I thought it would be nice to make a thread where the members here state their Motherland, and maybe write a short history about it (or copy and paste :P ). They could also add "Did you know" types of questions like "Did you know that my country....blah".

I'll post mine a little later. Frontovik, I'll leave Russia for you ;)

Eire (Ireland) is me homecountry

its the homeland ya see

but im lazy and i'll let Vizi write the "short history"

That'll be a problem as I'm actually Ukrainian.

My case is unusual as I have two countries to talk about. Of course, I call both "Fatherlands"!

One, of course, is the United States of America, and specifically, the State of Illinois. I grew up in sight of Lake Michigan, and so have a somewhat "coastal" view of things. My home town ... presently ... is the City of Ottawa, on the Illinois River, in the north central part of the state. Surrounded by cornfields, and close to two beautiful state parks (Starved Rock and Mathiesson), the town of about 20 thousand is the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Abraham Lincoln was vaulted into national prominence in his failed attempt to win a Senate seat. In the debate, he established his abolitionist bonafides.

The other country is Germany. Or is it Prussia? Or is it West Prussia? Nope, that can't be it, since West Prussia is in Poland, now. Oh well, I have a dual-citizenship arrangement, and it works out well for me. If we have a European German among us, I'll let him/her work some interesting points. I'll just say that my family's ancestral estate still stands, overlooking a lake near what used to be called Neustettin. Damn commies tore down the walls, towers, and battlements ...

Can i write something about Tennessee?

Good old Canada (for americans the country on top of you :lol: ) anyway not much to talk about, I lived there all my life, and it probaly the best country to live in. Even in winter. :)

Mine is "Fatherland". "Motherland" sounds too communist, which my Fatherland really is not. "Fatherland" strikes the right chord. But actually, it's just "Ancestorland", which is not sexually discriminatory. But whatever.

It's impossible to write a "short" history of my Fatherland, having the longest continous history of all mankind, so neither will I copy and paste - instead a link (to a short article) will be provided.

China

Note that the People's Republic of China is not my Motherland and neither is Republic of China my Fatherland.

I would like to mention that I have geneological claims to the King of Chu, and traceable claims to the Emperor of Ming. Yes, our geneology records are that good. No, we are not planning a revival of our dynasty/ies. Actually, if you must know, we have already seized de facto control. Of course, it would have been better if I'm the one at the helm publically, but as of right now he can serve as a good figurehead and puppet.

Did you know:

1. It is still possible to decipher 1400 of 2300 known Chinese characters from 4600 years ago?

2. That Chinese Christians in the 13th century travelled to Paris and Rome to call for a Crusade against the Muslims?

3. That the huge outflow of gold from the Roman Empire to buy silk from China caused a financial and moral panic, leading to an ineffective ban of wearing silk?

4. I could dig up a hundred more of these trivia?

Sweden is my homeland. Ive lived here all my life and i wouldnt like to live anywhere else.
And here a little history about Sweden when it was one of the Great powers:



The Swedish Great Power period was characterised by constant war. In the early 16th century, Sweden struggled in a war against Denmark, though, this was not an ordinary war. Both armies actually never met and fought a single battle before the war was over in 1613. Their only strategies were to burn and devastate as many cities and villages they possibly could, so that the enemy army could not use of them. The only people who suffered from this war were of course, as always, the common people.

At this time Sweden was also involved in battles over the Baltic areas. In 1630, Gustavus II Adolphus decided to enter the on-going war that raged Europe. The war that later also came to be called the Thirty Years War. Even if this war is known as a religious war between Catholics and Protestants the direct cause for the Swedish intervention was the growing influence of the German Emperor and his forces in northern Germany. This was considered a threat to the Swedish interests in the Baltic area.

Very soon the Swedish army of more than 30000 men was spread throughout the whole Pomerania and they occupied village after village. In 1631 the Swedish army won a spectacular victory at the Battle at Breitenfelt, in spite of numerical inferiority. It wasn't just luck, the Swedes had new and more advanced weapons, which were easier to reload. The army also used a new formation, which differed from the traditional formations of the Germans.

