Azerbaijan is one of the three former Soviet republics located in Caucasus. The history of Azerbaijan was determined by the country’s geographical position. Located on the very crossroads of Eastern and Western civilizations, it was exposed to the influence of both of them. As a part of the greatest empires in the history of human kind, Azerbaijan was the site of the most decisive events and had seen many mighty conquerors, including Haroun al-Rashid, Genghis Khan, Pompey, and Alexander the Great.
Stretching back nearly 700,000 years, the story of Azerbaijan is rooted deep in the origins of mankind and has been part of many milestones in history. Subjected to nomadic territorial disputes, religious conquest, imperial rule, and Soviet division, Azerbaijan has undergone many phases of change and emerged as a democratic nation.
The history of Azerbaijan’s statehood is approximately five thousand years old. The first civilizations that appeared on the territories of Azerbaijan appeared around 4,000 or early 3,000 BC. In 1,000 BC the Manna, Iskim, Skit, Scyth tribes appeared in the region alongside the strong states of Caucasian Albania and Atropatena. These states played a big role in strengthening the culture of government, the economic culture of the country, and the formation of a uniform nation.
In the 3rd century AD Azerbaijan was occupied by the Iranian Sassanid Empire and in the 7th century by the Arab Umayyad Caliphate. The invaders populated the country with numerous Iranians and Arabs. The introduction of Islam in the 7th century was an important moment in the history of Azerbaijan. Islam greatly facilitated the formation of a uniform nation, language, and customs among the Turkic and non-Turkic peoples in the territory of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan witnessed new political development: on Azerbaijani lands united by Islam the states of the Sadzhids, Shirvanshahs, Salarids, Ravvadids and Sheddadids were established. It was the beginning of a renaissance in Azerbaijan’s history.
The late 15th – early 16th century are a milestone in the history of Azerbaijan. The outstanding statesman Shah Ismail Hatai united all the northern and southern lands of Azerbaijan under his rule. He proclaimed the city of Tabriz the capitol of a Safavid state which later turned into one of the most powerful empires in the Middle East.
Nadir Shah, an outstanding Azerbaijani commander who came to power after the fall of the Safavid state, further expanded the boundaries of the former empire. This Azerbaijani ruler conquered Northern India, including Delhi, in 1739. After the death of Nadir Shah, however, his empire disintegrated. Thus, in the second half of the 18th century Azerbaijan broke up into smaller states, khanates, and sultanates.
At the end of the 18th century Iran was under the rule of the Qajars, an Azerbaijani dynasty. They began to pursue the policy of placing all the territories of Nadir Shah’s former empire and Azerbaijani khanates under centralized rule.
This attempted reunification was how the epoch of long wars between the Qajars and Russia, who strived to conquer the southern Caucasus, began. As a result of the Gulustan (1813) and Turkmenchay (1828) treaties, Azerbaijan was divided between two empires: northern Azerbaijan was attached to Russia and its southern part to Iran.
In 1918, Azerbaijan won its independence from Russia after the collapse of the Czarist Empire and became the first Democratic Republic to be established in the Muslim world. Just two years later in 1920, the Bolshevik movement gained popular support after the invasion of the Russian Red Army and Azerbaijan was declared a founding member of the Soviet Union.
By 1936, the country was given full Soviet Socialist Republic status and was governed by the central political leadership in Moscow. During World War II, Azerbaijan played a key role in supplying oil and natural gas to the Allied Forces and Azerbaijani troops fought valiantly with the Red Army on the Eastern Front. Azerbaijan flourished in the 1950s, reaping the benefits of a flourishing, industrial post-war economy.
Flaws in the Soviet model became apparently in the mid-1960s, however, and Moscow soon appointed Heydar Aliyev as the head of the Communist Party in Azerbaijan. Aliyev helped stabilize the turbulent economy and brought the leadership required to make Azerbaijan flourish.
Troubles with the Nagorno-Karabakh region began stirring in 1988 as ethnic Armenians living in the territory called for reunification with Armenia. At the same time, popular support for the Soviet Union was declining and opposition groups frequently clashed with Soviet troops in Baku.
On August 30, 1991, Azerbaijan had declared independence from the crumbling Soviet Union – for the second time in its history – and became a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
