Armenia (1983: Doomsday)

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Pre-Doomsday
In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire (at the height of its power), Mitanni (South-Western historical Armenia), and Hayasa-Azzi (1600-1200 BC). Soon after the Hayasa-Azzi were the Nairi (1400-1000 BC) and the Kingdom of Urartu (1000-600 BC), who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highlands. Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Yerevan, the now destroyed capital of Armenia ( until September 26, 1983), was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I.

The Iron Age kingdom of Urartu (Assyrian for Ararat) was replaced by the Orontid dynasty. Following Persian and Macedonian rule, the Artaxiad dynasty from 190 BC gave rise to theKingdom of Armenia which rose to the peak of its influence under Tigranes II before falling under Roman rule.

In 301, Arsacid Armenia was the first sovereign nation to accept Christianity as a state religion. The Armenians later fell under Byzantine, Persian, and Islamic hegemony, but reinstated their independence with the Bagratuni Dynasty kingdom of Armenia. After the fall of the kingdom in 1045, and the subsequent Seljuk conquest of Armenia in 1064, the Armenians established a kingdom in Cilicia, where they prolonged their sovereignty to 1375.

Greater Armenia was later divided between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Armenians then suffered in the genocide that was inflicted on them by the Ottomans. As a result, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered and a large number were dispersed throughout the world via Syria and Lebanon. Armenia, from then on corresponding to much of Eastern Armenia, once again gained independence in 1918, with the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, and then in 1985, with the Republic of Armenia.

Doomsday
On Doomsday many places in Armenia were nuked, including Yerevan, mass waves of refugees entered Armenia, and radiation bring illness, radioactive rain and death. (Please someone continue Doomsday section)

Independence
The protests and rioting began in Charentsavan (a small city) on the morning of 27 February 1985, due to a steep increase in transportation costs to other places. They quickly spread to other towns across the country. By the afternoon, there were disturbances in almost all districts of Armenia, with shops shut and public transport not running.

In the days that followed there was looting and destruction. For many months, there was discussion about how something so violent could occur in Armenia.

Overwhelmed by the looting, the government declared a state of emergency, put the city under martial law and restored order albeit with the use of force. Some people used firearms for self-defence, to attack other civilians and/or to attack the military, but the number of dead soldiers and police came nowhere near the number of civilian deaths. The repression was particularly harsh in the the poor neighbourhoods of Armenia.

The initial official pronouncements said 276 people had died.

Congress suspended constitutional rights, and there were several days during which the city was in chaos, with restrictions, food shortages, militarisation, burglaries, and the persecution and murder of innocent people.

The clearest consequence of this caos was political instability. The following February, the army was called to contain similar riots in other cities, and again in June, when rising of transportation costs ended in riots in Charentsavan and other cities. In 1985 there were two attempted coups d'état, in February and November. Armenia's goverment was accused of corruption and removed from the presidency. The new goverment declared Armenia independent on July 8, 1985.

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Geography
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Culture
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Fauna
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