1921 February Rebellion as a Manifestation of Armenian War of Independence
Reconstructs the February 1921 uprising as the culminating episode of the Armenian struggle for independence. Stepanyan sets the scene with the 1918 declarations of independence in the South Caucasus and the Red Army's campaign to recover former imperial territory, leaving Armenia fighting Kemalist Turkey and Soviet Russia at once. Despite the August 1920 treaty with Soviet Russia, Armenian Bolsheviks backed by the Red Army proclaimed Soviet Armenia in November and began Sovietization accompanied by repression of Armenian national politicians, military leaders and intellectuals, the uprising that began in February 1921 drove the Bolsheviks out of Yerevan, but the Red Army counter-offensive in April restored Bolshevik rule.