The Battle of Sardarabad: Armenia's Last Stand for Independence

The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History · Jul 9, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In May 1918, as the Ottoman army advanced on Yerevan, a ragtag Armenian force made a desperate stand at Sardarabad. This episode tells the story of that three-day battle, the commanders who led it—Aram Manukian, Movses Silikyan, Daniel Bek-Pirumyan—and the political context that made victory both miraculous and fleeting. We explore the Russian withdrawal from the Caucasus, the short-lived Transcaucasian Federation, and the Treaty of Batum that followed. Sardarabad saved Eastern Armenia from annihilation but set the stage for the First Republic's fragile existence. Plus, a look at how the…