History of Azerbaijan

The Bronze Age in Azerbaijan began in approximately the second half of the fourth millennium BCE and the Iron Age began in approximately the seven and sixth centuries BCE. The Bronze Age is divided into early, middle and late eras and have been studied in Nakhchivan, Ganja, Mingachevir and Dashkasan District.^[d] The early Bronze Age is characterized by the Kura–Araxes culture, and the middle Bronze Age by painted earthenware or pottery culture. The late Bronze Age is demonstrated in Nakhchivan and by the Khojali–Gadabay and Talish–Mughan cultures.^[33][34][35]

Research in 1890 by Jacques de Morgan in the mountains of Talysh, near Lankaran, revealed over 230 late-Bronze and early-Iron Age burials. E. Rösler discovered late-Bronze Age materials in Karabakh and Ganja between 1894 and 1903. J. Hummel conducted research from 1930 to 1941 in Goygol District and Karabakh at sites known as Barrows I and II and other late-Bronze Age sites.^[37][36][38] Archaeologist Walter Crist of the American Museum of Natural History discovered a 4,000-year-old, Bronze Age version of hounds and jackals in Gobustan National Park in 2018. The game, popular in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Anatolia at the time, was identified in the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV.^[e]

Antiquity

The Achaemenids were defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. After the 247 BCE fall of the Seleucid Empires in Persia, the Kingdom of Armenia ruled portions of what is today Azerbaijan from 190 BCE to 428 CE.^[44][45] The Arsacid dynasty of Armenia was a branch of the Parthian Empire, and Caucasian Albania (present-day Azerbaijan and Dagestan) was under Parthian rule for the next several centuries. The Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the 1st century BCE, primarily remaining a semi-independent vassal state until the Parthians were deposed in 252 and the kingdom became a province of the Sasanian Empire.^[46][47][48] Caucasian Albania's King Urnayr adopted Christianity as the state religion during the fourth century, and Albania was a Christian state until the eighth century.^[49][50] Although it was subordinate to Sasanid Persia, Caucasian Albania retained its monarchy.^[51] Sasanid control ended with its 642 defeat by the Rashidun Caliphate in the Muslim conquest of Persia.^{[citation needed]}

The migration and settlement of Eurasian and Central Asian nomads has been a regional pattern in the history of the Caucasus from the Sassanid-Persian era to the 20th-century emergence of the Azerbaijani Turks. Among the Iranian nomads were the

pass who did not establish permanent settlements.

Achaemenid and Seleucid rule

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After the overthrow of the

The Albanian kingdom coalesced around a Caucasian identity to forge a state in a region of empire-states. During the second or first century BCE the Armenians curtailed the southern Albanian territories and conquered Karabakh and Utik, inhabited by Albanian tribes who included the

In 252–253, Caucasian Albania was conquered and annexed by the Sasanian Empire. A vassal state, it retained its monarchy; the Albanian king had no real power, however, and most civil, religious, and military authority was held by the Sasanid marzban. After the Sasanid victory over Rome in 260, the victory and the annexation of Albania and Atropatene were described in a trilingual inscription by Shapur I at Naqsh-e Rostam.^{[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]}

Urnayr (343–371), related by marriage to Shapur II (309–379), held power in Albania. With a somewhat-independent foreign policy, he allied with the Sasanian Shapur. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Albanians provided military forces (particularly cavalry) to Shapur's armies in their attacks against Rome. The siege of Amida (359) ended in a Sasanian victory, and some Albanian regions were returned. Marcellinus noted that the Albanian cavalry played a role in the siege similar to that of the Xionites, and the Albanians were commended for their alliance with Shapur:^[63][49][61]

Close by him [Šapur II] on the left went Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, a man of moderate strength, it is true, and with shriveled limbs, but of certain greatness of mind and distinguished by the glory of many victories. On the right was the king of the Albani, of equal rank, high in honour.^[65]

After the 387 division of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia, the Albanian kings regained control of the provinces of Uti and Artsakh (south of the Kur) when the Sasanian kings rewarded them for their loyalty to Persia.^[54][66]

Medieval Armenian historians such as Movses Khorenatsi and Movses Kaghankatvatsi wrote that the Albanians were converted to Christianity during the fourth century by Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia.^[67][68] Urnayr accepted Christianity, was baptised by Gregory, and declared Christianity his kingdom's official religion.

