It was during the Russian - Persian (modern - day Iran) and the Russian - Ottoman wars of 1827 - 1829 when the Armenian leaders, including their Christian priests, felt the time had come to establish their own independent state. During these wars, Armenians living within the Russian empire joined with Armenian citizens of Persia and the Ottoman Empire to help the Russians fight against their friends and neighbors.

In this war, and those to come, the Russians first would invade Muslim lands and the Armenians would take the side of Russians. The large majority of Muslim populations living where the Russians invaded would be forced out of their homes, always with great loss of lives, and Armenian Christians would move right in behind them. This is how a majority Armenian population was created in what is known today as the Republic of Armenia, a majority created by the military power of the Russians.

When Russia occupied the northern provinces of Muslim Persia, the Etchmiadzin monastery was included in these lands. This was the primate (an archbishop or the highest - ranking bishop in a province) of all the Armenians, the Catholicos. The Russians were able to revive the declining authority of the Catholicos, who had been eclipsed by the Armenian patriarch of Istanbul. This group of Christians became loyal servants of the czars.

Czar Nicholas I (1825 - 1855) is the individual who first said that the Ottoman Empire was the "sick man of Europe». He claimed to be the supreme protector of all Christians living within the Ottoman Empire. It was the Russians who invaded and captured Erivan province from the Persians, where today’s capital of Armenia is located. Before 1827, the date of Russian occupation, more than 80 percent of the population was Muslim as was all Trans - Caucasian at that time. The entire region was both Muslim and anti-Russian. It was the Russians, together with the Armenians they brought in, who ruthlessly suppressed the majority population.

During the Crimean War (1853 - 1856) the Ottomans joined forces with the Western governments against the Russians. There were Armenian leaders in the eastern provinces of Anatolia (modern - day Turkey) who actively supported Russia by becoming spies. In March 1854, several Armenians were arrested in Kars.

When the czars needed help, they recruited Armenians, making promises and showering them with compliments. When the czars no longer needed the Armenians, they never fulfilled their promises. However, Armenian Christians continued to support the Russians. Catholicos Nerses Asdarakes received only a letter of thanks from Czar Nicholas I for all he had done against the Ottomans. In spite of all the Russian broken promises the Catholicos at Etchmiadzin, the church continued its loyalty to Russia.

Christian Missionaries in Anatolia

Beginning in the mid - 1850s within Anatolia, new voices began to be heard: European and American missionaries. These Christian missionaries created many problems for the Ottoman government. (5) The Armenian author A.P.Vartoogian wrote that the missionaries` introduction of Catholicism and Protestantism among the Armenians "had a more ruinous effect on the nation than anything else ever had» (6)

The basic problem was the infighting that took place among the different missionaries from the various nations. France and Austria protected the Catholics. The Protestants were funded from England and the United States. The Russians supported the Orthodox Church. Each of these major powers was hard at work to increase their influence in the Ottoman Empire, "the sick man of Europe," whom the powers thought would soon die. The powers claimed to protect the religious missionaries coming from their nations, but in reality, they were promoting their individual national interests.

Russia was using the Armenians in its quest to reach the warm waters of the Mediterranean so it could cut off England’s route to India. Britain was attempting to use Protestant Armenians to protect its lifeline to India by holding back both Russian and France. The French made use of Catholic Armenians for its own interests in the Near East. Only the Americans didn’t have a clear - cut national objective.

All the powers used Christian religion to intervene in the internal business of the Ottoman government. These powers used the excuse that they were merely protecting the religious rights of their own missionaries and their work with Christian minorities. The actual truth is that each European nation was eager for an opportunity to take a piece of Ottoman lands for free when it ceased to exist. In other words these European countries wanted to be ready like vultures so they could sweep in and pick the bones of the dead Ottoman Empire. The historical record clearly shows each of the powers often injected itself in the Ottoman government affairs, claiming the right to do so to protect Christians. This ongoing interference was a major reason for the increased rebellious activities of the Armenians. This was the historical period when there were increasing Armenian acts of insurrection and terrorism. By these stepped - up terrorist acts, the Armenians themselves created what became known as the "Armenian question" within the governments of the powers.

In June 16, 1880, Lieutenant - Colonel C.W.Wilson, British Consul General for Anatolia, reported to his government his experience with the Armenians. He described them as "being greedy of gain, mostly entirely without education. Immoral, fanatic, bigoted, and completely under the influence of an illiterate, ignorant and sensual priesthood who opposed all education and advancement» (7).