Armenians had been inflamed by the sight and pitiful stories of several hundred thousand refugees who had succeeded in reaching Transcaucasia , fleeing before the Ottoman Army . Consequently , when the Russian Army broke up , the Armenians preserved their discipline against all attempts of the Bolsheviks , and were the only force upon which the Allies could count in southwestern Asia during the last year of the war . The two million Armenians of Transcaucasia , increased by several hundred thousand refugees from the Ottoman Empire , persisted in their loyalty to Russia until the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk delivered them to the Ottoman Empire . Then they moved to form their own state , which succeeded in maintaining itself during the period of anarchy and famine that Bolshevism brought upon the Russian Empire . At the Peace Conference , speaking before the Council of Ten , M. Aharonian , delegate of the Armenian Republic of the Caucasus , stated that the two and a half million Armenians in Transcaucasia wanted to cast in their fortunes with the Armenians of Ottoman Empire to form a Greater Armenia . According to Michael P. Croissant , the ARF set out to take revenge for the persecution and genocide suffered by Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans , while Tadeusz Swietochowski states that " Armenian historians do not offer an explanation for the political calculations behind this move , which was bound to entail terrible retribution , and they hint rather at an uncontrollable emotional outburst "
genocide suffered by Armenians
Armenian Genocide
March Days