The next year, 1632, the self-reliant Swedish army met the Germans in another great pitched battle in Lützen. Although the Swedish came out victorious, they suffered a great loss loss; King Gustavus II Adolphus got killed. New leaders continued the war for Sweden until the Thirty Years ended in 1648.

The war was very expensive for Sweden. Since most soldiers in the Swedish army were costly mercenaries, the war devastated finances. Because of this, King Charles XI initiated a complete reorganisation of the Swedish army in the late 17th century. This led to an increasing use of domestically recruited soldiers, and was the forerunner to the system of compulsory military service of today.

At its peak in the middle of the 17th century, the Swedish Great Power period included Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany. The extended borders became more and more difficult, and costly, to defend. Moreover; the growing strength of Russia constituted a constant threat to Sweden.

The outbreak of the Great Nordic War in 1700 was the beginning of the end for Sweden as a great power. When Charles XI died in 1697, he was succeeded by his 15 year-old son, Charles XII. This caused Russia, Denmark, Norway and Poland to form an alliance and attack Sweden to try to conquer some of the Swedish territories.

Initially King Charles XII was very successful in defending the Swedish territories. The Danes were quickly defeated. At Narva, in modern-day Estonia, Swedish troops defeated a much more powerful Russian enemy. The initial success perhaps led to a Swedish underestimation of the Russian strength, which later proved to be fateful. After Narva, the King and his army fought in Poland for five years before a peace-treaty was signed. During these five years, the Russian Tsar Peter reorganised the Russian army.

In 1708 King Charles XII attacked Russia, trying to accomplish a decisive military victory. The Russians used their ancient strategy and burned everything when they retreated. This strategy and an extremely cold winter in 1708-1709 took a heavy toll on the Swedish army. In 1709 at Poltava, a weak Swedish army met the well prepared Russians and was almost annihilated. After Poltava, Russia conquered the Baltic provinces and a great part of Finland. The Danes tried to take land in southern Sweden, but were thrown back. Swedish territories were also lost in northern Germany. Although Sweden lost its position as a great power, there were positive consequences. Sweden still was the most powerful of the Nordic countries, and most importantly, the new Swedish borders were much easier to defend than earlier.

Well theres a lot more but this will be enough for now i think. ;)

mine's Paddyland :lol:

ireland ahh good old ireland home of the men that god made mad for all their wars are merry and all their songs are sad

the short history of ireland?
shithole till the 3rd century then we;
-converted to christianity,

-had a golden age 4th- 6th centuries cause pagan barians were over running europe so we became the isle of saints and Scholars ,

-conquered\colonised wales,scotland and most of western england in the 8th - 10th centuries resulting in "more irish living east of the irish sea than west of it

-then promptly got absorbed in most places scotland being the exception

12c Diarmait Mac Murchada (also known as Diarmait na nGall, "Dermot of the Foreigners"), brought in the normans\english and so sealed irelands fate for the next 800 years.. oh wait there still up the north

1594 the great ulster rebellion aka the nine years war broke out between the gaelic cheifs of ulster and the english crown many brilliant victories for the irish till the battle of kinsale when the spanish allies landed at the wrong end of the island and promplty got us all defeated and surrounded resulting in the flight of the earls and more importantly the plantation of ulster where thousands of loyal british subjects were given land confiscated from the native irish resulting in todays 6 county northern ireland

the more immediate result was the 1641 rebellion in which rightful native irish attemted to return to their lands, the irish also sided with the royalist party in the english civil war, it was promptley crushed after a bloddy war which saw oliver cromwell kill and enslave 1/3 of the islands native inhabitants ending in 1653

the penal laws were then introduced which were pretty much like hitlers laws against the jews designed to keep the irish poor and uneducated unless they became completly english this pretty much destroyed irish culture

in 1791 wolfe tone founded the united irishmen a mainly protestant group who were opposed to englands treatment of their catholic brethern in irlenad
the united irismen rebelled in 1798 (commonly know in dublin as the bogger rebellion cause we werent included :( ) however it was badly equiped mostly pikemen and after a few memorable victories was promtly crushed at the Battle of Ballinamuck later that year and all the surrenduring rebel forces bar the french allies massacred

1829 daniel o donnell achieved catholic emancipation from the penal laws however they remained 2nd class citizens till the freestate in 1921

