Armenian Army - History

History

The Armenian army's history is described to have gone through three different stages. It entered the first stage in February 1988, from the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict where Armenian militias were formed to combat growing hostilities in the region against similar Azeri units with the impending break of the Soviet Union. The second phase of the development of the army began in 1992, several months after Armenia had declared its independence. Ter-Grigoryants and civilian officials in the Armenian Ministry of Defense including Vazgen Manukyan and Vazgen Sargsyan sought to establish a "small, well-balanced, combat-ready defense force." The third phase began after the end of the war and continues on until today.

Most of the army's staff officers were members of the former Soviet military as an estimated 5,000 Armenians were serving as high level officers in it prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost immediately after its independence, Armenia was embroiled in the Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring Azerbaijan. Intending to establish a force of 30,000 men, the army's standing force increased to 50,000 by early 1994. During the war, the military remained on high alert and bolstered defenses in the region of Zangezur, opposite of the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan to its west. Purported artillery bombardment in May 1992 from the region led to skirmishes between the two sides including the Armenian army's incursion into several of the villages. Since 1994, the army has taken an active role in ensuring the defense of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in conjunction with the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army.