The Mihranids (630–705) arrived in Albania from Gardman during the early seventh century. Partav (now Barda) was the dynasty's administrative centre. According to M. Kalankatli, the dynasty was founded by Mehran (570–590) and Varaz Grigor (628–642) assumed the title of "prince of Albania".^[69][34]

Partav was Albania's capital city during the reign of Grigor's son,

Muslim Arabs defeated the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires as they marched into the Caucasus, making Caucasian Albania a vassal state after Javanshir's 667 surrender.^{[74][full citation needed]} Between the ninth and 10th centuries, Arab authors began calling the region between the Kura and Aras "Arran".^{[75][full citation needed]} Arabs from Basra and Kufa came to Azerbaijan, seizing abandoned lands.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Azerbaijan was the centre of the caliphate–Khazar–Byzantine wars. In 722–723, the Khazars attacked Arab

During the ninth century, the Abbasid Caliphate dealt with uprisings against Arab rule. The Khurramites, led by Babak Khorramdin, staged a persistent revolt. Babak's victories over Arab generals were associated with his seizure of Babak Fort, according to Arab historians who said that his influence extended to Azerbaijan: "southward to near Ardabil and Marand, eastward to the Caspian Sea and the Shamakhi district and Shervan, northward to the Muqan (Moḡan) steppe and the Aras riverbank, westward to the districts of Jolfa, Nakjavan, and Marand".^{[79][80][81][82]}

Feudal states in 9th-11th centuries

After the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate, the territory of the contemporary Azerbaijan Republic was ruled by dynasties

At the end of the 10th – beginning of the 11th century they began wars with Derbent (this rivalry lasted for centuries), and in the 1030s they had to repel the raids of the Rus, and Alans.^[88]

The last ruler of the Mazyadid was Yazid ibn Ahmad, and from 1027 to 1382, the Kasranid dynasty began to rule the Shirvanshahs. In 1032 and 1033, the Alans attacked the territory of Shamakhi, but were defeated by the troops of the Shirvanshahs. The Kasranid dynasty ruled the state independently until 1066 when the Seljuk tribes came to their territory, and Shirvanshah I Fariburz accepted dependence on them, preserving internal independence.^[59][86][89]

Shirvan was reportedly independent during two periods: under the legendary sultan Manuchehr and Akhsitan I (who built Baku),^{[citation needed]} and under the 15th-century House of Derbent. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the Shirvanshahs were vassals of the Mongol and Timurid empires.^[89]

The Shirvanshahs

The Sajid dynasty was an Islamic dynasty that ruled from 879–880 until 941. The Sajids ruled Azerbaijan first from Maragha and Barda and then from Ardabil.^[82]

According to the Azerbaijani historian

After the death of Yusuf ibn Abu Saj, the last ruler of the Sajid dynasty Deysam ibn Ibrahim was defeated by the ruler of Daylam (Gilan) Marzban ibn Muhammad who ended the Sajid dynasty and founded the Sallarid dynasty in 941 with its capital in Ardabil.^[91][64]

Sallarid dynasty

The Sallarid dynasty was an Islamic dynasty that ruled the territories of Azerbaijan, as well as Iranian Azerbaijan from 941 until 979.^[92][64]

In 943–944, the Russians organized a campaign to the Caspian region, which was many times more brutal than the 913/14 March. As a result of this campaign, which affected the economic situation in the region, Barda lost its position and essence as a large city and gave this position to Ganja.^[93][94][82]

The

The Shaddadids were a Muslim dynasty that ruled the area between the rivers Kura and Araxes from 951 to 1199 AD.^[96]

Muhammad ibn Shaddad was considered the founder of the Shaddadid dynasty. Taking advantage of the weakening of Sallarids, Muhammad ibn Shaddad took control of the city of Dvin and established his state. The Shaddadids eventually extended their power over the territories of Azerbaijan and ruled major cities such as Barda and Ganja.^[96]

