Part 1: Russian Rule
In 1813, the Russian Empire consolidated its power over the Karabakh Khanate following the Treaty of Glisten and the Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828, when following two Russo-Persian wars, Persia recognized the Karabakh Khanate, along with many other khanates, as part of Russia. Eventually the Karabakh Khanate was eliminated in 1823.
It's worthy to note that no state named Azerbaijan existed prior to May 28, 1918. The population of current Azerbaijan was commonly referred to as Tartars or Tatars. The Tatars are Turkic people living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederation (khanlig) in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century AD. After the establishment of the Mongol Empire under Ghengis Khan in 1206, the Empire subjugated the Tatars. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson Batu Khan (c. 1207-1255), the Mongols moved westwards, driving with them many of the Mongol Turkic peoples towards the plains of Russia. The "Tatar" clan still exists among the Mongols and Hazaras.
Tax surveys performed by the Russians in the year 1845 revealed that Artsakh was almost exclusively populated by Armenian villages. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the district of Khachen had twelve Armenian villages and no Tatar (muslim) village;Jalapert (Jraberd) had eight Armenian villages and no Tatar villages; Dizak had fourteen Armenian villages and one Tatar village; Glisten had two Armenian and five Tatar villages; and Varanda had twenty-three Armenian villages and one Tatar village. It was only in the summer when the nomadic Tatars formed the almost two-thirds majority population of Artsakh. During the winter time the nomadic Tatars left Artsakh.
Throughout the 19th century, the Armenian population of Lower Karabakh grew steadily, encouraged by Russian policy, while increasing numbers of Muslims left for Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Tension between the two populations grew under Russian rule as increasing numbers of Armenians migrated to urban areas in the lowlands. This tension erupted into open ethnic conflict in the chaos of the 1905 Russian Revolution, as thousands of Tatars and Armenians were killed in pogroms in the region's major cities.
According to professor Firuz Kazemzadeh, "it is impossible to pin the blame for the massacres on either side. It seams that in some cases (baku, Elizavetpol) the Azerbaijanis fired the first shots, in other cases (Shush, Tiflis) the Armenians." According to the Baku Statistic Bureau and Tatar-Russian-Armenian committee of Assistance to Victims, 205 Armenians were killed, which included 7 women, 20 children, and 13 elderly, along with 121 wounded; and 111 Tatars were killed, consisting of 2 women and no children or elderly, as well as 128 injured.
On Septermber 13, 1905 in the Paris edition of the New York Herald:
"Holy War Waged
St Petersburg: The districts of Zangezur and Jebbrail are swarming with Tatar bands under the leadership of chiefs, and in some cases are accompanied by Tatar police officials. Green banners are carried and a 'Holy War' is being proclaimed. All Armenians, without distinction of sex or age are being massacred. Many thousand Tatar horsemen have crossed the Perso-Russian frontier and joined the insurgents. Horrible scenes attended the destruction of the village of Mankind. Three hundred Armenians were massacred and mutilated. The children were thrown to the dogs and the few survivors were forced to embrace Islamism." These killings would be the first of three massacres of Baku Armenians in the 20th century (including the September Days in 1918 and the Baku pogrom in 1990) which resulted in complete emptying of the city from its Armenian population.
Nakhichevan
After the Baku clashes, Muslim communities in the Nakhichevan district began smuggling consignments of weapons from Persia. By April, murders of Armenians in the district began to assume alarming proportions and they applied to assume alarming proportions and they applied to the Russian authorities for protection. However, Villari describes the district's governor as "bitterly anti-Armenian," and the vice-governor in Yerevan as an "Armenophobe." On 25 May, acting on a prearranged plan, bands of armed Tartars attacked the market area in the district capital, the town of Nakhichevan, looting and burning Armenian businesses and killing any Armenians they could find. About 50 Armenians were murdered and some of the shopkeepers were burnt alive in their shops. The same day, Tartar villages from the countryside began attacking their Armenian neighbors. Villari cites official reports mentioning that "out of a total of 52 villages with Armenian or mixed Armenian-Tartar populations, 47 were attacked, and of the 47, 19 were copletely destroyed and abandoned by their inhabitants. The total number of dead, including those in Nakhichevan town, was 239. Later, in a revenge attack, Armenians attacked a Tartar village, killing 36 people."