1845-49 the great irish famine resulted in between 0.5 and 1 million deaths and around 2 million emigrations

1916 the easter rising by the ira was the last conventional coup d etate by irish revolutionaries

1919-1921 the war of independence led by collins the ira spectacuarly defeated the english in a gurella war which saw the english commit terrible attrocities in a tit for tat response including the sacking\burning of cork

1921 irish free state and northen ireland is formed under the anglo irish peace treaty it is bitterly opposed by some sinn feiners sparking the civil war

1921-23 the civil war the ira fought a civil war against the free state seeing it as an extension of english rule in ireland and because of the partition of the island

1939 ireland left the commen wealth and became eire
1949 it became the republic of ireland
1969 the Provisional ira was formed from a split within the ira and began its campaign against the british in NI
1972 bloody sunday 14 unarmed men and boys were killed by british paratroopers during a peaceful catholic civil rights march the result was a hughe swell to the provo's numbers
1987 diarmait the great was born

1990 ireland economic boom began
2005 ira 'gave up arms'

So I am told, my bloodline is almost entirely English. But I think we all know enough about English history.

Sweden.

But Savage Swede got first to brag about how good we are, so it would be unnecessary by me to repeat everything with different words.

I'm a Swedish/German, Scotch/Irish mutt.

After living in Virginia, Tennesee and Pennsylvannia from the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s my family headed west to the Great Plains.

There they settled in Montana among the 1st of the Homesteaders. That's where I was born, but never had the chance to stay and live. By age 6mo. we were headed to Hawaii and a life in the USNavy.

My heart, however, has always remained in Montana.

It truely is God's Country....Big Sky....The Last Best Place all wrapped up in one.

I'll spare you all a tiresome essay and leave you this link for those who are interested in learning more about this vast open state.

I am from the U.S. First, other nationalities 2nd (aka, my loyalties lie with U.S., 1st nothing else.). I am Polish, German, Irish, Scottish, Austrian, Indian (Native American), and perhaps part Mongolian. Mongolian because The Mongol hordes ravaged Poland every few years, and my grandpa looks like he'd fit right in beside Genghis Khan in the saddle.

-Revan B)

Im Anglo-Irish and German-Swiss. My ancestors from my mother's side moved into Ireland after England conquered her. Then they settled in the country and joined the gaelic peoples. They were catholics and were also opressed but not as bad as most of the Irish. Eventually they moved to England and then to America where my Grandfather Joesph Carr was a brigadier general for the Union army.

My fathers side is more of a mix. His family is mostly Irish and Swiss with some German national backround. My dads side of the family is the reason many people say the US government should give us a small stipend of money every year. They fought in every war in US history until Vietnam where my dad missed the draft by 3 months. That includes the French-Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Spanish America War, US-Mexican War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War. And my cousin served in the military between the Persian Gulf and almost got deployed in Bosnia. That is about it for my family.

I am an American.

finally someone from america finds a national idenity

To fit in with the trend; I'm an Irish, Anglo-Welsh mongrel.

Paternal grandparents both from rich families in Tipperary, later moved to Herefordshire in western England where my grandfather promptly vanished before showing up again 6 years later in North Africa (on the British side).

My Mother's side is simpler, long history in North Wales, before moving to South London and picking up some (presumably) English blood from a bloke called Johnson (in other words, could have come from anywhere).

Having spent the vast majority of my life in England except for a short stint in Qatar, I can't identify with either Wales or Ireland as a 'Motherland', and certainly not England, so instead I just keep things simple and think of myself as British.

Unless someone really wants me to post a brief History of Britain, I'll just point you in the direction of the numerous books by much better writers than me.

I too am of Irish decent. I really want to go there at some point in my life.

You are welcome to brag some more :rolleyes:

Joseph Carr fought at Gettysburg, which is where I live :) .

I am American first and foremost, a native of Connecticut and a Yankee at heart. As mentioned, I am now in Pennsylvania.

My descendents were from all over western Europe: mostly Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Italy, but I also have some French, Swiss, Scottish, and a pinch of Austrian descendence.

Im from Texas. My family has been here since it was a Mexican territory (1820s or so), through the whole Republic of Texas time period, up to the present day.

