Editing History of Armenia (section)

====Transcaucasian Federation (1917–1918)====
{{See also|Caucasus Campaign}}
During the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]], the provinces of the [[Caucasus]] seceded and formed their own federal state called the [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic|Transcaucasian Federation]]. Competing national interests and war with [[Turkey]] led to the dissolution of the republic half a year later, in April 1918.

After the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]] and the takeover of the [[Bolshevik]]s, [[Stepan Shaumyan]] was placed in charge of Russian Armenia. In September 1917, the convention in Tiflis elected the [[Armenian National Council of Tiflis|Armenian National Council]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=First Republic of Armenia 1918-1920 |url=https://armenian-history.com/first-republic-of-armenia-1918-1920/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Armenian-History.com |language=en-US}}</ref> the first sovereign political body of Armenians since the collapse of Lesser Armenia in 1375. Meanwhile, both the Ittihad (Unionist) and the Nationalists moved to win the friendship of the Bolsheviks.

[[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)]] sent several delegations to Moscow in an attempt to win some support for his own post-Ottoman movement in what he saw as a modernised ethno-nationalist Turkey. This alliance proved disastrous for the Armenians. The signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (1 January 1918) helped [[Vehib Pasha]] to attack the new republic. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. In the end, the Republic had to evacuate Erzurum as well.

Further southeast, in Van, the Armenians resisted the Turkish army until April 1918, but eventually were forced to evacuate it and withdraw to Persia. Conditions deteriorated when Azerbaijani Tatars sided with the Turks and seized the Armenian's lines of communication, thus cutting off the Armenian National Councils in Baku and Yerevan from the National Council in Tiflis. The [[First Republic of Armenia]] was established on 28 May 1918.<ref name=":1" />