Capture of Shusha - Background

Background

In February 1988, Nagorno-Karabakh had been an autonomous oblast for over seventy years inside the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. Following its government's decision to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia, the conflict erupted into a larger scale ethnic feud between Armenians and Azeris living in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Armenians and Azeris vied to take control of Karabakh with full scale battles taking place in the winter of 1992. By then, the enclave had declared its independence and set up an unrecognized, though self-functioning government.

The advanced weaponry of tanks, armored fighting vehicles, fighter jets and helicopter gunships bought and used by both sides illustrated the aftereffects of the free-for-all weapons vacuum created upon the disintegration of the Soviet Union. A large scale population shift had also been in effect since the conflict began with most of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan and Azeris in Armenia trading places. The battle was preceded by the controversial capture of the town and the location of Karabakh's only airport in Khojaly by Armenians in February 1992. With the loss of Khojaly, Azeri commanders had been redirecting the rest of their firepower upon Stepanakert from the ridge on Shusha.