Armenian History Unified Exam study guide
Armenian History Unified Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Armenian History Unified Exam is a standardized subject examination covering the full arc of Armenian history from prehistory and the kingdom of Urartu through the formation of the Armenian people, the medieval kingdoms and the Cilician state, the centuries of Ottoman and Persian rule, the Genocide, the First Republic, the Soviet period and the diaspora, and the contemporary Third Republic. It also tests cultural, religious, linguistic, and historiographical knowledge - the Armenian alphabet and its creators, the Church and its councils, chroniclers and their methods. The Armenian History Unified Exam study guide has 8 sections and about 2,200 words.
01Ancient Armenia: Prehistory, Urartu, and the Formation of the Armenian People
This domain spans the Neolithic-to-Iron Age cultures of the Armenian Highland (early farming settlements such as those of the Ararat plain and the Lake Van basin), the kingdom of Urartu, and the ethnogenesis of the Armenians. Candidates should know that Urartu (Assyrian Uruatri/Urartu ; the kingdom called Biainili in its own inscriptions) was centered on Lake Van from roughly the 9th to the 6th century BCE, with capitals at Arzashkun/Tushpa and later Rusahinili (Toprakkale).
298 words, about 1 min02Armenia under Foreign Rule: Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Roman, and Parthian Periods
After Urartu, the Armenian Highland came under Median then Achaemenid Persian control (satrapy of Armina, mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Darius I). Candidates must understand the Orontid (Yervanduni) dynasty as the first attested Armenian ruling house, initially as Achaemenid satraps, and the emergence of the Kingdom of Armenia in the Hellenistic world after Alexander.
292 words, about 1 min03Arsacid Armenia, the Adoption of Christianity, and the Early Medieval Period
Focus on the Arsacid (Arshakuni) dynasty, the conversion of Armenia, and the creation of the Armenian alphabet. Know the traditional date of the Christianization under King Trdat (Tiridates) III through Gregory the Illuminator, conventionally 301 CE (some scholarship proposes c.
292 words, about 1 min04Bagratid Armenia, the Armenian Kingdoms, and the Cilician Armenian State
Know the Bagratid (Bagratuni) rise to kingship: Ashot I recognized as king c. 884/885 by the Abbasid caliph and Byzantine emperor, with Ani as the eventual capital and the great cathedral of Ani (completed 1001).
253 words, about 1 min05Armenia under Ottoman and Persian Rule; the Armenian Question and the Genocide
Understand the partition of Armenia between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia (Treaty of Amasya, 1555; later Zuhab, 1639), and the millet system that gave the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople communal authority. Know the Russo-Persian and Russo-Ottoman wars that shifted territory; the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) brought Eastern Armenia under Russian rule, dividing historic Armenia politically.
259 words, about 1 min06The First Republic of Armenia, Soviet Armenia, and the Armenian Diaspora
Know the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920), declared at the end of May 1918 after the battles of Sardarabad, Bash-Aparan, and Karakilisa, with its capital at Yerevan and its precarious survival amid refugees, famine, and war. Understand the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) and its unratified promise of a large Armenia, followed by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which superseded it.
278 words, about 1 min07The Third Republic of Armenia: Statehood, Politics, and Contemporary History
Know the transition to independence: the 1991 referendum and declaration of independence from the USSR, the first post-Soviet years under Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994) ending in a ceasefire that left Armenian forces in control of Karabakh and surrounding districts. Understand the political sequence of presidencies (Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, Armen Sarkissian, Vahagn Khachaturyan) and the 2015 constitutional referendum shifting from a presidential to a parliamentary system, followed by the 2018 "Velvet Revolution" under Nikol Pashinyan.
274 words, about 1 min08Armenian Culture, Religion, Language, and Historiography
Know the Armenian language as an independent branch of Indo-European, its classical form grabar (5th century) and modern standards (Eastern and Western), and the alphabet of 38 (later 39) letters created by Mesrop Mashtots c. Understand the Armenian Apostolic Church's theology and structure: non-Chalcedonian, with the Catholicos at Etchmiadzin, and its liturgical and calendrical particularities.
254 words, about 1 min