Where they came from before that doesnt really matter anymore, since it was a long damn time ago, and we've long since gotten all that garbage out of our systems. :D

Im an American by nationality, Italian by descent.

currently I live in Minnesota, heres a short history:

Following the visits of several French explorers, fur traders, and missionaries, including Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, and Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, the region was claimed for Louis XIV by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Duluth, in 1679.

The U.S. acquired eastern Minnesota from Great Britain after the Revolutionary War and 20 years later bought the western part from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Much of the region was explored by U.S. Army lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike before the northern strip of Minnesota bordering Canada was ceded by Britain in 1818.It became a state in 1858 and was the first state to volunteer troops for the civil war.

I'm part scot, irish, english, swiss, and german. I live in New York state. My parents came to New York from 2 different states and met here and were married.

On my fathers side- My Grandfather owned a Communications company in Pittsburgh Pennsylvannia and his funding was cut after he committed a few of his television shows to anti-war support. He was to remain up the middle but being a minister he just wasnt for killing at all. His company went bankrupt and he ended moving up to Buffalo New York for a job in ministry.

On my mothers side- My Grandfather worked for a news paper in Hartford Coonecticut. He recieved a job offer from the Buffalo News to cover thier NBA Team the Buffalo Braves. After the braves moved out of town he enjoyed the area so much that he decided to stay.

Thats it for how I got here. Now about my Fatherland Buffalo New York. Its really hot and humid in the summer and Bitterly Cold and Plenty of snow in the winter. Crossing the canadian boarder too pick up chinese food is no big deal. We really REALLY support American football with a PASSION but weve never won a chanpionship. Niagara falls is about a 15 minute drive away. Plenty of Polish and German heritage festivals in the fall. Buffalo Wing Festival every year!!! w00t! You can get frost bitten and sunburned in the same weekend.We bake with "soda" and drink "pop". We can hold an entire conversation on the best place to go for wings, a fishfry or pizza. We like to order beef on "weck" and are always surprised when someone doesn't know what "weck" is. We know how to pronouce, Scajaquada, Cheektowaga and Depew. We don't think Canada is to the north ... you know it's to the West. When someone says they are from "the City" - we ask "Which one? We don't have to attend the Friendship Festival to hear it! We know the difference between imported and real Canadian beer. We haven't been on the "Maid of the Mist" - unless we had out of town company. The winter carnival gets rained out. We make Toronto Look like Paris.

I'm from Denmark, one of the few European countries suppporting the US in Iraq (we contributed with an submarine..) and also an very small and uninteresting country.

We had a golden age in the middelages controling all of Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland. Since we have been beaten by Sweden time upon time untill The Great Northern War. We joined Napoleon, and hence got ignored at the Vienna Conference. Then we got beaten by the Prussians and Austrians in 1864

We stayed neutral during WWI, but we were occupied by Germany under WWII.

That was a presentation focusing on our glorius defeats. Hope you liked it.

Must really suck when the only thing you can be proud of are the killing-raping-pillaging Vikings. :P

im proud of killing indians

well since everybody is doing their family history i will do mine.

1860- My family sails from Cork, Ireland for Boston

1920- My family shows up in Spokane Washington (still purebred irishmen)

2006- here i am

I don't know much about my family history, although my parents are researching it. Much of what I will now say is speculation, or overelaboration. I know that my surname is a rare one, there are only a few thousand, possibly hundred of us in the world. And it comes from a location where there was a manor house, meaning it's quite probable that we are all directly related to whoever owned that house, centuries ago. Also, apparently there is another manor bearing my name in Shropshire (both England) which probably derives from the same family, according to the tiny amount of web research I did. At least one of the manor estates came into existence following the Norman Conquest, so I can presume that my family then was fairly influential, and it possibly gives me a blood link to the Vikings, seeing as they were the ones who populated Normandy, which, if I let my imagination run away with myself, means I have a possible blood relation to the mythical Viking Kings, and by extension to the Norse Gods, who genealogies show to be related to the Viking Kings, and therefore were probably (pardon my skepticism on Norse Gods) actual Kings who were deified like the Romans often did with their Caesars.

But it would appear after a few centuries ago, whenever my branch of the family left the manor, my family has been quite boring. I have a distant relation who married Charles Darwin, so my family are led to believe, but that is the only connection of note. I also have an ancestor who was deported to Australia as a convict, before returning later, and it seems my family has quite a history of Methodist priesthood, but other than that, my family are little to note.

