Western Asia · ARM

Armenia

The story · 12 chapters

How it was drawn

The eastern part of the old Armenian highlands, fought over for three thousand years by Assyrians, Romans, Persians, Arabs, Turks and Russians, and set in its current borders by Soviet rule.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Armenia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Neo-Assyrian Empire860 BC to 714 BC
Assyrian kings campaigned against Urartu again and again. In 714 BC Sargon II defeated its king Rusa I and sacked the holy city of Musasir, but Urartu survived Assyria itself.
Achaemenid Empire522 BC to 521 BC
When Darius I seized the Persian throne, Armenia rose against him. His Behistun inscription lists several battles his generals fought there before the province was brought back under Persian rule.
Roman Republic and Empire69 BC to 387
Lucullus took Tigranes' new capital Tigranocerta in 69 BC, and Tigranes submitted to Pompey in 66 BC. Rome then fought Parthia and Persia for centuries over who would crown Armenia's kings, until the partition of about 387.
Sasanian Empire252 to 640
Persia's Sasanian shahs invaded Armenia from the 250s, abolished its eastern kingdom in 428 and tried to impose Zoroastrianism. Armenians fought them at Avarayr in 451 and in later revolts, winning religious freedom in 484.
Arab Caliphate640 to 885
Arab armies sacked Dvin in 640 and made Armenia a province. Armenian nobles revolted several times, notably in 774 to 775, when they were crushed at Bagrevand, before the Bagratids won a crown around 885.
Byzantine Empire1021 to 1045
Byzantium pressed the Armenian kingdoms to hand over their lands: Vaspurakan was ceded in 1021, and Ani was annexed in 1045, weakening the region just before the Seljuks arrived.
Great Seljuk Empire1064 to 1071
Sultan Alp Arslan sacked Ani in 1064 and destroyed the Byzantine army at Manzikert in 1071, opening the Armenian highlands to Turkic rule.
Mongol Empire1236 to 1335
Mongol armies took Ani and the Armenian lands in the 1230s. Armenia then paid heavy taxes to the Mongol Ilkhanate until its collapse in the 1330s.
Safavid Persia1502 to 1736
Persia's Safavid shahs held eastern Armenia and fought the Ottomans over it. Shah Abbas I deported Armenians en masse in 1604, many from Julfa, to build a new quarter at Isfahan.
Ottoman Empire1514 to 1918
The Ottomans fought Persia for the highlands and ruled western Armenia for four centuries. In 1915 to 1916 their government organised the deportation and killing of most Ottoman Armenians. Their 1918 offensive was halted at Sardarabad.
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic1918 to 1920
The new Armenian and Azerbaijani republics fought over Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhchivan until the Red Army took over both in 1920.
TurkeySince 1920Still open
Turkish forces defeated Armenia in late 1920, and Kars and Ararat stayed Turkish in 1921. Türkiye closed the border in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan and rejects calling the 1915 killings genocide; the border remains shut.
Republic of AzerbaijanSince 1988Still open
The Karabakh conflict brought war in 1988 to 1994, 2020 and 2023, ending with Azerbaijan retaking the whole region. Both sides agreed a peace treaty text in March 2025, but borders are not yet settled.

Today

Armenia now

Armenia prides itself on being the first state to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Armenia has existed as a political entity for centuries, but for much of its history it was under the sway of various empires, including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian.

Capital: Yerevan
Government: parliamentary democracy; note - constitutional changes adopted in December 2015 transformed the government to a parliamentary system
Head of government: Nikol Pashinyan
Head of state: Vahagn Khachatryan
Languages: Armenian
Area: 29,740 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population2.9 million2023 · 1.4 million in 1950
Life expectancy75.7 years2023 · 54.6 years in 1950
GDP per person$13,8372022
Living in cities66%2025 · 41% in 1950
Literacy100%2023
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesCSTO2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending6.1% of GDP2025
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

Georgia
Russian Federation

Tensions

Azerbaijan

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Armenia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Neo-Assyrian Empire860 BC to 714 BC

Assyrian kings campaigned against Urartu again and again. In 714 BC Sargon II defeated its king Rusa I and sacked the holy city of Musasir, but Urartu survived Assyria itself.

Achaemenid Empire522 BC to 521 BC

When Darius I seized the Persian throne, Armenia rose against him. His Behistun inscription lists several battles his generals fought there before the province was brought back under Persian rule.

Roman Republic and Empire69 BC to 387

Lucullus took Tigranes' new capital Tigranocerta in 69 BC, and Tigranes submitted to Pompey in 66 BC. Rome then fought Parthia and Persia for centuries over who would crown Armenia's kings, until the partition of about 387.

Sasanian Empire252 to 640

Persia's Sasanian shahs invaded Armenia from the 250s, abolished its eastern kingdom in 428 and tried to impose Zoroastrianism. Armenians fought them at Avarayr in 451 and in later revolts, winning religious freedom in 484.

Arab Caliphate640 to 885

Arab armies sacked Dvin in 640 and made Armenia a province. Armenian nobles revolted several times, notably in 774 to 775, when they were crushed at Bagrevand, before the Bagratids won a crown around 885.

Byzantine Empire1021 to 1045

Byzantium pressed the Armenian kingdoms to hand over their lands: Vaspurakan was ceded in 1021, and Ani was annexed in 1045, weakening the region just before the Seljuks arrived.

Great Seljuk Empire1064 to 1071

Sultan Alp Arslan sacked Ani in 1064 and destroyed the Byzantine army at Manzikert in 1071, opening the Armenian highlands to Turkic rule.

Mongol Empire1236 to 1335

Mongol armies took Ani and the Armenian lands in the 1230s. Armenia then paid heavy taxes to the Mongol Ilkhanate until its collapse in the 1330s.

Safavid Persia1502 to 1736

Persia's Safavid shahs held eastern Armenia and fought the Ottomans over it. Shah Abbas I deported Armenians en masse in 1604, many from Julfa, to build a new quarter at Isfahan.

Ottoman Empire1514 to 1918

The Ottomans fought Persia for the highlands and ruled western Armenia for four centuries. In 1915 to 1916 their government organised the deportation and killing of most Ottoman Armenians. Their 1918 offensive was halted at Sardarabad.

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic1918 to 1920

The new Armenian and Azerbaijani republics fought over Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhchivan until the Red Army took over both in 1920.

TurkeySince 1920Still open

Turkish forces defeated Armenia in late 1920, and Kars and Ararat stayed Turkish in 1921. Türkiye closed the border in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan and rejects calling the 1915 killings genocide; the border remains shut.

Republic of AzerbaijanSince 1988Still open

The Karabakh conflict brought war in 1988 to 1994, 2020 and 2023, ending with Azerbaijan retaking the whole region. Both sides agreed a peace treaty text in March 2025, but borders are not yet settled.

Armenia now

Capital

Yerevan

Government

parliamentary democracy; note - constitutional changes adopted in December 2015 transformed the government to a parliamentary system

Head of government

Nikol Pashinyan

Head of state

Vahagn Khachatryan

Languages

Armenian

Area

29,740 km²

Then and now

Population2.9 million2023 · 1.4 million in 1950

Life expectancy75.7 years2023 · 54.6 years in 1950

GDP per person$13,8372022

Living in cities66%2025 · 41% in 1950

Literacy100%2023

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesCSTO2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending6.1% of GDP2025

War deathsNone2025