Fadl ibn Muhammad built the

In 1030, a new attack on Shirvanshahs by 38 Russian ships took place. Shirvanshah Manučehr was heavily defeated. At that time, Fadl I's son Askuya rebelled in Beylagan. Fadl I's loyal son Musa paid money to the Russians to save Beylagan. As a result, Askuya's revolt was suppressed, and he was executed.[96]

Seljuks

The history of what comprises the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan as part of the Seljuk Empire may have been more pivotal than the Arab conquest since it helped shape the identity of modern Azerbaijani Turks. At the beginning of the 11th century, the region was occupied by waves of Oghuz Turks from Central Asia. The first Turkic rulers were the Ghaznavids from northern Afghanistan, who took over part of Azerbaijan^{[citation needed]} by 1030. They were followed by the Seljuks, a western branch of the Oghuz Turks who conquered Iran and the Caucasus. The Seljuks pressed on to Iraq, where they overthrew the Buyids in Baghdad in 1055.

On September 30, 1139, a M_s 7.7 earthquake struck Ganja, causing 200,000 to 300,000 deaths and great devastation.^[98]

The Seljuks then ruled an empire which included Iran and Azerbaijan until the end of the 12th century. During their rule, the sultan

After Rawwadid Vahsudan, Togrul Bey came to Ganja and Abulasvar Shavur accepted his rule in 1054.^{[99][100][35][64][82]}

In 1075,

The absence of the sultan's name on the coins minted during the reign of his son Akhsitan I indicates that the Seljuk state was already weakened and the Shirvanshahs were independent.[101]^[35]

Seljuk possessions were ruled by

The Atabeks of Azerbaijan's power base was centered around Nakhchivan and would focus on Georgia. It expanded to Arran and took control of from Baylagan to Shamkir. He made himself virtually independent ruler of Azerbaijan by 1146. His marriage to the Mumine Khatun enabled him to intervene in the dynasty dispute between the Seljuk sultans of Iraq, which began after Masud's death in 1152.^{[102][103][104]}

After the death of Shamsaddin Eldaniz in Nakhchivan in 1175, his son Muhammad Jahan Pahlavan succeeded him. Pahlavan transferred the capital from Nakhchivan to Hamadan in western Iran and made his younger brother, Qizil Arslan Uthman, the ruler of Azerbaijan. In 1174, Qizil Arslan captured Tabriz, which subsequently became his capital.^[82]

After Muhammad Jahan Pahlavan's death, his brother

The Eldiguzid atabeg Abu Bakr attempted to stem the Georgian advance, but suffered a defeat at the hands of David Soslan at the Battle of Shamkor and lost his capital to a Georgian protégé in 1195. Although Abu Bakr was able to resume his reign a year later, the Eldiguzids were only barely able to contain further Georgian forays. The State's defense capability was stricken. Khorezmshahs' and Georgians' non-stopping forays aggravated the situation in the country and speeded up its decay.^[105][82]

In 1225,

Under the Seljuks, progress was made in poetry by the Persian poets Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), Mahsati Ganjavi (1089–1159) and Khaqani (1120–1199), who lived in this region, and mark the zenith of medieval Persian literature.^{[108][109][110][111][112]} The region experienced a building boom, and the unique Seljuk architecture is exemplified by the 12th-century fortress walls, mosques, schools, mausoleums, and bridges of Baku, Ganja, and the Absheron Peninsula.

The Mongol invasions and conquests of Azerbaijan took place during the 13th and 14th centuries and involved large-scale raids. The Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Caucasus impacted Azerbaijan and most of its neighbors. Invasions resulted in the incorporation of the territories of Azerbaijan into the newly established Hulagu state with the capital of Maragha in 1256 and lasted until 1357.^{[99][116][117][118][119]}

During the first invasion of Azerbaijan by the Mongols in 1220–1223, cities such as