Nah It's okay. Keeps us out of trouble. Hell, Al-Queda wouldn't even bother bombing us.

heh. One of the first things I heard on the subject, following the July bombings in London, was that Denmark was the supposed next target...

And it didn't happen right?

My Homeland is Ireland (Ulster More Specifically)

My mom's side of the family is from Limerick in the south, and my Dad's side is German/Scotch. I was born in Limerick, but moved to Belfast when I was very young, so I don't really consider it my home, only been there a few times. Belfast is my home, and I have alot of family in Co. Armagh aswell. I think Cliomh pretty much summed up the history pretty well.

i have multiple homelands , netherlands, scotland, ireland, france, germany.

But my main homeland is scotland, i am more scotish then anything.

An Interesting and Fascinating History of an Interesting and Fascinating Nation
A History of Armenia

Archaeologists refer to the Shulaveri-Shomu culture of the central Transcaucasus region, including modern Armenia, as the earliest known prehistoric culture in the area, carbon-dated to roughly 6000 - 4000 BC. However, a recently discovered tomb has been dated to 9000 BC. Another early culture in the Armenian Highland and surrounding areas—the Kura-Araxes culture—is assigned the period of ca. 4000 - 2200 BC, and is believed to have subsequently developed into the Trialeti culture (ca. 2200 - 1500 BC). Armenians are an Indo-European race.

The original Armenian name for the country was Hayq, later Hayastan, translated as the land of Haik, and consisting of the name Haik and the Persian suffix '-stan' (land). According to legend, Haik was a great-great-grandson of Noah (son of Togarmah, who was a son of Gomer, a son of Noah's son, Yafet), and according to tradition, a forefather of all Armenians. Mount Ararat, a sacred mountain for the Armenian people, rising in the center of the Armenian Highland as its highest peak, is traditionally considered the landing place of Noah's Ark.

The name Armenia was given to the country by the surrounding states, as it was the name of the strongest tribe living in the historic Armenian lands, who called themselves Armens. It is traditionally derived from Armenak or Aram (the great-grandson of Haik's great-grandson, and another leader who is, according to Armenian tradition, the ancestor of all Armenians).

Early History

The Armenian Kingdom of Urartu or Van flourished in the Caucasus and eastern Asia Minor between ca. 800 BC and 600 BC. It streched from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, including much of modern Eastern Turkey. According to Strabo (XI.14.5), Armeno-Phrygians conquered Carenitis (the upper Euphrates region) from the Chalybes, probably around 600 BC. The Armenians subsequently moved to the territory of the failing kingdom of Urartu. In the 5th century BC, when both Armenians and Phrygians served under Xerxes (during the reign of the Achaemenid Persian Empire), Herodotus tells us that their costume and equipment was still identical, and the Armenians were considered colonists of the Phrygians.

Armenian Kingdom

After the destruction of the Seleucid Empire, a Hellenistic Greek successor state of Alexander the Great's short-lived empire, the first Armenian state was founded in 190 BC. At its zenith, from 95 to 66 BC, Armenia extended its rule over parts of the Caucasus and the area that is now eastern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. For a time, Armenia was one of the most powerful states in the Roman East. It came under Roman control in 66 BC, and the Armenian people adopted a Western political, philosophical, and religious orientation.

Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and Persia.

The Parthians forced Armenia into submission from 37 to 47, when the Romans retook control of the kingdom.

Under Nero, the Romans fought a campaign (55–63) against the Parthian Empire, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60) and losing (62) Armenia, the Romans sent XV Apollinaris from Pannonia to Cn. Domitius Corbulo, legatus of Syria. Corbulo, with the legions XV Apollinaris, III Gallica, V Macedonica, X Fretensis and XXII, entered (63) into the territories of Vologases I of Parthia, who returned the Armenian kingdom to Tiridates.
Coin issued to celebrate the victory of Lucius Verus Armeniacus against Vologases IV of Parthia in the Armenian campaign of 162–5.

