The Caucasian Knot

When Azerbaijan declared its independence during the death throes of the Soviet Union, the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabagh followed suit. Before long, pogrom and war were the order of the day, resulting in thousands of Armenian and Azeri casualties. This detailed political history of mountainous Karabagh, the ancient Artsakh of the Armenians, assesses the mass of archaeological, material and documentary evidence supporting the conflicting Azeri and Armenian claims. It follows the...
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When Azerbaijan declared its independence during the death throes of the Soviet Union, the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabagh followed suit. Before long, pogrom and war were the order of the day, resulting in thousands of Armenian and Azeri casualties. This detailed political history of mountainous Karabagh, the ancient Artsakh of the Armenians, assesses the mass of archaeological, material and documentary evidence supporting the conflicting Azeri and Armenian claims. It follows the populations of the area from antiquity through to the critical years of World War I and Bolshevik rule, and on to perestroika and the war with Azerbaijan. It describes the enclave's cultural and demographic evolution and situates the current hostilities in their regional context of neighbouring Russian, Iranian and Turkish interests.