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