page_title: Military history of Armenia
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Armenia / World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: Armenians defending the walls of Van in the spring of 1915. Scanned from the Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia Article on the Defense of Van (vol. 11, p. 273)
context_page_description: The early military history of Armenia is defined by the situation of the Armenian Highland between the Hellenistic states, and later the Byzantine Empire, in the west and the Persian Empire to the east. The Kingdom of Armenia had a series of repeated struggles for independence from Persia or Rome, followed by renewed conquests into either of the neighboring empires. The period after the Muslim conquests in the 7th century, up to the late 15th century, was mostly marked by domination by other empires, such as by the successive Arab Caliphates, the Seljuk Empire, the Ilkhanate, the Timurid Empire and the Ak Koyunlu and Kara Koyunlu, amongst others. Some periods of greater military independence were, intermittently, achieved under the Bagratids and, albeit located outside the Armenian Highlands, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.
  From the early 16th century, Eastern Armenia came under the rule of the successive dynasties of Iran, namely the Safavids, followed by the Afsharids and Qajars. In the course of the 16th century, and decisively with the Treaty of Zuhab Western Armenia came under Ottoman rule.
context_section_description: The Armenian people were subjected to a genocide by the Young Turk government during World War I. Between 1.5 million and 2 million men, women and children were killed. Armenians often resisted the actions of the Turkish government, such as during the Van Resistance.
  With the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, in the Caucasus Campaign after the collapse of the Russian Empire and Army, the newly organized army fought a couple of battles against the Ottoman Empire.  Victory at the Battle of Sardarapat proved that the Armenians were a capable power, but ultimately the Armenians were forced to surrender most of their land and weapons. During the same time, the Democratic Republic of Armenia also faced the Georgian-Armenian War 1918 and Armenian-Azeri war 1918.
caption: Armenian civilians holding a defense line against Ottoman forces during the defence of Van, in 1915.
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