The evolution of Tsarist policy on the Armenian question in the South Caucasus (1903-1914)

From the Tsarist confiscation of the properties of the Armenian Church in 1903 to the outbreak of the First World War, relations between Russia and its Armenian subjects gradually changed. This thesis scrutinizes how and why this gradual change took place between 1903 and 1914 by looking at the interaction between the Russian administration and the three political pillars of the Russian Armenians (the Dashnaktsutiun, the Armenian Church, and the Armenian bourgeoisie) as well as Russian foreign policy considerations. The confiscation decree of 1903 triggered an immense reaction by the Russian Armenians against the Russian government, which became part of the revolutionary unrest in the South Caucasus in 1905. The relations began to improve with the arrival of the viceroy of the Caucasus, Illarion I. Vorontsov-Dashkov as a general Tsarist recovery was underway. From 1907 to 1912, the Russian authorities reformulated their relations with the political pillars of the Russian Armenians. In this period, by eliminating the Dashnaktsutiun as a political threat in the South Caucasus and sorting out its differences with the Armenian Church and the Armenian bourgeoisie, the Russian regime had improved its relations with the Russian Armenians. By 1912, there were no serious disagreements between the Russian Armenians and the Tsarist authorities, for whom other threats, such as the pan-Islamist movement in the South Caucasus took precedence. This study also adds the foreign policy dimension to the picture as it became the dominant aspect of the relations between the Russian administration and the Russian Armenians between 1912 and 1914. The changes in the international dynamics, particularly regarding the future of the Ottoman Empire, further solidified the improved relations as Russia decided to become the patron and the defender of Armenians in late 1912