Another campaign was led by Emperor Lucius Verus in 162-165, after Vologases IV of Parthis had invaded Armenia and installed his chief general on its throne. To counter the Parthian threat, Verus set out for the east. His army won significant victories and retook the capital. Sohaemus, a Roman citizen of Armenian heritage, was installed as the new client king.

The Sassanid Persians occupied Armenia in 252 and held it until the Romans returned in 287. In 384 the kingdom was split between the Byzantine or East Roman Empire and the Persians. Western Armenia quickly became a province of the Roman Empire under the name of Armenia Minor; Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until 428, when the local nobility overthrew the king, and the Sassanids installed a governor in his place.

Christianisation

In AD 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. It established a church that still exists independently of both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches, having become so in 451 as a result of its excommunication by the Council of Chalcedon. The Armenian Apostolic Church is a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion, not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox communion.

During its later political eclipses, Armenia depended on the church to preserve and protect its unique identity. From around 1080 to 1375, the focus of Armenian nationalism moved south, as the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, with close ties to European Crusader States, flourished in southeastern Asia Minor until it was conquered by Muslim states.

Armenia and Byzantium

In 591, the great Byzantine warrior-Emperor Maurice defeated the Persians and 'recovered' much of the remaining territory of Armenia into the empire. The conquest was completed by the Emperor Heraclius in 629.

In 645, the Moslem Arab armies of the Caliphate had attacked the country, which fell, an easy victim, before them. So Armenia, which once had its own rulers and was at other times under Persian and Byzantine control, passed largely into the power of the Caliphs.

Nonetheless, there were still parts of Armenia held within the Empire, and many Armenians. This exiled population held tremendous power within the Empire. The Emperor Heraclius (610-641) was of Armenian descent, as was the Emperor Philippicus (711-713). The Emperor Basil I, who took the Byzantine throne in 867, was the first of what is sometimes called the Armenian dynasty, reflecting the strong effect the Armenians had on the East Roman state. Indeed, while there were many different racial and linguistic groups within the Byzantine Empire, only the Armenians were able and allowed to maintain a distinct culture.

In 1071, after the defeat of the Byzantine forces by the Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan at the Battle of Manzikert, the Turks captured the Byzantine province of Greater Armenia. So ended Christian leadership of Armenia for the next millennium.

Armenia, Arabs, Crusaders and Seljuks

Although the native dynasty of the Bagratids to which the Arabs gave the royal crown of Armemia, was founded under favourable circumstances, the feudal system gradually weakened the country by eroding loyalty to the central government. Thus internally enfeebled, Armenia proved an easy victim for the Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan in the latter half of the eleventh century. To escape death or servitude at the hands of those who had assassinated his relative, Gagik II, King of Ani, an Armenian named Roupen with some of his countrymen went into the gorges of the Taurus Mountains and then into Tarsus of Cilicia. Here the Byzantine governor of the place gave them shelter. Soon after the members of the first Crusade appeared in Asia Minor.

The Norman Count Baldwin, who with the rest of the Crusaders was passing through Asia Minor bound for Jerusalem, left the Crusader army and was adopted by Thoros of Edessa. Hostile as they were to the Seljuks, and unfriendly to the Byzantines, the Armenians took kindly to the crusader count, and when Thoros was assassinated he was made ruler of the new crusader County of Edessa. It seems that the Armenians enjoyed the rule of Baldwin and the crusaders in general, and some number of them fought alongside the Christians of Europe. When Antioch had been taken (1097), Constantine, the son of Roupen, received from the crusaders the title of baron. Within a century, the heirs of Roupen were further rewarded by the grant of a kingdom known as Cilicia or Lesser Armenia, to be held as a vassal government of the Holy See and of Germany. This kept them in touch with the crusaders. No doubt the Armenians aided in some of the other crusades. This kingdom lasted till 1375, when the Mamelukes of Egypt destroyed it.
One of the oldest surviving Armenian churches, St. Hripsime in Ejmiadzin, near Yerevan. This church was build near the spot where St. Hripsime, an early female Christian martyr, was killed according to the legend
One of the oldest surviving Armenian churches, St. Hripsime in Ejmiadzin, near Yerevan. This church was build near the spot where St. Hripsime, an early female Christian martyr, was killed according to the legend

Armenia under Ottoman Rule (from 1514)

Between the 4th and 19th centuries, Armenia was conquered and ruled by Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks, among others. The Ottoman Empire ceded a big part of Armenia to the Russian Empire, known as Eastern Armenia or Russian Armenia following the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829, while Western Armenia or Ottoman Armenia remained under Ottoman sovereignty.

