Birth of Kristapor Araratian (June 18, 1876)

A generation of Armenian professional soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the Russian army led the military of the first Republic of Armenia. General Kristapor Araratian was one of them.

Araratian was born on June 18, 1876, in the city of Mitzkhetha (province of Tiflis). His father Gerasim (Karapet) Araratov was a lieutenant general in the Russian army. He entered the military school of Tiflis (1886-1893) and graduated as a sub-officer. Afterwards, he entered the artillery school of St. Petersburg, which he finished in 1896 among the top three of his class. He was permitted to serve at the place of his choice, and thus Araratian chose the Caucasian brigade of grenade artillery, seated near Tiflis. He was transferred to Siberia in 1904, and later, on his request, to the battlefront in the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905. In 1906 he went to serve in European Russia, where he continued rising through the army ranks, and he received several medals for his services. He was married to Nina Eyubova, and they had two children, Konstantin and Elena.

He participated in World War I, first in the Russian front (1914-1915), and then in the Romanian front (1916-1917). After the October Revolution and the retreat of the Russian troops from the Caucasus, Colonel Araratian was aware that the Ottoman army would take advantage of the situation and attack Armenia. He moved to the Caucasus and entered the newly formed Armenian army. Its commander, General Tovmas Nazarbekian, designated Araratian commander of the second division of the artillery brigade in January 1918. The brigade was included in the army corps of Yerevan, commanded by Movses Silikian, and Araratian became commander of artillery. In this post, he participated in the battle of Sardarabad, and his division took prisoner a whole battalion of enemy troops, composed of Turkish and German soldiers.

After the proclamation of the republic, Araratian became commander of the Armenian artillery brigade. He participated in the short-lived Armenian-Georgian war in December 1918. In March 1919, after Prime Minister Hovhannes Kajaznuni resigned from his post, Alexander Khatisian replaced him. War Minister Hovhannes Hakhverdian had also resigned, and on March 27, 1919, Kristapor Araratian, ascended to the rank of major general, was named War Minister. He asked Hakhverdian to become an advisor, and designated Lieutenant General Silikian as his assistant. Araratian remained in his post until April 3, 1920, when he resigned and became director of the rifle company of the ministry.

He later became artillery commander until he was sent to Kars as military commander. Kars, the most important fortress of the region, fell to the enemy in the Armenian-Turkish war (October 30, 1920). Araratian fell prisoner, together with many Armenian soldiers. He would only return to Armenia at the end of 1921, and held the post of artillery commander until 1925. In 1925-1926 he went to Moscow, where he studied at the Frunze Military Academy for high-ranking officers. After his return, he was offered the direction of the military chairs at Yerevan State University and the Armenian Agricultural Institute.

Like many officers who had served the first Republic, Araratian was also a victim of the Stalinist purges. He was arrested on September 2, 1937. After three months in prison, the death sentence of November 16 was executed on December 10. Kristapor Araratian, along with Generals Movses Silikian and Dmitri Mirimanov, and four colonels, was transported to the gorge of Nork, outside Yerevan (currently the zoo of Yerevan), and shot by the secret police.

His wife took packages for years to the KGB to be delivered to her husband, without knowing that he was dead. A death certificate was given to his family in 1955, which stated that he had reportedly died on February 16, 1943, from a heart attack. However, on July 18, 1956, the Supreme Court of the Armenian Soviet Republic declared null and void the sentence of November 1937 against Araratian, which allowed learning the actual date of his death.

His daughter Elena Araratova was a talented ballet dancer, whose career was greatly affected by the fact that her father had been executed as an enemy of the people. She would never receive the coveted title of People’s Artist.

Birth of Tovmas Nazarbekian (April 4, 1855)

General Tovmas Nazarbekian was one of the main names in a host of Armenian officers that served in the Russian army and helped found the Republic of Armenia in 1918 with their military expertise.

Nazarbekian was born on April 4, 1855 to a Russianized Armenian family in Tiflis, the capital of the viceroyalty of the Caucasus. He graduated from the military gymnasium of Moscow in 1874 and from the Alexandrian Military School in 1875. He participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, earning the Order of St. Stanislaus for his contribution to the occupation of the fortress of Ardahan and the Order of St. Anna for distinguished service in Erzerum. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1902, and awarded the Gold Sword for Bravery for distinguished service during the Battle of Mukden in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. Nazarbekian attained the rank of major-general in 1906. He renounced his commission when the Russian policy turned against the Armenians in the period 1908-1912, but returned to the army when this anti-Armenian was abandoned.

He had an important role in the Caucasian front after the outbreak of World War I. He was commander of the second artillery division of the Russian army, which included the Armenian volunteer battalions. He achieved an important victory in the Battle of Dilman (April 1915), which helped stop the advance of Ottoman forces commanded by Halil Pasha into Persia. He also commanded the forces that occupied Bitlis in the winter of 1916, and took his army down through the mountains of Western Armenia to the plains of Mush, capturing the homonymous city. His achievements earned him the admiration of military critics. He supported the British Mesopotamian Army by disrupting Ottoman supply lines, and established the outposts that made possible the further advance of the British in the failed Mesopotamian campaign of 1916. Nazarbekian was decorated by the French government for his achievements.

General Nazarbekian with officers in his army.

The chaos caused by the Russian Revolution in 1917 stopped all military operations and the Russian regular troops withdrew from the frontline. The situation brought forward the formation of the Armenian national corps under the command of Nazarbekian. The Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom) negotiated the armistice of Erzinga with the Third Ottoman Army on December 5, 1917, freezing the conflict until February 7, 1918.

By the end of January, 1918, Nazarbekian's divisions occupied the major positions from Yerevan to Van and Erzinga. Despite his resistance, he had to follow an order by the president of the newly formed Transcaucasian Parliament (Seim), the Georgian Akaki Chkhenkeli, and abandon Kars to the Ottoman advancing forces in April. Under his leadership, in late May 1918 the Armenian troops defeated the Ottoman forces in the battles of Sardarabad and Pash-Abaran, and stopped their advance in Gharakilise.

Nazarbekian was appointed the first Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the first Republic of Armenia. He continued his military service to the homeland without leaning to any political party. He used his knowledge and experience to aid in the creation of the Armenian national army. He established a special uniform, instead of the Russian uniform, and instructed to translate the military code into Armenian. The orders were issued in Armenian. He was appointed Chairman of the Military Council on March 25, 1919, and awarded the rank of Lieutenant General on July 15 in the same year.

After the sovietization of Armenia, in January 1921 Nazarbekian was arrested, together with 1,200 Armenian officers, and exiled to Moscow and then to Riazan. He was released four months later after an amnesty. He settled in his hometown, Tiflis, where he lived quietly and wrote a series of memoirs about his campaigns from 1917-1918. He passed away on February 19, 1931.