Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is a Turkish country located in Transcaucasia and in Southwest Asia. It borders Persia to the south, Armenia to the west, the Union of Caucasian Republics to the north and Georgia to the North West.

## **History**

Azerbaijan had, for over 100 years been under Russian occupation, and before that being under Persian occupation. For some time, it was believed that Russia might collapse in 1917 due to the change of Russian government, but quickly order was restored throughout the country and tensions ceased. However, in 1925 it became very clear the periphery of the Russian state was collapsing. Although Transcaucasia stayed loyal to the Russians as long as they could, immense pressure by the south Caucasian people pushed and eventually succeeded in independence in March of 1926. The call for independence was met with no blood, as sometime later Russia signed peace agreements with the South Caucasus by august but not the north Caucasus rebels. Despite the relief of many in Azerbaijan that fighting wouldn’t occur against Russia, tensions heightened very quickly with Armenia. When Azerbaijan declared its independence, it wasn’t able to have control over Nakhichevan which they long claimed to have, as the population was over 60% Azerbaijani. On the other side, Armenia long claimed the mountainous karabakh region as it had a minority of Armenians and a strong history of Armenian culture but was home to Azerbaijanis as well. Despite many not wanting war on both sides, by October Armenia had declared war to regain back those territories. They also declared war on Georgia for Lazistan and Javakheti regions.

## **First Armenian-Azerbaijani War and Aftermath**

Despite what many thought, Armenia would eventually become the winner in both the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as well as the Georgian-Armenian war. Armenia had a much bigger land population, as well as an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea, something which Azerbaijan couldn’t compete with, despite their more urban and prosperous cities with their oil. After 4 months of war on all 3 nations, Azerbaijan agreed to Armenian terms followed by Georgia. Each country leader met in Shushi for the Caucasus Conference, favoring Armenia. In the end, Azerbaijan was forced to give away 50% of Karabakh, along with the prized city of Shushi. Throughout the next few months, civil unrest was the norm as public faith in the government plundered with many blaming the government for their defeat in the war. Many wanted the Azeri government to be put out from power, but they would regain popular support after establishing trade relations with their neighbors. Britain, who was interested in Azerbaijani oil immediately recognized Azeri independence and put pressure on Armenia to stop the war to no avail. But afterwards, Azerbaijan and Britain became trusted allies, despite how poor Britain was and the fact that they were becoming insignificant on the world stage. But, this decision would prove disasterous for Azerbaijan. In 1927, when the British economy crashed, and for a time it seemed like Azerbaijan's economy would too. The looming fear caused widespread strikes. But the Azerbaijani government was able to prevent the economy from crashing miraculously. Despite this the current government still lost support for itself.

## **1930s**

The first Azerbaijani Republic would settle down after 1926, and afterwards they would begin to settle down and go their own path, without any other nation influencing their path. and as a result, during the 1931 elections the current party, a traditional conservatist party was voted out by a landslide election, and the new government elected were market liberalists. They wanted to reform many sects of capitalism and improve daily life in the country.