Shusha
During the 19th century, Shush became one of the most significant cities of Transcaucasia. During the period of 1874 to 1920 there were 21 newspapers and magazines being published from which 19 were
It's worthy to note that no state named Azerbaijan existed prior to May 28, 1918. The population of current Azerbaijan was commonly referred to as Tartars or Tatars. The Tatars are Turkic people living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederation (khanlig) in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century AD. After the establishment of the Mongol Empire under Ghengis Khan in 1206, the Empire subjugated the Tatars. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson Batu Khan (c. 1207-1255), the Mongols moved westwards, driving with them many of the Mongol Turkic peoples towards the plains of Russia. The "Tatar" clan still exists among the Mongols and Hazaras.
Tax surveys performed by the Russians in the year 1845 revealed that Artsakh was almost exclusively populated by Armenian villages. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the district of Khachen had twelve Armenian villages and no Tatar (muslim) village;Jalapert (Jraberd) had eight Armenian villages and no Tatar villages; Dizak had fourteen Armenian villages and one Tatar village; Glisten had two Armenian and five Tatar villages; and Varanda had twenty-three Armenian villages and one Tatar village. It was only in the summer when the nomadic Tatars formed the almost two-thirds majority population of Artsakh. During the winter time the nomadic Tatars left Artsakh.
Throughout the 19th century, the Armenian population of Lower Karabakh grew steadily, encouraged by Russian policy, while increasing numbers of Muslims left for Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Tension between the two populations grew under Russian rule as increasing numbers of Armenians migrated to urban areas in the lowlands. This tension erupted into open ethnic conflict in the chaos of the 1905 Russian Revolution, as thousands of Tatars and Armenians were killed in pogroms in the region's major cities.
According to professor Firuz Kazemzadeh, "it is impossible to pin the blame for the massacres on either side. It seams that in some cases (baku, Elizavetpol) the Azerbaijanis fired the first shots, in other cases (Shush, Tiflis) the Armenians." According to the Baku Statistic Bureau and Tatar-Russian-Armenian committee of Assistance to Victims, 205 Armenians were killed, which included 7 women, 20 children, and 13 elderly, along with 121 wounded; and 111 Tatars were killed, consisting of 2 women and no children or elderly, as well as 128 injured.
On Septermber 13, 1905 in the Paris edition of the New York Herald:
"Holy War Waged
St Petersburg: The districts of Zangezur and Jebbrail are swarming with Tatar bands under the leadership of chiefs, and in some cases are accompanied by Tatar police officials. Green banners are carried and a 'Holy War' is being proclaimed. All Armenians, without distinction of sex or age are being massacred. Many thousand Tatar horsemen have crossed the Perso-Russian frontier and joined the insurgents. Horrible scenes attended the destruction of the village of Mankind. Three hundred Armenians were massacred and mutilated. The children were thrown to the dogs and the few survivors were forced to embrace Islamism." These killings would be the first of three massacres of Baku Armenians in the 20th century (including the September Days in 1918 and the Baku pogrom in 1990) which resulted in complete emptying of the city from its Armenian population.
Nakhichevan
After the Baku clashes, Muslim communities in the Nakhichevan district began smuggling consignments of weapons from Persia. By April, murders of Armenians in the district began to assume alarming proportions and they applied to assume alarming proportions and they applied to the Russian authorities for protection. However, Villari describes the district's governor as "bitterly anti-Armenian," and the vice-governor in Yerevan as an "Armenophobe." On 25 May, acting on a prearranged plan, bands of armed Tartars attacked the market area in the district capital, the town of Nakhichevan, looting and burning Armenian businesses and killing any Armenians they could find. About 50 Armenians were murdered and some of the shopkeepers were burnt alive in their shops. The same day, Tartar villages from the countryside began attacking their Armenian neighbors. Villari cites official reports mentioning that "out of a total of 52 villages with Armenian or mixed Armenian-Tartar populations, 47 were attacked, and of the 47, 19 were copletely destroyed and abandoned by their inhabitants. The total number of dead, including those in Nakhichevan town, was 239. Later, in a revenge attack, Armenians attacked a Tartar village, killing 36 people."
Shusha
During the 19th century, Shush became one of the most significant cities of Transcaucasia. During the period of 1874 to 1920 there were 21 newspapers and magazines being published from which 19 were