Between the 16th and 19th centuries , the traditional Armenian homeland composed of Eastern Armenia and Western Armenia came under the rule of the Ottoman and Iranian empires , repeatedly ruled by either of the two over the centuries . By the 19th century , Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire , while most of the western parts of the traditional Armenian homeland remained under Ottoman rule . During World War I , Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide . In 1918 , following the Russian Revolution , all non-Russian countries declared their independence after the Russian Empire ceased to exist , leading to the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia . By 1920 , the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , and in 1922 became a founding member of the Soviet Union . In 1936 , the Transcaucasian state was dissolved , transforming its constituent states , including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic , into full Union republics . The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Armenia