Armenia being a regional power?
- Thread starter Tongera
- Start date
Nearly ASB unless you increase their economy, which would enable them to become richer and thus invest in a better military. Also, have them officially absorb Nagorno-Karabakh, and maybe have a wave of Armenians from around the world flock to the country after good economic growth which results in plenty of jobs and a higher standard of living.
If Armenia has a significant population and a strong economy, it will be able to maintain a very powerful and modern army of significant size. That would more or less enable it to defeat Azerbaijan and Georgia, but I doubt it will ever be stronger than Turkey or Iran. The most it can be is a significant regional power, but never a regional superpower.
EDIT: Sorry, thought this was After 1900.
If Armenia has a significant population and a strong economy, it will be able to maintain a very powerful and modern army of significant size. That would more or less enable it to defeat Azerbaijan and Georgia, but I doubt it will ever be stronger than Turkey or Iran. The most it can be is a significant regional power, but never a regional superpower.
EDIT: Sorry, thought this was After 1900.
Last edited:
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
How about playing off the Romans and the Parthians against each other? The Armenians would definitely need a ton of luck in keeping their independence unless of course, they influence nearby steppe peoples like the Alans.
Something where Armenia isn't squeezed between Rome (or something in its place) and the Persian-centric power would probably be necessary.
There are only so many possible fates there, and none of them are very good.
Nor is it really an area - despite the gold mines (which are nice for the "get rich, get a better army" Armored Diplomacy mentioned) - capable of supporting a formidable military force on the scale of such empires.
1. They need to be a vassal power at first, maybe?
2. Doesn't Armenia have diamond mines, silver mines and can also do pottery, glass making etc?
1: Maybe.
2: Probably. I do know it has gold mines - one of the reasons why OTL Armenia was worth absorbing.
So money is less the problem than that while the area produces good soldiers, it doesn't produce many soldiers.
So a situation where it has to face the superpowers of the day on both frontiers can't end well. If it has only one, it can focus its attention on them.
He was an Armenian King?
1. The Persians and Romans (Eastern and Western) fought over Armenia specifically for the gold mines, am i correct in that?
2. What was the population of the areas i mentioned in around 1AD-400AD? That would help in getting an answer.
1: I believe so, yes. Along with it being a good place to recruit tough soldiers and have a nice border.
2: Not more than the vaguest idea.
They fought for a strategic area right on the Roman-Parthian border for centuries.
You all can guess what repeated wars did for Armenia's wealth, overall condition...
You all can guess what repeated wars did for Armenia's wealth, overall condition...
Armenia had her shining moments... but, overall, a rather shitty fate. Geography tends to tell the tale, and it is not a pleasant tale on average.
They have so too many nasty neighbors to deal with, usually all at the same time.
Sandwiched between top guys. The only viable alternative is to become the top guy yourself, which tended to fail, or at times, to last little. Tigranes's venture is the best example, the Bagratids are another.
Poor little Armenia, so far from God, so close to Persia/Rome/Alans/Byzantium/Georgia/the Caliphate/Khazars/Turks/Russia.
Except that Armenia is rather close to God actually, if you consider the location of Ararat.
. It didn't help anyway.
They have so too many nasty neighbors to deal with, usually all at the same time.
Sandwiched between top guys. The only viable alternative is to become the top guy yourself, which tended to fail, or at times, to last little. Tigranes's venture is the best example, the Bagratids are another.
Poor little Armenia, so far from God, so close to Persia/Rome/Alans/Byzantium/Georgia/the Caliphate/Khazars/Turks/Russia.
Except that Armenia is rather close to God actually, if you consider the location of Ararat.
. It didn't help anyway.Yeah. The most succesful of them, until the Legions showed up. IIRC, he had married Mithridates's daughter.
Wikipedia is quite informative on him.
1) Not specifically as far as I know. It was a more critically a strategic buffer for both. Local resources were not that important, since the Romans abandoned the place twice after (sort of) succesful conquest. The place as poor communication for Roman standards, so whatever resources were there would not make great difference.
However, the area was known to be filthy rich. The booty Lucullus brought from the looting of Tigranes's capital, in 68 BC IIRC, was thought to be incredibly valuable by the Romans of the time.
2) Don't know, but I think somewhere a bit under the million mark more or less as a guesstimate. Maybe a little more.
yourworstnightmare
Banned
The Orontid dynasty was a powerful vassal dynasty, first of the Medians, later of the Persians, and then even under the Seleucids. Perhaps just their willingness to act under the umbrella of a larger empire was their recipe for success?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orontid_dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orontid_dynasty
Right, but my personal sources are in Italian. What I found in that Wiki article is confirmed by them.