First Republic of Armenia

Republic of Armenia Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն (Armenian)
1918–1920
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Մեր Հայրենիք Mer Hayrenik "Our Fatherland"
Map of the First Republic of Armenia from May–June 1919.[a]
Capital	Yerevan[b]
Official languages	Armenian[1]
Common languages	Armenian Azerbaijani Russian Greek[2]
Religion (1919)[3]	Armenians:[c] 53% Muslims: 38% Others: 9%
Government	Unitary provisional parliamentary republic with an executive presidency[4]
Prime Minister
• June 1918 – May 1919	Hovhannes Kajaznuni
• May 1919 – May 1920	Alexander Khatisian
• May–November 1920	Hamo Ohanjanyan
• November–December 1920	Simon Vratsian
Legislature	Khorhrdaran
Historical era	Interwar period
• Declaration of Independence	28 May 1918
• Act of United Armenia	28 May 1919
• Sovietisation	2 December 1920
Area
1918 (after the Treaty of Batum)[5]	11,396 km2 (4,400 sq mi)
1919 (after the Armistice of Mudros)[3]	45,325 km2 (17,500 sq mi)
1920 (after the Treaty of Alexandropol)[6]	30,044 km2 (11,600 sq mi)
Population
• 1918 (after the Treaty of Batum)[5]	900,000
• 1919 (after the Armistice of Mudros)[3]	1,510,000
• 1920 (after the Treaty of Alexandropol)[6]	720,000
Currency	Armenian ruble[7]
ISO 3166 code	AM
Preceded by Succeeded by TDFR Republic of Mountainous Armenia Armenian SSR Turkey
Today part of	Armenia Azerbaijan Turkey Georgia

The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia,^[d] was an independent Armenian state that existed from May (28th de jure, 30th de facto) 1918 to 2 December 1920 in the Armenian-populated territories of the former Russian Empire known as Eastern or Russian Armenia. The republic was established in May 1918, with its capital in the city of Yerevan,^[b] after the dissolution of the short-lived Transcaucasian Federation. It was the first Armenian state since the Middle Ages.

In its first year of independence, Armenia was confined to a small territory around Lake Sevan after its invasion by the Ottoman Empire during the Caucasus campaign. Following the Armistice of Mudros, Armenia expanded its borders in the wake of the Ottoman withdrawal, leading to a brief border war with neighbouring Georgia. During its first winter, hundreds of thousands of refugees in the country who had fled the Armenian genocide died from starvation or exposure. In the spring of 1919, Armenia, with British support, incorporated the formerly occupied regions of Kars and Nakhchivan, thereby tripling in size since independence; however, Armenian control of these regions collapsed during the Muslim uprisings that erupted in the summer of 1919.

In late 1919, the isolated Armenian region of Zangezur came under attack by neighbouring Azerbaijan. The fighting subsided until an Armenian rebellion was launched in March of the following year in Nagorno-Karabakh (then under provisional Azerbaijani rule), ending in April after Azerbaijan's sovietisation. In August 1920, Armenian representatives at the Paris Peace Conference signed the Treaty of Sèvres, which awarded Armenia an additional 40,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometres) of territory in Western Armenia, albeit the treaty was never implemented. In late 1920, Armenia was invaded by Kemalist Turkey, ending with its partition and sovietisation by the Russian SFSR, with the latter founding the superseding Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. Shortly thereafter, an anti-Bolshevik revolt resisted Soviet authority from February to July 1921.

In the two and a half years of its existence, Armenia formed diplomatic relations with 40 countries, gained de jure recognition, underwent parliamentary elections, and founded its first university. The nation's parliament and government were dominated by the broad Armenian Revolutionary Federation party (commonly referred to as the Dashnaks), however, the cabinet posts were initially shared with the "bourgeois" Armenian Populist Party and later, Social Revolutionaries.

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