East Armenia under Russian Rule (1820-1917)

In the 1820s, the parts of historic Armenia under Persian control, centering on Yerevan and Lake Sevan, were incorporated into Russia. World War I saw the depopulation of large parts of historic Armenia ruled by the Ottoman Turks, during the Armenian Genocide.


The First Republic (1917-1922)

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the takeover of the Bolsheviks, Stepan Shaumyan was placed in charge of Armenia.

The convention in Tiflis happened in September of 1917. The convention elected a Armenian National Council. Meanwhile, both the Ittihad (Unionist) and the Nationalists moved to win the friendship of the Bolsheviki. Mustafa Kemal sent several delegations to Moscow. These friendships proved disastrous for the Armenians. The signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (January 1, 1918), helped the Vehib Pasha to attack the new Republic. Under heavy pressure from the combined forces of the Ottoman army and the Kurdish irregulars, the Republic was forced to withdraw from Erzincan to Erzurum. In the end, the Republic had to evacuate Erzurum as well.

Further southeast, in Van, the Armenians resisted the Turkish army until April, 1918, but eventually were forced to evacuate it and withdraw to Persia. When the Azerbaijani Tatars sided with the Turks and seized the communication lines, thus cutting off the Armenian National Councils in Baku and Erevan from the National Council in Tiflis.

Turkish Nationals fight against the Armenians with the justification that the Armenians under the border were performing "crimes" against the Turkish population in the Ottoman provinces. Thus a Turko-Armenian War was started.

In between two fronts, Islamic rebellion overthrew Shaumyan and declared a Transcaucasian Federation independent from Russia. The independence lasted until late 1920 when the communists came to power following an invasion of Armenia by the Red Army, and in 1922, Armenia became part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.

Wait... therussian isn't Russian? :lol:

<_< Not again.....

I am 100% Armenian, I was just born in Moscow (during the Soviet Union). My whole family speaks Russian, and therussian sounds a lot cooler than thearmenian

:D

I beg to differ man!

English.
My parents: Born in Wales (mother) and Hong Kong (father). Grandparents were in the army and my grand father was in charge of the defence of the sultan of oman (or whatever his rank is) and they jetted around the world (Hong Kong, Tobago, Oman, Muskat, Saudi, England, Scotland, Wales, Germany and India - the life of a Major in the green howards apparently :blink: )

England is where my heart lies! And surprisingly not in Brixton, where i was born, and not in Sevenoaks, Kent (my surname is Sevenoaks) it is in Herefordshire. But occaisional excursions across the boarder to Haye-on-Wye or Skenfriith are common.

(to All canadians here, im emigrating to Calgary for 8months sometime around the end of this year :D )

Hmm...I don't really have a motherland.

I'm German, British, Irish, and Cherokee. I think it's something like ~1/4 German, ~1/4 British, ~1/4 Irish, and ~1/32 Cherokee. Roughly.

I always think the Deutschland is my motherland though!

Fuer das deutsche Vaterland!!! Heil! ;)

I find it fascinating reading about the many diverse backgrounds to the Americans on this sight.Truly amazing!!
I'm sure we've touched on this before in other threads,but England is my home.
Stockport,Greater Manchester to be precise.I think I'm correct in saying the most Northern Englishman so far on this fine forum.
My Fathers side of the family,the Jones's, hail from the Liverpool/Welsh community ,that side of the family originating in North Wales
The other half ,my Mother,is real Lancashire Anglo-Saxon..descended from the Pilkingtons and Wolstenhulmes of Preston and Rishton,real Cotton Mill people,my Dads side were mostly stokers/miners and Sailors

1. Stockport was once the Hat making capital of Britain.It boasts the countries only"Hat Museum"

2. We have a great 12th Century Church,the Belfry of which ,had to be rebuilt in 1805 due to excessive bell ringing when news travelled of the British Victory at Trafalgar

3.Stockport also has one of the oldest Markets in the country