The Mongol forces approached Tabriz and got a ransom from the city in 1221. After destroying the city of Maragha, they attacked Diyarbakir and Ardabil and then again returned to Azerbaijan. Thus, the Mongols marched to the north, plundering Shirvanen route. In addition, Beylagan was plundered in the spring of 1221. This took them through the Caucasus into Alania and the South Russian steppes where the Mongols routed the Rus'-Kipchak armies at the Battle of the Kalka River (1223).^[122][123]

The second invasion of the Mongolians to Azerbaijan is connected with the name of Chormagan Noyon- a military commander of

Thus, the territories of Azerbaijan became a battleground between the Golden Horde and the Hulagu states.^{[116][127][119]}

After the death of Abu Sa'id, the Chobanids dynasty ruled over Azerbaijan, Arrān, and parts of Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and west central Persia from 1335 to 1357, until the death of Malek Ashraf.^{[128][129][130][131]}

In 1364

Timur (Tamurlane) invaded Azerbaijan during the 1380s, temporarily incorporating it into his Eurasian domain.^[136] Shirvan, under Ibrahim I of Shirvan, was also a vassal state of Timur and assisted him in his war with the Mongol ruler Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde.^[137] Azerbaijan experienced social unrest and religious strife during this period due to sectarian conflict initiated by Hurufism, the Bektashi Order, and other movements.

After Timur's death in 1405,

Qara Qoyunlu (based around Lake Van)^[138] and the Aq Qoyunlu, centred around Diyarbakır.^[139] The Kara Koyunlu were ascendant when their chief, Qara Yusuf, overcame Sultan Ahmed Mirza (the last of the Jalayirids), conquered lands south of Azerbaijan in 1410, and established his capital at Tabriz.^[140] Under Jahan Shah, they expanded into central Iran and as far east as Greater Khorasan. The Aq Qoyunlu became prominent under Uzun Hasan, overcoming Jahan Shah and the Qara Qoyunlu.^[141] Uzun Hasan ruled Iran, Azerbaijan, and Iraq until his death in 1478. The Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu continued the Timurid tradition of literary and artistic patronage, illustrated by Tabriz' Persian miniature paintings.

The

The Safavids, led by Ismail I, expanded their base in Ardabil; they conquered the Caucasus, parts of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and western portions of South Asia. Ismail sacked Baku in 1501 and persecuted the Sunni Shirvanshahs. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Dagestan were conquered by the Safavids between 1500 and 1502.^[142]

During the reign of Ismail I and his son,

Under Abbas the Great (1587–1630), the monarchy assumed a Persian Shiite identity. Abbas' reign was the Safavid zenith, and he repelled the Ottomans and re-captured the Caucasus (including Azerbaijan) between 1603 and 1607. Aware of Qizilbash power, Abbas continued the policy of integrating the Caucasus into Persian society and deported hundreds of thousands of Circassians, Georgians and Armenians to Iran. They served in the army, the royal house and in civil administration, effectively killing the feudal Qizilbash; the converted Caucasians (known as ghulams) were loyal to the shah, not their tribal chiefs. Their Armenian, Georgian, and Circassian descendants still live in Iran. The religious impact of Safavid Iran was significant in Azerbaijan due to its early-16th century conversion to Shia Islam,^[143] and the country has the world's second-largest population of Shiites (by percentage, after Iran).^[144]

18th- and early 19th-century khanates and cession to Russia

As civil conflicts took hold in Iran, most of Azerbaijan was occupied by the Ottomans from 1722 to 1736.^[145] Between 1722 and 1735, during the reign of Peter the Great, the Caspian coast (including Derbent, Baku and Salyan) came under Imperial Russian rule as a result of the Russo-Persian War.

After the collapse of Safavid Iran,

Nader Shah's

Agha Mohammad Khan was victorious in the civil war which began with the death of the last Zand king. His reign is noted for the re-emergence of a united Iran. After the death of Nader Shah and the last of the Zands, most of Iran's Caucasian territories had broken away and formed khanates. Agha Mohammad Khan (like the Safavid kings and Nader Shah before him) viewed the region as no different from Iran, and his first objective after securing Iran was to reincorporate the Caucasus into it.

