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Azerbaijan Table A. Chronology of Important Events
Period
Description
EARLY HISTORY
95-55 B.C.
Armenian Empire reaches greatest size and influence under Tigran
the Great.
66 B.C.
Romans complete conquest of Caucasus Mountains region, including
Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Iberia.
30 B.C.
Romans conquer Armenian Empire.
A.D. 100-300
Romans annex Azerbaijan and name it Albania.
ca. 310
Tiridates III accepts Christianity for the Armenian people.
330
King Marian III of Kartli-Iberia accepts Christianity for the
Georgian people.
FIFTH-SEVENTH CENTURIES
First golden age of Armenian culture.
ca. 600
Four centuries of Arab control of Azerbaijan begin, introducing
Islam in seventh century.
645
Arabs capture Tbilisi.
653
Byzantine Empire cedes Armenia to Arabs.
NINTH-TENTH CENTURIES
806
Arabs install Bagratid family to govern Armenia.
813
Armenian prince Ashot I begins 1,000 years of rule in Georgia by
Bagratid Dynasty.
862-977
Second golden age of Armenian culture, under Ashot I and Ashot
III.
ELEVENTH-FOURTEENTH CENTURIES
Byzantine Greeks invade Armenia from west, Seljuk Turks from
east; Turkish groups wrest political control of Azerbaijan from
Arabs, introducing Turkish language and culture.
1099-1125
David IV the Builder establishes expanded Georgian Empire and
begins golden age of Georgia.
1000-late 1200s
Golden age of Azerbaijani literature and architecture.
1100s-1300s
Cilician Armenian and Georgian armies aid European armies in
Crusades to limit Muslim control of Holy Land.
1200-1400
Mongols twice invade Azerbaijan, establishing temporary
dynasties.
1375
Cilician Armenia conquered by Mamluk Turks.
1386
Timur (Tamerlane) sacks Tbilisi, ending Georgian Empire
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Most of modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia become part of
Ottoman Empire.
SIXTEENTH CENTURY
1501
Azerbaijani Safavid Dynasty begins rule by Persian Empire.
1553
Ottoman Turks and Persians divide Georgia between them.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
ca. 1700
Russia begins moving into northern Azerbaijan as Persian Empire
weakens.
1762
Herekle II reunites eastern Georgian regions in kingdom of
Kartli-Kakhetia.
NINETEENTH CENTURY
1801
After Herekle II's appeal for aid, Russian Empire abolishes
Bagratid Dynasty and begins annexation of Georgia.
1811
Georgian Orthodox Church loses autocephalous status in
Russification process.
1813
Treaty of Gulistan officially divides Azerbaijan into Russian
(northern) and Persian (southern) spheres.
1828
Treaty of Turkmanchay awards Nakhichevan and area around Erevan
to Russia, strengthening Russian control of Transcaucasus and
beginning period of modernization and security.
1872
Oil industry established around Baku, beginning rapid expansion.
1878
"Armenian question" emerges at Congress of Berlin; disposition
of Armenia becomes ongoing European issue.
1891
First Armenian revolutionary party formed.
1895
Massacre of 300,000 Armenian subjects by Ottoman Turks.
TWENTIETH CENTURY
ca. 1900
Radical political organizations begin to form in Azerbaijan.
1908
Young Turks take over government of Ottoman Empire with reform
agenda, supported by Armenian population.
1915
Young Turks massacre 600,000 to 2 million Armenians; most
survivors leave eastern Anatolia.
1917
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia form independent Transcaucasian
federation. Tsar Nicholas II abdicates Russian throne; Bolsheviks
take power in Russia.
1918
Independent Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian states emerge
from defeat of Ottoman Empire in World War I.
1920
Red Army invades Azerbaijan and forces Armenia to accept
communist-dominated government.
1921
Red Army invades Georgia and drives out Zhordania government.
1922
Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic combines
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as single republic within Soviet
Union.
1936
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia become separate republics
within Soviet Union.
