This is the first comprehensive work in English dealing with the nineteenth-century Armenian revolutionary movement and the subsequent rise of Armenian political parties. It covers in details the history of the Armenian revolutionists' armed struggle against the government of the Ottoman Turks beginning with the first major uprising in 1862 and extending to the culmination of the Turkish Armenian massacres in 1896. Incredibly daring yet loosely organized and sporadic uprisings directed by small secret societies characterized the early stage of Armenian political consciousness. But in 1885 the first Armenian political party, the Armenakan, was founded in Turkish Armenia, signaling the beginning of political maturity. Thereafter the leadership of the Armenian revolutionary forces passed into the hands of organized political parties; the Armenakan, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party. These same parties, with some changes, continue to remain active through 1963. Nalbandian analyzes the actions of the revolutionists within the framework of the political and intellectual history of the Armenians and endeavors to clarify the sources, objectives, and accomplishments of the Armenian political parties. The efforts of these groups were not immediately successful; the revolutionists' fight against the Ottoman regime took place against incredibly sever odds: they lacked sufficient manpower, materials, and economic strength to combat the powerful forces of the Ottoman Turks. They did, however, contribute to the ultimate disintegration of the corrupt Ottoman regime and server to further Armenian nationalism. Because of the concern of most Armenian political leaders with the socio-economic theories of the day lead them to connect their own revolutionary movement with that of international socialism, Nalbandian examines the relationship of the Armenian parties to other nineteenth-century revolutionary movements in Western Europe, Russia, and the Balkans. The author, drawing upon research she has done in Soviet Armenia and in Armenian centers in the United States, Europe, and the Near East, presents an organized survey and interpretation of nineteenth-century Armenian politics as an aid to understanding current international alignments. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1963.

This book, based on new research, sheds light on the history of the Social Democrat Hnchakian Party, a major Armenian revolutionary party that operated in the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Persia and throughout the global Armenian diaspora. Divided into sections which cover the origins, ideology, and regional history of the SDHP, the book situates the history of the Hnchaks within debates around socialism, populism, and nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The SDHP was not only an Armenian party but had a global Marxist outlook, and scholars in this volume bring to bear expertise in a wide range of histories and languages including Russian, Turkish, Persian and Latin American to trace the emergence and role this influential party played from their split with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the events of the Armenian genocide to the formation of the first Armenian Republic and then Soviet Armenia. Putting the Hnchaks in context as one of many nationalist radical groups to emerge in Eurasia in the late 19th century, the book is an important contribution to Armenian historiography as well as that of transnational revolutionary movements in general.

Drawing upon original sources, this study provides the most comprehensive treatment to date of the issue of Armenian politicization and participation in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). Houri Berberian traces the political, economic, and social situation of Armenians in the nineteenth century with a special emphasis on the Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which became the focus of the Armenian revolutionary movement in the late nineteenth century, and on the Russian-ruled Caucasus, which became the source of the nationalist and socialist revolutionary movement. Discussion of the Iranian Armenian community includes, for the first time, a look into the roles and activism of Iranian Armenian women. Berberian explores the ideological, political, and pragmatic motivations of Armenians, and examines the collaboration of Armenian and Iranian constitutionalists, drawing attention to the ideological and military contributions of Armenians to the revolution as well as to the internal and external conflicts among Armenian activists and between Armenian and Iranian constitutionalist elements. Berberian concludes with a discussion of the causes and consequences of the retreat of Armenians from Iranian politics.