Tadeusz Swietochowski wrote,

The brief and successful Russian campaign of 1812 was concluded with the Treaty of Gulistan, which was signed on October 12 of the following year. The treaty provided for the incorporation into the Russian Empire of vast tracts of Iranian territory, including Daghestan, Georgia with the Sheragel province, Imeretia, Guria, Mingrelia, and Abkhazia (latter four regions were vassals of Ottomans), as well as the khanates of Karabagh, Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Kuba, Baku, and Talysh.^[169]

Svante Cornell wrote,

In 1812 Russia ended a war with Turkey and went on the offensive against Iran. This led to the treaty of Gulistan in 1813, which gave Russia control over large territories that hitherto had been at least nominally Iranian, and moreover a say in Iranian succession politics. The whole of Daghestan and Georgia, including Mingrelia and Abkhazia, were formally ceded to Russia, as well as eight Khanates in modern-day Azerbaijan (Karabakh, Ganja, Sheki, Kuba, Shirvan, Talysh, Baku, and Derbent). However, as we have seen the Persians soon challenged Russia's rule in the area, resulting in a military disaster. Iran lost control over the whole of Azerbaijan, and with the Turkemenchai settlement of 1828 Russia threatened to establish its control over Azerbaijan unless Iran paid a war indemnity. The British helped the Iranians with the matter, but the fact remained that Russian troops had marched as far as south of Tabriz. Although certain areas (including Tabriz) were returned to Iran, Russia was in fact at the peak of its territorial expansion.^[153]

According to The Cambridge History of Iran,

Even when rulers on the plateau lacked the means to effect suzerainty beyond the Aras, the neighbouring Khanates were still regarded as Iranian dependencies. Naturally, it was those Khanates located closest to the province of Āzarbāījān which most frequently experienced attempts to re-impose Iranian suzerainty: the Khanates of Erivan, Nakhchivān and Qarābāgh across the Aras, and the cis-Aras Khanate of Ṭālish, with its administrative headquarters located at Lankarān and therefore very vulnerable to pressure, either from the direction of Tabrīz or Rasht. Beyond the Khanate of Qarābāgh, the Khān of Ganja and the Vāli of Gurjistān (ruler of the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom of south-east Georgia), although less accessible for purposes of coercion, were also regarded as the Shah's vassals, as were the Khāns of Shakki and Shīrvān, north of the Kura river. The contacts between Iran and the Khanates of Bākū and Qubba, however, were more tenuous and consisted mainly of maritime commercial links with Anzalī and Rasht. The effectiveness of these somewhat haphazard assertions of suzerainty depended on the ability of a particular Shah to make his will felt, and the determination of the local khans to evade obligations they regarded as onerous.^[170]

Transition from Iranian to Russian rule

According to Audrey L. Altstadt, Russia had been moving militarily towards the Caucasus since 1790. After its defeat by Russia, Qajar Iran ceded Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia. Local khanates were abolished (Baku and Ganja) or accepted Russian patronage.^[171]

The 1826–1828 Russo-Persian war resulted in another defeat for Iran. The Qajars ceded their remaining Caucasian territories: the remainder of Azerbaijan (the Nakhchivan and

From the Russian conquests to the 1840s, Azerbaijan was governed by the Tsar's military. Russia reorganized the region's khanates into provinces, each governed by an army officer with a combination of local and Russian law. Due to the officers' unfamiliarity with local customs, however, Russian imperial law was increasingly applied; this led to local discontent.[174] Russian administration was unequal to non-Christian Azerbaijanis; religious authorities were kept under control, disturbing non-Christians. Russia made concerted efforts to control the application of Islamic law, and two ecclesiastical boards were created to oversee Islamic activity; it appointed a mufti for the Sunni board and a shaykh al-Islām for its Shia counterpart. In 1857 Georgian and Armenian religious authorities were permitted to censor their respective communities, but Muslim religious works were approved by a censorship board in Odessa. Azerbaijani Turks were subject to Russian proselytizing.^[174]

