Armenia

===Early Modern era===
{{further|Iranian Armenia (1502–1828)|Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|Russian Armenia}}
[[File:Map Safavid persia.png|thumb|In 1501–02, most of the [[Eastern Armenia]]n territories, including Yerevan, were conquered by the emerging [[Safavid dynasty]] of Iran led by Shah [[Ismail I]].]]
During the 1230s, the [[Mongol Empire]] conquered Zakarid Armenia and then the remainder of Armenia. The Mongolian invasions were soon followed by those of other Central Asian tribes, such as the [[Kara Koyunlu]], [[Timurid dynasty]] and [[Ağ Qoyunlu]], which continued from the 13th century until the 15th century. After incessant invasions, each bringing destruction to the country, with time Armenia became weakened.<ref name="Hovannisian2004b">{{cite book | author = Richard G. Hovannisian | date = 11 February 2004 | title = The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times: Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan US | pages =23–31 | isbn = 978-1-4039-6422-9 | oclc = 805125065}}</ref>

In the 16th century, the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Safavid dynasty]] of Iran divided Armenia. From the early 16th century, both [[Western Armenia]] and [[Eastern Armenia]] fell to the Safavid Empire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rayfield|first=Donald|title=Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxQpmg_JIpwC&pg=PA165|year=2013|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-78023-070-2|page=165|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205172633/https://books.google.com/books?id=PxQpmg_JIpwC&pg=PA165|archive-date=5 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ward2014">{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Steven R.|title=Immortal, Updated Edition: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MOuVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|year=2014|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=978-1-62616-032-3|page=43|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205171942/https://books.google.com/books?id=MOuVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|archive-date=5 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Owing to the century long [[Ottoman–Safavid relations|Turco-Iranian geopolitical rivalry]] that would last in Western Asia, significant parts of the region were frequently fought over between the two rivalling empires during the [[Ottoman–Persian Wars]]. From the mid 16th century with the [[Peace of Amasya]], and decisively from the first half of the 17th century with the [[Treaty of Zuhab]] until the first half of the 19th century,<ref name="HerzigKurkchiyan2004">{{cite book|last1=Herzig|first1=Edmund|last2=Kurkchiyan|first2=Marina|title=The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8WRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79837-6|page=47|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111210219/https://books.google.com/books?id=B8WRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|archive-date=11 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Eastern Armenia was ruled by the successive Safavid, [[Afsharid dynasty|Afsharid]] and [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] empires, while Western Armenia remained under [[Ottoman Turkey|Ottoman]] rule.

From 1604, [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I of Iran]] implemented a "[[scorched earth]]" policy in the region to protect his north-western frontier against any [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1618)|invading Ottoman forces]], a policy that involved a [[History of Armenia#Persian Armenia|forced resettlement]] of masses of Armenians outside of their homelands.<ref>H. Nahavandi, Y. Bomati, ''Shah Abbas, empereur de Perse (1587–1629)'' (Perrin, Paris, 1998)</ref>
[[File:Siege of Erivan Fortress on 1 October 1827.jpg|thumb|[[Capture of Erivan]] fortress by Russian troops in 1827 during the [[Russo-Persian War (1826–28)]] by [[Franz Roubaud]]]]
In the 1813 [[Treaty of Gulistan]] and the 1828 [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]], following the [[Russo-Persian War (1804–13)]] and the [[Russo-Persian War (1826–28)]], respectively, the [[Qajar dynasty]] of Iran was forced to irrevocably cede [[Eastern Armenia]], consisting of the [[Erivan Khanate|Erivan]] and [[Karabakh Khanate]]s, to [[Imperial Russia]].<ref name="Mikaberidze2011">{{cite book|last=Mikaberidze|first=Alexander|author-link=Alexander Mikaberidze|title=Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBBYD2J2oE4C&pg=PA351|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-337-8|pages=33, 351|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205173031/https://books.google.com/books?id=jBBYD2J2oE4C&pg=PA351|archive-date=5 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dowling2014">{{cite book|last=Dowling|first=Timothy C.|title=Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond &#91;2 volumes&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA728|year=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-948-6|pages=728–|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208103437/https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA728|archive-date=8 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> This period is known as [[Russian Armenia]].

While Western Armenia still remained under Ottoman rule, the Armenians were granted considerable autonomy within their own [[enclave]]s and lived in relative harmony with other groups in the empire (including the ruling Turks). However, as Christians under a strict Muslim [[social structure]], Armenians faced pervasive discrimination. In response to [[1894 Sasun rebellion]], Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] organised state-sponsored massacres against the Armenians between 1894 and 1896, resulting in an estimated death toll of 80,000 to 300,000 people. The [[Hamidian massacres]], as they came to be known, gave Hamid international infamy as the "Red Sultan" or "Bloody Sultan".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Minahan|first1=James|title=The complete guide to national symbols and emblems|date=2010|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-0-313-34497-8|page=310|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfrWCQAAQBAJ|access-date=27 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025182604/https://books.google.com/books?id=jfrWCQAAQBAJ|archive-date=25 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the 1890s, the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation]], commonly known as ''Dashnaktsutyun'', became active within the [[Ottoman Empire]] with the aim of unifying the various small groups in the empire that were advocating for reform and defending Armenian villages from massacres that were widespread in some of the Armenian-populated areas of the empire. Dashnaktsutyun members also formed [[Armenian fedayi]] groups that defended Armenian civilians through armed resistance. The Dashnaks also worked for the wider goal of creating a "free, independent and unified" Armenia, although they sometimes set aside this goal in favour of a more realistic approach, such as advocating autonomy.

The Ottoman Empire began to collapse, and in 1908, the [[Young Turk Revolution]] overthrew the government of Sultan Hamid. In April 1909, the [[Adana massacre]] occurred in the [[Adana Vilayet]] of the Ottoman Empire resulting in the deaths of as many as 20,000–30,000 Armenians. The Armenians living in the empire hoped that the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] would change their second-class status. The [[Armenian reform package]] (1914) was presented as a solution by appointing an [[inspector general]] over Armenian issues.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kirakosian|first=J. S.|title=Hayastane michazkayin divanakitut'yan ew sovetakan artakin kaghakakanut'yan pastateghterum, 1828–1923 |trans-title=Armenia in the documents of international diplomacy and Soviet foreign policy, 1828–1923 |publisher=Yerevan|year=1972|pages=149–358|language=hy}}</ref>