was ravaged by famine, disease, and territorial conflicts, surviving for only two and a half years before its eventual sovietisation in 1920.

The Republic of Armenia was established on 28 May 1918, marking the first independent Armenian state since the Middle Ages. Centered in Yerevan, the nation was initially confined to a small territory around Lake Sevan. Its birth occurred amidst the chaos of the First World War and the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, as Ottoman forces advanced into the region. Although Armenian forces achieved significant victories at Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarabad in May 1918, the state remained precarious, with its leadership forced to sign the Treaty of Batum in June 1918 to secure a fragile peace.

The republic's brief existence was defined by humanitarian catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of refugees flooded the country, and by the winter of 1918–1919, the nation suffered from extreme famine and a devastating typhus epidemic. Historians note that by mid-1919, approximately 200,000 people had perished. Despite these hardships, the government managed to establish diplomatic relations with 40 countries, hold parliamentary elections, and open its first university. The political landscape was dominated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, or Dashnaks, who shared power with other parties in a challenging administrative environment.

Territorial instability plagued the republic throughout its existence. While Armenia briefly expanded its borders in 1919 to include Kars and Nakhchivan with British support, these gains were soon undermined by local uprisings and regional conflicts with Azerbaijan and Georgia. By late 1920, the republic faced a two-front crisis: an invasion by Kemalist Turkey and the encroaching influence of the Russian SFSR. The state collapsed in December 1920, leading to its partition and the establishment of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. This short-lived experiment in independence remains a pivotal moment in Armenian national history, symbolizing both the struggle for sovereignty and the immense human cost of the era.

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