During the late 1830s, plans were made to replace the military rule with a civil administration. When the new legal system became effective in January 1841, Transcaucasia was divided into a Georgian-Imeretian province and a Caspian oblast centered in Shamakhi. New administrative borders ignored historic borders or ethnic composition. By the end of military rule in Azerbaijan, Russian imperial law applied to all criminal and most civil matters; the jurisdiction of traditional religious courts and Qadis was reduced to family law. After an 1859 earthquake, the capital of the eastern province was transferred from Shamakhi to Baku.^[171]

Baku was integrated into the Russian Empire in accordance with the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan, and Azerbaijan experienced significant economic development during the second half of the 19th century.^[175] The separate currencies of the former khanates were replaced by the ruble, and their tariffs were abolished; these reforms encouraged further investment in the region. Russia began investing in joint-stock companies, and by the 1840s steamships began sailing on the Caspian. Trade in the port of Baku increased from an average of 400,000 rubles during the 1830s to 500,000 in the 1840s and 700,000 to 900,000 rubles after the Crimean War.^[176]

Although oil had been discovered and exported from the region centuries before, the 1870s Azerbaijani oil rush led to prosperity and growth in the years leading to World War I and created huge disparities in wealth between the largely-European capitalists and the local Muslim workforce.^[171] During the 1870s, Baku experienced rapid industrial growth due to the oil boom. Azerbaijan's first oil refinery was established near Baku in 1859, and the region's first kerosene plant was built in 1863. Oil wells built during the 1870s sparked the boom, and oilfields were auctioned. This system secured investors' holdings, encouraging further investment. Most of the investors were elite Russians and Armenians; of 51 oilfields sold at the first auction, five were bought by Azerbaijani Turks. Two of Baku's 54 notable 1888 oil-extraction firms were owned by Azerbaijanis, who participated in greater numbers in small-scale extraction and refining operations; 73 of 162 oil refineries were Azerbaijani-owned, but all except seven of them employed fewer than 15 people.^[177] In the decades after the oil rush (and its foreign investment), other industries grew in Azerbaijan. The banking system was one of the first to react to the oil industry. In 1880, an offshoot of the state bank opened in Baku. In its first year of operation, it issued 438,000 rubles; in 1899, all Baku banks had issued 11.4 million rubles in interest-bearing securities. Transportation and shipping also developed as a result of the expanding oil market, and the number of vessels on the Caspian quadrupled between 1887 and 1899. The Transcaucasus Railway, completed in 1884, connected Baku (on the Caspian Sea) to Batum on the Black Sea via Ganja (Elizavetpol) and Tiflis.^[178] In addition to transporting oil, the railroad develop new relationships between rural agricultural regions and industrial areas.^[178] The region was further interconnected with new communications infrastructure; telegraph lines connected Baku to Tiflis via Elizavetpol in the 1860s, and a telephone system operated in Baku during the 1880s.^[178]

Modernisation—compared to the neighboring Armenians and Georgians—was slow to develop amongst the Tatars of the Russian Caucasus. According to the 1897 Russian Empire census, less than five percent of the Tatars were able to read or write. The intellectual and newspaper editor Ali bey Huseynzade (1864–1940) led a campaign to 'Turkify, Islamise, modernise' the Caucasian Tatars, whereas Mammed Said Ordubadi (1872–1950), another journalist and activist, criticized superstition amongst Muslims.^[179]

The oil rush was spurred by Armenian magnate

An economic and political crisis erupted in Baku after the

The situation improved between 1906 and 1914 when a limited parliamentary system was introduced in Russia and Muslim MPs from Azerbaijan promoted Azeri interests. The pan-Turkist and pan-Islamist

When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917, the Transcaucasian Federation was founded by Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian intelligentsia. The federation was short-lived, and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed on 28 May 1918 by the Musavat. The name "Azerbaijan", adopted by the party for political reasons,^[14][15] had been used to identify the adjacent region of northwestern Iran.^[16][17][18]

It was the Islamic world's first democratic republic. In Baku, however, a coalition of

Azerbaijan was proclaimed a secular republic, and its first parliament met on 5 December 1918. Although the British administration initially did not recognize the republic, it cooperated with it. The situation in Azerbaijan had more or less stabilized by mid-1919, and British forces left in August of that year. However, advancing Bolshevik forces, victorious in the Russian Civil War, began to threaten the republic (involved in a conflict with Armenia over Karabakh) by early 1920.