1936-37
Purges under political commissar Lavrenti Beria reach their peak
in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
1943
Autonomy restored to Georgian Orthodox Church.
1946
Western powers force Soviet Union to abandon Autonomous
Government of Azerbaijan, formed in 1945 after Soviet occupation
of northern Iran.
1959
Nikita S. Khrushchev purges Azerbaijani Communist Party.
1969 Heydar Aliyev named head of Azerbaijani Communist Party.
ca. 1970
Zviad Gamsakhurdia begins organizing dissident Georgian
nationalists.
1972
Eduard Shevardnadze named first secretary of Georgian Communist
Party.
1974
Moscow installs regime of Karen Demirchian in Armenia to end
party corruption; regime later removed for corruption.
1978
Mass demonstrations prevent Moscow from making Russian an
official language of Georgia.
1982
Aliyev of Azerbaijan named full member of Politburo of Communist
Party of the Soviet Union.
1985
Shevardnadze named minister of foreign affairs of Soviet Union
and leaves post as first secretary of Georgian Communist Party.
Late 1980s
Mikhail S. Gorbachev initiates policies of glasnost and
perestroika throughout Soviet Union.
1988
Armenian nationalist movement revived by Karabakh and corruption
concerns.
February
Nagorno-Karabakh government votes to unify that autonomous
region of Azerbaijan with Armenia.
December
Disastrous earthquake in northern Armenia heavily damages
Leninakan (now Gyumri).
1989
April
Soviet troops kill Georgian civilian demonstrators in Tbilisi,
radicalizing Georgian public opinion.
Spring
Mass demonstrations in Armenia achieve release of Karabakh
Committee arrested by Soviets to quell nationalist movement.
September
Azerbaijan begins blockade of Armenian fuel and supply lines
over Karabakh issue.
Fall
Azerbaijani opposition parties lead mass protests against Soviet
rule; national sovereignty officially proclaimed.
November
Nagorno-Karabakh National Council declares unification of
Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
1990
January
Moscow sends troops to Azerbaijan, nominally to stem violence
against Armenians over Karabakh.
Spring
Levon Ter-Petrosian of Armenian Pannational Movement chosen
chairman of Armenian Supreme Soviet.
October
In first multiparty election held in Georgia, Gamsakhurdia's
oppositionist party crushes communists; Gamsakhurdia named
president.
1991
January
Georgian forces invade South Ossetia in response to independence
movement there; fighting continues all year; Soviet troops invade
Azerbaijan, ostensibly to halt anti-Armenian pogroms.
April
After referendum approval, Georgian parliament declares Georgia
independent of Soviet Union.
May
Gamsakhurdia becomes first president of Georgia, elected
directly in multiparty election.
August
Attempted coup against Gorbachev in Moscow fails.
September
Armenian voters approve national independence.
October
Azerbaijani referendum declares Azerbaijan independent of Soviet
Union; Ter-Petrosian elected president of Armenia.
December
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh declare independent state as
fighting there continues; Soviet Union officially dissolved.
1992
January
Gamsakhurdia driven from Georgia into exile by opposition
forces.
March
Shevardnadze returns to Tbilisi and forms new government.
Spring
Armenian forces occupy Lachin corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh
to Armenia.
June
Abulfaz Elchibey elected president of Azerbaijan and forms first
postcommunist government there.
July
Cease-fire mediated by Russia's President Yeltsin in South
Ossetia.
October
Parliamentary election held in Georgia; Shevardnazde receives
overwhelming support.
Fall
Fighting begins between Abkhazian independence forces and
Georgian forces; large-scale refugee displacement continues
through next two years.
June
Military coup deposes Elchibey in Azerbaijan; Aliyev returns to
power.
Fall
Multilateral negotiations seek settlement of Karabakh conflict,
without result; fighting, blockade, and international negotiation
continue into 1994.
October
Shevardnadze responds to deterioration of Georgian military
position by having Georgia join Commonwealth of Independent
States, thus gaining Russian military support; Aliyev elected
president of Azerbaijan.
Data as of March 1994
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