Azerbaijan was recognised by the Allies as an independent nation in January 1920 at the

Aided by dissidents in government, the Red Army invaded Azerbaijan on 28 April 1920. Most of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt which had broken out in Karabakh. The Azerbaijanis did not surrender their brief independence easily; as many as 20,000 died resisting what was essentially a Russian reconquest.^[187] The formation of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was facilitated by popular support of Bolshevik ideology, particularly by workers in Baku.^[188] On the day of the invasion, a Soviet government was formed under Nariman Narimanov. The same fate befell Armenia by the end of 1920, and Georgia in March 1921.

Soviet Azerbaijan

Two 1938 Azerbaijani propaganda posters

After the government surrendered to Bolshevik forces, Azerbaijan was proclaimed a Soviet socialist republic on 28 April 1920.^[189] The Congress of the Peoples of the East was held in Baku in September of that year. Nominally an independent state, the Azerbaijan SSR was dependent on (and controlled by) the government in Moscow. It was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, with Armenia and Georgia, in March 1922. In accordance with a December 1922 agreement, the TSFSR became one of the Soviet Union's four original republics. The TSFSR was dissolved in 1936, and its three regions became republics of the USSR.^[190] In the early Soviet period, the Azerbaijani national identity was finally forged.^[13]

Like other Union Republics, Azerbaijan was affected by Stalin's purges during the 1930s. Thousands of people were killed during the period, including Huseyn Javid, Mikail Mushfig, Ruhulla Akhundov, and Ayna Sultanova. The Azerbaijan SSR supplied much of the Soviet Union's gas and oil during World War II, and was a strategically important region.^[191] Although the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union reached the Greater Caucasus in July 1942, the Germans did not invade Azerbaijan.^[192] The 1950s were a period of rapid urbanization and industrialization, and a sblizheniye (rapprochement) policy began to merge the peoples of the Soviet Union into a monolithic nation.^[193]

Azerbaijan's oil industry lost its relative importance to the Soviet economy during the 1960s because of a shift in oil production to other regions of the Soviet Union and the depletion of known terrestrial oil resources; offshore production was not considered cost-effective. Azerbaijan had the second-lowest rate of growth in productivity and economic output of the Soviet republics, ahead of Tajikistan. Although ethnic tensions (particularly between Armenians and Azerbaijanis) began to grow, violence was suppressed.

In an attempt to end the

The Gorbachev era was marked by increasing unrest in the Caucasus, initially over Nagorno-Karabakh. Ethnic conflict, centering on Armenian demands for the unification of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast with Armenia by March 1988, began in February of that year amid pogroms against the Armenian populations of Baku and Sumgait. Although Moscow imposed military rule several times, unrest continued to spread.^[198]

The ethnic strife revealed the Communist Party's shortcomings as a champion of national interests, and independent publications and political organizations emerged in the spirit of glasnost. By fall 1989, the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA) seemed poised to seize power from the Communist Party before the party split into conservative-Islamic and moderate wings. The split was followed by an outbreak of anti-Armenian violence in Baku and intervention by Soviet troops.^[199]

Unrest culminated in violent confrontation when Soviet troops killed 132 nationalist demonstrators in Baku on 20 January 1990. Azerbaijan declared independence from the USSR on 30 August 1991^[200] and became part of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The First Nagorno-Karabakh War began by the end of the year, resulting in the creation of the self-declared separatist Republic of Artsakh, which persisted until 2023. The refusal by both sides to negotiate resulted in a stalemate, as Armenian troops retained their positions in Karabakh and corridors to Armenia which were seized from Azerbaijan.

Contemporary history

Independent Azerbaijan

Mutallibov presidency (1991–1992)

Azerbaijan SSR president

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continued, despite efforts to negotiate a settlement. Early in 1992, Karabakh's Armenian leadership proclaimed an independent republic. Armenia gained the upper hand in what was now a full-scale war, with covert assistance from the Russian Army.^[203][204] Atrocities were committed by both sides; the 25 February 1992 Khojaly massacre of Azerbaijani civilians^[205] was criticized for the government's inaction, and Azerbaijani troops killed and captured Armenian civilians in the Maraga massacre. Mütallibov, pressured by the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, submitted his resignation to the National Council on 6 March. His failure to build an adequate army he could control caused the downfall of his government. Shusha, the last Azerbaijani-inhabited town in Nagorno-Karabakh, came under Armenian control on 6 May. Eight days later, the Supreme Council investigated the Khojaly massacre, absolved Mutallibov of responsibility, overturned his resignation and restored him as president.^[206] The following day (15 May), armed Azerbaijan Popular Front forces seized the National Council and the state-owned radio and television stations and deposed Mutallibov, who fled to Moscow. The National Council was dissolved, and the National Assembly (composed of Azerbaijan Popular Front members and former communists) was formed. Two days later (as Armenian forces took Lachin),^[207] Isa Gambar was elected National Assembly chair and assumed the duties of the president until national elections scheduled for 17 June 1992.

Elchibey presidency (1992–1993)

The former communists failed to present a viable candidate for the 1992 Azerbaijani presidential election and PFA leader, former dissident and political prisoner Abulfaz Elchibey was elected president with over 60 percent of the vote.^[208] Elchibey's program included opposition to Azerbaijan's membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States, closer relations with Turkey,^[209] and a desire for improved links with the Iranian Azerbaijanis.^[210]

Heydar Aliyev, who had been prevented from running for president by an age limit of 65, was doing well in Nakhchivan but had to contend with an Armenian blockade of the exclave.^[198] Azerbaijan halted rail traffic into and out of Armenia, cutting most of its land links with the outside world.^[206] The negative economic effects of the Nagorno-Karabakh war on both countries illustrated Transcaucasian interdependence.

Within a year of his election, Elchibey faced the same situation which had led to Mutallibov's downfall. The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh turned in favour of Armenia, which seized about one-fifth of Azerbaijan's territory^[211] and created over one million internally displaced persons. A military rebellion led by Surat Huseynov broke out in early June 1993 in Ganja. The PFA leadership found itself without political support as a result of the war's setbacks, a deteriorating economy, and opposition from groups led by Aliyev. In Baku, he seized power and quickly consolidated his position, and an August vote-of-confidence referendum removed Elchibey from the presidency.^[212]

Heydar Aliyev presidency (1993–2003)

A presidential election was held on 3 October 1993, which Heydar Aliyev won overwhelmingly. Aliyev had some of his opposition, including

As a result of limited reforms and the signing of the October 1994 contract for the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli offshore oilfield complex, which led to increased oil exports to Western markets, the economy began improving. However, extreme levels of Corruption and nepotism in Aliyev's government prevented Azerbaijan from more sustained development, however, especially in non-oil sectors.

In October 1998, Aliyev was re-elected to a second term. Although his weakened opposition accused him of voter fraud, there was no widespread international condemnation of the election. Aliyev's second term was characterized by limited reforms, increasing oil production and the dominance of BP as Azerbaijan's main foreign oil company. The Shah Deniz gas field is part of the European Commission's Southern Gas Corridor, and a gas export agreement was signed with Turkey. Work on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline began in 2003; the oil pipeline was completed in 2005, and the gas pipeline in 2006. Azerbaijan was a party to the aborted Nabucco pipeline.

Aliyev's health began to fail. He collapsed during a televised April 2003 speech, and made his son Ilham the unopposed presidential candidate in October. After several months in the Cleveland Clinic with heart and kidney problems, he died on 12 December 2003.^[213]

Ilham Aliyev presidency (2003–present)

In another controversial election, Heydar's son Ilham Aliyev was elected president that year. The election, marred by violence, was criticised by foreign observers. Opposition to the Aliyev administration is widespread, with opponents advocating a more democratic government. Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 with 87 percent of the vote, however, as opposition parties boycotted the election. After a 2009 constitutional referendum, presidential term limits were abolished and freedom of the press was restricted.

The 2010 election produced a National Assembly loyal to Aliyev; for the first time in Azerbaijani history, no candidate from the main opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front or Musavat parties was elected.